Part 14 (2/2)

By 1917 women also had the right to vote for president and all offices except the judiciary, in Illinois, North Dakota, Nebraska, and Michigan. At that time there was partial suffrage for women in Arkansas, New Mexico, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Connecticut, Ma.s.sachusetts, New Hamps.h.i.+re, Florida and Ohio. In some of these states just mentioned, women voted for very few offices, but still they had a slight voice in the affairs of their state, and a large number of states refused women all voting rights. They were Texas, Missouri, Alabama, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Maine, Indiana, Delaware and Virginia.

Dr. Shaw's life dream was realized when woman was given the right to vote on all questions in every state in the union by an amendment to the Const.i.tution of the United States.

Dr. Shaw died in the service of her country at Was.h.i.+ngton, in 1918.

Like so many of America's n.o.ble men and women, the secret of Anna Shaw's life has been service to others,--doing good to her fellowmen and working always for human justice.

_AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL_

”_O Beautiful for s.p.a.cious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain!

America! America!

G.o.d shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to s.h.i.+ning sea._”

--KATHARINE LEE BATES.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ERNEST THOMPSON SETON and WIFE Founder of the Boy Scout Movement]

ERNEST THOMPSON SETON

How many boys of ten years of age know what they want to do when they are grown? Surely there are some boys of that age who have planned their future work or at least have dreamed about it. But how many ever do in later life just what they had thought of doing when in the fourth grade of the public school? Not many, you may be sure. However, some years ago there was a boy living in England who had decided on his life work by the time his tenth birthday pa.s.sed. What is more, he carried out his plans with great success. Today you may read many of his books and look at interesting pictures he has drawn of wild animals that are as familiar to him as are the pets most boys and girls have in their homes. More than this, if a boy belongs to the Boy Scouts, he is a member of an organization that this man helped to found in the United States.

Ernest Thompson Seton was born in the northern part of England. His family moved to Canada, but he attended school in England and did not stay in America for any length of time until his schooling was completed. His name was originally Ernest E. Thompson Seton, but some years ago he changed it by turning the last two names around and putting a hyphen between them. As he has written under both names, persons sometimes wonder if there are two men who love the out of doors and write with pleasure of their open air experiences.

Mr. Thompson Seton's wish was to spend a large part of his life tramping over the country studying animals and learning woodcraft. The rest of the time he would write and make pictures of what he had seen.

He felt he could stay within doors only part of each year. So as soon as he finished school and returned to the province of Manitoba he went to work in the fields. It did not take him long to earn enough money to live on during the winter, as his wants were few; then he set out to tramp all over the province. He watched the birds; he learned the ways of all the animals and could tell wonderful stories of their instinct and cunning. When he did live under a roof for a few weeks, he was always busy drawing pictures of his friends in the open or writing down accounts of their lives. One of his best known books was published in 1898 and was called, ”Wild Animals I Have Known.” This brought him to the attention of many readers; but he had been helping make books long before this one, for when the Century Dictionary was published he drew for it more than a thousand pictures of the animals that he had watched and studied.

In the course of his life he has been a hunter, a day laborer, a scientist, a naturalist, and an artist. At the same time he has been able to carry out his plan of spending the greater part of each year out of doors. Loving a free active life from his earliest boyhood, it is not strange that Ernest Thompson Seton was the first man to organize the Boy Scouts in America. In the Outlook for July 23, 1910, he tells the story in a most interesting manner. He says:

”My friend John Moale, a rich man, had bought several thousand acres of abandoned farm lands near Boston in the year 1900. This he made into a beautiful park, all for his own enjoyment. Around this park he built a strong fence twelve feet high so that no one could get into the park. His prospects of peace and happiness were excellent. But the neighbors resented his coming. He had fenced in a lot of open ground that had been the common cow-pasture of the adjoining village. He had taken from the boys their nutting-ground, and forbidden the usual summer picnics. He was an outsider, a rich man despoiling the very poor, and they set about making it unpleasant for him.

”They destroyed his fences, they stoned his notice-boards until they fell, and they painted shocking pictures on his gates. Mr. Moale, a peace-loving man, rebuilt the fences and restored the notice-boards only to have them torn down again and again.

”All summer this had been going on, so I learned on visiting Mr. Moale in September. Finally I said to him: 'Let me try my hand on these boys.' He was ready for anything, and gave me a free hand. I bought two tents, three old Indian teepees, and two canoes. I got some bows and arrows and a target.

”Then I got a gang of men to make a campground by the lake on my friend's grounds. On this I set up the tents and teepees in the form of an Indian village.

”Now I went to the local school house and got permission to talk to the boys for five minutes. 'Now boys,' I said, 'Mr. Moale invites you all to come to the Indian village on his land next Friday, after school, to camp with him there until Monday morning. We will have all the grub you can eat, all the canoes necessary, and everything to have a jolly time in camp.'

”At first the boys were bashful and suspicious, but finally they accepted the invitation, and at 4:30 forty-two boys arrived in high glee.

”'Say, Mister, kin we holler?'

”'Yes, all you want to.'

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