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THIS VOLUME CONTAINS SKETCHES OF
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF
NEW ENGLAND
COMPILED BY
Mary Elvira Elliot, Mary A. Stimpson, Martha Seavey Hoyt, and Others Under the Editorial Supervision of JULIA WARD HOWE, assisted by Mary H. Graves
" Honorable women not a few."
BOSTON
NEW ENCJLAND HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
/904
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE.
|
1 |
N presenting this book to our patrons, we think it fitting to state that the publication of such a vohune was first suggested to us by two ladies who have been since, for most of the time, closely associated with us in its com- pilation — Mrs. Mary A. Stimpson and Miss Mary E. Elliot. Their labors have been ably supplemented in this department and otherwise by Mrs. Martha S. Hoyt and others, to all of whom we owe a debt of thanks for faithful and efficient service. Our thanks are also due in high measure to Miss Mary H. Graves for her thorough and pains- taking work in connection with the editorial department and the verification of the geneal- ogies herein contained ; and to Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, the editor-in-chief, for her many wise suggestions, careful oversight, and valuable personal contributions of biographical matter. That the completion of the work has been delayed somewhat beyond the time at first anticipated has been due partly to the fact that the data for some of the biog- raphies, promised a long time since, were not furnished to us until quite recently, and also to the careful and thorough manner in which every department of the work has been carried on. That all will be fully satisfied we do not expect ; yet we believe that our subscribers in general will find little real cause for dissatisfaction, and in particular will this be true of those who readily and heartily co-operated with us in the preparation of their own biographies. The few who failed to do so will be httle entitled to complain of any errors or omissions in the matter personal to themselves herein printed. We believe the book will fulfil the reasonable expectations of all those who have taken a friendly interest in its pubhcation.
NEW ENGLAND •HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY.
Boston, Mass., U.S.A., September, 1904.
EDITOR'S PREFACE.
HE Ijiogiaphical sketches presented in this vohune are mostly (j1' an are still with us ami engaged in active pursuits which embrace variety of callings. The woman minister, doctor, lawyer, all have her" record, and with them the writer, the teacher, the philanthropist, the general care-; society.
The sketches naturally vary in importance and interest ; bnt, taken all together, t: offer a laudable report of the work of New F^ngland women in many departments < pubhc and personal service. They attest the active interest of New England's daughtei in the welfare of the State and in all that most vitally concerns its citizens.
JULIA WARD HOWE
ELIZABETH C. AGASSIZ
BIOSRAPHIGAb.
ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ,
the first President of Radcliffe College and its constant bene- factress, is destined, through the scholarship that bears her name and the hall which is to be erected in her honor on the college grounds, to be held in grateful, lasting remembrance as a pioneer advocate and promoter in the nineteenth century of the higher education of women. In former years, as the wife and helpmeet of a naturalist of world-wide reputation, and later as the editor of his Life and Correspondence, she was well known in literary and scientific circles. Her subsecjuent work as an educational leader brought her name more directly before the public; and the celebration in Decembei', 1902, in Sanders Theati'e, Cambridge, of the eightieth anniversary of her l)irth was widely reportetl in the papers as an occasion of general interest. Born in Boston, December 5, 1822, daughter of Thomas Graves and Mary (Perkins) Cary, she comes of long lines of New England ancestry, and personally bears witness to gentle blood and breeding. Her father, Thomas Graves Cary, A.M. (Harv. Coll. ISll"), was son of Sanmel^ and Sarah (Gray) Cary and grandson of Saniuel'* anil Margaret (Graves) Cary, all of Chelsea, Mass. His grandfather, Sanmel'* Cary, was descended from' James' Cary, of Charles- town, through Jonathan^ and Samuel.^ James' Cary came from England and settled in Charlestown in 1639. He was the seventh son of William Cary, who was Mayor of the city of Bristol, England, in 1611.
SanuieP Cary, A.M., born in 1713, was grad- uated at Harvard College in 1731. He became a sea-captain, making long voyages. He mar-
ried in 1741 Margaret Graves, daughter of Thomas' Graves, of Charlestown (Harv. Coll. 1703), Judge of the Superior Court; grand- daughter of Dr. Thomas^ Graves (Harv. Coll. 1656); and great-grand-daughter of Thomas' Graves, who settled in Charlestown about 1637, was master of various vessels, and at the time of his death, in 1653, was a Rear- Admiral in the Engli.sh navy.
Mary Perkins, wife of Thomas G. Cary and mother of Elizabeth, was a daughter of Colonel Thomas Handasyd Perkins, merchant and phi- lanthropist of Boston (born 1764, died 1854), who in 1833 gave his estate on Pearl Street to be the seat of the school for the blind taught by Dr. Sanmel G. Howe. This act of public- spiritetl generosity is commemorated in the name which the school — now in South Boston, marvellously increased in size and eciuipment — bears to this day, "The Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind." Colonel Perkins was also a liberal contributor to the funds of the Massachusetts General Hospital, the Mercantile Library Association, and the Boston Athenanmi, and a helper of many other worthy causes. One of his sisters was the wife of Benjamin Abbot, IjL.D., for fifty years })rincipal of Phillips Exeter Acad- emy; another, Margaret, wife of Ralph Bennett Forbes and mother of tlie late Hon. John Murray Forbes, of Milton. Tliey were childi-en of James and Elizabeth (Peck) Perkins, and doubtless inherited some of their sterling traits of character from their mother, who, early left a willow, showed herself a woman of "great capacity in b\isiness matters" and a friend to the needy, t'olonel Perkins was named for his maternal giandfather, Thomas Handasyd Peck. His paternal grandparents were Eilnmnd and
RErRESKNTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
Esther f (Frcifhingliain) IVi'kins, tlio former, son of Captain Kdimmd Perkins, the first of the family to settle in Boston (in the latter jxart of the seventeenth centvuy). Colonel Perkins married the daughter of Simon Elliott, of Boston, and had two sons — Thomas H., Jr., and deorge C. — and five daughters.
Elizabeth Cabot Cary (nf>\v ^Irs. Agassiz) was educated at home, pur.suing her studies under the direction of a governess. She was one of a family of seven children. Her younger brother, Richard Cary, Captain of Company G, Second Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, commissioned May 24, ISGl, fell, mortally wounded, in the battle of Cedar Mountain, "N'a., August 9, 1862. Her elder sister, Mary Louisa, who married Cornelius C. Felton (President of Harvard University 1S60-02), died in 1S64, having survived her huslmnd two years.
In the spring of 1850 Elizabeth C. Cary be- came the wife of Louis Agassiz, profes,sor of zoology and geology in Harvard University, and went with him to his house in Oxford Street, Cambridge, to make a home for him and his son and the two daughters soon to come from Switzerland, and "to be," as said his biogra]ilier, Mr. Marcou, writing years after, " the guardian angel of Louis Agassiz and his whole family of children and grandchildren." Mrs. Agassiz not oidy directed willi discretion the affairs of her household, Init interested herself in natural history and particularly in zoological studies, and .served as her husband's secretary and literary a.ssistant, taking copious notes of his lectures and preparing manuscript for the printer.
Lifelong student, reverently intent to
. . . "Read what was still unread In tlie niainiscripts of (iod."
unwearied teacher, rarely eciualled in enthu- sia.sm and fitness for his vocation. Professor Agassiz, as everybody knows, had " no time to spare to make money." His salary, how- ever, fell far short of enabling him to meet both domestic and scientific expenses. Hence the establishment in 1855 (the idea originating with his wife) of the Agassiz School for young ladies, which had a prosperous existence of eight years, its pupils, attracted by the fame
of the great naturalist, coming from near and from far. The elder Agassiz children, Alexander and Ida, were helpers from the first. Mrs. Agassiz, who did not teach, held the responsi- ble ])osition of director, and had the general management of the school.
In the summer of 1859 Professor and Mrs. Agassiz enjoyed a trip to Europe, passing happy weeks with his mother and sister at Montagny, Switzerland. In April, 1865, they went to South America on the scientific ex- pedition whose history is recorded in the book entitled "A Journey in Brazil."
In December, 1871, they embarked on one of the vessels of the United States Coast Survey, the "Hassler," fitted out for deep-sea dredg- ing, which sailed through the Strait of Magel- lan and then northward along the Pacific coast to San Francisco, entering the Golden Gate August 24, 1872. During this voyage a journal of scientific and personal experience was kept by Mrs. Agassiz under her hu.^band's direction. A part of it was published in the Atlantic Monthly.
The eighth tlecade of the nineteenth century, which witnesses! in July, 187.3, the opening of the School of Natural History at Penikese, and in December following, the funeral of " the Master," was the decade in which a movement was made toward securing for women in Cam- bridge the real Harvard education or its equiv- alent. The initiative appears to have been or was taken by Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Gilman. A plan for instituting for women, outside the college, a tluplicate course of the Harvard in- struction was received with favor in December, 1878, by President Eliot and by some of the faculty who had been consulted. On February 22, 1879, was issued a circular headed "Private Collegiate Instruction for Women," setting forth the project. It was signed by Mrs. Louis Agassiz, Mrs. E. W. Gurney, Mrs. J. P. Cooke, Mrs. J. B. Greenough, Mrs. Arthur Gilman, Miss Alice M. Longfellow, Mrs. Lillian Horsford, and Arthur Gilman, secretary. Examinations for admission to the classes were held in Sep- tember, and work in the lecture room began at once. Twenty-five students completed the first year's course. On October 16, 1882, it having become necessary to raise a fund to
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
purchase the Fay House, the aljove-named ladies and others who had joined them legally became a corporation, with the title, "The Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women."
Ihider the popular name of "The Harvartl Annex," invented by one of its students, the institution grew and flourished. Twice was the Fay House enlargeil. In 1894, by act of the State Legislature, the name of The Society for the Collegiate Instruction of AVonien was changed to Radcliffe College, the bill receiving the signature of (ioveinor Greenhalge, March 23, 1894. It authorized Radcliffe to confer on women, with the ai)proval of the President and Fellows of Harvard, all honors and degrees as fully as any university or college in the Connnonwealth.
President of Harvard Annex from the be- ginning, Mrs. Agassiz was President of Rad- cliffe until 1900, when she tenderetl her resig- nation. The extent, character, and value of her services to the college in this long period are known only to those who have been asso- ciated with her in its management or have at- teniled as students. She continued as Hon- orary President of the Associates of Radcliffe, who constitute its Corporation, and ex-officio member of the Academic Board and chairman of the Council, until the close of the academic year 1902-1903. On June 23, 1903, she pre- sided at the Commencement exercises, and conferred degrees on ninety-nine candidates — eighty Bachelors of Arts, and nineteen Masters of Arts. In the precetling week she had re- signed the acting presidency, feeling herself no longer equal to the res])onsil:)ilities of the position; and Dr. Le Baron Russell IJriggs, the second officer of Harvard University, had ac- cepted the presidency of Radcliffe College, the choice being one which gave Mrs. Agassiz "much pleasure and entire satisfaction." Mrs. Agassiz's letter of withilrawal closed with these words : —
"I am grateful for the length of years which has allowed me to see the fulfilment of our cherished hope for Radcliffe in this closer re- lation of her academic life and government with that of Harvard. With cheerful confi- dence in her future, which now seems assured
to me, with full and affectionate recognition of all that her Council, her Academic Board, antl her Associates have done to bring her where she now stands, I bitl farewell to my colleagues. At the same time I thank them for their un- failing support and encouragement in the work which we have shared together in behalf of Radcliffe College."
Released from her former responsibilities as ex-officio member of the Coimcil and chairman of the Academic Board, Mrs. Agassiz remains (1903-04) as Honorary President of the Asso- ciates of Radcliffe.
Professor Louis Agassiz is survived by the three children above named — Professor Alexan- der, director of the Agassiz Museum: Mrs. Quincy A. Shaw, antl l\Irs. Henry Lee Higgin- son. Mrs. Agassiz continues to make her home on Quincy Street, Cambridge. She has also a summer cottage at Nahant, overlooking the glacier-marked, wave-beaten cliffs of the North Shore, a short distance from the stone cottage built by her grandfather Perkins.
Going abroad with Miss Mary Felton, her niece, in 1895, Mrs. Agassiz si)ent a number of months in Italy, journeyed through Ger- many, France, antl the Tyrol, and in England visited Newnham and Girton Colleges for women.
Mrs. Agassiz is the author or editor of the following named books: "A First Lesson in Natural History," by Acta-a, 1859, republished in 1879 with the author's name; "Seaside Studies in Natural History," by Elizabeth C. and Alexander Agassiz, 1865; "Geological Sketches," 18G6; "A Journey in Bi'azil," by Professor antl Mrs. Louis Agassiz, 1868; "Louis Agassiz, his Life antl Correspontlence," in two volumes, editetl by Elizabeth Cary Agassiz, 1885.
M. H. G.
EDNAH DOW CHENEY, one of the founders in 1862 of the New England Htjspital, Boston, its secretary for twenty-seven years antl president fif- teen years, is numbered among the veterans of the forward movements in education, philan- thropy, and reform of the nineteenth century,
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
who happily still live to grace by their presence and help by their wise counsels the delibera- tive assemblies and budding activities of the twentieth century. She has recently given to the public an interesting volume of "Reminis- cences." Born in Boston, June 27, 1824, daughter of Sargent Smith and Ednah Parker (Dow) Littlehale, she was named for her mother, and until her marriage, May 19, 1853, to the artist, Seth AVells Cheney, was known as Ednah Dow Littlehale.
Her father was for thirty years a Boston merchant. His native place was Gloucester, Mass. Born in 1787, he died in 1851. He was of the fifth generation of the Essex Coufity family founded by Richard Littlehale, who took the "oath of supremacy and allegiance to pass for New England in the Mary & John of London, Robert Sayres, Master, 24th March, 1633," joined the Massachusetts Bay Colony at Ipswich, and, eventually settling in Haver- hill, was Town Clerk for twenty years, serving also as Clerk of the Writs. Richard* Littlehale, of Gloucester (Joseph;'' Isaac,' Richard'), Mrs. Cheney's grandfather, was a Captain of militia. He married a widow, Mrs. Sarah Byles Edgar, daughter of Captain Charles Byl^'-'^- w^^o connnanded a company at the siege of Louis- burg, and who also fought at Quebec under Wolfe.
Mrs. Cheney's mother, Mrs. Ednah P. Little- hale, a native of Exeter, N.H., born in 1799, died in Boston in 1876. She was the daughter of Jeremiah and Ednah (Parker) Dow and on the paternal side a descendant in the seventh generation of Thomas Dow, one of the early .settlers of Newbury, I\Ia,ss., freeman in 1642. The Dow ancestral line is Thomas,' Stephen,- ' Nathaniel,* Captain Jeremiah,'^ Jeremiah," Ed- nah Parker (Mrs. Littlehale).
Thomas' Dow removed from Newbury to Haveihill, where he died in 1654. Stephen," son of Thomas and his wife Phebe, was born in Newlniry in 1642. Stephen,^ born in Haver- hill in 1670, married Mary Hutchins. Their son Nathaniel,* born in 1()99, married Mary Hendricks, and lived in Haverhill and Me- thuen, Mass., and Salem, N.IL, formerly a part of Haverhill, Mass.
Captain Jeremiah,'^ l>orn in Haverhill, Mass.,
in 1738, married Lydia Kimball, of Bradford, daughter of Isaac* Kimball, a lineal descendant of Richard' Kimball, of Ipswich. Captain Jeremiah^ Dow died in Salem, N.H., in 1826. His name is in the Revolutionary Rolls of New Hampshire under different dates. He com- manded a company in Lieutenant Colonel Welch's regiment, which marched from Salem, N.H., to join the Northern army in September, 1777. He was probably the Jeremiah Dow of New Hampshire who was private in Captain Marston's company in the expeflition to Crown Point in 1762. Retire H. Parker marched to Cambridge as a minute-man of the Second Bradford Foot Company on the alarm of April 19, 1775.
Mrs. Littlehale's maternal grandparents were Lieutenant Retire H. and Ednah (Hardy) Parker, of East Bradford, now Groveland, Mass. The Parker line of ancestry began with Abraham' Parker, who married at Woburn in 1644 Rose Whitlock, and about the year 1653 removed to Chelmsford. It continued through Abraham,^ who married Martha Liver- more and settled in East Bradford; Abrahanr' antl wife, Elizal)eth Bradstreet (a descendant of Humphrey Bradstreet, of Rowley) ; Abi-a- ham* and his second wife, Hannah Beckett, daughter of Retire Beckett, of Salem, belonging to a noted family of ship-builders; to Lieutenant Retire H. Parker and his wife, Ednah Hardy, above named.
Martha Livermore, wife of Abraham^ Parker, of East Bradford, was a daughter of John Liver- more, of Watertown (the founder of the family of this name in New England), and his wife Grace (born Sherman), whom he married in England, and who was closely related to the immigrant progenitors of the most prominent Sherman families of America. Mrs. Grace Sherman Livermore was a useful member of the colony, being an obstetrician. She sur- vived her husl)and, and died in Chelmsford in 1690, aged seventy-five years (gravestone).
Judging from printed records, the name Ed- nah has come down to Mrs. Cheney not only from her mother, her grandmother Dow, and her great-grandmother Parker, but from a more remote ancestress, Mrs. Ednah Bailey, wife of Richard' Bailey, o-'" Rowley, Mass. Tracing
REPRESENT ATRT: WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
backward, we find that Mrs. Ednah Hardy Parker, born in 1745, was the daughter of Cap- tain EHphalef and Hannah (Platts) Hardy, grand-daughter of Jonas Platts and his wife, Anne' Bailey, and great-grand-daughter of Deacon Joseph^ Bailey, of East Bradford, who was son of Richard' and his wife Ednah. Richard Bailey was one of the company that set up in Rowley the first cloth-mill in America. Mrs. Ednah Bailey's maiden name is thought to have been Halstead.
Mrs. Cheney's birthplace was on Belknap Street, now Joy, about half-way up Beacon Hill from Cambridge Street. She was the third chikl born to her parents. Five children came after her, one a little brother; but only four — Ednah and three sisters, one a lifelong invalid — lived to adult age. When she was two years old, the family removed to Hayward Place, and six years later they took up their abode in a new house on Bowdoin Street. At the first school she attended, kept by the Misses Pem- berton, she had gootl training in reatling, spell- ing, arithmetic, grammar, anil geography. The second was Mr. William B. P^owle's Monitorial School, which she entered with her elder sister, Mary Frances. Here she distinguished herself by her knowledge of grannnar, as shown by her skill in "parsing," antl her ready recitations in other studies that interested her, one of these being French, which was especially well taught. The attraction of a new and friendly acquaint- ance, Miss Caroline Healey, drew her to the school on Mount Vernon Street of Mr. Joseph H. Abbot. For a few terms she continued to advance in various ways of learning, more or less pleasurable, in the meantime successfully cultivating independence of thought, till, feel- ing her-self not in harmony with the constituted authorities, she was as anxious to leave the Abbot school as she had been to enter it. Here ended her school-days — education still to be won. The home atmosphere was favorable to mental growth. Love of learning, with a taste for good literature, was an inheritance. The mother, "a beautiful type of woman, of good practical ability and great tenderness of heart, was very fond of reading." "Indeed," says Mrs. Cheney, " I can never remember seeing either her or my father sitting down to rest
without a book in their hands." Mr. Littlehale had a good knowledge of history, especially American.
The period of time now arrived at, the vivi- fying dawn of New England Transcendentalism, brought golden opportunities to the young as- pirant for intellectual culture. A great awak- ening and a new sense of the surpassing riches of life was the result to Ednah D. Littlehale of attending for three successive seasons the con- versations of Margaret Fuller. Few teachers have shown to such a degree the power of per- sonality.
Mrs. Cheney writes: "I absorbed her life and her thoughts, and to this day I am astonished to find how large a part of what I am when I am most myself I have derived from her. . . . She did not make us her disciples, her blind followers. She opened the book of life and helped us to read it for ourselves."
Of Mr. Emer-son, Mrs. Cheney says, " I never missed an opportunity of hearing him or read- ing his works"; and of Mr. Alcott, not all of whose theories she couUl accept, "But he gave me an insight into the life and thoughts of the old philosophers, anil moreover gave me the constant sense of the spiritual, the supersen- sual life that is the most precious of all posses- sions."
It is significant that Mrs. Cheney and her elder sister, Mary F., were among the first parishioners of Theodore Parker when he came from West Roxbury to Boston, 1846. Inspirer, friend, and comforter in time of sorrow he ever remained.
For a year or two before her marriage Mrs. Cheney was the secretary of the School of De- sign for Women in Boston, of which she was one of the founders. Short-lived, the school yet served to show the existence of talent among American women, and is remembered as "one of the failures that enriched the ground for success."
Twin ambitions, art and literature, were na- tive to Mrs. Cheney. Choosing the latter for her field of action, she ceased not to cultivate her taste for the former. As an artist's wife she maile her first visit to Europe, sailing with her husband for Liverpool in August, 1854. The year following their return (in June, 1855)
10
REFRESENTATIVK WOMEN OF NEW ENC.LAND
witnessed the hirth of a daughter, Margaret Swan, in September, 1S55, and the death of Mr. Cheney in April, 1856, in South Manchester, Conn., his native place. He was one of the earliest crayon artists in America. Mrs. Howe thus speaks of him: "Seth Cheney's crayon portraits were among the delights of his time. The foremost women of Boston were glad to sit to him, and his rendering of their features has now for us
"' The tender p;rare of a day that is dead.'
Among his portraits of men, I especially re- member one of Theodore Parker which was highly prized. An exhibition of a number of these works was arranged some years since by Mr. S. R. Koehler, curator of engravings, Art Museum, at the Boston Art Museum. It was an occasion of much interest, recalling many lovely and distinguished personalities, inter- preted by Mr. Cheney with a grace and simplicity all his own."
Mrs. Cheney was one of the subscribers toward the establishment in 1856, under the leadenship of Dr. Zakrzewska, of the first women's hospital, the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children. A few years later she was interested with others in the ad- dition of a clinical department to the medical school for women in Boston, now merged in Boston University. In 1863 she was one of the three women corporators of the New England Hospital, which they had started in 1862 in a house on Pleasant Street. "Ac- cepting the position of secretary, Mrs. Cheney," to quote the words of Dr. Zakrzewska, "devoted herself to the work, and became one of the most powerful advocates and supporters of this in- stitution— an institution now firmly established and professionally recognized, and which by its' efficiency and conscientious work has not only educated women as physicians and nurses, but has opened the way for the former to a professional equality with medical men, as the Ma.ssachusetts Medical Society was tlie first to adnnt women as members."
Succeeding Mi.ss Lucy Goddard as president of the hospital in 1887, Mrs. Cheney continued in office, discharging the duties thereof with
zeal and efficiency for fifteen years, or until her resignation on account of failing health in Oc- tober, 1902. She is now Honorary President.
Early interested in the work of the Freed- man's Aid Society, and becoming the secretary of the teachers' committee on the resignation of Miss Stevenson, Mrs. Cheney made several visits to the South in the years directly follow- ing the close of the war for the Union, the first time going with Abby M. May as a delegate to a convention in Baltimore. Unexpectedly called upon there to address a meeting com- posed largely of colored people, she had her first experience in public speaking. During her absence on one of these Southern trips a society was formed in Boston, of which she was appointed a director, being now Honorary President, and in which she has continued to work — the Free Religious Association, "the freedom and inspiration of whose first meet- ings" she finds it "impossible to report."
In 1868 Mrs. Cheney was one of the founders of the New England Women's Club, which soon came to be recognized as a forceful influence for good in the community; and about the same time she identified herself with the woman suf- frage movement. For some years she was Vice- president of the Massachusetts School Suffrage Association. Joining the Association for the Advancement of W^omen early in the seven- ties, a year or two after its organization, she became one of its most valued workers and speakers. Mrs. Cheney also assisted in the founding of a horticultural school for women, of which Abby W. May became president. It was given up when Bussey College opened, and admitted women to its classes.
Mrs. Cheney's second visit to Europe in 1877, in company with her sisters and her daughter, was saddened in Rome by the death of her sister Helen. Returning to Boston in 1878, she respontled to an invitation to give a course of lectures on art at the Concoril School of Phi- losophy the following summer, and continued to lecture throughout the session.
In 1882 Mrs. Cheney was bereft of her daugh- ter. She had been a student of great ])romise at the Massachu-setts Institute of Technology; and, after she laid down her books and her young life, a room in the Technology building
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
11
was fitted up and named for her the "Margaret Swan Cheney Reading Room."
Since 1863 Mrs. Cheney has made her home in Jamaica Plain. Her interest in things that make for Imman welfare and progress con- tinues unabated. Her voice in these later days is yet occasionally heard in pulilic, and her pen is still that of a ready if not constant writer.
Mrs. Howe, speaking from the standpoint of long and intimate acquaintance, says: "Mrs. Ednah Dow Cheney is one of the marked per- sonalities of the last fifty years in her native town of Boston. In ail this period of time she has been prominent in movements of sound and needed reform. Naturally averse to per- sonal publicity, she has not shunned it where her name and word could add weight to the atlvocacy of a just cause. In the education and health of the comnmnity she has shown the most lively interest. She has been a strenu- ous champion of the claims of the colored race to political and social justice. She has hatl much at heart the spread of religious tolera- tion and the enfranchisement of her own sex. One who has been proud and glad to work with her may say that she has always found her a woman of good counsel and of reliable judg- ment. Motives of i)ersonal advancement are foreign to her nature. Her life has been en- riched by true culture, by the love of all that is beautiful in art, -literature, and character. The good work which she has contributed to the tasks of her day and generation will surely endure, and should be held, with her imme, in loving and lasting remembrance."
Among the books that Mrs. Cheney has writ- ten or edited may be named the following: "Handbook for American Citizens" (written for the freedmen of the South), 1864; "Faith- ful to the Light," 1872; "Sally Williams," 1872; "Child of the Tide," 1874;' "Gleanings in the Fields of Art," 1881; Life, Letters, and Journals of Louisa M. Alcott, 1889; Memoirs of her husband, Seth W. Cheney, of her daugh- ter, Margaret S. Cheney, and of the distinguished engraver, John Cheney; "Stories of the Olden Time," 1890; "Life of Ranch, the Sculptor"; "Reminiscences," December, 1902.
M. H. G.
ELIZABI'.TH PORTER GOULD, author ami lecturer of -witle reputation, now a resident of Boston, is a native of Essex County, Massachusetts. The eldest daughter of John Averell and Elizabeth Cheever (Leach) Gould, she comes of substan- tial New England stock, numbering among her ancestors two colonial governors, the first woman j)oet of New England, eight or more ministers of the gospel, and several Revolutionary patriots. She can trace her descent from over thirty early settlers of Essex County. Through the public services of nine of her forbears she is eligible to membership in the Society of Colonial Dames.
The Gould ancestral line is: Zaccheus,' John,-^ Solomon,^ John,^ " John Averell' — showing Eliza- beth P. to be of the eighth generation in New England. Zaccheus Gould came to the Bay Colony about the year 1638, and somewhat later settleil in Topsfield.
The line of descent from Governor Thomas Dudley and his wife, Dorothy Yorke, is through his daughter Anne, wife of Governor Simon Bradstreet; their son, John Bradstreet, born in Andover, Mass., in 1652, who married Sarah Perkins and lived in Topsfield; his son, Simon Bradstreet, who married Elizabeth, ilaughter of the Rev. Joseph Capen, of Topsfield; Eliza- beth Bradstreet, who married Joseph Peaboily; Priscilla Peabody, married Isaac Averell; Elijah Averell, married Mary Gould ; and their daughter, Mary Averell, who, marrying John" Gould, named above, became the mother of John Averell Gould and grandmother of Elizabeth Porter Gould.
Mary Goukl, wife of Elijah Averell and ma- ternal grandmother of John Averell Gould, was a daughter of Captain Joseph Gould, of Tops- field, and his wife l']lizal)eth, daughter of the Rev. John Emerson, of Maiden. Her maternal grandfather, the Rev. John Iilmerson, was a son of Edward and Rebecca (Waldo) Emerson, grandson of the Rev. Joseph and Elizabeth (Bulkeley) ]<]mer.son, Elizabeth Bulkeley being the daughter of the Rev. Edwartl Bulkeley and grand-daughter of the Rev. Peter Bulkeley, the first minister of Concord, Mass. (Edward Emerson and his wife, Rebecca Waldo, were great-grandparents of Ralph Waldo Emerson.)
Miss Gould's mother was a daughter of Ben-
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REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
jaiiiin,' Jr., and Susan (Cheever) Leach, of Man- chester, Mass., and on the paternal side a de- scendant of Robert^ Leach, an early settler of that town, and his father, Lawrence Leach, who is said to have come to Boston from Scotland in 162S. Susan Cheever Leach, Miss Gould's maternal grandmother, was a grand-daughter of the Rev. Ames^ Cheever, of Manchester, and his wife, Sarah Choate, and great-grand-flaugh- ter of the Rev. Sanuicf- Cheever, of Marble- head, who was son of Ezekiel' Cheever, the fa- mous schoolmaster of the olden time in Massa- chusetts and Connecticut, for forty years the head of the Boston Latin School.
In Chelsea, whither Mr. and Mrs. John A. Gould removed when their children were young, they resided for about thirty years, the city then being noted for its gootl society, number- ing among its leading families the Osgoods, Frosts, Fays, Sawyers, Shillabers, and others. Mr. Gould for a number of years served as one of the School Committee, also as a member of the Common Council, and was chairman of the Music Committee of the First Congrega- tional Church. Mrs. Gould was one of the fore- most in works of benevolence, and was nmch loved and respected. She died in Chelsea in 1893. A daughter Susie, who had unusual musical talent, was the "little rosebud of a Chelsea girl" who sang at one of the public readings of Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1872, being thus mentioned in Mrs. Fields' biography of Mrs. Stowe.
Elizabeth Porter Gould, the eldest daughter, was named for her grantimother Gould's sister Elizabeth, the wife of Dr. John Porter, of "Fairfields," the old Porter estate in Wenham. With Miss Gould the possession of talent has been a call for its improvement. The pleas- ant paths of learning in which her mental powers were developed easily led into equally pleasant fields of useful activity. Whenever congrat- ulated upon the many patriotic services she has rendered, she has always declared with her kinsman. Dr. Benjamin Apthorp Gould, that her "ancestry made it a necessity." And so in regard to her many acts of kindness, her in- telligent sympathy in behalf of so many causes, she simply says: "I was born in a house dedi- cated to God and humanity. I can't go back
on that." Questioned, she tells how the house in Manchester-by-the-Sea, where she first saw the light of this world, .June 8, 1848, was dedi- cated like a church by a kinsman of her mother's, who, on its completion, called together people frojn far and near for a service of prayer and praise.
An inspiring leader and adviser of clubs tlur- ing her long residence in Chelsea, after the club era began, she was also for years an intelligent power among the society women of Boston, Brookline, Newton, and other places, by her "Topic Talks," opportunities for which came to her wholly urtsolicited. In fact, they seemed to be thrust u])on her, for it was clearly noted that this author of varied learning and reserve force had the power of expressing herself in extemporaneous speech, as well as on paper, a rather rare gift.
•As an officer in philanthroiMc and educational organizations, she has struck important chords in the line of reform. Her brochure, " How I became a Woman SufTragist," preluded a membership in the Massachusetts Woman Suf- frage Association, and led to the casting of her annual ballot at school board elections. As a director from the first of the Massachusetts Society for Good Citizenship, she entered by voice and pen into the good government work of that organization. As an officer for years of the Massachusetts Society for the University Education of Women, her good judgment and wise counsel have been of service. As a mem- ber of the Woman's Board of Foreign Missions, she is able, as she says, to become a seed-sower in behalf of the broader education of foreign women. She has written convincingly in the interests of the American college on the Bos- phorus and in other lands. Her article in the Century for 1889 on " Pundita Ramabai" was but an outline of the lecture which, with those on "John and Abigail Adams," "John and Dorothy Hancock," "Holland and the United States," "The Brownings and America," and others, she has delivered before numerous women's clubs and other organizations. Her gratuitous platform work in behalf of the George Washington Memorial Association led her as far south as Richmond. Her lecture in Char- lottesville was the first ever delivered at
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
13
the University of Mrgiiiia by a woman. As seen in her poems and speeches in behalf of the restoration of "Old Ironsides," her plea for the Lincoln memorial collection at Washing- ton, D.C., and in the brochure, "An Offering in behalf of the Deaf," concerning speech edu- cation, many another cause has had her helping hand.
Miss Gould is an honorary member of the Castilian Club of Boston, having contributed one of the ablest papers to volume xxvii. of members' essays, presented by the club to the Boston Public Library. Her right-to-the- point speeches on a variety of subjects also made her an honorary member of the Wednes- day Morning Club of Boston. She was the only woman speaker upon the erection of the Abigail Adams cairn, June 17, 1896, under the auspices of the Atlams Chapter, Mrs. Nelson V. Titus, Regent, and was the poet of the Web- ster Centennial at Fryeburg, Me., in the sum- mer of 1902, having been made some time be- - fore, for articles written on Webster, an hon- orary member of the Boston Webster Histori- cal Society.
Her conscientious antl extensive research in historical realms is seen in her interesting book, "John Adams and Daniel Webster as Schoolmasters," for which the Hon. Charles Francis Adams wrote an introduction. This, with its companion, "Ezekiel Cheever: School- master," will, it is said, become the final word on the respective subjects, to be more and more valued as the years go by. Her versa- tility has led to her being the poet of occasions and of movements. Her "Endeavor Rally Hymn," to which her nephew, Willard Gould Harding, composed the music, has been widely scattered. Her "Columbia — America," set to music by Adeline Frances Fitz, which is played by Sousa's Band, is the accepted song of the Massachusetts Daughters of the Revo- lution. Two of her Children's Songs, set to music and published by Clement Ryder, are in demand for Children's Sunday. Her verses on the Mountain Laurel, on its proposal as the State flower, were dedicated to the Massa- chusetts Floral Emblem Society. Perhaps Miss Gould is most potnilarly known by her single stanza, "Don't AVorry," which has been copied
far and near, even a little Alaska paper having caught its sunshine, and, widely scattered in leaflet form, has been a comfort to many a troubled soul. Not to mention, for lack of space, the "Songs of the Months" and verses to nota- ble contemporaries and friends, it may here be stated that all that Miss Gould wishes saved of her poetry has been recently collected under the name " One's Self I sing, and Other Poems." A story, "A Pioneer Doctor," a*nd "The Brownings in America," have been recently published.
A book of selections, her "Gems from Walt Whitman," published in 1889, called forth warm response from "the good gray poet": "I want to thank you as a woman," he said, "for the capacity of understanding me; for," he added, somewhat meditatively, "only the com- bination of the pure heart and the broad mind makes this possible." The publication of her "Anne Gijchrist and Walt Whitman" in 1900 gave further evidence of her generous capacity for friendship and her appreciation of that gra- cious quality in others. An official connection with the Walt Whitman International Asso- ciation was accorded to Miss Gould in recog- nition of her labors of love in that direction.
Educated in music, "brought up," as she once said, "on symphony concerts," a sym- pathetic student also in other realms of art, she has been both a musical and an art critic. Her tastes are nowhere more plainly seen than in the collection of choice paintings, and literary treasures — signed photographs, autograph books, letters, stamps, and souvenir cards — which her wide acquaintance with famous men and women in this country and abroad has brought to her.
An extensive traveller in this' country and in Europe, Miss Gould, like some other tourists, has made a practice of dipping her hands in the water of various places she has visited, her list including the Atlantic antl Pacific Oceans, and the chief rivers, lakes, bays, falls, of our own land and a number of the most fa- mous abroad. The hot geysers of the Na- tional Park and the icy waters of the Muir Glacier in Alaska mark the extremes of tem- perature she has encountered in pursuing this "hobby." The highest water she has reached
14
REPRESENTATIVE WO.MK.N ol' NlOW ENGLAND
is that of the Yellowstone Lake, and the lowest, that of Holland.
In concluding this brief notice of Miss Gould and her work, it may be said she lives in the atmosphere of her own lines: —
'' One (lay at a tinic For ]iuiiiaiiitv's ulimh — One day at a time."
LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON. The picture of Louise Chandler Moulton __J as she was described to me by one who saw her on her wedding-day, standing on the church porch, in the magic moment that is neither sunset nor twilight, like Helen's, her beauty shadowed in white veils, a britle blooming, blushing, full of life and love and joy, has alwaj's been a radiant vision to my mind's eye.
Hardly more than a child though she was — her school-days just six weeks over — she had then printed one book, and had written another, "Juno Clifford," a novel, issued anonymously a few months after her marriage to William Upham Moulton, the publisher of a weekly paper to which she had been a contributor.
From the beginning she was a child of genius: it was only through the intuitive force of genius that she was able to know the hearts of men and women as she did at that very early period of her life — a genius that has ever since grown steadily as day grows out of dawn, and that reached its culmination in lyrics and in sonnets that have few superiors in our language.
[The daughter of Lucius L. and Louisa R. (Clark) Chandler, she was born in Pomfret, Conn. Her father was son of Charles and Hannah (Cleveland) Chandlei', and was de- scended from William' Chandler, an early set- tler of Roxbury, Mass., through his son John, who was about two years of age when the fam- ily came from England. John^ Chandler in 1686 removed from Roxbury, Mass., to Wood- stock, Conn. He was one of the twelve Rox- bury men who bought the territory known as Mashamoquet (now Pomfret), he being one of the six grantees in May, 16(S6. His wife, Elizabeth Douglas, was the daughter of \^'\\\-
iam Douglas, who was horn in 1610, "without doubt in Scotland," came to New England in 1640, and in 1660 settled in New London, Conn., where he was a deacon of the church.
Mrs. Hannah Cleveland Chandler was born at Pomfret in 1783, daughter of Solomon' and Hannah (Sharpe) Cleveland. Her father was a soldier in the war of the Revolution. Her mother (great-grandmother of Mrs. Moulton), described as "a woman of rare intelligence and wonderful gift of language," was a notable student of Greek literature. Solomon' Cleve- land was a descendant in the fifth generation of Moses Cleveland, of Woburn, Mass., the immigrant i:)rogenitor of the New England family of this surname, the line being Mo.ses,' Edward,^'' Silas,^ Solomon.'* EdwanP Cleve- land's wife was Rebecca Paine, daughter of Elisha and Rebecca (Doane) Paine and grand- daughter of Thomas and Mary^ (Snow) Paine. Mary Snow was a daughter of Nicholas' Snow, who came over in the "Ann" in 1623, and his wife Constance, who came with her father, Ste]:)hen' Hopkins, in the "Mayflower" in 1620. See Snow, Paine, Doane, Cleveland, Chandler, and Douglas Genealogies.]
The childhood of Mrs. Moulton was one that fostered her imaginative power. Her parents still clung to the strictest Calvinistic princii)les. Games, dances, romances, were things forbid- den; and, as playmates were few, the child lived in a worUl of fancy. "I was lonely," she has said, "and I sought companions. What was there to do but to create them?"
Indeed, before her eighth year her active mind was creating a world of its own in a little unwritten play, which it pleased her fancy to call a Spanish drama, and with which she be- guiled all the summer, filling it with person- ages as real and as tlear to her as those she met every day. Dwelling in such surroundings, her existence and her powers were as anoma- lous as if a nightingale or a tropic bird of para- dise were found in the nest of our home-keep- ing birds. Yet in her lovely mother's heart there nmst have been the elelicate music of the song-sparrow's strain; and never could she have carried her power so triumphantly l)Ut for the strength she inherited from her father.
The rigid Calvinism of the family had un-
LOUISE CHANDLKH MOULTON
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OK NKW i:.\(il.AM)
15
doubtedly a very stinuilating effect on tlie emotions of the sensitive child, and to its far- reaching influence may be ascribed the tinge of melancholy found in many of her pages. Not that they are not often illuminated with all the joy of being, but that, whenever the sun is bright, she has seen and felt the shadow. "One would not ignore," she says, "the glad- ness of the dawn, the strong splendor of the midday sun; but, all the .same, the shadows lengthen, and the day wears late. And yet the dawn comes again after the night; and one has faith — or is it hope rather than faith? — that the new world, which swims into the ken of the spirit to whom death gives wings, may be fairer even than the dear familiar earth, . . . this mocking sphere, where we have never been quite at home, because, after all, we are but travellers, and this is our hostelry, and not our permanent abode."
The child Louise had a great vitality, and, when free from the liurdens ami terrors of "election" and "damnation," she exulted in the breath she drew. Running in the face of a great wind was one of her joys, feeling how alive she was; and she realizeil the reverse of such emotion in listening to the sountl of the wind through an outer keyhole, which seemed to her the calling of trumpets, the crying of lost souls. She lived all this time so nuieh in a world of her own that when, in her fifteenth year, she first sent some verses to a ncwspai)er she felt it a guilty secret.
Her home in Boston, after her marriage, was a delightful one. Her house was soon a centre of attraction; and, surrounded by friends, she exercised there a gracious hosjjitality, and met the brilliant men and women who made the Boston of that epoch famous. Here was born her daughter, the golden-hairetl Florence, who is now the wife of Mr. William Schaefer, of South Carolina. Here her husband died, and here she has remained through the days of her widowhood till the house has become historic.
She continued her literary work through all these years. Besides writing her stories and essays and poems, she sent to the New York Tribune a series of interesting anil brilliant letters concerning the literary life of Boston,
giving advance reviews of new tjooks and tell- ing of the affairs of the Radical Club, of which Mr. Emerson, Colonel Higginson, Jolin Weiss, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, and others of eminence were members. In all the six years , during which these letters appeared she never made in them any unkind statement, or wrote a sen- tence that could cause pain. Through all her critical work, indeed, she has exercisetl a tender regard for the feelings of others, as well as great generosity of praise, preferring rather to be silent than to utter an unkindness.
Contributing poems and stories of power and grace to the leading magazines. Harper's, the Atlantic, the Galaxy, the first Scribner's, she also published a half-dozen very success- ful books for children, "Bedtime Stories," "Firelight Stories," "Stories Told at Twi- light," and others that have always held the popular taste; and she collectetl a few of her many atlult tales into volumes, "Miss Eyre of Boston" and "Some Women's Hearts."
Her first voyage across the sea was made in the January of 1876. Pausing in London long enough to see the Queen open Parliament in person for the first time after the Prince Consort's death, she hastened through Paris on her way to Rome and to raptures of old palaces and gardens and galleries, touched to tears b)' the Pope's benediction, abandoned to the gayety of the Carnival, enjoying the hospitality of the studios of \'edder, Story, Rollin Tilton, anil others, and of the gracious and charming social life of Rome. Her de- scriptions of all this, overflowing with the sensitiveness to beauty which is a part of her nature, make her "Random Rambles" most enchanting reading. After Rome she visited Florence, and then Venice, feeling to the quick its mysterious anil elusive spell, and then again Paris, and again London and the Lon- don season.
Entertained by Lord Houghton, she met Browning and Swinburne, George Eliot, King- lake, Theodore Watts-Dunton, and a host of others, seeing especially a great deal of Brown- hig — her personal beauty and charm, her exquisite manners and modest self-possession, her unerring tact, her voice, of which an Eng- lish poet said, "Her voice, wherein all sweet-
16
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
nesses abide," having as much to do with all this as her hterary excellence.
It was the next winter that the Macmillans brought out her first volume of poems, "Swal- low Flights"; and, althovigh she had trembled to think of its fate at the hands of alien critics, she betrayed no elation at the chorus of praise with which it was received. The Examiner spoke of the power and originality of the verses, of the music and the intensity as surpassing any verse of George Eliot's, declaring that the sonnet entitled "One Dread" might have been written by Sir Philip Sidney.
" No depth, dear Love, for thee i.s too iirofound, There is no farthest height thou mayst not dare, Nor shall thy wings fail in tlie upper air : In funeral robe and wreath my past lies bound : No old-time voice assails me with its sound When thine I hear — no former joy seems fair, Since now one only thing could bring despair. One grief, like compassing seas, my life surround, One only terror in my way be met. One great eclipse change my glad day to night, One phantom only turn from red to wliite The lips whereon thy lips have once been set: Thou knowest well, dear Love, what that must be — The dread of some dark day unshared by thee."
The Athenceum also dwelt on the vivid and subtle imagination and delicate loveliness of these verses and their perfection of technique. The Academy spoke warndy of their felicity of epithet, their healthiness, their suggestiveness, their imaginative force pervaded by the depth and sweetness of perfect womanhood; and the Tattler pronounced her a mistress of form and of artistic j)erfection, saying also that England had no ppet in such full sympathy with woods and winds and waves, finding in her the one truly natural singer in an age of s'sthetic imi- tation. " She gives the effect of the sudden note of the thrush," it said. "She is as spon- taneous as Walter von Vogelweide." The Timea, the Mornhuj Po.^t, the Literary World, all welcomed the book with eciually warm praise, and the Pall Mall Gazette spoke of her lyrical feeling as like that which gave a unique charm to Heine's songs. Very few of these critics had she ever met, and their cordial recognition was as surprising to her as it was delightful. Among the innumerable letters which she .re- ceived, filled with admiring warmth, were some
from Matthew Arnold, Austin Dobson, Freder- ick Locker, William Bell Scott, and, in fine, most of the world of letters of the London of that day. Her songs were set to music by Francesco Berger and Lady Charlcsmont, as the^ have been later on by Margaret Lang, Arthur Foote, Ethelbcrt Nevin, and many others. Philip Bourke Marston wrote her, "Much as we all love and admire your work, it seems to me we have not yet fully realized the unostentatious loveliness of your lyrics, as fine for lyrics as your best sonnets are for son- nets. 'How Long' struck me more than ever. The first verse is eminently characteristic of you, exhibiting in a very marked degree what runs through nearly all of your poems, the most exquisite and subtle blending of strong emotion with the sense of external nature. It seems to me this perfect poem is possessed by the melancholy yet tender music of winds sighing at twilight, in some churchyard, through okl trees that watch beside silent graves. Then nothing can be more subtly beautiful than the closing lines of the sonnet, 'In Time to Come': —
" ' Which was it spoke to you, the wind or I ? I think you, musing, scarcely will have heard.'
" There can be no doubt that, measuring by quality, not quantity, your place is in the very foremost rank of poets. The divine sim- plicity, strength and subtlety, the intense, fra- grant, genuine individuality of your poems will make them imperishable. And as they are of no school they will be fresh, as the old delights of earth are ever fresh." And again the same poet wrote her concerning "The House of Death" that it was one of the most beautiful, the most powerful poems he knew. " No poem gives me such an idea of the heartlessness of Nature. The poem is Death within and Sum- mer without — light girdling darkness — and it leaves a picture and impression on the mind never to be effaced."
" Not a hand has lifted the latchet Since siie went out of the door — No footstep shall cross the threshold Since she can come in no more.
" There is rust upon locks and hinges, And mould and blight on the walls.
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
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And silence faints in the chambers, And darkness waits in the halls —
" Waits as all things have waited
Since she went that day of spring, Borne in her pallid splendor
To dwell in the Court of the King :
" With lilies on brow and bosom, With robes of silken slieen. And her wonderful frozen beauty The lilies and silk between.
" Ked roses she left behind her, But they died long, long ago : 'Twas tlie odorous ghost of a blossom That seemed through the dusk to glow.
" The garments she left mocked the shadows With hints of womauly grace, And her image swims in the mirror That was so used to her face.
" The birds make insolent nmsic
Where the sunshine riots outside. And the winds are merry and wanton With the sunnner's pomp and pride.
" But into this desolate mansion, Where Love has closed the door, Nor sunshine nor sunnner shall enter, Since she can come in no more."
The reader must agree with the critic that this poem of "The House of Death" is un- equalled in its tragic beauty and sweetness.
It was apropos of this volume that in one of his letters to her Robert Browning said he had closed the book with music in his ears and flowers before his eyes, and not without thoughts across his brain. And it was concerning a later poem, "Laus \'eneris," inspired by a paint- ing of his own, that Burne-Jones said it made him work all the more confidently and was a real refreshment.
" Pallid with too much longing, White with passion and prayer, Goddess of love and beauty. She sits in the picture there —
" Sits with her dark eyes seeking Something more subtle still Than the old delights of loving Her measureless days to fill.
" She has loved and been loved so -often In her long immortal years That she tires of the worn-out rapture, Sickens of hopes and fears.
" No joys or sorrows move her, Done with her ancient pride; For her head she found too heavy The crown she has cast aside.
" Clothed in her scarlet splendor. Bright with her glory of hair, Sad that she is not mortal — Eternally sad and fair —
" Longing for joys she knows not, Athirst with a vain desire, There she sits in the picture. Daughter of foam and fire! "
Could anything be in stronger or more glori- ous contrast to the "House of Death" or to "Arcady" or to that great sonnet, "At War," or show more varied power?
Few people coukl have met such praise and appreciation as Mrs. Moulton received, so calmly, so sedately and gently, without one flutter of gratified vanity. Indecil, she is to-day the most modest and most humble- minded of women.
With the exception of the two years immedi- ately following Mr. Moulton's death, when she remained at liome and in seclusion, Mrs. Moul- ton has every summer sailed away for the foreign shores where she is so welcomed and so loved. Although possibly few Americans have had such a social as well as literary suc- cess abroad, the hospitality she has received has never been violated by her in pen or word: she has printed no letters and uttered no gos- sip concerning the houses in which she has been a guest. She has been, through all antl everything, a woman of unerring sense of right and courtesy, of whom all other Americans may be proud. Every winter sees her back in Boston, where her house is a centre of liter- ary life, and where one is sure to find every stranger of distinction. For her acquaintance among English people of prominence is as ex- tensive as among those of our own country. The friend of Longfellow and AVhittier and Holmes in their lifetime, the acquaintance of Boker, and Emerson, and Lowell, and Boyle O'Reilly, and of Sarah Helen Whitman (the fiancee of Edgar Allan Poe), of Rose Terry and Nora Perry, as she is still of Stedman and Stod- dard, Mrs. Howe, Arlo Bates, Edward Everett Hale, Howells, William Winter, Anne Whitney,
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RErRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
Alice Brown, Louise Guiney, and, in fact, of almost every one of any interest or achieve- ment here, her English acquaintance was and is e(]ually extensive, as she has been on pleas- ant terms with Sir Walter Besant, ^\'iliiam Sharp, Dr. Honler, Mathilde Blind, Holman Hunt, Mrs. Clifford, Mrs. Campbell-Praed, Coulson Kernahan, John Davidson, Kenneth Ctrahame, Richard Le Gallienne, Anthony Hope, Robert Hichens, William Watson, George Mere- dith, Thomas Hardy, and Alice Meynell, not to speak of Christina Rossetti, William Morris, Jean Ingelow, William Black, and many another of both the living and the dead.
It is in Boston that she has done the greater part of her work, collated and collected a few of her many stories and of her essaj's into vol- umes, written her books of travel, "Random Rambles" and "Lazy Tours," books full of interest, published her four volumes of poetry, and edited and prefaced with biographies "A Last Harvest" and "Garden Secrets," and the "Collected Poems" of Philip Bourke Marston, and also a selection from Arthur O'Shaugh- nessy's verses, generous with her time, her effort, her money, and her praise.
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes once wrote Mrs. Moulton that he was touched with the pas- sionate sincerity of her poems. " I cannot see," he added, " that the life of anient youth is dying out of you, or Hke to." Sincerity, in- deed, is the keynote both of her nature and her work. She is not methodical in her processes, never finding herself able to work through mere intellectual endeavor, unless some strong emotion stirs her to the tleeps. Thomas Hardy speaks of the poems in " The Garden of Dreams " as being penetrated "by the supreme quality, emotion." "It is not art but nature that gave her," said William Minto, "the spon- taneity and directness which are so marked characteristics of most of her poems, or that epigrammatic concision which enables her often to express in a sentence a whole problem or experience."
One of Mrs. Moulton's most appreciative, scholastic, and discriminating critics was Pro- fcs.sor Meiklejohn, who for twenty-seven years occupied a chair in the University of St. An- drews, Scotland, and who was the author of
a translation of Kant, of "The Art of Writing English," and other books of importance. He has said with authority that she deserved to be classed with the best Elizabethan lyrists in her lyrics, — with Herrick and Campion and Shakespeare, — while in her sonnets she might rightly take a place with Milton and Words- worth and Rossetti. "I cannot tell you how keen and great enjoyment (sometimes even rapture)," he wrote her, "I have got out of your exquisite lyrics." In a series of "Notes," following the poems, line by line, he asserted that the poet won her success liy the simplest means and plainest words, as true genius always does, and that her pages were full of emotional and imaginative meaning. Nature and Poetry uniting in an indissoluble whole; and Shelley himself, he said, would have been proud to own certain of the lines. The poem "Quest" he found so beautiful that, in his own words, it was "difficult to speak of it in perfectly measured and unexaggerated language." Of the poem "Wife to Husband" he said that " the tenderness, the sweet ami compelling rhythm, are worthy of the best Elizabethan days." The sonnet, "A Summer's Growth," "unites," he says, the "passion of such Italian poets as Dante with the imagination of modern English." This was in relation to her first voUune, "Swallow Flights"; and in conclusion he said: "This poet must look for her brothers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries among the noble and intense lyrists. Her in- sight, her subtlety, her delicacy, her music, are hardly matched, and certainly not sur- passed by Herrick or Campion or Crashaw or Carew or Herbert or Vaughan."
Of poems in the next volume, "The Garden of Dreams," Professor Meiklejohn affirmed that the perfect little gem, "Roses," was worthy of Goethe, and that "As I Sail" had the firnmess and imaginativeness of Heine, the perfect sim- plicity containing magic. "Wordsworth never wrote a stronger line," he said of one in "Voices on the Wind."
In "At the Wind's Will" again the same critic recognized the strong style of the six- teenth century, noble and daring rhythms, the "(luintessence of passion," successes gained by the "courage of simplicity," rare specimens of
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENfil.AND
19
compression as well as of sweetness. "The Gentle Ghost of Joy" he thought "a wonderful voluntary in the best style of Chopin." In a line of one of the sonnets, "Yet done with striving and foreclosed of care," he finds some- thing as good as anything of Drayton's. He pronounced the two sonnets called "Great Love" worthy of a "place among Dante's and Petrarch's sonnets," antl of the sonnet, "Were but my Spirit loosed upon the Air," he wrote, "It is one of the greatest and finest sonnets in the English language."
I think every one who knows and loves poetry in its highest form and expression will agree with all this, and will feel that the critic spoke of very great verse. Many other critics have been to the full as appreciative, and have felt, as I do, the constant delight of splenditl phrase and Shakespearian vigor ami utterance in Louise Chandler Moulton's sonnets, anil the atmosphere of warmth and beauty that bathes the thought and fancy of each page.
But in spite of the largeness and high quality of her work it is quite as much the woman as the poet who is to be loved and admired. Large-hearted and large-souled, of a religious spirit unfettered by dogma, most tender, most true, most compassionate, genial, ingenuous, of an absolute integrity antl an absolute un- worldliness, she has the warm affection of all who are fortunate enough to know her at all clo,sely. Men and women, young and old, come to her for the pleasure of the passing hour, for advice, for sympathy in joy or trouble. From all over the country people write to her, con- fiding their perplexities and sorrows, craving intellectual or spiritual comfort, and always receiving it. Her wortls of cheer are given from the heart, and she has the satisfaction of knowing the support and strength some of her written words have been to those like the young girl who, confined to her bed for three years and too weak to listen to prayers, could be helped by murmuring to herself: —
" We lay us down to sleep. And leave to God the rest, Whether to wake and weep Or wake no more be best."'
Mrs. Moulton's home in Boston is full of in-
teresting souvenirs, autographs, signed pictures, and sculptures given Ijy the artists. At every turn there is association with famous or cher- ished names, and here her guests find their welcome generous and delightful, her manner gracious, her directness reassuring, her conver- sation full of sparkle, and her presence full of charm. In her youth of a remarkable beauty, a wild-rose bloom, biack-lashed and black- browed hazel eyes, bright hair, fine features, and the oval lines of the antique in the outline of cheek and chin, much of that charm of her youth she still retains, the same soft yet fear- less glance, the same heart-warming smile, the same grace of manner, always the same grace of nature, the same confident assurance of the goodness of every one in the world, loving God in humanity, and spending herself for others. Harriet Prescott Spofford.
MRS. LILLIAN M. N. STEVENS.— " As sweet and wholesome as her own ])iny wood" was Frances E. WiUard's epigrammatic description of the woman — above named — who succeeds her as leader of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union hosts. Mi,ss ^^'il!ard and Mrs. Stevens first met in 1875 at Old Orchard, Me., and the friendship there begun ripenetl into the deepest alTection as the years passed.
Mrs. Stevens was born in Maine, and her home has always been within the borders of that State. Her parents were Nathaniel and Nancy Fowler (Parsons) Ames. Her first pub- lic work was in the school-room as teacher, when she was Miss Ames. At the age of twenty- one she married Mr. M. Stevens, of Stroud- water, a charming suburb of Portland. Her husband is in full accord with her, and is one of the most genial of hosts to the multitude of her co-workers who are entertained in their hospitable home. Their only child, Mrs. Ger- trude Stevens Leavitt, is an ardent white rib- boner and one of the State super intenilents in the Maine W. C. T. U.
Mrs. Stevens possesses keen business ability and indomitable will power. She is a woman of culture, gentle in manner, and the embodi- ment of kindness.
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REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
The old home, which has been for a centur}' in the Stevens fainily, resounds constantly to the music of children's voices, for, although Mrs. Stevens has been prominently connected with the child-saving institution of her State, she believes most ardently that an institution can never be a substitute for a home; and, while she urges her Maine women to open their doors to Gotl's homeless little ones, she herself sets them a practical example.
Mrs. Stevens has been one of the prime movers in woman's temperance work ever since the historic crusade of 1873 in Hillsboro, Ohio. In 1874 she assisted in the organization of the W. C. T. U. in her native State. For three years she acted as treasurer, and she has since been continuously its president, unani- mously chosen. For thirteen years she was assistant recording secretary of the National W. C. T. U., for one year its secretary, and at the Cleveland convention in 1894 she was, on nomination of Miss Willard, elected vice- president-at-large of the National Union, suc- ceeding to the presidency in 1898.
Besides filling these offices and leading the women of Maine as president of the constantly growing State W. C. T. U., working and speak- ing for it untiringly, Mrs. Stevens has carried on a great amount of work connected with the charities of Maine, having been officially connected with several homes for the depend- ent classes. For years she has been the Maine representative in the National Conference of Charities and Correction. She was one of the lady managers of the World's Columbian Ex- position.
No woman in the organization which she leads is more loyal to its fundamental princi- ples. None possesses in a greater degree the confidence of its friends and the good will of its opponents than Mrs. Stevens, of Maine. Only those who best know her realize the depth of her religious nature. Her creed is truly the creed of love, her life one of peace and good will. Her Bible always lies close at hand vipon her desk, and .shows much reading. From the well-worn New Testament lying upon her couch we copied the.se words: "Tell our white ribboners to study the New Testament. I love the New Testament. No human being lias
ever conceived as he should what the New- Testament means by 'loyalty to Christ.' Among the last words spoken bv Miss Willard, February 13, 1898." " Loyalty to Christ " may well be calleil the keynote to Lillian Stevens's life, and more clearly than do most people she finds Christ always among "his brethren" in poor, sin-stained, sorely burdened humanity.
Mrs. Stevens has said that any written ac- count of her would have little meaning could there not be combineil with it a sketch of the organization which has meant so much to her in her life work. In fact, it was with this un- derstaniling that Mrs. Stevens consented to have a sketch of her' life prepared for this vol- ume.
Perhaps no question is asked more frequently than " What has the Woman's Christian Tem- perance Union done?" and few questions are more difficult to answer with any degree of satisfaction. This is not for lack of material, but rather becau.se of an over-abundance thereof. A few of the more general facts of its history may here be presented.
The National AVoman's Christian Temperance LTnion is the crystallized effort of the Women's Crusatle of 1873-74. It was organized in Cleveland, Ohio, November 18-20, 1874. Its characteristics are simplicity aiul unity, with emphasis upon individual responsibility. It is organized by State, district, county, and local unions. Every State and Territory in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, has a State or Territorial union, and there is a beginning in the Philippine Islands. Ten thou- sand towns and cities have local unions.
Twenty-five national organizers, fourteen na- tional lecturers, and twenty-one national evan- gelists are constantly in the field, besides those of the several States and Territories. One thou- sand new unions were organized in 1900. One- fifth of all the States gained more than five hundred members over and above all losses in the year 1900.
Organization among the young women has grown into a branch, with its own general sec- retary and field workers. It is an integral part of the W. T. C. U., and is known as the Young Woman's ('hristian Temperance Union, or the Y. ^\^ C. T. U.
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Organization of the children into Loyal Tem- perance Legions is also a branch, and numbers two hundred and fifty thousand Seniors and Juniors. Organization among colored people has secured nine separate State unions and many members. Organization among the Ind- ians is well begun in the Indian schools and among the more civilized adult Indian women. The department of organization among foreign- speaking people circulates literature in eighteen different languages, and keeps a missionary at the port of New York. It is not unusual for a national organizer to travel ten thousand miles m one year. This work is largely mis- sionary. In 1883 Miss Willard and Miss Gor- don visited every State and Territory in the l^nion, anil completetl an itinerary which in- cluded every city of ten thousand or more inhabitants by the census of 1870. Eight round-the-world missionaries have been sent by the National W. C. T. U.
Through Miss Willard the National was in- strumental in organizing the World's W. C. T. L"., which now includes fifty-eight different countries and five hundred thousand members.
The W. C. T. U. originated the idea of scien- tific temperance instruction in the public schools, and has secured mandatory laws in every State in the Union and ;i federal law governing the District of Columbia, the Territoi'ies, and all Indian and military schools supported by the government. Under these laws twenty mill- ion in the public schools receive instruction as to the nature and effects of alcohol and to- bacco and other narcotics on the human sys- tem. Sixteen million children receive tem- perance teaching in the Sunday-schools, and two hundred and ninety-six thousand nine hundred and sixty-four of these are pledged total abstainers. The W. C. T. U. was an im- portant factor in securing the insertion of the quarterly temperance lesson in the Interna- tional Sunday-school Lesson Series, 1884, and in securing a world's universal temperance Sun- day. Two hundred and fifty thousand children are taught scientific reasons for temperance in the Loyal Temperance Legions, and all these children are pledged to total abstinence and trained as temperance workers. The educa- tional value of the W. C. T. U. to its own mem-
bers through courses of study and practical work is immense. Before any other temper- ance society had taken up mothers' meetings, the W. C. T. U. had organized in thirty-seven States and Territories, and two thousand meet- ings were held in Illinois in one year. W. C. T. U. schools of methods are held in all Chau- taucjua gatherings. Indiana held a W. C. T. U. school (jf methods in every one of its counties in 1900.
The W. C. T. U. has largely influenced the change in public sentiment in regard to social drinking, equal suffrage, equal purity for both sexes, equal remuneration for work equally well done, equal educational, professional, and industrial opportunities for men and women. Through its efforts thousands of girls have been rescued from lives of shame, and tens of thou- sands of men have signed the total abstinence pledge and been redeemed from inebriety.
The several States tlistributed nine million four hunilred and forty-four thousand three hundred and fifty pages. The National W. C. T. U. printed and distributed in 1901 fifty-five thousand annual leaflets of sixty-six pages each, which, with its annual reports and other literature given away, amounts to over five million pages.
The Union Siynol, the official organ for the National and World's W. C. T. U., a sixteen- page weekly, has a large circulation. The Cru- mdcr, a sixteen-page monthly, the official organ of the Loyal Temperance Legion, has a large and increasing circulation. One thousand colunms are filled weekly in other newspapers by two thousand eight hundred and sixteen superintendents. Thirty-two States publish State papers devote<l entirely to W. G. T. U. interests.
The W. C. T. U. has been the chief factor in State campaigns for statutory prohibition, con- stitutional amendments, reform laws in gen- eral, and those for the protection of women and children in particular, and in securing anti- gambling and anti-cigarette laws. It has been instrumental in raising the age of protection for girls in every State but two. The age is now eighteen years in thirteen States, sixteen years in nineteen States, and from twelve to fifteen years in the other States. Through its
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REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
influence scientific temperance instruction laws have been secured in every State and Territory. Curfew laws have been secured in four huntlred towns and cities. It aided in securing the anti- canteen amentlment to the army bill, which prohibits the sale of intoxicating liquors in all army posts. It secured the appointment of police matrons, now required in many of the large cities of the United States. It keeps a superintendent of legislation in Washington dur- ing the entire session of Congress, to look after reform bills.
Eight thousand petitions have lately been sent by the W. C. T. U. to the physicians of the United States, asking that their medical practice and teaching, as well as their personal example, be upon the side of safety in regard to the use of alcohol. By petitions and protests Congressman-elect Roberts, the polygamist, was prevented from taking his seat in the United States Congress. Similar elTort was made by the W. C. T. U. to retire Mr. Smoot, and the influence of this organization helped to bring about the Congressional investigation concern- ing modern Mormonism and polygamy. Because of protests the prohibitory law in Indian Terri- tory was not repealed nor openly attacked. For the same reason the prohibitory constitution of Maine was not resubmitted. The National W.C.T.U. secures more petitions than any other society in the world. It is estimated that not fewer than twenty million of signatures and attestations have been secured by the W. C. T. U., including the polyglot petition. Other societies work largely through W. C. T. U. machinery in circulating petitions. The thought of the polyglot petition originatetl with Miss Willartl, and it was written by her. It has seven million signatures and attestations.
The W. C. T. U. will continue to petition for federal legislation to protect native races in our own territory and in foreign lands. It will continue to protest against the bringing of Chinese girls to this country for immoral pur- poses, and against the enslaving of the same, and against the legalizing of all crime, especially that of prostitution and liquor selling. It will continue to protest against the sale of li(iuor in Soldiers' Homes, where an aggregate of two hundred and fifty-three thousand and twenty-
seven dollars is spent annually for intoxicating drinks, only about one-fifth of the soldiers' pension money being sent home to their fami- lies. It will continue to protest against the United States government receiving a revenue for liquors sokl within prohibitory territory, either local or State, and against all complicity of the federal government with the liquor traffic. It will continue to protest against lynching, and will lend its aid in favor of the enforcement of law. It will continue to work for the highest well-being of our soldiers and sailors, and espe- cially for suitable temperance canteens and liberal rations.
It will continue to work for the protection of the home against its enemy, the liquor traffic, and for the redemption of our government from this curse, which redemption can only come, it believes, by the prohibition of the manufact- ure and sale of intoxicating liquors for beverage pui-poses. It is pledged to the highest interests of the great institutions of the world — the home, the school, the Church, the State.
ABBY KELLEY FOSTER was the /\ descendant of a long line of Quaker _/ ^ ancestry, English on the mother's side, Irish on the father's. From the former came her unflinching determination, her almost dogged persistence, her unyielding will where a principle was at stake, her .severe judgment of all who failed to reach her lofty stantlards of morality. With the Celtic blood came her cheerfulness, her ingenuousness, her childlike simplicity, and utter lack of self- consciousness. Her inability to keep a secret, even when of an important character, was the source of much amusement and occasional annoyance to lier friends. Of Irish wit she had not a trace, though she could thoroughly enjoy a joke when it was explained to her.
Mrs. Foster hail a clear, though perhaps, an unusual, conception of the distinction be- tween the possible and the impossible. What- ever was right and just she firmly believed to be possible. To right a wrong or to accom- jilish an important object, she would move lieaven and earth; but she wasted no energy in useless repining over the inevitable. It was
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
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this philosophic resignation to the necessary ills of life, combined with a remarkable elas- ticity of temperament, which enabled her to endure the intense nervous strain to which she was for numy years unavoidably subjected, and helped to prolong Ijeyond threescore years and ten a life, in childhood frail, in youth and middle age constantly overburdened with se- vere mental and physical t(jil.
Soon after her birth in the little town of Pelham, Mass., January 15, 1811, her parents, Wing and Diama (Daniels) Kelley, removed to Worcester, where the little Abigail, because of her delicate health, was allowed to grow up in comparative freedom from the restraint imposed upon the girls of her day. But, in spite of this, she used to tell me that she con- stantly rebelled against the limits set to the physical activity of girls. She felt it a humili- ation to be permitted to go on the ice only in tow of some condescending boy who might offer to tlrag her behind him by a stick. But she would climb trees and fences, and coast down hills on barrel staves, undeterred by the epi- thets "hoyden" and "tomboy," heaped upon her by the girls who only played with dolls in the house. Thus early did she exhibit that love of freedom which was her leading trait through life.
Her mother, the strictest of orthodox Friends, taught her children to follow with unquestioning obedience the leadings of "the Spirit," that inner voice which the world calls conscience. It was to this early training of the conscience and the will that Mrs. Foster attributed her moral strength in later life. The severe discipline of the household was miti- gated, however, by the genial influence of the warm-hearted, impulsive father, whose kindly nature found expression in tender affection toward his children and aliounding hospitality to a large circle of friends.
Pecuniary misfortunes reduced the family income by and by, and put to the test the character of the young girl who was just now beginning to realize the serious meaning of life. She had learned all that the best private school for girls in Worcester could teach her. Her parents coukl not afford to sentl her away to school, so at the age of fourteen she bor-
rowed money of an elder sister to pay her expenses for a year at the Friends' School in Providence, R.I. Though not (as she declared) a brilliant scholar, she was a most faithful student, often working so hard over her lessons that the perspiration would stand out on her face as if from hard physical exertion. She took a high rank in her class, and was there- fore able to obtain from her teachers a recom- mendation which secured her a school the next year, though she was only fifteen years old. Having paid her debt and earned a little beside, she returned to school; and for three years she alternately taught and studied, until she had finished the most advanced course of instruction which New England then offered to women. From the age of fourteen she paid all her own expenses.
She was fond of dress, and indulged to the full in the few frivolities -allowed by her sect, which did not altogether frown upon rich silks anil satins, if plainly fashioned and of subdued tints. Abby (I think she had already dropped the "gail") had an eminently social nature, and did not disdain the pomps and vanities of parties and balls, with their attendant beaux, among whom her slentler, giaceful figure and beautiful dancing made her a favorite.
Miss Kelley nmst have been about nineteen when she went to Lynn, where for several years she had charge of the private school of the Friends' Society. It was while here that she first heard the subject of slavery discussed. She listened to the burning words of William Lloyd Garrison and to the strong Quaker utter- ance of Arnold Buffum. The "inner voice" began to call to her, and she replied by accept- ing the secretaryship of the Lynn Female Anti- slavery Society, just formed. Her own words, taken from the letter to which I have referred, give a vivid picture of the strong impression which the reform had already made upon her.
" From this time I did what I could to carry forward the work, by circulating petitions to tur legislative bodies, scattering our publica- oions, soliciting subscriptions to our journals, and raising funds for oiu- societies, in the mean- time by private conversations enforcing our principles and our measures in season and out of season, taking more and more of the time
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left from my scliool duties. At length my whole soul was so filled with the subject that it would not leave me in school hours, and I saw I was giving to this duty less than its due. This decided me to resign. I had been wanting to pass a season with my mother, who was in failing health. My resignation was not ac- cepted, but I persisted, and after two more terms I was released. My mother was in sym- pathy with me on the slavery question, and I told her fully the state of my mind, saying that, but for the fact that I had so little com- mand of language and no training in public speaking, I should think I had a divine call (as understood by Friends) to go forth and lecture.
"About this time there was a pressbig call for funds from the anti-slavery societies, anrl I sold some of tlie most expensive articles of my wardrobe, and forwarded the proceeds to the treasury, feeling that I could not withhold even a feather's weight of help that might hasten the downfall of the terrible system which, by crushing and cursing the slave, had de- prived the whole country of the liberty of speech and the press, and the right of peaceable assemblage and petition."
(It should be said at this point that Miss Kelley had alreadj' given to the society all her accumulated earnings and the small inheri- tance recently received from her father's estate.) " Not long after tliJs, in one of our Scripture read- ings at breakfast, I read from a chapter con- taining these words: 'Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the fftolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, . . . and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence.' I closed the book and said to my mother: 'My way is clear now: a new light has broken on me. How true it is, as history records, that all great reforms have been carried forward by weak and despised means! The talent, the learning, the wealth, the Church, and the State, are pledged to the support of slavery. I will go
out among the honest-hearted common people, into the highways and byways, and cry, "Pity the poor slave!" if I can do nothing more.' My mother still hoped that I might be spared from taking up so heavy a cross;. but I told her I had counted the cost, and though, as an abo- litionist, I must take my life in my hand, and, as a public-speaking woman, must .suffer more than the loss of life, yet all I could give, and all I was, was but as dust in the balance, if my efforts could gain over to our cause a few honest souls.
"I had a sister living in Connecticut, who was quite in accord with me, and at her house I now made my home, going out as oppor- tunities were offered me by the few abolitionists of that vicinity. I was entirely unknown and uidicard of, except as some New York paper, in its denunciation and ridicule of the anti- slavery meetings, might refer to me as 'that monstrosity, a public-speaking woman.' I had no endorsement from any society, none but a few of my most intimate friends knowing of my purpose. The reason for my going out thus was my doubt of being able to serve the great cause in this way; and I did not wish to involve any other person in the trials, perils, and tribulations to which I should be liable."
Miss Kelley finally received an invitation to hold meetings in Washington, Conn. She says of them: "The first meeting was well attended, and another was called for, then still another and another, each with deepening interest and larger attendance. When a fifth was pro- po.sed, as I had engagements elsewhere, I promised to return in two weeks and speak again. It may seem remarkable that no oppo- sition was manifested; but those who invited me were all members of the church, and Mr. Gunn was the superintendent of the Sabbath- school, and Mr. Piatt a sheriff of the county. . . . I was treated with much consitleration, receiv- ing hospitality from those who stood first and best. But, when I returned, lo, what a change! Mr. and Mrs. Gunn met me with sorrowful faces and told me that in my absence Mr. H., the minister, had preached a sermon from the text. Rev. ii. 20: 'I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel to teach and to seduce my servants.' . . .
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF ^ NEW ENGLAND
He set forth the powers and artifices of Jezebel, her learning, her marvellous blandishments, with the neglect of the minister to forbid her preaching until she had acquired such an influ- ence that he daretl not interfere. Then Mr. H. charged that another Jezebel had arisen, and, with fascinations exceeding even those of her Scripture prototype, was aiming to entice and destroy this church. ... He added: 'Do any of you ask for evidence of her vile character? It needs no other evidence than the fact that in the face of the clearest commands of God, " IjCt your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permittetl unto them to speak," she comes here with brazen face, a servant of Satan in the garb of an angel of light, and tramples this connnand under her feet.' This is the purport of his discourse as reported to me.
"My friends invited me to go with them to the weekly prayer-meeting that afternoon. We hoped, though with little faith, to have an opportunity for my friend to say a few words in reply to the Sunday's sermon. But no one was allowed to speak except by the minister's invitation, and the meeting was soon closed. We stood near the door as the i)eople passed out. With one exception, not one of those whom I had met on my first visit, not even those who had hospitably entertained me, gave me a hand or a look, but all passed me as if I hatl been a block. I doubt not that many of the members of that church thanketl Mr. H. for his timely warning, by which they were saved from being led to death and hell. At my lect- ure that evening few were present, and tho.se mainly from surrounding towns. I went to my chamber that night, but not to sleep. In agony of prayer and tears, my cry was, 'Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! ' My anguish was not because of anything per- sonal to myself, but because I was thus cut off from the people who might rise up for the defence of the slave. The friends at whose house I was stood by me nobly, but we all saw that nothing more could be done at that time.
"Soon after this I was invited to speak in
Torrington, where a Methodist church was opened to me, the minister being absent. I remained there about a week, holding several meetings, which created great interest, so that people came in from surrounding towns. There were many questions asked and answered, but very little opposition was apparent. At one of the last meetings, though nothing had been said about money, the people in passing out left contril)utions on the desk before me. No one said a word except an aged man, who, dropping a gold coin, remarked, 'The laborer is worthy of his hire.' The amount was sev- eral dollars.
"When I started on my mission, my funds were low. I could not ask for help, but de- cided that, when my supply should fail, it would be sufhcient reason for my going home. At one time I had but ten cents left in my purse, ant! was about to write home for a loan, when a letter from an intimate friend was brought me, containing a five-dollar bill."
Among the iJaces which Miss Kelley visited was Norfolk, Conn. Arriving in the absence of her host, several of the principal men of the town called on her, and informetl her with threats that if she persisted in her attempt it would be at her own peril. With no friend at hand she had to yield; but it was Saturday night, and she could not get away before Mon- day. Her hostess was evidently in sympathy with the mob element, and Miss Kelley there- fore tried to get lodgings at the hotel. She was told that the innkeeper would as willingly entertain the vilest woman from New York as herself. "Language," she writes, "cannot ilescribe that long day and night of spiritual anguish and utter desolation." Monthly morn- ing saw her depart. She went to the house of a friendly Quaker farmer in Canaan. "Once more I breathed freely. A terrible burden fell off me. When left alone I went into the or- chanl back of the house" (remeniber she was still young, only about twenty-five) "and ran about like a colt let loose. I hopped, skipped, and danced. I climbetl the trees and sang with the birds. Such ecstasies of delight come rarely."
In this town she held good meetings, but in Salisbury her meeting was broken up by a
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mob which rang the church hell, tooted tin horns, and beat on tin pans.
At Cornwall Bridge Miss Kelley barely es- caped personal injury. The politics of the town were controlled liy a charcoal manufact- urer, a drunken, profane fellow, who had a similar following. "When we entered the house, we found it well filled and lighted, with a candle on the desk, and several candles and oil lamps on the box stove in the centre. The audience appeared respectable; but from with- out smutty faces looked in through the open windows, and ominous mutterings were heard. Directly there strode in a burly, led-faced fellow, with glaring eyes, who brandished a huge club, shouting with an oath, 'Where's the nigger wench?' A shudder ran through me. A feeble, trembling voice in a far corner of the room replied, 'Perhaps she has not come.' Down fell his club, right and left, jKit- ting out and smashing lamps and candles. That on the desk followed in an instant, while I was seized by my friends, and in the dark- ness was hurried to the door, amid the sounds of the falling club, the screams of the wounded, and the horrible oaths of the drunken wretch." Another attempt to hold a meeting was foiled by the appearance of this man with a loaded gun.
If anything more than the terrible campaign in Connecticut were needed to convince Miss Kelley that she had a divine call for public speaking, it was found in the effect produced by the short but eloquent appeal which she made in Pennsylvania Hall, Philadelphia, on the memorable evening of its destruction at the hands of a pro-slavery mob, May IG, 1838. At the close of that meeting, her friend, Theo- dore D. Weld, strongly urged her to join the lecture corps, adding, "Abby, if you don't, God will smite you." But, before a woman could go forth as the accredited agent of the Anti-slavery Society, a battle had to be fought within its own ranks. Witness a letter dic- tated by Mrs. Foster two or three years licfore her death: —
" Long before there was any organized move- ment in behalf of the equal rights of women, the battle for the recognition of their equality was fought and won, as an incidental issue,
on the anti-slavery platform. In 1837 Sarah and Angelina (irimke, of South Carolina, were invited to New England to lecture to women on slavery. Meetings were appointed for them in Boston, at which a few men looked in from the vestibule, and finally entered ami took seats. No objections being made to this in- vasion, their sub.seciuent meetings were, largely attended by men as well as women. Meetings were held in many towns in New England, fre- quently in influential churches, the pastors opening with prayer and otherwise giving coun- tenance to the movement. Among the most important hearings given the Grimkes were those before the Legislature of Massachusetts, on petitions. They created an interest that had never been felt before, as witness the action of the Congregational A.'jsociation, which in 1838, by a pastoral letter, written by a com- mittee of which the Rev. Nehemiah Adams was chairman, warned its various churches against giving countenance to women's speak- ing in public assemblies, a movement which was anti-scriptural, umiatural, indecent, and ruinous to the best interests of the comnuuiity.
"These lectures and the action of the Con- gregational Association resulted in a great agi- tation, extending throughout New England, especially in the anti-slavery ranks. No woman hail hitherto taken part in a mixed convention of any of the anti-slavery societies by speaking or serving on committees; but in May, 1838, at the New England Convention, Abby Kelley said a few words from her seat in the hall, and was afterward nominated and elected a member of a conmiittee to memorial- ize the religious associations of Massachusetts in regard to slavery.
"This action, hastily taken in the closing moments of the first .evening, was next day violently opposed by ministers ami others, among them several who had been prominent in aiding the Grinike sisters in their mixed meetings, but who now, under the influence of the i)astoral letter and hostile jiublic .senti- ment, had joined the opposition. These mem- bers, having in vain requested Miss Kelley to withdraw from the connnittee, introduced a resolution excusing her from serving. An intensely exciting discussion followed. The
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
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resolution was defeated, a large majority taking tlic ground that women, being members of the society, were entitled to all the rights, privi- leges, and duties pertaining to membership. In May, 1839, the question again came up, this time at the annual meeting of the American Anti-slavery Society, in New York. An excit- ing discussion followeil the appointment of Miss Kelley to a committee, the fiuestion being decided as before. The next year it was set- tled, once for all, that in the American Anti- slavery Society and its auxiliaries throughout the country the women should take part as freely as the men in all the work of the public meetings, even to the point of presiding on important occasions."
It was in 1839 that Miss Kelley's recognized career as a lecturer began. She had alreatiy been baptized with the terrible flame of per- secution in the solitary Connecticut campaign, and whatever of abuse and vilification now assailed her she could bear with comparative equanimity, supported by the strong band of brave and loyal souls who had pledged to the cause of the slave their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. From this time till her marriage, in 1845, Miss Kelley devoted herself untiringly to anti-slavery work. She spoke in conventions not only, but nuide long trips through remote country districts, speak- ing in churches, whenever they could be ob- tained; when not, in school-hou.ses. Some- times arrangements were made by the society's agent; but she often had to be her own agent, learning from her last host who in the surround- ing towns would help her to get up meetings, and who would receive her at their houses, for she had no money to pay hotel bills. For many years she received no salary, her trav- elling expenses only being paid by the society, and her most pressing needs for clothing being supplied by her friends. Many annising anec- dotes might be related of these lecture tours. She, like Dickens, was given her choice of "corn bread and common doin's" or "white bread and chicken fixin's." In the new settle- ments of the West, where the kitchen sink or the well was the common bath-room for the family, and a single dish (sometimes the iron skillet) served each in turn as a wash-basin,
her hostesses discovered that an occult con- nection existed between a woman lecturer and a pan of water — a luxury which Miss Kelley always insisted upon having in her room. In those days of pork and bacon it was extremely difficult to get suitable food, but eggs and potatoes could usually be obtained. Travelling was a terrible undertaking. At first no rail- roatls, then only a few between the larger cities, stage-coaches or wagons, and roails of every degree of muddiness or roughness, with the corduroy road of logs as the extreme of torture — these were the only means of conveyance for the pioneers of the anti-slavery cause.
About the time that Abby Kelley became known to the public, another lecturer appeared on the anti-slavery platform, one who exciteil more animosity, if less ridicule, than she. This was Stephen S. Foster, who out-Garrisoned even the famous leader. In his ability to por- tray in vivid anil terrible language the sin of the sla\T-holder and the wickedness of the church and clergy in lending countenance to the system, he was without a rival. No meeting was dull where he spoke. Indeed, a mob was the not imjirobable outcome, before which Mr. Foster never quailed. A non- resistant, he carried always with him two invaluable weapons — a piercing eye, with which he transfixetl liis assailants, and a wonderful magnetic power, which enabled him to hokl an audience, though they writhed under his ter- rible denunciations. But he was sometimes roughly handled, and several times received serious injuries.
This brave martyr spirit was the mate for whom destiny had preserved Abby Kelley from her many youthful adn\irers. Marriage had never attracted her; for marriage, at that time, meant the absolute submission of the wife, her entire loss of identity. To such a union such a woman could never consent. But when this wooer came there was a difference. The great principle of human freedom which he applied to the black slave he applied also to the white woman, who was a subject, if not a chattel. He had the same great cause at heart as Miss Kelley. Like her, he had labored with- out money and without price, had given up his profession ami his creed for the slave. Mar-
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REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
riage to such a man seoined to her the realiza- zation of an ideal, and so it proved. But there was one condition: three entire years must be devoted to the sacred cause. So the travellinj;; and lecturing went on. T^p and down, from Maine to Ohio, always with some woman for a travelling companion. Miss Kelloy toiled almost without rest. One sununer she spoke every day for six weeks and sometimes twice a day. The meetings (some of them large conventions) were often held in groves, and it was this severe strain which broke the voice, before so strong and clear.
In December, 1845, Abby Kelley and Stephen S. Foster were married. For a year or two previously they had consented to receive the small salary then usually paid to lecturei's. They felt that they owed something to the new relation and duties they were soon to assume. Mr. P''oster had also realized some- thing from an anti-slavery work which he wrote about that time. With this small sum the husband and wife purchased a farm in the suburbs of Worcester, Mass., which continued to be their home till Mr. Foster's death in 1881. But their public work was not given up. Mr. Foster was usually absent during the winter on lecturing tours, while Mrs. Foster made several long campaigns in the West, besides often attending conventions or giving lectures nearer home. When asked how she could bear to leave her little daughter, she would reply, " I leave my child in wise and loving hands and but for a little, while the slave mothers daily have their daughters torn from their arms and sold into torture and infamy."
Never was mother more devoted, more self- sacrificing than she. Had she been less noble, less brave, less tender of her child, she would have remained at home to enjoy her mother- hood at the expense of other mothers. She once exclaimed, "The most precious legacy I can leave my child is a free country!"
It was about this time that the woman's rights cause came up as an independent reform. Mrs. Foster had fought the battle for the right of women to speak in public, and had gained it for herself and for all women. Now came the broader cpiestion of the right to vote, which involves all other rights. She was ear-
nest in its advocacy, and came to see th;it it was a much more comprehensive reform than even the anti-slavery movement. But she felt that her life was consecrated to the slave, and that her failing voice and broken health nuist be husbanded for that service. Yet she was thoroughly identified with the suffrage movement, and was recognized, with the Grimkes, as the pioneer who, with bleeding feet, smoothed the path through which the women of the suffrage movement might lead their sex to the light.
Mrs. Foster's last jniblic work was devoted to raising money for rousing public sentiment to the necessity of carrying the Fifteenth Amendment. With the other loyal friends of the freedmen, she felt that freedom without the ballot was an empty name. She could no longer speak from the platform, but her earnest pleading in private rarely failed to convince her listener that justice was the only safe course for the nation to pursue. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dollars were contributed through her to be spent in holding meetings throughout the North and in publishing and distributing documents for the enlightenment of the public. This amendment at last carried, she felt that she had at last earned a discharge from the army of workers.
Those who listened to Abby Kelley in the days of her young womanhood have told me of her wonderful power. This consisted, I imag- ine, in her intense earnestness, in her utter self-forgetfulness and consecration. Her lan- guage was of Quaker simplicity, unadorned with figures or imagery. She never wrote her speeches, and rarely spent any time in their l)reparation ; but the eloquence of a heart on fire, words lighted at the altar of Cod's truth, were hers. Her audience felt that she " re- membered those in bonds as bountl with them." Such a passion for freedom, such unselfish devotion, could not fail to inspire admiration and win converts.
Though Miss Kelley's featiires were not beau- tiful, she had an attractive personality. Her lithe, graceful figure was crowned with a head of fine outlines, well poised on a beautiful neck, and covered with abundant dark brown hair, hardly gray, even at her death. The Quaker
LURA C. PARTINGTON
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENOl.AND
29
kerchief, laid in folds around her neck, was tlie one article of personal adornment to which she clung. Its simplicity was perhaps its special charm, so completely did it harmonize with the purity and sincerity of the wearer.
Mrs. Foster was noted far and near for her good housekeeping. She had had almost, no experience in this department before her lijar- riage, but (as she confided to me a short time before her death) she was tletermined to dis- prove the assertion that- a "strong-minded woman" would, of course, neglect her house and family. As a poor farmer's wife. sfee had a hard task, but she accomplished it- success- fully, though her health was often far from robust. From kitchen to jjlatform was per- haps not an easy transition, yet it was one which she often ma<le with little apparent _diffi- cuity. .. ■ .
The five years of Mrs. Foster's life from 1876 to 1881 were saddened by the illness, of her husband, which was attended with intense suffering and which terminated fatally. But throughout this time of trial and for the suc- ceetling five years preceding her own death, January 14, 1887, her brave and cheerful spirit triumphed over her frail body, and she lived on the serene heights, happy in the conscious- ness of a life well spent and ready for that im- mortal existence which she was convinced would bring her renewed strength and further opportunity to work toward the ultimate good which to her meant God.
A sketch of Mrs. Foster would be incomplete without a word upon the character of her hus- band, which cannot be better said than by his lifelong friend, Parker Pillsbury, in his "Acts of the Anti-.slavery Apostles ":-7-
" Distinguished abolitionists were often called men with one idea. Anti-slavery, in its im- measurable importance to all the interests of the country, material, mental, moral, and social, as well as religious and political, was one idea far too great for ordinary minds, even without any other. But the sturdy synnnetry and con- sistency of Mr. Foster's character were as won- ilerful as were his vigor and power in any one direction. Earliest and bravest among the temperance reformers, when even that cause was almost as odious as anti-slavery became
afterward; a radical advocate of peace from the standpoint of the Sermon on the Mount, 'Resist not evil,' seconded by the apostolic injunction, 'Avenge not yourselves'; a cham- pion in the woman suffrage enterprise from its inception; an intelligent, earnest advocate of the rights of labor and deeply interested in •all the moral, social, and philanthropic associ- ations of the city and neighl)orhood where he lived — he left behind hini a record ami a mem- ory to grow brighter as the years sweep on. . . . The beauty and harmony of his home were- unsurpassed. It was sacred to peace and love. Its unostentatious Ixut elegant antl generous hospitality was the admiration of all who ever enjoyed it."
James Russell Low.ell, in a rh}-nied letter descriptive of the principal figures in the anti- slavery^ bazaar hehl. in; Boston in 1840, pays a charming tribute to Mrs. Foster; —
" A Judith there, tinned Quakeie.ss, Sits Abby in her modest dress, Serving a table quietl}', As if tliat mild and downcast eye Flashed never with its scorn intense, •More than Medea's eloquence.
No nobler gift than heart or brain. No. life more white from spot or stain, Was e'er on Freedom's altar laid Than hers — the simple Quaker maid."
Alla Wright Foster.
LURA CHASE PARTINGTON, the first woman to hold the office of Grand _J Worthy Patriarch of the Grand Divi- sion of Maine, Sons of Temperance, is a native of the State of Maine. She was born in Cornville, Somerset County, August 11, 1831, daughter of Reuben Moore and Lydia Hewitt (Woodcock) Smiley.
Her father was born in Sidney, Me., De- cember 10, 1803. He died in Gardiner, Me., September 7, 1882. Seven of his ancestral kin were niin\ite-men of the Re^olution. His father, William Smiley, born in Sidney, No- vember 30, 1757, was the son of Hugh and Marcy (Park) Smylie, who were married Octo- ber 23, 1745. Marcy was the daughter of
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REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
Alexander Park, ulio died January 26, 1760, and "Margrat" Park, who died May 11, 1752. William Smiley lived to the age of ninety- seven years, his death being caused by an acci- dent. He had a sister who reached the age of one hundred and two, well known as "Aunt Sally Webber." Sarah Moore Smiley, the wife of William, died several years before her husband; and her funeral was attended by their fourteen children. Seven of these chil- dren lived to be nearly eighty years old, and one, a daughter, died at the age of ninety-six.
The Smiley armorial ensign was conferred upon the ancestors of one John Smylie, barris- ter, resident of Dulilin. Ireland, probalily in the seventeenth century.
Description: "Azure a chevron, ermine, be- tween three pheons, argent; for crest, on a wreath of the colors, an armed arm embowed proper, the hand holding a pheon by the point thereof, gules; and for motto, Virihuf< virhtf;."
Explanation: The chevron, or saddle bow. denotes military valor. The crest, aliove the wreath, is a mark of special honor. The armed arm signifies courage or might, and was prob- ably awarded for great liravery. The wreath is symbolic of a victor. The pheons, or iron dart-heads, indicate royalty or defence of crown property. Azure (blue) denotes inno- cence; ermine (argent tufted with black), dig- nity; argent (white), purity; gules (red), cour- age. The motto means \^alor in arms, or \'irtue with power.
Mrs. Lydia H. Smiley, Mrs. Partington's mother, was the daughter of Liberty and Su- sannah Woodcock. Born in Winthrop, Me., March 2, 1804, she died March 25, 1865. Mrs. Partington says of her: "She was a perfect housekeeper and a devoted mother. She be- lieved that children should obey their parents, and not parents obey their children. When I was three years old, she sent me to the infant Sabbath-school. I was given a little card with one verse on it for my lesson. Monday morn- ing I wanted to go out and play with my little playmates, but mother said I nuist get one line of my lesson first. I began to think tliat Sabbath-school was a nuisance, and I replied, 'I'm not going any more.' Mother said, 'Yes, you vill go'; and I knew that I'd have to go.
She taught me one line of my verse every day, and then had me repeat the whole verse till I could say it perfectly. Of my mother's an- cestry I know but little. They were of Scotch descent, and many of them in the Revolution- ary W'ar."
While living in Gardiner, Me., Reuben M. .Smiley was warden of the Episcopal church and leader of the choir. He was one of the or- ganizers of the Sons of Temperance in Maine. His daughter Lura attended the Gardiner pub- lic schools until she was twelve years old, then was sent to a private school or academy in Gardiner called the "Lyceum." When only six years old, .she signed the pledge at a tem- perance meeting in the Methodist Kpiscopal church in Gardiner, Me., and two years later she joined the "Cold W'ater Army," which was then popular throughout the country. In 1846, the family having removed that year to Lowell, Mass., where her father was engaged in putting turbine wheels into the mills, she there joined the Daughters of Temperance, and, although so very young, was chosen chaplain of the L'nion. This society was afterward merged in the Sons of Temperance. She has held an unbroken membership for fifty-six years, and is now (1903) Grand Worthy Patri- arch of the Grand Division of Maine.
In 1849 she joined the Baptist church in Lowell, of which the Rev. Daniel C. Eddy was pastor. In 1851 her parents moved to Port- land, Me. This city she has ever since called her* home, although temporarily residing in New York and other cities.
On March 7, 1853, she married Jo.«eph Part- ington, a native of Islington Parish, London. Born August 9, 1831, he came to this covmtry when seven years old, and settled in New York, but moved to Portland in 1851.
Mr. Partington was a thorough American, and when the Civil War broke out he enlisted in the Twenty-fifth Maine Regiment, com- manded by Colonel Francis Fessenilen. This regiment having completed the nine months' service for which it enlisted, Mr. Partington again joine'd the army, this time with a three years' regiment, the Thirtieth Maine, which was commanded by the same colonel, who afterward became a prominent general. Mr.
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
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Partington saw active service in Louisiana and Texas, and was also with Sheridan's anny at Winchester. He reniained with the Thirti- eth until its consolidation with other regiments, when he was honorably discharged and re- turned home. Owing to tiie hardships of army life Mr. Partington's health failed, and he died December 13, 1867. He was a member of the Chestnut Street Methodist Episcopal Church in Portland. Mrs. Partington also joined that church after their marriage, and she retains her membership therein.
In the spring of 1S61 Mrs. Partington united with the Intlependent Order of Good Templars, joining Arcana I>odge, of Portland, the first lodge organized in the vState. She has retained her membership and interest for more than forty years. Elected Grand Worthy Vice- Templar of the State in the early days of the order, she organized lodges and conducted effective missionary work. In 1871 she was engaged in gospel temperance work in Eng- land, giving many lectures. Returning home in the fall of 1872, she was chosen State dele- gate to the International Supreme Lodge, In- dependent Onler of Good Templars, whicli met in London early in 1873. At the close of its sessions she was engaged by the Hon. Joseph Malins, the head of the order, as Grand Lodge lecturer for England. For more than two years she contiuned her work in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, lecturing to crowded and appreciative audiences. Among pleasant incidents she related the following: —
"While travelling through Ireland, I stopped at a little whitewashed cottage, and asked if the woman living there could give me a supper of bread and milk. The woman replied, 'Walk in and sit down in j'our own place.' As I en- tered, I noticed in the centre of the room a large pine table, around which the family had gathered. The only chairs at the table were the ones occupied by the father and mother. The three elder children were seated upon stools, while the two younger were standing. Yet at the table was an empty stool, and before it a plate turned down. That was what the. woman had calletl my 'own place.' I asked her why she had called it my place. She re- plied, 'We have a little superstition that, if
we always keep the stranger's j)late on our table, the dear Lord will always sentl enough to fill ours. And he generally does,' she added. It was a beautiful thought, and it would be well if we followed the example of that poor Irish peasant woman.
"While in Scotland I was invitetl Ui speak ill Lord Kinnard's castle. There I had an audience which never would have come to any public hall. They all seemed interested and well pleased. I spent five weeks on the Isle of Jersey, the guest of Sir Philip de Carteret, the last of that old baronial family."
While abroad, she was the recipient of many gifts, among them elegant regalia from friends in Ireland. On her first trip to Edin- burgh she lecturetl seventy-four consecutive nights, and conducted services four times on Sunday. On her second visit, when leaving the city, she was escorted to the station by a band of music; and, as the train rolled away, sixty members of the band united in singing "Will ye no' come back again?" A local paper thus referred to her meetings: "Mrs. L. C. Partington, of Portland, Me., one of the representatives of the recent Right Worthy Grand Lodge session, has again visited Edin- burgh. Although upon this occasion an in- valid, seeking rest, she managed during her nine days' visit to address with great accept- ance nineteen meetings, and left with the cry ringing in her ears, ' Will 3'e no' come back again?'" The Dundee Courier reported her lectures, and added: "Dundee is enjoying a rich treat in listening to the stirring addresses of Mrs. Partington, of Portland, United States. The enthusiasm with which she is everywhere received increa,ses nightly. . . . Her whole heart is in the work." The Londonderry (Ireland) Neivs and the Ballymena (Ireland) Advertiser referred in complimentary terms to her work, the editor of the latter stating that he had never heard " better argument or more con- vincing and eloquent advocacy of any cause."
Upon returning again to America, Mrs. Part- ington travelled in twenty-two States, giving lectures from Maine to California. The Balti- more American said of her: "One of the largest and most enthusiastic temperance meetings ever held in this city was conducted by Mrs.
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REPRESENTATn r: W()MP:N of NP]W ENGLAND
Partington. She proved herself to be one of the best speakers in the cause of temperance that have ever appeared in Baltimore, and spoke with an earnestness, distinctness, pathos, and Inmior that held the close attention of the assemljlage to the last."
In her own State; her friends are legion; and the Portland Transcript voiced the sentiments of all when it declared that "among the many sjx'aker!^ none made a deeper impression than Mrs. Partington, of this city."
In recent years Mrs. Partington has devoted most of her time to furthering temperance in- struction among the children. She is District Su])erintendent of the Juvenile Templars in Cumberland County, Maine. On her seven- tieth birthday she was given a public recep- tion in Portland, which v/as largely attended. Among the many gifts of love and resi)ect which the occasion called forth is an "Illus- trated Life of Queen Victoria" from the Juve- nile Templars.
Since the first organization of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union she has been an active member. Her name is on the roll of the Union in Brooklyn, N.Y., where she often makes her headquarters. She is rei)resenta- tive at large from Kings County Union, and has held other positions of responsibility.
P^or several years Mrs. Partington has been a member of the Woman's Rcli(-f Corps, auxil- iary to the Grand Army of the Republic. Pro- gressive and patriotic, she is a firm believer in the principles of eqviality and justice, and takes a deep interest in all the prominent (jues- tions of the day. She is a cheerful coiupan- ion and a loyal friend. When she was four- teen years old, she became aceiuainted with Lucy Stone, whose influence, she says, was an" inspiration which has helped her through life.
Mrs. Partington has one son, Frederick Eugene, l)orn May 18, 1S54. Her only daughter, Har- riet Davis, born Septendwr 28, 185S, died when three years and six months old.
Frederick I^ugene Partington, after several years at the high school of Portland, went abroad with his mother, and travelled two years, spending the winters in Brussels. He at- tended .school and studied (he French language
in Paris. After his return he became a teacher in Pike Seminary, New York, and later he taught in Goshen, N.Y. Entering Brown University, Providence, R.I., in 1875, he was graduated in the class of 1879, of which he Wiis chosen class historian. He then went to Ger- many, where he studied for a year and a half.
In 1881 he accepte<l a position as principal of New Paltz Academy, New York. After the building was burned, in 1884, he was chosen i)rincii)al of Staten Island Academy, now one of the most popular educational in- stitutions in New York. Through the efforts of Mr. Partington a new building has been erected, valued at seventj'-five thousand dollars.
Mr. Partington is a writer and lecturer upon educational topics. He has crossed the ocean many times, visiting Greece, Asia Minor, and other foreign countries; and his lectures upon his travels are very popular, especially the one on "The Land of the Midnight Sun."
On June 12, 1890, he married Miss Elizabeth Hamilton Baten\an, of Portland, who was edu- cated at Mount Holyoke Seminary.
EVELYN GREENLEAF SUTHER- IjAND, writer, playwright, and critic, the only daughter of James Baker, for- merly a prominent wholesale merchant of Boston, and his wife, Rachel Arnold Green- leaf, was born and breil in Boston, as were her paternal ancestors for three or four generations. Her mother, who died in 1896, was a daughter of Spencer and Pamela (Adams) Greenleaf, of AViscasset, Me.
Mrs. Sutherland is descended on both sides from fighting stock, and inherits many inter- esting traditions. Her mother's paternal ances- try she traces to Captain P^dniund Greenleaf, who came from England and settled at New- bury in 1635, the line being; Edmund,' Stephen,^ ^ * Samuel,'^ Benjamin," Spencer.' Edmund Greenleaf marched against the Ind- ians in 1637. From that time to the death in 1857 of her grandfather, Spencer Greenleaf who served in the War of 1812, there was but one break in the military service of the family. Captain Stephen^ Greenleaf, son of Captain Edmund,' was one of the purchasers of Naii-
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
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tucket island in 1659. He niairied in 1651 Elizabeth, daughter of Tristram ("ofhn, tlieii of Newbury, Mass., afterward the chief magis- trate, also one of the owners of Nantucket. Ste})hen- Greenleaf was drowned while engaged in the honorable discharge of liis military iluty in the expedition against Port Royal in Decem- ber, 1690. His son, Stephen,^ known as the "great Indian fighter," was engaged in King Philip's War, and in the contest with the French anil Indians in 1090 he commanded a companj' at Wells, Me. Mrs. Sutherland's great-grand- fathei', Benjamin" Greenleaf, was a soldier in the Revolution.
Several of these progenitors were seafarers, and were well known in New England as mas- ter ship-builders. It is recordetl that the origi- nal Greenleafs in England, ancestors of Edmund, were Huguenots (name in French Feuillevert), who had fled from France to escape religious persecution.
There is a tradition that one of the family, many generations back, while in France, mar- ried a Spanish Romany girl, or Gitana, and that the Gipsy blood now and then appears in her descendants. To this inheritance Mrs. Sutherland whimsically attributes her love of Bohemia and the freedom of outdoor life.
Noteworthy also is the part which the colonial Bakers took in the cause of liberty. Captain Joseph Baker, a surveyor, shared in the famous Lovewell hght in New Hamp- shire. His wife Hannah was the only daugh- ter of the noted Captain John Lovewell, who was killed in the battle of Pigwacket, May 8, 1725. Mrs. Baker received a share in the lands awardetl to the survivors and heirs of those engaged in the fight, and .settled with her husband on this land, where the Baker homestead now stands, in the town of Pem- broke, N.H. Their son, Jose]jh Baker, Jr., was a soldier in the Revolution, and was on the Conunittee of Safety for the town of Bow, N.H.
As shown by family records and remem- brances, supplementing the genealogy in the i?.s.sex Antiquarian, vol. ii., Mrs. Sutherland's maternal grandmother, Pamela Adams Green- leaf, was a daughter of Nathan Adams and his wife, Johanna Batchelder, and a descendant in
the sixth generation of Robert Adams and his wife Eleanor, early .settlers of Newbury, Mass. From Robert' the line continued through his son Abraham,-' who married Mary Pettingell; Abraham,' and his wife Anne, daughter of William and Anne (Sewall) Longfellow and niece of Judge Sewall; and Henry^ and his first wife, Sarah Emery, who were the parents of Nathan^ Adams, of Newbury, Mass., and Wis- casset, Me.
James Baker, of Boston, was a devoted anti- slavery worker and a warm personal friend of Theodore Parker. He died when his daughter I'^velyn was only three years of age. Her edu- cation was carefully looked after by her mother, her earliest training being received in the pub- lic schools. She was later placed in the quaint little "dame" school of Miss Rebecca Lincohi on Pinckney Street, where the old house is still standing. She next attended Miss Caroline Johnson's celebrated school on Ashburton Place, completing her education by two years' study in Geneva, Switzerland. She showed literary tastes when but a child, by writing little rhymes and tales; and at the age of fifteen she was awarded a prize for an essay on "What is a Gentleman?" by Our Young Folka, now known as Si. Nicholas. Since then her writings, ver.se or pro.se, have been much before the pub- lic, appearing in Puck, Life, the Cotiniopolitan, and other magazines. In 1894, under the name of Dorothy Lundt, a nam de plume which she used for twenty years, she won one of the prizes offered by McClure'f^ Magazine by an army tale, "Diccon's Dog." Through this little product of her pen has come a happy ex- perience. A noted novelist, at a reception shortly after the publication of the story, spoke of it in highest praise, not knowing that she was addressing the author herself. A con- fession followed, and the friendship thus begun between the two women has been lasting.
For many years Mrs. Sutherland was a writer on the staff of the Boston Transcript, from the autunm of 1887 contributing to its colunuis both book reviews and draniartic criticisms. Her success in the latter line is well known. She heartily attributes all cretlit for what she has acconiplishetl in dramatic criticism to her training under Mr. Francis Jenks, for many
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years the dramatic editor of the Transcript. In her first assignment under Mr. Jenks he gave her a lesson which served as a basis for all her future work in that line. He asked, "Do you know what the word critic means?" Somewhat confused, she answered, "Perhaps not in the sense you mean." "Go to the dic- tionary and find out," he said. She found the original Greek word meant one who discerns. Mr. Jenks said, tersely, "Always bear that in mind, and don't confuse the discerner with the fault-finder." Under his teaching her abili- ties developetl, and in 1889 and 1890, while Mr. William Apthorp was in Europe, she wrote most of the first-night criticisms for the Tran- script. During her connection with the Tran- script she conducted a very interesting column called "Library and Foyer," signed "Dorothy Lundt." It was original and cle.ver, and was much appreciated by Transcript readers. Her work on this paper continued uninterruptedly for seven years, when, in 1894, she suffered from acute nervous prostration, and for eleven months lived out of the city and retired from active life. Upon her return she was greatly shocked to learn of the recent sudden death of her beloved "Father in Journalism," Mr. Jenks.
For a number of years Mrs. Sutherland was dramatic editor of the Boston Conuno)ncealth, and since her return to active work, in 1896, has contributed to many newspapers, being dramatic critic of the Daily Journal for several years. Most of her time, however, has been occupied with another line of work, that of short story and play writing. One of her first plays presented was given performance at the Hollis Street Theatre in October, 1895, by Charles Frohman's Empire Theatre Company. It was a one-act Southern play, entitled "Mars'r Van," and was written in collaboration with Mrs. Emma Sheritlan Fry. It afterward ran for four weeks at the Empire Theatre, New York, and was also successfully given through- out the West. " Rohan the Silent" was written for Alexander Salvini, and was accepted by him, to be used in connection with "The Fool's Revenge," which it was his intention to in- clude in his repertoire for the season of 1896 and 1897. It was produced by him at a trial
performance at the Tremont Theatre, Boston, May 28, 1896, and it is a notable fact that Rohan was the last role ever created by this actor of great promise. "Fort Frayne," her next attempt, an emotional drama in four acts, was written in collaboration with Mrs. Fry and General Charles King. Its possibilities as a novel appealed to General King, and, with Mrs. Sutherland's consent, he worked the plot into one of his fascinating stories. It met with a large sale, reaching its fifth edition. The play itself, on account of Mrs. Sutherland's illness, was not completed until 1895, and soon afterward was produced in both the East and the West. Its first presentation was in the fall of 1895 at the Schiller Theatre, Chicago, where it had a four weeks' run. In 1897 and 1898 six one-act dramas bj' Mrs. Sutherland were put on the stage, the initial performance of each being in Boston. The first of these, " Po White Trash," was produced by Henrj' Woodruff (for whom the role of Drent Dury was written) at a special matinee at the Bijou Theatre, Boston, and later at the Lyceum Theatre, New York. It was also given in the season of 1898 and 1899 by the Frawley com- pany in the West. The other dramas are "In Far Bohemia," "A Comedie Royal," "A Bit of Instruction," and "At the Barricade." These, with three plays which have not been pro- duced, were published in book form in 1900. They deal with varying phases of life, and some have won marked popularity and favor. In 1900, collaborating with Mr. Booth Tarkington, she helped to dramatize the latter's novel, "Monsieur Beaucaire," which was brought out by Richard Mansfield in October, 1901, and enjoyed long and exceedingly successful seasons in America and I']nglaiid.
Many of Mrs. Sutherland's writings have tlealt with army life, and she has many frieniis in both the army and the navy. She has sjient nuich time "in garrison." At one time when some especially dear friends were stationed at Fort Warren, she had a den fitted up for her- self in one of the old casemates which was used as a prison dming the Civil War.
In s])ite of her busy life she has found time for social affiliations, and her home on Com- monwealth Avenue is a literary and artistic
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
35
centre. She was a charter member of the New England's Woman's Press Club, anil has for ten years held some office on the Executive Board. She also belongs to the Authors' Club, the Pentagon Club, and the Professional Woman's League. Her pajier on "The Making of a Critic," which has been given several times in Boston before prominent clubs, was also given at the Congress of Women's Clubs at the W^orld's Fair.
In 1879 she became the wife of Dr. John P. Sutherland, her friend from childhood, the mar- riage taking place immediately after his gradu- ation from the Medical School of Boston Uni- versity. After several months' travel in Eu- rope, Dr. Sutherland began the practice of his profession, while she continued her literary work. In 1888 her husband became a member of the faculty of the Medical School of Boston University, and since then he has been actively connectecl with that institution, succeeding Dr. I. Tisdale Talbot as Dean of the Medical School in 1899. Dr. Sutherland is one of the leading physicians of Boston, and is an ex-president of the Massachusetts Homoeopathic Medical So- ciety. For fourteen years he edited the Neir England Medical Gazette.
By birth and education, ami as wife of the Dean of Boston University Medical School, Mrs. Sutherland holds a distinct and individual position in Boston, while her work as playwright and critic takes her often, and very congenially, over the borders of Bohemia. She counts some of her warmest frientls among the leaders in the dramatic world. A\'here she sees talent, she is always eager to recognize and foster it.
Her Sunday evenings are the property of her "boys," not only of Boston University, but of Harvard and Tech also. At her home they find on Sunday nights a "picnic supper," a warm welcome, and an "open parliament," whose leader is often the honoreil anil beloved Dean.
Dr. and Mrs. Sutherland have two sunmier residences, one at Nantucket, home of Mrs. Sutherland's kinsfolk two centuries ago, and one, "Clanshome," at Marlow, N.H., between which homes, when not in Dr. Sutherland's na- tive Scotland, she and her husband ilivide their summer days.
MARY JOHNSON BAILEY LIN- COLN, widely known as Mrs. Mary J. Lincoln, writer and lecturer on household science, was born in South Attleboro, Mass., July 8, 1844. Her father, the Rev. John Burnham Milton Bailey, pastor of the Congregational church in that place, was the son of William and Susannah (Burnliam) Bailey. His mother, who ilied in 1816, was a daughter of Deacon Samuel and Mary (Perkins) Burnham, of Dunbarton, N.H., and sister to the Rev. Abraham Burnham, of Pembroke. Deacon Sanmel Burnham was a native of Essex, Mass., formerly Chebacco parish, Ipswich, and was of the fifth generation (Samuel,* John^^') of that branch of the family founded by John' Burnham, who came from England with hi.-? brothers Robert and Thomas, and was living at Chebacco as early as 1638.
The Rev. John B. M. Bailey died in 1851. His wife, Sarah Morgan Johnson Bailey, Mrs. Lhicoln's mother, born in 1810, died June 7, 1885. She was the second daughter of Deacon Caleb and Hannah (Butler) Johnson, of Man- chester, N.H.
Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Lincoln's maternal granil- mother, was tlie fourth tlaughter of Jacob'' and Sally (Morgan) Butler, of Pelham, N.H., and a descendant of James' Butler, of Woburn, Ma.ss., the line continuing from James' through his son. Deacon Johm (born in Woburn, 1677, died in Pelham, 1721); Jacob' (born in 1718), who married Mary ICames; to Jacob* (Mrs. Lincoln's great-grandfather), born in 1747, who married his cousin, Sally Morgan, daughter of Jonathan Morgan and his wife, Sarah' Butler, sister of Jacob' Butler, Sr.
Jaines' Butler, the immigrant progenitor of the family, came to New England less than forty years after tiie landing of the Pilgrims, being at Lancaster, Mass., says the historian, as early as 1659 ami at Woburn in 1676.
"Jonathan Morgan, Sr.," above named, great- great-grandfather of Mrs. Lincoln, "was En- sign of Captain Dow's company, Colonel Me- serve's regiment, which was sent to Crane's Point in 1756. He was killed in the massacre attending the surrender of Fort ^^'illiam Henry, August 10, 1757."
Jjike Lucy Larcom and many other daugh-
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REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
ters of New England in that early time, Mrs. Bailey, before her marriage, worked in the cotton-mills of Lowell and Manchester, earning thereby money to pay for a year of study at Derry Academy, as a finishing tovich to the meagre common-school education of her girl- hoocl.
The Rev. John B. M. Bailey died when his daughter Mary was seven years old, but the pictui'C of his consistent life and noble character was indelibly stamped on her memory. She was reared by her brave and practical mother, who early taught her three chiltlren to be use- ful and economical. At the age of four Mary began to add her mite to the meagre income of a country minister's family by sewing hooks and eyes on cards and setting stones in jewelry, work which was given out from the factories near by and paid for in groceries and clothing. Throughout her girlhood she earned many new dresses and some luxuries by picking berries, making hair nets, and tending the neighbors' babies. She was always made to feel that character and education were the most desira- ble garments for children. The self-sacrificing mother contrived, with much plain living anti clear thinking, to educate her daughters at Wheaton Seminary, from which Mary was graduated in the class of 1S64.
The following year she married Mr. David A. Lincoln, of Norton, soon after moving to Boston and later to Wollaston, where for sev- eral years Mrs. Lincoln led a quiet life, devoted to her home and innneiliate circle of friends. Her only outside interests were her church, with its Sunday-school, and a literary club, which she was instrumental in organizing.
I'usine.ss reverses came, and Mrs. Lincoln, true to the training of early life, put her hand to the wheel, adding considerably to the in- come by sewing and other work for her neigh- bors. The following year, after much urging and hesitation, she was persuaded to accept the position of first principal of the Boston Cooking School. By her com-teous inamier, serene patience, executive ability, and thor- ough mastery of her work, both mechanical and theoretical, she brought the school at once to a high position, the success which attended it from the beginning being due in a great
measure to her systematic and practical method of teaching, (^ne of the first managers of the school said recently, "Mrs. Lincoln made the Boston Cooking School." She is often intro- duced as "not only the first jjrincipal, but the first principle of the school," and "the woman we all cook by," and so forth. After six years of faithful ami arduous service she resigned her position, on account of the sudden death of her sister and the serious illness of her mother, who died five months later.
A year before leaving the school she wrote the "Boston Cook-book," which added greatly to her reputation, and was at once pronounced " one of the most practical and reliable cook- books ever written." It has had a large cir- culation among housekeepers, and is used as a text-book in many of the leading schools, not only in America, but in l']ngland, Constan- tinople, anil among the missionaries of China.
Since leaving the confining care of the school, Mrs. Lincoln has been heard as a lecturer in more than two hundred different towns and cities, from Maine to California. She has given over seven hundred special lectures on cookery and domestic science, always l)y invitation, in addition to teaching the first class in the B(js- ton Normal School of Cookery and teaching three years at La.sell Seminaiy. She has also written several new books and a score or more of pamphlet recipe books for food manufacturers, besides many articles for magazines and house- hold papers, always by special request.
Her best known books are her " Boston Cook-book," "Carving and Serving," "The Peerless Cook-book," and the "Boston School Kitchen Text-book." The latter was the first complete book for use in the public school cooking classes. From the second month of its issue Mrs. Lincoln has been culinar)' editor and one of the owners of the American Kitchen Magazine. Since October, ISflS, she has written weekly articles for a syndicate, which are jiublished in daily and weekly papers all over the country.
Over one hundred thousand copies of the "Boston Cook-book" have been sold, and it is still in great demand, having been revised in 1900, with the addition of about three hundred new recipes. Doubtless, many housekeepers
EVELYN G. SUTHERLAND
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
37
will echo the sentiment of the cook who, after repeated failures from following the directions in other books, exclaimed, " No, Mrs. T., the pudding was no good. I tell .you, we can't do any better than to stick to old Mary Jane."
Mrs. Lincoln's latest printed volume is "A Cook-book for a Month at a Time," and her latest business venture is the manufacture of a pure cream of tartar baking jiowder, bearing her name, which is meeting with a ready sale.
The following is quotecl from one of many press notices of Mrs. Lincoln: "Her personal magnetism, her naturalness, her enthusiasm and enjoyment in her work, win her many friends and pupils wherever she lectures. While instructing, in language as clear and explicit as if her audiences were children, she never forgets that her hearers are ladies, and she an- swers the most absurd questions with unfailing patience and respect. She confines her talk to the subject at hand, and does not try to fill up every moment of the time l)y talking just for effect or to create a sensational discussion."-
Mrs. Lincoln is the only living rlescendant of her father's branch of the Burnham family. She has no children. After the death of her husband, in 1894, she established herself in Boston, where in a sunny study, surrounded by her books and an interesting collection of pictures and souvenirs of a recent summer in Europe, she sends forth her weekly words of culinary and household wisdom, gathered from a varied practical experience, to help her sister housekeepers.
Mrs. Lincoln says that she "cannot be a business woman and a society woman at the same time." She prefers an active, u.seful life, and believes that success lies in tloing one thing well. She is a member of the New England Women's Press A.ssociation, the Wheaton Semi- nary Club, the Charity Club, and the Cooking Teachers' League. Her greatest enjoyment is with her chosen circle of intimate friends, who often share the rest and quiet of her hospitable home.
An invitation from the publishers of the Scientific American, New York, to write the signed article on "Cookery" for their new En- cyclopedia Americana, is one of Mrs. Lincoln's latest honors.
ARY ANNE GREENE, LL.B., daughter of John Waterman Aborn
_|_ Y JL and Mary Frances (Low) Greene was born in Warwick, R.I., June 14, 1857. She was grailuated from the Law School of Boston University in 1888 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, magna cum laude, and was admitted to the bar in Boston the same year. She was the third woman graduated from the school and the second to be admitted to the Massachusetts bar. After practising two years in Boston, she returned to Rhode Lslantl in 1890, and has resided in Providence ever since. She has an office practice, giving her attention largely to conveyancing and the care of estates.
Miss Greene is of the ninth generation of the Rhode Island family founded by Dr. John Greene, son of Richard Greene, of Bowridge Hill, Gillingham, Dorsetshire, England. John Greene came to Salem from Salisbury, Eng- land, 1635, was one of the original proprietors of Providence, 1636, and one of the original purchasers and founders of the town of War- wick, 1642. This family gave to the colony and State a number of public officials, among them a Deputy Governor, John Greene, Jr.; a Chief Justice, who sat on the bench of the Court of Common Pleas of Kent County all through the Revolution; Philip Greene, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island; two colonial Governors, William and William, Jr.; and two Revolutionary officers of distinc- tion, General Nathanael Greene and Colonel Christopher Greene.
Miss Greene's line of descent is as follows: John' Greene, surgeon; John^ Greene, Jr., gen- eral recorder, Attorney-General, Major for the Main, Deputy Governor; Job' Greene, Speaker of the House of Deputies, 1727-28; Philip' Greene, a Justice of the Court of Common Pleas of Kent County twenty-five years, 1759- 84, and its Chief Justice 1776-84, also As- sociate Justice of the Supreme Court 1768-69; Christopher^ Greene, Colonel-Commandant of the Rhode Island Brigade, Continental Line, of the Revolution; Colonel Job" Greene, of the State Brigade in the Revolution and an origi- nal member of the Rhode Island Society of the Cincinnati; Simon Henry' Greene, for many
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REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
years Senator from Warwick in the Rhode Island General Assembly; Jolin AVaternian Aborn' Greene, who died young, but had al- ready held many offices in the gift of the town of Warwick. Miss Greene is his only living child. She is also descended from Colonel Christopher Greene and from his only brother. Judge William^ Greene, through her mother, Mary Frances Low, and her mother's mother, Mary Ann' Greene (Jeremiah," William,^ Philip," Job,' John,^ John'), who was born in the an- cestral home, "Occupasuatuxet," Warwick, R.L This Mary Ann Greene, the grandmother, for whom Miss Greene was named, contributed stories and poems to the Providence Journal at the age of fourteen. She was of double Greene descent, her mother being Colonel Christopher's grand-daughter. She married Jo- seph Holden Low, of the Warwick branch of the Low family, and died at twenty-one, leav- ing an infant daughter, Mary Frances, who became Mrs. John W. A. Greene, a woman of fine mind. Miss Greene's mother.
Miss Greene is descended from Roger Will- iams through the marriage of his grand-daugh- ter, Phebe Sayles, with Major Job" Greene, and also through her paternal grandmother, Caro- line Cornelia Aborn. Indeed, she is descended from nearly every one of the foimders of the colonies of Providence and of Warwick and from most of them in several lines, owing to constant intermarriages.
Mrs. Julia Ward Howe is descended from Deborah* (married Simon Ray), sister of Chief Justice Philip" Greene and daughter of Job' and Phebe (Sayles) Greene.
It is a notable fact that in every generation in Miss Greene's line of the Greenes there has been either a Senator or a Representative from the town of Warwick in the General Assembly, her cousin, Francis Whittier Greene, serv- ing at the present time as Senator from War- wick.
Miss Greene was the first American woman invited to address the World's Congress of Juris- prudence and Law Reform, an honor extended to but two American and two foreign women lawyers, their names appearing upon the same programme with eminent American and Euro- pean male jurists. Miss Greene assisted in
preparing the fifth edition of Schouler on the Domestic Relations, the standard authority in the courts upon that branch of law. She is the only lawyer who makes a specialty of the delivery of lectures upon practical business law before women's clubs and girls' schools, and she finds great interest in the subject among all classes of women, from shop-girls and work- ing-women to the wives of millionaires.
Miss Greene was conmiissioned by the Gov- ernor of Rhode Island chairman of the Rhode Island Committee on a Colonial Exhibit at the Atlanta Exposition; and the Legislature, upon her sole petition as chairman, appropri- ated one thousand dollars for the colonial ex- hibit. This is said to be the first time in his- tory that State funds have been placed in the control of a commission composed exclusively of women, by a direct grant to them from the Legislature itself.
In 1902 Miss Greene published "The Wom- an's Manual of Law," a clear, simple, and non- technical book of reference for women who de- sire to inform themselves as to the laws of busi- ness and of the domestic relations. It is said to be the most satisfactory work of the kind yet published. The Chicago Legal News of iSTovember 8, 1902, says of it: —
"This book is the result of years of experi- ence of Miss Greene, a member of the Boston bar, as lecturer upon the subject of which it treats. . . . The entire cycle of a woman's life, from her marriage to the grave, is passed in review in successive chapters. First, the laws affecting the domestic relations are considered. Then folloAV those dealing with buying and selling and the care of all kinds of property. In every case the particular legal restrictions upon the powers of the woman who is married are considered. Lastly, the proper disposi- tion of property by will and by the laws of inheritance is treated, inckuUng the rights of the widow or the widower in the property of either.
"Miss Greene has shown good judgment, not only in the .selection of her subjects treated, but in her manner of treating them. Her style is ))Ieasing and easily understood. Every woman who can read the English language, and wishes to know her legal rights, should
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39
have this manual of Miss Greene's for a com- panion. The gifted author tells us, while all the laws discussed in this volume are of equal importance to men, it is entitled 'The Wom- an's Manual of Law' because it is a selection of laws that women especially need to know."
Since 1898 Miss Greene has been a vice- president of the Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society. This organization includes the New England and Middle States, also Dela- ware and the District of Columbia. It is in- corporated under the laws of Massachusetts, and has its ofhce in Tremont Temple, Boston. It is auxiliary to the American Baptist Mis- sionary Union, ami maintains over four hun- dred schools, with about sixteen thou.sand jiupils in Burma, South hulia, China, Japan, and Africa. It supports seventy-three lady missionaries, and carries on medical work, as well as evangelistic and etlucational. In January, 1902, she was, by formal vote of the Board of Directors, matle its authorized legal adviser. Since 1895 she has been president of the Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society of Rhoile Island, a State branch of the general society.
In 1892, at the request of the Board of Man- agers of the Columbian Kx|)osition, she com- piled a pamphlet entitled " Legal Status of Women under the Laws of Rhode Island, 1892." It was originally publishetl in the Rhode Island Woman's Directory for the Co- lumbian Year, edited by Charlotte Field Dailey, and published in Providence in 1893 by the Rhode Island Woman's World's Fair Advisory Board, of which Miss Greene was a member. In 1900, the laws having been very much al- tered and amended, she revised the pamphlet, and it was published by the Rhode Island State Federation of Women's Clubs under the title, "Legal Status of Women in Rhode Islanil, 1900," with a preface concerning the recent sweeping legislation for the benefit of Rhode Island wives.
Miss Greene was the first woman contributor to the American Laic Revieiv. Some of the published articles are: "Privileged Communi- cations in Suits between Hu.sband and Wife," American Law ^ Review, September-October, 1890; "The Evolution of the American Fee
Simple," American Law Review, March-April, 1897: "Results of the Woman Suffrage Move- ment," Forum, June, 1894; and a series of arti- cles on law for women in the Chautauquan, No- vember, 1891-August, 1892.
Her translation entitled "The Woman Law- yer," from the French of Dr. Louis Frank, the famous Belgian champion of woman's rights ("La Fenime-Avocat," par L. Frank, Bruxelles, 1888), appeareil serially in the Chicago Law Times for the year 1889. Dr. Frank dedicated to Miss Greene his Catechisme de la Femme in 1895. This little work was translated into nearly every language of Continental Europe, with its dedication.
Miss Greene's address at the World's Con- gress of Jiu'isprudence upon "Married Wom- an's Projjerty Acts' in the LTnited States, and Needetl Reforms therein," was published in the Chicago Legal A'cu's of August 12, 1893. Her address delivered in the Woman's Build- ing of the Columbian Exposition, entitled "Legal Condition of Women in 1492 and 1892," is printed in full in the official volumes of the Congresses in the Woman's Building. In the New Englnnd Magazine for 1898 is her illu.s- trateil article on General Nathanael Greene, a brief biography tracing the development of General Cireene's character ami attempting to show what it was that made him a great mili- tary genius.
The Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society has published two small pamphlets from her pen— "The Primer of Missions" in 1896 and "Women's Missionary Wills and Bonds" in 1902. Miss Greene says, "If I get interested in any subject, legal, patriotic, or missionary, I have to deliver addresses and publish articles about it." She is a magnetic speaker, anil has the power to hold her audi- ences and to inspire them with enthusiasm.
At the Fortieth Anniversary of the first Woman's Rights Convention she repre.sented women in the legal profession. The meeting, presided over by Lucy Stone, was held in Trem- ont Temple, January 27, 1891, and Miss Greene, though her voice is naturally low, as she spoke on "Women in the Law," made three thousand people hear with ease.
.As a presiding officer she is unusually popu-
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lar and successful. In her own words, "I suj)- pose it is because I have such complete self- possession myself that my audience feel easy and comfortable themselves." She was State Regent for Rhode Island of the Daughters of the American Revolution from 1895 to 1897, and is now an Honorary State Regent.
Miss Greene says: "I did not intend to delay for so many years my application for admis- sion to the bar of Rhode Island. No woman has yet applied here. By the rules of court a member of the bar of another State may appear here and plead, but all court papers must be signed by a member of the Rhode Island bar. As I do not practise in court, there has been no need for me to apply, and I have put it off from time to time for a more convenient season. I am not an 'agitator' of any sort, and do not care to do anything merely for the sake of the notoriety of doing it. I am glad to help where I can to make the world better by informing the people of pres- ent conditions, pointing out reforms, and help- ing others to do the reforming if I can."
MARY DANA HICKS PRANG, art educator, residing in Boston, was born in Syracuse, N.Y., October 7, 1836, daughter of Major and Agnes A. (Johnson) Dana. The Dana family to which she belongs has a record in New England of over two hundred and fifty years, its immigrant progenitor, Richard Dana, having come to this country in 1640, and settled in Cambridge, Mass. From RichanP the line continued through Daniel,^ Thomas,^ Daniel,^ Daniel,'* to Major Dana, above mentioned, who was of the sixth generation, Mrs. Prang being of the seventh. Mrs. Prang's father was a prosperous merchant, a man of sterling character, who supported every forward movement. Among his remarkable qualities were a memory that never failed and an usual appreciation of beauty of effect, of fine design, and of harmony of color. Her mother, who was a brilliant woman, a poet and artist, was a leader in the literary society of Syracuse. Benevolent enterprises received her encouragement, and she was an inspiration to all who had the pleasure of her acquaint-
ance. She lived to the advanced age of ninety- four years.
Mary Dana was an observant little girl, and at the age of two years had learned her letters from large handbills. For some time she was a ]3upil in a private school close by her home. Throughout her school life she was found equal to children three or four years older.
She was graduated from the Allen Seminary, Rochester, N.Y., in 1852, after a course of study in mathematics, the languages, and history, with general study of the sciences; and later she pursued special studies at Harvard and at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
On her twentieth birthday she became the wife of Charles Spencer Hicks, a promising* young lawyer of Syracuse. In less than two years her husband was drowned. On April 15, 1900, she married Louis Prang, of Boston, the distinguished art publisher.
Owing to financial reverses in 1858, she re- ceived private pupils, the greater number being in drawing. Her work with these pupils led her to a deep consideration of the influence of art instruction on education. Drawing was conniionly regarded as an end to be attained only by the specially gifted. Close study and wide observation confirmed her in the belief that drawing should be a study not for the few only, but for all, a means of expression for every child, and therefore should be an integral part of public school education.
Receiving the ap})ointment of supervisor of drawing in the public schools of Syracuse, she visited several of the larger cities in the country, to observe school conditions. She found that drawing had a place in neaily every course of study, but that there was actually very little work of merit accomplished. More favorable conditions existed in Boston than elsewhere, l)ut even in that city drawing was not given the prominence to which she believed it justly entitleil. Strengthened in her judgment re- specting the value of art-teaching in the public schools, she continued her work in Syracuse with increased enthusiasm.
About this time AV alter Smith was called to Massachusetts to become the head of art educa- tion in the State. He established the Normal School in Boston, and gave considerable im-
MARY D. H. PKANG
REPRESENTATnE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
41
petus to the study of art. Mrs. Prang visited him in Boston, and, introducing his l)ooks in Syracuse, found them of great service in mak- ing possible the study of historic ornament, supplying in some measure the examples neces- sary for her work.
Mrs. Prang's remarkable physique and ex- cellent health enabled her to complete success- fully an unusual amount of labor. Several of her classes in the high scliool numbered seventy or eighty pupils each, but Mrs. Prang worked with the strength of her convictions, and with a joyousness of spirit that communi- cated itself to her pupils.
In order that the children might be properly taught, she formed teachers' classes that were conducted after school hours. In atUlition she closely supervised the work in all the schools, and was ever ready to help the teachers with pertinent suggestions and cheerful en- couragement. Her supervision of the schools of Syracuse extendeil over more than ten years: and there are teachers in the field to-day, occupying high positions, who are proud to trace the beginning of their successes to the influence of Mrs. Prang, with whom they were associated as high school students or as grade teachers.
Exhibitions of public school drawings were held at the high school building, anil, while children and teachers were thus encouraged and stimulated, the general public became educated as to the possibilities of children in this direction. The.se exhibitions, together with exhibitions made at the State Teachers' Association and at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, were all factors in the progress of art education in the public schools.
In Syracuse they attracted the attention of broud-mimled people, and comprehensive re- ports upon them were made by physicians, ar- chitects, and other jieopie of education, among whom were Dr. Martin B. Anderson, President of Rochester University, and Dr. Andrew D. AVhite, President of Cornell University. The public schools of Syracuse became well known as foremost in the country in art education.
Entleavoring in every way to spread the influence of art, Mrs. Prang assisteil largel}' in the development of the Social Art Club of
Syracuse, the purpose of which was the read- ing of the history of art and the study of his- toric antl current art. Mrs. Prang was president of the club for five j'ears, and through her ef- forts its members were able to gather illus- trations and to pursue a systematic course of reading relating to ancient, early Christian, and modern art. The club was extremely popular, the wailhig list being filled with names of women of the highest social standing. The present president, formerly a student with Mrs. Prang, has held the position for twenty- five years. The Social Art Club was the second club formed in Syracuse, being antedated only by the Portfolio Club, an association of Mrs. Prang's pupils.
From the beginning of Mrs. Prang's con- nection with the Prang Educational Company in 1878, she was adviser on all the educational phases of the work. Even before her name appeared as joint author of the various publi- cations jjrepareil by the company, all ques- tions involving educational influence and value were lirought to her for judgment and advice. Her wide experience antl sympathetic insight as to the needs of the teachers contributed largely toward making possible the wide intro- duction of the Prang work in the public schools of the country. Her wisdom and catholicity helped to make the Prang work acceptable to the utilitarian, to the lover of beauty in form anil color, and to the educator. The spirit of the work in its power of developing and u\)- 1 if ting was never forgotten.
Mrs. Prang was among the first to point out that the instruction in art given in the public schools must of necessity cover entirely dif- ferent ground from that given in the art schools and studios. She taught clearly the difference in the purpose of the two— the one being in- tended for those specially gifted by nature, while the other means the development of the art instinct, the power of art expression in every child. Advocating these views, she is a frequent speaker at art and educational associations. The difficulties attending the introduction of a comi)aratively new work and the lack of public school training on the part of supervisors led them to seek frequent con- ferences with Mrs. Prang, and many super-
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REPRESENTATIVE WUMEN t)FNEW ENGLAND
visors submitted to her criticism oullincs for work in their scliools before giving tlie work to teachers and pupils. Tlie need of closer and more systematic instruction for teachers and supervisors becoming apjiarent, the Prang normal art classes for home study in form, drawing, and color, with instruction by corre- spondence, were organized in 1SS7. They were designed to assist pulilic school teachers in preparing thcnnselves to toivch the subjects of form, drawing, and color. The advantages of these classes were cfuickly seized upon by hundreds of teachers in all grades, by jirinci- pals of schools, and by supervisors.
Much of the beneficent and far-reaching influence of this movement is unquestionably due to the personality of Mrs. Prang as director. Her beautiful spirit made itself distinctly felt even through the cold medimn of dictated letters and typewritten correspondence. Her cheerful greeting to the new student, perhai)s in Maine, perhaps in C'alifornia, established from the first a sense of welcome and an as- surance of sympathy.
This instruction by correspondence came like a ray of light in the darkness to many a discouraged, conscientious teacher, struggling in her own out-of-the-way little corner with the great problems of education.' For to Mrs. Prang, and to those who shared her faith and her enthusiasm, art education in the public schools meant the uplifting of all the studies to a higher plane. In all her teachings the thought was to lead beyond the actual thing taught to its relation to nature and to human life. Those who were fortunate enough to become students with Mrs. Prang will look back upon the association with a deep sense of pleasure and gratitude.
As Mrs. Prang, from her first decision in ISfiS to make public art education her lih^-work, strenuously devoted herself to its promotion, her work as an author has been largely in that direction. She was joint author with John S. Clark of "The Use of Models" (1886); with John S. Clark and Walter Scott Perry of " The Prang Shorter Course in Form Study and Draw- ing," "Form Study without Clay," "The Prang Complete Course in I'Virm Study and Drawing," "The Prang Elementary Course in
Art Instruction"; ;ind with John S. Clark and Louis Prang of " Suggestions, for Color Instruc- tion" (1893). Her latest work is "Art In- struction for Children in Primary Schools," in two volumes (1800).
In the intervals of this very busy life Mrs. Prang has found time to share in other work for the jx'ojjle. She was one of the charter members of the Massachusetts Floral Emlilem Society, wiiich was organized July 4, 1804, by Mrs. Ellen A. Richardson, at Winthrop, Mass. One object of the society is to bring about a more rational celebration of the Fourth of July, and to that end the society endeavors to cultivate a love for the beautiful in the minds of school children by the distribution of flowers on that day. Mrs. Prang was presi- dent of the society in 1898 and 1900, and she inaugurated the public distribvition of flowers to the childnMi of Boston, in 1S98 flowers being given to twentv-five hundred children and in 1000 to nearly four thousand. In March, 1000, and again in February, 1901, Mrs. Prang ap- ]iearetl before the Legislative committee to advocate the adoption of a floral emblem for the State of Massachusetts.
Mrs. Prang is a meml)er of the Wintergreen Club, the New England Women's Club, the lv[ual Suffrage Society for Good Government, the Twentieth Century Club, Woman's I'ldu- cational and Industrial Union, the Boston lousiness Leagvic, the Womnn's Alliance, the l*]nstern Kindergarten Association, the Walt \Miitman I'ellowship, the Copley Society, the I'nity Art Club, the Public School Art League, the Harvard Teacliers' Association (of Cam- Ijridge, Mass.), the Massachusetts Forestry As- sociation, the Massachusetts Floral Emblem Society, the Massachusetts Industrial Art Teachers' Association, the Social Service League (of New York City), the Onondaga County His- torical Association and the Social Art Club (both of Syracuse, N.Y.), the r^astern Art Teachers' Association, the Western Drawing Teachers' Association, the National Educa- tional Association, tlie American Association for Physical Training, the Massachusetts Prison Association, the .Massachusetts Society for Aid- ing Discharged Convicts, the American Park and Outdoor Association and the Appalachian
REPRESENTATR E WOMEN UE NEW ENGLAND
43
Mountain Club. She is also a proprietor of the Boston Athenfpum and a subscriber to the Bos- ton Museum of Fine Arts.
AUGUSTA HALE GIFFORD, histori- cal writei', wa? born in Turner, Andros- L coggin County, Me., and brought up through girlhood on one of the old Maine farms. Her father and mother, James Sullivan Hale and his wife, Betsej' Staples, had settled on the family estate, which had been redeemed from the rocks and briers by Mrs. Clifford's grandparents, David Hale and his wife, Sally Kingsbury, in the early years of the nineteenth century.
David Hale, Mrs. Clifford's paternal grand- father, was a native of Harvanl, Mass., horn in 1772, and a lineal descendant in the sixth generation of Thomas' Hale, the immigrant progenitor of this branch of the Hale family in New England, who settled at Newbury, Mas- sachusetts Bay Colony, about 1637. Davitl Hale married Sally Kingsbury, of Ellington, Conn., daughter of Simon Kingsbury, and liveil in Rutland, Mass , until their removal to Turner, Oxford County, Me., in 1802. They made the voyage of three weeks from Boston to Fal- mouth (Portland) in the winter sea^son, in a sailing-vessel, and were obliged to leave their two chililren in Falmouth until sunuuer, since it was not practicable earlier to take them forty miles through the woods.
The Kingsburys were a remarkable family intellectually, and Sally Kingsbury Hale brought to these wilds a well-developed and well-stored mind. Although living to be an octogenarian, she still retained her excellent memory ; and to the delight of her grandchildren, the eUler chil- dren of her son Sullivan, she whiled away the long winter evenings, passed before the huge open fireplace, witii vivid accounts of battles of the Revolution, including that of Monmouth, in which her brother, Dr. Joseph Kingsbury, was wounded, and with thrilling stories of Indian captivities and other adventures in far-off colonial times. These stories she told as she had heard them in her girlhood from the lips of Ephraim Kingsbury, of Haverhill—" Uncle Ephraim," she used to call him— stories partly
of his own experience and partly, perhaps, relat- ing to the Ephraim Kingsbury who is on record in Chase's History of Haverhill, Mass., as hav- ing been killed by Indians in 1676.
Sullivan and Betsey (Staples) Hale were the parents of five children, namely: Eugene, I'nited States Senator; Hortense, who with her husband. Dr. Gushing, a retired physician, now lives on the old homestead in Turner, Me.; Frederick (deceased); Augusta (Mrs. Clifford); and Clarence, of Portland, Me., Judge of the United States Court.
Augusta Hale was fitted for college in the high school of Turner, in the companionship of a beloved brother, Frederick, with whom she shared every sport, overcame every diffi- culty, antl was permitted to accomplish every task. They even studied their lessons from the same book, going to ami from school together. His death in 1868 was her first affliction, and it marked the beginning of her literary aspira- tion. In 1859, at the age of seventeen, she entered Oberlin, then almost the only fully e(iuip])ed college (with a complete classical curriculum) in the country open to both sexes. Her voice was often heard in the college and the college society parts, delivered in the large clun-ch then, as now, connecteil therewith. But her stutlent life at Oberlin was only the beginning of the self-culture which must nec- essarily supjjlement the early education of men and women who accomplish anything worth while for the world.
After graduation she settled in Portland, and in 1869 was married to the Hon. George Gifford, originally a lawyer, afterward a jour- nalist, and finally for n^any years as at present in the consular service. Mrs. Gifford shared with her husband different fields «f foreign labor, and this resilience abroad has continued for her somewhat intermittently for more than a quar- ter of a century, their home being at intervals in London, Paris, various parts of France, and for several years in Basle, Switzerland. She became the mother of three children— Kath- erine, Clarence Hale, and Marguerite. The younger daughter was born during a long resi- lience of the family in Nantes, France. Many interesting and anuising incidents occurred in Mrs. Clifford's eariy trips across the Atlantic
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REPRESENTATHE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
with her little ones, at a time when the voyage in stormy weather sometimes extended over a spaee of fifteen or sixteen days, and the perils and hardships of the ocean had not been ameli- orated to the extent which obtains at present.
lu her early life abroad Mrs. Gifford imbibed a taste for foreign literature, foreign languages, and foreign travel, which sha])ed her subse- quent career. She has since travelled exten- tively over Europe and the Orient, many of the countries visited having been but recently made accessible to the traveller. Her plans and tours have been all marked out in advance, and her research has been so thorough that the maj) of Europe to her is like an illuminated book, even the unaccustomed routes being like the beaten track in her own garden. She has delighted the public with a large foreign cor- respondence, her vivitl imagination making the scenes of these various countries and the customs and habits of the jieople stand out before her readers like familiar experiences, her interesting and practical relations furnishing much valuable information to other travellers.
Since 18. 3, after the death of her eldest child, Katherine, born in 1870, a young lady of lovely character, Mrs. Gifford has found great solace in literature. In her first travels through Germany, fascinated bvGerman life and the people, she con- ceived the idea of putting into form a racy ac- count of the Germans from their beginning; and from this idea was developed the series of books, beginning with "Germany: Her People and Their Story," published by the Lothrop Publishing Company in 1899. It is as readable as a romance, one of its great merits being tliat its historical facts have an attractive setting. Evidently prepared with reference to the re- quirements of the general reader, it is something more than an outline of the salient features in the progress of the German nation from bai- barism to enligiitenment, from a confederacy of loosely allied states to a strongly cemented empire. Legend and anecdote have been skil- fully woven into the story, and vivid glim])ses are given of the national life, and a clear insight into the national character. It was a difficult task the author had before her of condensing within the limits of a six-hundred-page vol- ume twelve hundred years of a nation's growth.
There was danger on the one hand of making the volume little more than a chronological record, ami on the other of inadequacy. The success with which she has avoided both dan- gers attests a fine sense of proportion, discrimi- nating judgment, and much literary skill.
"Mrs. Gifford's 'Germany' was received with so much favor by both the people and her pub- lishers that she was encouraged to go on with the series. She has now for several years been collecting material abroad for her 'Italy,' vis- iting tliat country many times in order to ab- sorb all the phases of Italian life and character; and 'Italy: Her People and their Story,' bids fair even to excel the first of the series in in- terest."
Mrs. Gifford has also given much time to club work, writing many i)apers and giving many lectures and talks. Her papers on "Ger- man Literature and German Authors," "Mis- sion Work in India" (the origin of the people from the Aryans, their early religious develop- ment, etc.), an article entitled "How to Travel," and her very celebrated lecture, " From the North Cape to the Orient," have attracted nmch attention. Her series of talks on archi- tecture, condensed for students and travellers, is to be the nucleus of a volume entitled " The Architecture of Cathedrals and Castles, for Students and Travellers," when time shall per- mit her to complete the work.
Mrs. Gifford through all those years of travel has retained her home in I'ortland, Me., and when in America it has always been hei- pleas- ure to spend her time in this beautiful little city by the sea and again get in touch with real New England life. Both at home and abroad her society is sought by jieople of culture, and she is a welcome presence in any gathering.
KATE E. GRISWOLD, proprietor and publisher of Profitalde Advertising, a monthly magazine issued in Boston, devoted to the interests of advertisers and })ublishers, is widely known as a success- ful journalist, the periodical of which she is the sponsor ranking, it is said, as foremost of its kind in the world. Miss Griswold was born about thirty-five years ago at West Hartford.
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENCiLANU
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Conn. Her father, John Belden Griswold, a native of Newington, Conn., was born in 1828, son of Josiah Wells and Mary A. (Belden) Criswold. Her mother, whose maiden name was Cornelia Arnold Jones, was born at East Hartford in 1830, daughter of Joseph Pantra Jones and his wife, Sarah Comstock.
After pursuing her studies, both elenientarj' anil classical, at some of the best public and private schools in Hartford, she turned natu- rally enough to journalism, entering the office of. the Poultry World in that city. One of the practical Occui)alions of her girlhood at home had been the raising of poultry, which she had nuule financially profitai)le. Her story, as in all cases of genuine success, is a story of liard work and a slow climb from humble begiimings. Her promotion to a responsible position in the office of the National Trotting A.ssociation came within a year, and again illustrates the special fitness of things, for she is an enthusiastic devotee of the horse.
At the end of her second year constant appli- cation to an ever-increasing bvn-den of duties had worn her out, and for a time she was obliged to give up the struggle. Several years of re- tirement and rest, however, brought her again to the front with a renewed ston^ of strength.
Flattering offers were at Miss Griswold's di,«- posal, l)ut she turned from them all to take up the management of the organ of a local chari- table enterprise. To The Harljord Cihj Misf<ion Record, and to the cause in general which it representeil, she devoted herself for the next four years. Toward the close of this period of charitable work she entered into .several prize competitions for advertising designs, and was perhaps not wholly surprised at carrying off the honors in a number of cases. The at- tention thus attracted to the fact of a woman's success as an "ad" writer led to an offer from Boston.
A position as general ad writer and corre- spondent in the office of the C. F. David Adver- tising Agency, the original promoters of Profit- able Advertising, soon demonstrated her fitness for the editor's chair. In the course of a year or two she became the propiietor as well as the editor of the publication.
The story of Mi.ss Griswold's subsequent
career is simply the record of a shining success obtained slowly by the exercise of thoi^e quali- ties that alone can ensure fortune. The path has been hard and the difficulties unusual. Up to three years ago the editor as well as the manager of Profitable Advertising, Miss Griswold was especially handicapped by the very general doubt as to the practicability of the under- taking. When she began to edit Profitable Advertising, the number of women who were making a living in the advertising field could be counted on the fingers of one hand. They are now numbered by scores, and it is not too nmch to say that the single example c^f Miss Griswokl's grit and sagacity has hatl more to do with this than any other single cause.
Profitable Advertising is a periodical which stands for and reflects more than most publi- cations the individuality of its owner and man- ager. In this respect Miss Gri.swold deserves honorable mention in the same class with such representative American pul:)lishers as the Ben- netts of the Her<dd, Dana of the Sun, and Horace Greeley of the Tribune. Iler publication has within tlie past three years attained high-water mark, and, as already intimated above, is rec- ognized by the leading authorities of two con- tinents as the model and standard of its class.
It is needless to add in words a personal trib- ute to such a record. Mi.ss Griswold numbers many friends in the publishing and advertising fields at large. She is a young woman whose powers have not yet touched their prime.
The ancestry of Miss Griswold has been traced back through various lines to conspicu- ous early colonists of her native State, she being also a "Mayflower" descendant, a double one, so to speak, deriving through both father and mother from William Bratlford, Governor of "Plymouth Plantation."
Her father, John Belden Griswold, was born in 1828, son of Josiah W^ells and Mary Ann (Belden) GriswoUl and a descendant in the eighth generation of Michael' Griswold, of Wethersfield. The line is: Michael'; Jacob,'^ born in 1660; Major Josiah,^ born in 1700; Josiah,''1728; Solomon,^ 1751 ; Josiah,^ 1775; Jo- siah Wells,' 1794; John Beklen,- Kate E. being of the ninth generation.
Mr. Griswold's paternal grandmother, the
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REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
wife of Josiah,' was Abigail Wells, daughter of Robert and Abigail (Hurlbut) Wells and grand- daughter of Lieutenant Robert and Abigail (Burnham) Wells, the Wells ancestry beginning ^\ith Thomas AVells (or Welles), one of the origi- nal proprietors of Hartford and Wethersfield, many years a magistrate and for two years CJov- ernor of the colony. Mrs. Al)igail Burnham Wells was a daughter of the Rev. William Burnham (William,' Thomns') and his wife Haimah, daughter of Samuel' \\'olcott, of Wind- sor. SamueP was grandson of I-Ienry' Wolcott, the founder of the distinguished family of this surname, prolific of governors.
Mary A. Belden, wife of Josiah Wells (Jris- wold and grandmother of Kate E., was a daugh- ter of John and Asenath (Darrow) Belden and grand-daughter of John Kellogg Belden and his wife Mercy, who was sister to Noah Webster, the le.xicographer.
Bradford descent through the Websters is thus shown: Governor William' Bradford mar- ried for his second wife Mrs. Alice Carpenter Southworth. Their son AVilliam^ married, first, Alice Richards. Mercy^ Bradford, born of this union, married Sanuiel Steele in 1680, and resided in Hartfortl. Their son, Eli])halet'' Steele, married Catherine Marshfield, and was the father of Mercy'' Steele, born at West Hart- ford in 1727, who married Noah W'ebsler, Sr., the couple last named being the parents of Mercy," born at West Hartford in 1749, and of her younger brother, Noah Webster, of dic- tionary fame.
Mercy W^ebster was of the sixth generation of the family founded by John' Webster, one of the original proprietors of Hartford, Conn., and two j'ears Governor. The line from John' Webster was continued through Robert," John, '^ Daniel,"* to Noah," born 1722, who married Mercy Steele, as noted above.
Miss Griswold's maternal grandparents were Jo.seph Pantra and Sarah (Comstock) Jones, the grandfather, born in 1785, son of John and Elizabeth (Williams) Jones and great-giandson of Nathaniel Jones ami his wife, Reliekah Bantra, who was a descendant of William' Pantra, of Hartford. Elizalieth Williams was a daughter of Timothy'* Williams, great-gratid- son of William' Williams, of Hartford. Her
mother, whose maiden name was Ruth Pitkin, was the daughter of Ozias Pitkin and grand- daughter of William' Pitkin, founder of the prominent Hartford family of this surname, and brother of Martha Pitkin, who married Simon AVolcott, and was the mother of the first Roger Wolcott in New England. Another ancestor belonging to one of the first families of Hartford was Ozias' Goodwin, whose daugh- ter Hannah was the wife of William Pitkin and mother of Ozias Pitkin.
Mrs. S.arah Comstock Jones was a daughter of Perez and Abigail N. (Raymond) Comstock anil grand-daughter of Nathaniel''' Comstock and his wife, vSarnh Bradford, born in [he North Parish of New Ijondon (now Montville) in 1744, who was of the fifth generation of Plym- outh Colony stock. The line was: Governor William' Bradford; William^ anti his .second wife, widow Wiswall; .foseph' and his second wife, Mary, widow of Captain Daniel Fitch; John* and wife, Esther Sherwood; Sarah.^
Abigail, wife of Perez Comstock and mother of Sarah, was a daughter of Dr. Christojjher'* Raymond (Joshua, * ''' ^ Richard') and his wife Eleanor. The tatter was a daugliter of Daniel' P'itch and great-granddaughter of the Rev. James Pitch, of Saybrook and Norwich, Conn. Her grandfather. Captain Daniel'* Fitch, was .«on of the Rev. James by his .<econd wife, Priscilla, therefore a grandson of the latter's father, Major John M.a.son, sometimes styled the " Myies Standish of the Coimecticut Colony."
Joshua'* Raymond, son of Joshua,' married Elizabeth Christophers, and was the father of Dr. Christopher Raymond, born in 1729. Joshua' Raymond, grandfather of Dr. Chris- topher, mnrried Mercy Sands, daughter of James Sands, of Block Island.
EUNICE NICHOLS FRYE.-It was in Portland, Me., that State federation of clubs had its origin, and it was Mrs. . Eunice^ Nichols Frye who first advo- cated the formation of such an alliance. Hav- ing attended the first meeting of the directors of the General Federation at Orange, N.J., in her official capacity as president of the Woman's Literary Unicjn of Portland (organized in 1889),
MAY ALDEN WARD
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
47
she was quick to foresee the benefits which a State organization would confer upon clTib women in Maine, the State whose motto is "Dirigo." She it was who invited representa- tive club women to meet in her parlors to con- sult in regard to the advisability of such a step. Three months later, September 23, 1892, the first State federation was formed, with nine- teen clubs as charter members and Mrs. Fvyc its secretary. Other States soon followed this example, and the result has been most happj\
Mrs. Croly (Jennie June) said of Mrs. Frye, "She is the Alma Mater of clubs and club women of Maine, a woman of large heart and broad intelligence, who works toward the best end without any shadow of pettiness or self- seeking." As the press notices and reports of various literary and philanthropic movements in Portland testify to occasions when prelimi-' nary meetings were held in Mrs. Frye's parlors, so the subsecjuent accounts invariably tell of wise plans faithfully carried out for the general good. Mrs. Frye has a genius for organizing, working with indomit;d)l(> energy and anima- tion for present and future good.
Mrs. Frye was the first president of the Board of Directors of the Mary Brown Home, a highly useful institution founded on broad princi|)les. This is a resting-place for sick and broken- down women, who have always been indus- trious, self-supi)orting, and self-respecting. It is unique in having, beside the regular directors, an advisory board of men and women, as well as a co-operative board of helpers from busi- ness houses where women are employed. This plan for an invalids' home was originated by a little band of Methodist women. Some mem- bers of the Universalist church next became interested, and finally all the churches took hold of the work. Mary Cobb was the pioneer worker, and Mrs. Brown (for whom the home is rfow called) made a practical begimiing pos- sible in the summer of 1894 by giving the use of her cottage at Trefethern's Landing. Later a cottage was purchased at 28 Revere Street, Portland. There was soon a demand for more than its twelve rooms, and a new and larger building has been built on the site of thr ancient Bradley Meeting-hou.se, a site which was a gift to the directors for that purpose. During the
nine years over a hundred invalids and broken- down women had shelter and care, and all but seven of this number have been restored to health and have gone back to their work. The labor, the tact, the time and strength, to say nothing of the open purse which Mrs. Frye has had ready as the occasion has de- manded in this particular service, show how nmch it has been a labor of love. How truly she is a philanthropist! One is not surprised to learn that she comes of strong Quaker stock. Mrs. Frye was born at Vassalborough, Me., January 8, 1852, being the daughter of Caleb and Maria Nichols. Her father and mother were elders in the Vassalborough Society of Friends, and for years clerks of the business meetings. Always working in the interests of progress in the town, they were trustees from its organization of Oak Grove Seminary, a l''riends' school at Vassalborough. Their daughter Eunice was mostly eilucated in that seminary, being a student there for years. She was for some time the principal of the Uni- tarian Friends' School at Orchard Park, N.Y., now a normal school. In her girlhood she spent several winters with her brother. Dr. Charles H. Nichols, superintendent of the Government Hospital for the Insane at A^'ashington, D.C.
On June 15, ISSO, Eunice Nichols became the wife of Mr. George C. Frye, a chemist and importer of surgical instruments. Her home in Portland has ever been noted for its cordial hospitality; for her husband, like herself, is of a genial nature, and delights in sharing his prosperity with others.
Mrs. Frye is vice-president at large of the National Dorothea Dix Association. Fltficient women are always in demand, and because she is efficient she is busy, so busy that it seems " Her life is but a working day, whose tasks arc set aright."
MAY ALDEN WARD, author and lect- urer, residing in Boston, is now (1903) serving her second year as president of the Massachusetts Federation of Women's Clubs. A native of Ohio, born at Milford Centre, near Columbus, March 1, 1853, as the daughter of Prince William and Rebecca
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RKFRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
(Neal) Alden she rightfully inherits the tradi- tions of the Commonwealth foiindod by the Pilgrim Fathers and the Puritans of the Bay Colony. The first paragraph of her family history was penned by Governor Bradfortl more than two hundred years ago: —
"John Alden was hired for a cooper at South- ampton, where the ship victualed; and being a hopeful young man, was nmch desired but left to his own liking to go or stay when he came; but he stayed and marrietl here."
From John' Alden and the ready-witted Priscilla (who,se parents, William and Alice Mullins, antl their son Joseph, died the first winter) the line was continued through Cap- tain Jonathan,^ Andrew,'^ Major Prince,* An- drew Stanford/' Prince William," to May' (Mrs. Ward).
Captain Jonathan Alden married Abigail, daughter of Andrew Hallet, Jr.^ Andrew Al- den, their eldest son, mai-ried Lydia Stanford. Major Prince Alden married Mary Fitch, daughter of Adonijah Fitch, of Montville, Conn. Her father was a grandson of the Rev. James' Fitch, of Saybrook and Norwich, Conn., and his .second wife, Priscilla Mason, daughter of Major John Mason, famous military leader of the Connecticut Colony.
A year or two before the begiiming of the Revolutionary War, Major Prince Aklen mi- grated with his family from Connecticut to Wyoming Count}', Pennsylvania, where he be- came a large land-owner. In bSlG Andrew Stanford Alden, with his wife, F^lizabeth Ailing- ton, and their children, removed from Tioga County, New York, to Ohio.
Prince William Alden, Mrs. Ward's father, a merchant and banker, born in 1809, ilied Feb- ruary 27, 1893. He married in 1844 Rebecca, daughter of Henry Neal, of Mechanicsbm-g, Ohio, and his wife, Catherine Bigelow, who was a daughter of Isaac Bigelow, of Dunmierston, \'t., and a descendant of John Biglo, of Water- town, the founder of the Bigelow family of New luigland. Mrs. Rebecca Neal Alden, born in 1823, died April 12, 1898. Mr. and Mrs. Alden had three children — Hemy, Reuben, and May (now Mrs. Ward).
From her father May Alden inherited a taste for history and literature. She began to study
and to use her pen very early, contributing articles to the Cincinnati Cimvvercial before she was sixteen. She was educated at Ohio Wesleyan l^niversity, Delaware, Ohio, and after her gra<luation in 1872 she studied some years abroad, devoting henself to French, Ger- man, and iMiglish literature, later taking up Italian. On June 1, 1873, she was married to AMlliam G. Ward, since 1898 professor of Eng- lish literature at the Emerson College of Ora- tory, Boston, formerly holding the same chair at Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y., and at an earlier date President of vSpokane College. Profe.ssor Ward is the author of several books, among them "Tennyson's Debt to Environ- ment" and "The Poetry of Robert Browning."
Since she came to New England, twelve years ago, the rise in club life of Mrs. May Alden Waril has been constant and rapid. At Frank- lin she organized a club of which she was the first president, and which was afterward named for her the Alden Clul). Later while living in Cambridge she was for four years president of Cantabrigia, one of the largest and most ener- getic clubs of the countrj'. At the same time Mrs. Ward became a member of the famous New England Woman's Club, in which she is still one of the most valued workers. For two years she was president of the New England Woman's Press Association, and she is strong in its councils at the present time. She is also a charter member and director of the Authors' Club of Boston. She was the first vice-presi- dent of the Ma.ssachu.setts State Federation for two years before becoming its president. She also has interest in various public affairs, and has been appointed one of the Commissioners for Massachusetts at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.
Mrs. Ward began lecturing about twelve years ago, resi)oiiding to the request of some ladies who asked her t<i give parlor talks on French literature. As a lecturer and teacher she now does an enormous amount of work, her accuracy, her pleasing address, her direct- ness, and the large amount of information crowded into her lessons and lectures making her one of the most popular club lecturers in New England. Of her efforts in that field the New York Times has this to say: "Mrs. Ward
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGT.AND
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has the historian's instinct, and gives her facts without feeling the necessity of breaking into ejaculations over their picturesqueness. Her good training as a writer tells, as it always ought to tell; and her papers on subjects con- nected with our colonial history are written in a style both reticent and lively." Kate San- born's comment on her lectures is both true and adequate: "At the close of each course the audience feels acquainted with the men and women analyzed, and familiar with their best achievements; for she has the power to vitalize a subject, throwing arountl it the fascination felt by herself — a rare gift and akin to genius."
Aside from the prestige which the advance- ment in club circles may lend to her name, Mrs. Ward has won a reputation as a writer that rests on the firm foundation of merit. Among her books are a Life of Dante, Life of Petrarch, "Old Colony Days," and "Prophets of the Nineteenth Century." These have re- ceived great praise from literary critics. Her "Dante" and "Petrarch," it is freely conceded, each met the need of a concise life in iMiglish never before filled. William Dean Howells .says of the former: "While we are still upon Italian ground, we wish to speak of Mrs. May Alden Ward's very clear, unaffected, and inter- esting sketch of Dante and his life and works. The effort is something comparable to those processes by which the stain and whitewash of centuries is removed, anil the beauty and truth of some noble fresco underneath is brought to life again. Mrs. Ward has wrought in the right spirit, and she shows a figure, simple, conceivably like, and worthy to be Dante, with which she has apparently not suffered her fancy to play."
Of the "Petrarch" Mrs. Louise Chandler Moulton says: "Mrs. Ward has done her work admirably; and from this one book you may glean all that is of real value in the hundreds of volumes of which Petrarch has been the theme. His love, his friendship, his ambi- tions, his greatness, and his follies, . . . they are written here."
No less an expert than John Fi.ske thus pro- nounced upon the merits of "Old Colony Days": "The sympathy and breadth of treatment make it a charming series of essays." One of the
best of the appreciations of the book is that of the Chicago Times-Herald: "Plain history in fascinating guise is so rare a gift to the per- functory seeker for knowledge that attention must be called to a charming new book, 'Old Colony Days,' written in the sprightliest of easy styles for young or old, and displaying the high lights of the history of the New Eng- land colonies. It is not that the story is new: it as old as love to Puritans and their descend- ants. It is on account of a crisp, brisk, and ringing style, and on account of the taste with which the historian discriminates in subject matter, that we like the book so well. The half-satirical, half-serious manner in which all our ancestral worthies are memorized is indeed attractive. There are never too many words, there is always a simple style, and there are invariably points of interest lighted upon."
Mrs. Ward's latest book, "Prophets of the Nineteenth Century," is in a sense her most important one, and into it she has put more of her own personality. The "Prophets," Car- lyle, Ruskin, Tolstoi, stand for humanity. We are sure that the expression of their convictions in the book voices Mrs. W^ard's own feelings; that their theories of life have largely influ- enced her own; that she herself is not only in sympathy with the great movement which her prefatory note says is sweeping over the world, but is a part of it, as her connection with the clubs gives her the opportunity and the right to be. "The Prophets of the Nineteenth Cen- tury" has received warm endorsement. Caro- line H. Dall, in the Springfield Republican, thus commends it: "The sketches of Carlyle and Ruskin are masterly. They seize the essential points with a true comprehensipn, ant^ neither the two volumes of Froude nor any that con- cerns Ruskin give as clear an idea of the men they celebrate." Several of Mrs. ^\'ard's books have already been translated into other lan- guages, amongthem being the "Prophets", which has made its appearance in Japanese.
It will be seen that Mrs. Ward's work gives her a right to distinction. Yet the woman behind it is more than any expression of herself in her writings and lectures. The sketch of her written by Kate Sanborn for a Boston paper a few years ago is so exact a portrait
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REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
that one does not like either to add to or take away from the picture. Miss Sanborn says: "Mrs. Ward possesses a simphcity of manner that comes only with sinc(>rity of purpose, the best breeding, and a hacking of desirable an- cestry; an executive ability that is never marred by its too frecjuent accompaniment— a domi- neering spirit and a desire for control; a straight, clear outlook from eyes that hide no secrets, a hand-grasp that is cordial, without being effusive. One is impressed by the apparent ease with which she accomplishes great tasks. She does not talk of her work, nor take herself too seriously, and is delightfully free from ped- antry. What she has done for other women, spiring a scholarly si)irit, giving history and
m
literature in conden-sed and attractive talks, lifting them above the narrow interests, petty jealousies, and the gossipy hal)it, cannot be told in this brief outline." Of her part in the clubs Miss Sanborn adds: "She is impartial, well poised, never capricious in manner or opinion. She follows the middle path. As hostess, teacher, author, friend, she is always natural, kindly, thinking of others. And so love and appreciation and the truest friendship are given to her by all who are so foi-tunate as to know her and her work."
To this might be added just one thing more — that Mrs. Ward has the art of drawing from her friends the heartiest and most loyal service. When a piece of work is to be done to which she cannot give time or attention, she knows on whom to call; and those who know and love her feel it a privilege to do her behest, being assured that when they in turn need help she will more than repay their services, or that they have been more than repaid already. It is in such a woman that the Massachusetts clubs have placed their confid(>nce, in her hands the direction of the Federation at present is held.
Her report to the Massachusetts State Fed- eration of the biennial meeting at Los Angeles in June, 1902, is a model of clearness and brev- ity, and is the best exposition of her spirit under the trying circumstances of the conven- tion. This is its conclusion: "The i)est gift that can be given to any of us is the i)rivilege of being of some use in the world. . . . The re-
ward is in the work itself, even though we may have to wait years for the tangible results. Let us hope that in this co-operation, with the women of the East and the West, the North and the South, working side by side for the same object, unworthy prejudices and antag- onisms may be outgrown and cast aside, so that eventually we shall all stand together for the good of humanity."
MARY SUSAN GOODALE, former l)resident of the Department of Mas- sachusetts, Woman's Relief Corps, is a native of Boston. Descended from early colonial and Revolutionary stock, she inherits patriotism. Her father, Joseph Lorraine Goldthwait, merchant and public- spirited citizen of Boston at the time of the Civil AVar, was a lineal descendant in the eighth generation of Thomas' Goklthwaite, an innnigrant of 1630 or 1631; and through his mother, whose maiilen name was Hannah Alden, he traced his ancestry to John and Priscilla (Mullins) Alden. The descent from Thomas' Goldthwaite was through his son Sanniel,- who married Elizabeth, daughter of Ezekiel ('heever, the famous master of the Boston Latin School. The line continued through Cai)t. John'' Goldthwaite, born in Salem in 1678; Major lienjamin\ born in Boston in 1704; Benjamin^ l)orn in 1743, resided in Maiden and Boston: John", married Sally Morris and resided in Boston; Joseph Gleason', born in 1798, married in 1820, Mrs. Hannah Alden Mansfield, daughter of Solomon Alden (Simeon^ Samuel^ Joseph^-, John') and widow of Wil- liam Mansheld, to Joseph Lorraine^ above named, who was born in Boston in 1821.
Major lienjamin Goldthwaite is reported to have passed most of his life as a soldier. He was a Captain in the Louisburg expedition of 1745 and Major in that of 1758. His death occurred in 1761 in Milford, Mass. His son Benjamin was one of the volunteers from Lynn who responded to the Lexington alarm. Tra- dition says he was working in the field when the alarm was given, and threw tlown his hoe and started at once for Lexington.
Joseph L. (ioldthwait during the Civil War
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGEAND
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organized a society for the care of soldiers' families, eontributinp; liberally to its funds. Being an invalid at that time, he was unable to enlist, but his jjersonal efforts and financial support were of great service. He died in 1868. He married, October 23, 1842, Lydia Ann, daughter of Norton' and Lydia (Christie) Newcomb. Her father was l)orn in Braintree in 1796, was descended from Francis' New- comb through John," ^ Isaac,* Captain Thomas,'^ Remember."
Captain Thomas Newcomb, of Braintree, Mass., a great-great-grandfather of Mrs. Good- ale, was Second Lieutenant, May 8, 1775, in Captain Seth Thomas's independent company. As First Lieutenant of the company he served at barracks in Braintree, January 1 to Novem- ber 1, 1776; also in Captain Seth Turner's com- pany. Colonel Thomas Marshall's regiment, at Hull, October .31, 1776, to January 1, 1777. Li September, 1777, he was enrolled as a ('aptain in Colonel Theophilus Cotton's regiment, which marched on a secret expedition to Rhode Island. Honorably discharged October 31, 1777, he again enlisted and was ccjnnnissioned Captain in a three months company in Colonel Eben- ezer Thayer's regiment, which re-enforced the Continental army, a jiart of the company being stationed at West Point and a part at Rhode Island. On August 15, 1781, he was made Captain in Colonel Joseph Webb's regi- ment, in which he served four months on duty at Peekskill, N.Y. He also saw service in Paul Revere's artillery.
The Newcomb genealogy states that Captain Newcomb offered to receive his pay in potatoes, and that the offer was gladly accepted by the authorities. He was very successful in raising companies for the war, and would accept no higher position than the grade of Captain. This was in accordance with a pledge he had made, that he would remain in charge of the company as long as permitted bj^ his superior officers. With him in the service were his three sons, the youngest entering the army when he was only fourteen years of age.
Captain Newcomb's wife cheerfully kept the house, caretl for the little ones, and wished sh(^ had more sons to give to her country. Re- member Newcomb, the third son, married
Susannah Brackett, daughter of William Brack- ett, a Revolutionary .soldier. William Brack- ett's name appears on the Lexington alarni rolls. In 1777 he is recorded as a member of Captain Thomas Newcomb's independent com- pany, and in 1778 he appears with the rank of gunner in Captain Callender's company, Colonel Crane's regiment. His name was on pay-roll dated January 11, 1781. He served almost continuously until September, 1781, first in Colonel Benjamin Lincoln's regiment and next in Captain Seth Thomas's company. He died a .soldier's death at Plattsburg in the War of 1812.
Mary Susan Goldthwait (Mrs. Goodale) re- ceived her early education in the public schools of Boston, and finished her course of study in Medford schools, her parents having removed to that city in 1854. The lessons of loyalty taught her by a patriotic -father were deeply impres.sed upon her mind. Although only a school-girl when the