The original of tiiis book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924032207924 Cornell University Library arW38554 Mrs. Louise E. Benens. 3 1924 032 207 924 olin.anx Cambridge, Mass., 13 October, 1916. Dear Mr. Bettens: It is an exquisite volume you have prepared about your mother, and I thank you heartily for sending it to me. One interesting fact which the portraits contained in this book bring out is the strong likeness between your mother and her children. It is a grievous reflection, however, that a family in which so much physical beauty was united with such high intelligence and char- acter is coming to an end with you. In all of the Memorials you have designed of your mother and your brother Thomas, you have shown a fine sense of fitness, and an exquisite taste, in addition to strong family afifection. May I hope that your interest in these Memorials will lead to your re-visiting the College Yard, and in other ways to your abandoning your too great seclusion in New York. You could exert a whole- some influence on your classmates and friends if you met them oftener in natural ways. Your brother's life and your own have been determined largely by your unusual inheritances, and by the education which you received through your mother's sacrifice and labors. You have no children of your own ; but you will probably be able bv and by to give a like happy determina- tion to the lives of children in other generations, that otherwise might have missed your happy experience. Sincerely yours, Charles W. Eliot. Edward D. Bettens, Esq. MRS. LOUISE E. BETTENS OF THIS BOOK ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY COPIES HAVE BEEN PRINTED FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION. THE PHOTOGRAPHS EXCEPT THAT OF THE LIBRARY ARE BY ALMAN & CO. New York, September 14, 1916. Mr. E. C. Hodgkins Dear Sir Yesterda}' I received from Stikeman & Co., the book- binders, one volume of the book entitled, Mrs Louise E Bettens. It is a sample book, bound at my request, to show me how the photographs would affect the binding. The edition of 150 copies will be the same as this sample copy, with some slight differences. This sample volume is for me, and I do not intend to give it away, but I can loan it. I leave with you, that sample volume, and hope that you may examine it and read it, and then return it to me — or I will call for it. You have been unusually helpful to me in your sug- gestions as to a cabinet, or case, to contain the seven miniatures painted by Mr. Williams. Perhaps because of those miniatures, the book may interest you. Yours truly Edward D. Bettens. New York, September 14th, 1916. Edward D. Bettens, Esq., 130 West 87th Street. Dear Mr. Bettens: — I must write and tell you how interested I am in the book you sent me to look at. You, with your modesty, have conveyed but a very slight opinion to me of your mother, but your book has shown me what a wonderful mother she was to her sons. There are such mothers I know, but I do not think there are many sons like you who appreciate the hardships which are so lovingly en- dured. It warms my heart to feel that I know you, and if I may say so, it is your own beautiful simplicity that appeals to me. I can only add that I feel honored that you should think I can assist you in carrying out your desire, namely, to perpetuate the memory of a really grand woman. Hoping that you will not fail to call on me at any time for any advice I may be able to give you. Yours very truly, E. HODGKINS. New York, May 15th, 1916. Dear Clarke : A friend, in a letter to me, says that "it is not well to sit over long upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of Kings." That statement interests me. You were with me on the day when Mother passed away, and have been pretty constantly with me ever since, and I wonder if you also think that I have been sitting upon the ground telling sad stories of the death of Kings. My prevailing feeling has been that of exultation in such a Mother, and no sadness has ever mixed with my contemplation of her last years on this earth. Those years and her life have been and are, a beautiful vision, in no way interfering with my ordinary daily duties. This world and some of the people in it that I meet are a joy to me, and I do not find it necessary to seek for distraction or pleasure, as they are always with me. More and more, as time passes, I realize that within us, and not outside of us, is what makes life pleasant or un- pleasant, beautiful or ugly, contented or discontented. It is the way one looks at the outward world that deter- mines what that world is to him. I must stop dictating this letter. The luxury of dic- tating to a typewriter has its perils for me — I do not know when to stop, as the physical effort is nil, while notions, ideas, something to say, crowd my brain, seeking an outlet. Sincerely, Edward D. Bettens. Samuel B. Clarke, Esq., Class of 1874, Harvard College. From Tokeneke, Rowayton, Connecticut, Mr. Alyn Williams, the miniaturist, in a letter to me dated July 31, 1916, wrote, "we must make your series of miniatures the feature of my New York Exhibition," referring to a proposed exhibition, next November, of his miniatures in the Art Galleries of E. C. Hodgkin, No. 9 East 54th Street, New York City. A few days thereafter I was in those Galleries, and a gentleman, for sake of convenience to be designated as Mr. Hodgkin, showed me, hanging on the walls, minia- tures by celebrated old masters, such as Samuel Cooper, Bernard Lens, Peter Oliver, Thomas Flatman and others, ranging from the reign of James I down into that of George II. Mr. B. (myself) Can miniaturists today do as good work as that done by Cooper? Mr. H. (Hodgkin) No. B. What do you think of the J. P. Morgan collection of miniatures ? H. We sold him seventy-five per cent, of his collection. B. Who today in your opinion is the best miniaturist? H. Mr. Alyn Williams. The miniatures painted for me by Mr. Williams and reproduced in this book may gain interest by this re- publication in book form of the Sketch of the Life of Mrs. Louise E. Bettens, published as a pamphlet June, 1916, a few pages being added to the Sketch. Edward D. Bettens. New York, August 14, 1916. READING THE MEDEA OF EURIPIDES TO MRS. LOUISE E. BETTENS FROM A PAINTING IN MINIATURE BY ALYN WILLIAMS FROM A PHOTOGRAPH NOVEMBER 25TH, 1912, BY ALMAN a CO. MARIE M. THOMPSON EDWARD DETRAZ BETTENS MRS. LOUISE E. BETTENS NEW YORK NINETEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN ROSE BETTENS WINTER NOR CHILLS THEE. NOR SUMMER BURNS. NOR SICKNESS MAKES SORRY; THOU NOR HUNGEREST. NOR THIRSTETH. AND ROBBED OF ITS GLORY SEEMS TO THEE NOW THIS LIFE OF OURS. FOR THOU DWELLEST SECURELY- INNOCENT. THERE WHERE THE RAYS OF OLYMPUS ENHALLOW THEE PURELYl" BORN MAY 10, 1846 DIED JUNE 28. 1849 ROSE AND HER MOTHER FROM A PAINTING IN MINIATURE BY ALYN WILLIAMS On a farm, near Ghent, Kentucky, there was born, January 7, 1827, Louise E. Rochat, the daughter of Jacob and Nancy Rochat. A reader of books, this father usually had one with him, even when at his work. When this daughter was old enough, she became his companion, and not infrequently, he would unhitch the horses from the plow, or stop whatever work he was doing, and read aloud to his daughter. The Book of Job, the Psalms of David, the poetry of Moore, Burns and Byron quickened the mind of the girl, and a strong desire for knowl- edge and wisdom early came to this child, from such a father, but, at the same time, the neg- lected farm work soon ended in the loss of the farm. With his family, Jacob Rochat went to Vevay, Indiana, and there on January 31, 1843, Louise E. Rochat, not yet seventeen years of age, married Alexander Bettens. From that mar- riage were born, in Vevay, Frank, Rose, Edward Detraz and Thomas Simms Bettens, naming the children in the order of their births. Rose, born May 10, 1846, died June 28, 1849. The girl, Louise E. Rochat, and the matron, Mrs. Louise E. Bettens, loved nature and ani- 3 mals. In Vevay a crow became her friend and the two would go together into the woods, the crow flying ofif among the trees, but returning to its friend at her call. At the expiration of about ten years of mar- ried life, Alexander Bettens' health failed. He never regained it, dying August 11, 1870. That sickness, and financial embarrassment, brought Mrs. Bettens face to face with the prob- lem of supporting and educating her three young sons from her own earnings. Teaching for a few years, in and about Vevay, gave her but a small and precarious income, and writing for the newspapers, none at all. About 1857 she and her three sons were in Cincinnati, Ohio, and for about ten years she remained in that city, with them, supporting them with wages, never more than about twelve dollars per week. No friendly bird visited her in her Cincinnati room. No books, except school books, were pur- chased by her during those ten years, but her boys entered and passed through the District Schools into the Intermediate Schools, Frank being in Woodward High School when he died March 10, 1864. The poverty and grief of Frank's mother, the hopes, centered in him, shattered by his death. FRANK BETTENS MARCH 1864 FROM A PAINTING IN MINIATURE BY ALYN WILLIAMS FROM A PHOTOGRAPH at the age o£ twenty, did not interfere with the education of her two remaining sons. They passed through the Intermediate, and Wood- ward High Schools of Cincinnati, and entered Harvard College, and at the age of forty-six, their mother joined them in Cambridge, Massa- chusetts, in June, 1873. In Appleton Chapel, she heard Edward speak on Hildebrand, and saw him receive, on com- mencement day, in June, 1873, his degree of A. B. from Harvard College. She remained in Cambridge, and in June, 1874, Thomas gave her his Harvard College diploma of A. B. received by him that month, and the next year she received from him his Harvard College diploma of A. M. From June, 1873, until she died she and Edward had one home. Thomas was a teacher in Lake Forest Acad- emy, Lake Forest, Illinois, during 1875 and 1876, In 1877 he joined his mother and brother in New York City, where Edward was a lawyer, and there the three lived united in one home until Thomas died July 2, 1907. In the Harvard College Library (Gore Hall) Mr. John Fiske gave Mrs. Bettens an alcove and a special table, and talked with her about music and books. In Boston she attended the lectures of the Reverend James Freeman Clarke. She absorbed the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Congenial friends met in her room to read books, and to discuss art, music and literature, and with some especial friends, she attended, in Bos- ton, the concerts of the Symphony Society. So passed about three years of her life in Cam- bridge. The last thirty-eight years of her life she lived in New York City. She was in Bar Harbor, Maine, for the summer, for about thirty succes- sive years, up to and including the summer of 1911. She went to the Grand Opera in New York City and was a constant attendant at the Con- certs given in that city, by Theodore Thomas, Leopold Damrosch, the New York Philharmonic Society and the Oratorio Society. She did not neglect lighter music such as Gilbert and Sulli- van's. She heard Salvini, Booth, Irving, Mod- jeska and Sara Bernhardt; was delighted with the acting at Wallack's and Daly's Theatres and with that at Harrigan & Hart's and Tony Pas- tor's. At weekly reunions of a few friends in her home in New York City, music, art and litera- ture, were, as in Cambridge, the subject of con- versation. MRS. LOUISE E. BETTENS MARCH 1864 FROM A PAINTING IN MINIATURE BY ALYN WILLIAMS FROM A PHOTOGRAPH Surrounded by her books as her friends, and by a few men and women, and by her sons, until Thomas died July 2, 1907, and then with Edward, she passed into the evening of life, losing her eyesight in 1909, her optic nerve dying. But even then she heard re-read the poetry of Byron, Browning, and other poets, and the novels of Dumas. She still went to the New York Philharmonic Concerts, and in the Sum- mers of 1909, 1910 and 1911, at Bar Harbor, she was an almost daily attendant at the Boston Symphony Concerts given at the Swimming Pool. This life continued until the evening of November 10, 1911, when, for the last time, sitting in her library, she listened to one of the glowing descriptions in Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. That night a stroke of paralysis made her helpless, from the effects of which she never recovered, dying March 23, 1914. In the Treasure Room of the Widener Library, Harvard College, is a quarto volume of inlaid letters and illustrations, entitled Louise E. Bettens, bound in levant by Stikeman & Co., with no star on its back. These letters, written from her home, during this last sickness, to intimate friends, describe her life of about two years and 7 four months in that sick room, and show that music, Hterature of the highest kind, and con- versations, sustained her and enabled her to for- get her age, and physical infirmities. The Reading of the Medea of Eviripides to her on November 25, 1912, described in that book, is but one of similar readings occurring almost daily during that sickness. In March, 1864, she lost Frank, her eldest child, and her grief and poverty were then extreme. But she rose superior to that grief and pov- erty, and in her last sickness she was superior to the infirmities of age and sickness, being sup- ported by the thoughts and visions spread before her by some of the world's great minds. In the Treasure Room of Widener Library, Harvard College, are Ten Books there deposited as Memorials of Mrs. Louise E. Bettens and her son Thomas Simms Bettens. Two of her por- traits and one of Thomas are in the Phillips Brooks House, Harvard College. To Harvard College some money has been given to be known as the Louise E. Bettens Fund, established by her children, the income of which is to be used to encourage and advance the art of Painting by citizens — including women as well as men — of the United States of America. 8 THOMAS SIMMS BETTENS DON AND KEBO AUGUST 1906 FROM A PAINTING IN MINIATURE BY ALYN WILLIAMS FROM A PHOTOGRAPH As gifts to the Louise E. Bettens Fund, Har- vard College has been presented with the follow- ing paintings : A Landscape by A. H. Wyant. The Head of a Girl by A. Asti. A Vestal Virgin, a copy of the Vestal Virgin by Angelica Kauffman in the Dresden Gallery. A Landscape by Eugene Deszagg. We may be living today in a materialistic age, but idealism is not dead when a I^ouise E. Bettens lives. The picture of the Reading of the Medea of Euripides shows that the mind and soul of such an idealist conquers even the grim visage of approaching Death which ceases to have any terrors for her. Perhaps her life and aspira- tions may have a good influence upon some who see that picture and understand its meaning. Edward D. Bettens. New York, June 15, 1916. MRS. LOUISE E. BETTENS DECEMBER 1907 FROM A PAINTING IN MINIATURE BY ALYN WILLIAMS FROM A PHOTOGRAPH OF A PORTRAIT PAINTED BY WALTER FLORIAN New York May 12, 1909 Dear Mr. President: Please accept from my mother, Mrs. Louise E. Bettens, a copy of the book entitled THOMAS SIMMS BETTENS. It is published, primarily, for presentation to his pupils who gave to The Harvard Union, the Memorial Fountain, recently placed in the Union. A few extra copies have been printed, and it is a source of satisfaction to us, that one of these copies can be received by you, before you cease* to be President of Harvard University. The book is for you personally. Respectfully, Edward D. Bettens. President Charles W. Eliot, 17 Quincy Street, Cambridge, Mass. * May 18, 1909 IS Cambridge, Massachusetts May 14, 1909 Dear Madam: I beg to thank you for sending me a copy of the book entitled THOMAS SIMMS BETTENS. It is a beautiful memorial, of a serviceable and influential life, passed in quietness, sim- plicity, and honor. Sincerely and respectfully, Charles W. Eliot. Mrs. Louise E. Bettens. 10 New York April 24, 1909 To THE Board of Trustees OF the Harvard Union, Cambridge, Mass. Gentlemen : The General Committee of former pupils of Thomas Simms Bettens, of the Class of 1874, wish to notify you, that, in accordance with the offer made by them to your Board, on March 14, 1908, through your chairman. Professor Hollis, and informally accepted, on your behalf, by him, on June 26, 1908, they have caused to be placed, in the entrance hall of the Union, a Drinking Fountain, bearing an inscription, com- memorative of their old friend and teacher, Mr. Bettens. Our Committee now present this Fountain, to the Harvard Union, and hope that it may serve a useful purpose, and that it may be maintained by your Board, and your successors, for all time, as an inspiration to generations of teachers yet to be. From the Committee, Eliot Tuckerman. 17 HARVARD UNIVERSITY Cambridge, Massachusetts May 15, 1909 Mr. Eliot Tuckerman, New York, N. Y. Dear Mr. Tuckerman: The Trustees of the Harvard Union wish me to thank your Committee for the Drinking Fountain set up in the hall of the Union, in memory of Thomas Simms Bettens. It is not only a very useful addition to the Union, but its handsome design increases the attractiveness of the hallway. We think that the pupils of Mr. Bettens have done well to commemorate him in the Inscrip- tion, and we are much gratified to have a Memorial in the Union, given by graduates of Yale, Princeton, and Columbia, as well as of Harvard. Please express our thanks to all the donors. Yours very truly, Ira N. Hollis. 18 '.< W\ THOMAS SIMMS BETTLNS OF THI CLASS Of 18 7-) HE TAVC.HT THE CLASSICS WITH DIS TINCTION FOR TWENTY LIGHT YEARS IN A SECONDAUY SCHOOL IN NEW YORK CITV AND WON THE RESPECT AND AFFECTION OF HIS PVPILS BY MIS CHEERFVL PATIENCE JVSTICE AND HOPE FVL SYMPATHY HE WAS SIMPLE IN HIS DESIRES SINCEHfc AND VN4F FECTED IN FRIENDSHIP MODESF IN ALL RELATIONS THIS FOVNTAIN IS THE GIFT OF HIS BOYS INCLVDINC CRADVATES OF HARVARD YALE PRINCE TON AND COLVMBIA VNIVERSITIES •v^ r4 In the Treasure Room of the Widener Library, Harvard College, are six books, bound in levant, from which one may learn what pupil, classmate and friend thought of Thomas Simms Bettens. These books are entitled as follows, to wit: Thomas Simms Bettens. A Memoriai,. An Octavo volume issued in 1908, one copy bound by The Club Bindery, another copy bound by Stikeman & Co. Thomas Simms Bettens. An Octavo volume issued in 1909, bound by Stikeman & Co. Louise E. Bettens. A quarto volume bound by Stikeman & Co., marked on its back with one star. This is a book of inlaid letters and illustrations bearing, to some extent, on the family life of Mrs. Bettens. This may be called, for the sake of con- venience, the Family Book. Louise E. Bettens. A quarto volume bound by Stikeman & Co., marked on its back with two stars. This is a book of inlaid letters written by the pupils of Thomas Simms Bettens, with some illustrations. This is pecuharly the Pupils Book. Louise E. Bettens. A quarto volume bound by Stikeman & Co., marked on its back with three stars. This is a book of inlaid letters written mainly by Harvard graduates, with illustrations, and may be called the Harvard Book. 19 A Dinner Fund amounting to Seventeen Hun- dred Dollars was raised in 1832 for the Harvard Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha of Massachu- setts, with the condition that it should accumu- late by the annual addition of a third of the income until it reached the sum of Ten Thousand Dollars, when all of the income could be used by the Society. With these accumulations and addi- tional subscriptions, this Fund on May 29, 1916, amounted to about Eight Thousand Dollars. 20 New York, May 29th, 1916. Dear Mr. Lane : Your letter of 27th inst. received. Enclosed is my check to your order for $2,000, to be added to the Phi Beta Kappa Dinner Fund mentioned in your letter, in- creasing that Fund to the desired amount of $10,000. This gift is to be considered as coming from my brother Thomas Simms Bettens, a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society from the Class of 1874 Harvard College. He died July 2nd, 1907, giving by his will, all that he had to his Mother, making me the sole Executor of his will. When our Mother died, March 23d, 1914. I was the sole devisee and legatee under, and the sole executor of, her will, thus receiving what estate my brother had given our Mother. These facts justify me, I believe, in asking that this $2,000. be accepted as coming from my brother, Thomas Simms Bettens. I have always taken, and do take now, a very lively interest in Harvard College, the Phi Beta Kappa Society, Woodward High School, my classmates and friends, and yet years pass without my actually visiting these places or meeting many of my classmates and friends. This is in the main due to the fact that at nearly all the time, for the last forty years, it has been advisable that I confine my attention to matters close to me, needing my imme- diate supervision. I am so situated today, and perhaps will not go to Cambridge for months to come. I know I miss something by living such a life, but it does not work out all loss by any means, as my life has brought me its ample compensations. Sincerely, Edward D. Bettens. Mr. W. C. Lane, Corresponding Secretary of the Harvard Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha of Massachusetts. 21 Cambridge, Mass., June 24, 1916. Edward D. Bettens, Esq., 130 West 87th Street, New York City. Dear Mr. Bettens: — I have had no time until today to write you about the Phi Beta Kappa Meeting. The an- nouncement of your gift was made at the busi- ness meeting in the morning, and was received, I can assure you, with enthusiasm, and by vote of the Society, the Thomas Simms Bettens Fund was estabHshed, so that the name will always appear in the Treasurer's Reports and in the Records of the Society. It is our idea to use the income, or such part of it as may be needed, especially for the expenses of the Winter Dinner to which the newly elected undergraduates are invited. Very truly yours, Wm. C. Lane. 22 \v f f / # / Cambridge, Mass., June 1, 1873. Dear Mother: I hope, with you, that your pen will soon make you independent. I am certain, if you once get a fair chance, you will succeed — and then, a long good-bye to Shillito's and Cincinnati. You are right in saying that we wish you with us, to advise and help us. Let us all strive that we may meet and remain with one another while we live. When I think of how we are separated, and how you are situated, I feel as though I could do a dozen men's work and bring this all to an end. I feel that we are slowly mounting over our dif- ficulties. I am sure that we are approaching a happy termination of our long struggles. But this very knowledge makes me impatient. I wish to end the journey. Like Xenophon's soldiers, returning home, the news that the sea is at last in sight makes me redouble my speed — and like them, dear mother, when we stand on the heights, and behold the welcome blue water, we will embrace one another with joy, for Greece, the object of our longings, rests just beyond. It was with such thoughts that I came near accepting a position as teacher in a school last Monday. There is a vacancy in the Boston Latin School. They want a teacher of history. The salary for the first year is $2,600, and $3,000 for the second. 25 This salary was a great temptation to me. I knew that, with it, I could put ourselves above our present circumstances. I interviewed the Principal of the school; I went to my teachers and asked them for recommendations. By Tuesday night I had nearly finished my plans to make a strenuous effort to get the situation. The next day I went to President Eliot to get a recommendation, but he met my request by decidedly objecting to my taking the position in the school. He said that the time spent at the school would be lost time. I knew yoiir viezvs, and on thinking over the whole matter I reluctantly gave up striving (for the position). The chance was a pretty big temptation, and I hardly know whether I did right in rejecting it or not. Before I had decided not to try for the posi- tion, the enclosed recommendation of character was sent me by Dean Gurney, which you may perhaps value. One more letter you will receive (before com- ing to the '7?) Commencement exercises) ; until then, good-night, my dear mother. Your loving son, E. D. Bettens. Mrs. Louise E. Bettens, Cincinnati, Ohio. EDWARD DETRAZ BETTENS JULY 1916 FROM A PAINTING IN MINIATURE BY ALYN WILLIAMS Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., 28 May, 1873. Mr. E. D. Bettens, a member of the Senior Class, stood about tenth in a class of one hundred and thirty, at the end of his Junior year, and has been throughout his college course, a thoroughly satisfactory student. Mr. Bettens has devoted himself particularly to the study of History, and will, probably, obtain Honors this year for excel- lence in that subject. As I have known something of Mr. Bettens personally during his college course, I will add that I have seldom known a student to show so much energy and proficiency in making his way through college as Mr. Bettens. He will do with his strength whatever he undertakes to do. E. W. GURNEY, Dean of the Faculty. 27