Pastor refused to ban them
The Midlothian Journal Friday 16 August 1895
The new woman in church
The good people of a Methodist Church in Mason, Ohio, were very much exercised over the doings of one of their young lady members. Miss Aba Coleman, one of those belles of Warren County, the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in the district, and organist of the church, recently marched down the centre aisle of the sacred edifice attired in red bloomers of the most fashionable cut. The congregation was horrified and while the old people shook their heads and sighed, the young ones giggled. Soon many of the old people left the church, and the service ended abruptly. A committee of the congregation called at the house of the Reverend Mr Wordiworth, the pastor of the church and asked him to denounce the action of the young woman from the pulpit – but up to the present the reverend gentleman has declined to interfere. The girls of the congregation are with Miss Coleman, who is an accomplished cyclist, and they declare their intention of defending the bloomers even if they have to leave the church.
