Qass. Book. Il i^T'Z'i-^-e/ Z? ,??T-^i^^--<^--^ i^-^^^V '^^^^,^^c^-^.^a.y^C3^ DAUGHTERS OF AMERICA; OR, WOMEN OF THE CENTURY, PHEBE A. HANAFORD, 4.UTH0II OF "LIFE OF GEORGE PEABODY," "FROM SHORE TO SHORE, AND OTHER POEMS," "LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS,"' "LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN," "THE CAPTIVE BOY," "THE YOUNG CAPTAIN," ETC. "0 woman, great is thy faith ! ' Jesus Christ • A good womau is the loveliest flower that blooms under hearen." ThackeraT * Ah me ! beyond all power to name, the worthies tried and trut, Grave men,/aj> women, youth and maid, pass by in hushed review." WHITTIEa AUGUSTA, ME.: TRUE AND COMPANY. Copyright, By True & Company. Z' '^ '' 7 '" '• THE WOMEN OF FUTURE CENTURIES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THIS RECORD OF MANY WOMEN OF THE FIRST AND SECOND CENTLHIEE WHOSE LIVES WERE FULL OF USEFULNESS, AND THEREFORE WORTHY OF RENOWN AND IMITATION. 5ss noto Ensaiftta PREFACE. America has been richly blessed in its women, as well as its men, of patriotism, intelligence, tisefulness, and moral worth. Indeed, it has been a marvel to many in the Old World, that the women of the New have been in many instances so thoroughly cultured, so admirably developed morally and intellectually, amid so much that was new and therefore crude in society, and in a freedom which the women of European nations have never enjoyed, and of which those of Asiatic peoples never dreamed. A cultured Christian women of English birth and education, but now in a lovely Scottish home, wrote to the writer of this volume, that, when visiting America, that which she most enjoyed " was the sense of freedom," — a freedom which has been the high privilege of the women of our first century, and will be yet more the glorious heritage of the women of the second, as the ripened fruit is garnered from the promise-blossom. "It seemed to me," wrote the lady above mentioned, "that by that freedom I was lifted up to a larger and diviner life, and a tender and reverent expectation of glorious possibili- ties for our race, and especially for women." And this record of the noble and useful lives of many Avomen in our broad land during the century of American independence, will prove, that, though society might be in an imperfect 5 state, yet propriety and growth consist ever with a righteous freedom, a true liberty, which is under holy law. The centennial of American existence cannot properly be observed without a reference to its women, as well as to its men. Other pens may write eloquently of its patriots, its inventors, its warriors, its professional and literary and other men in public life, who have left their mark upon the century, and won the world's honors and the favor of the good and wise ; but the writer of this unpretentious record will be abundantly satisfied if she may but so present the truth about American women as to prove "before all Israel and the sun," that the nation is indebted for its growth and prosperity as a people, and for its proud position among the nations of the earth, to its women as well as to its men. The women w^ho have wrought quietly in their homes are not forgotten or ignored, while those who are more promi- nent are herein approved ; but the record would fill too large a volume, were not the number of those mentioned limited. Each true life, whether public or private, which any woman of the century has lived, goes to make up the character and glory of the land and the age ; and every high soul rejoices in the welfare of her native land, whether her name be found on the scroll of its famous women, or not. The author hereby extends her hearty thanks to all those who have assisted, in any wise, in the preparation of this book. May this record help to impress upon the men and women of the future a sense of the obligation which this nation is under, and the respect and honor which the Avorld owes, to the women of the first American century ! P. A. H. Jersey City Heights, N. J. PREFATORY NOTE. Having decided to extend the record of noted women, thie oew edition is revised and improved, and its new title, " Daugh- ters of America," permitted to ccver not only the names of women who were prominent in the first century of our Repub- lic, but also many others whose biithday may be in the first, but whose labors are now making the second century glorious. The women of the first and second centuries of our nation's life will forever be acknowledged as the shapers of its lofty destinies and marvelous triumphs in very many directiong The sowers and the reapers shall rejoice together. P A. H iaasaT Citt, J! J., 1888 CONTENTS, WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. CHAPTER I. PRELIMINARY. PAGE Woman as the Daughter of the Heavenly Father. — Woman in Heathenism. — Women of Israel. — Roman Matrons. — Athe- nian Virgins. — Spartan Heroines. — Woman helped by Chris- tianity. — Women of Asia, Europe, Africa, America, and the Isles of the Sea. — Pocahontas. — The Cacique's Daughter. — Widow Storey. — The Pilgrim Mothers. — Phillis Wheatley. — Hannah Duston. — ColT)nial Women. — Mercy Warren. — Mary Washington 19 CHAPTER II. WOMEN OF THE REVOLUTION. Declaration of Independence. — How and when made first by a Woman, Abigail Adams. — A Philadelphia Woman's Letter. — Deborah Franklin. — Elizabeth, Grace, and Rachel Martin. — Deborah Samson. — Mother Bailey. — Heroism of Scholiarie Women. — Anne Fitzhugh. — Moll Pitcher. — The Country Girl. — The Women's League. — Esther Reed. — Lydia Darrah. — Groton Women, &c. ........ 45 CHAPTER III. THE WIVES OP THE PRESIDENTS. Martha Washington. — Abigail Adams. — Martha Jefferson. — Dolly P. Madison. — Mrs. Munroe. — Louisa Catherine Adams. — Rachel Jackson. — Hannah Van Buren. — Anna Harrison. — Letitia Christian Tyler. — Julia Gardner Tyler. — Sarah Polk. — Margaret Taylor. — Abigail Filmore. — Jane Appleton Pierce. — Mary Todd Lincoln. — Eliza Johnson. — Julia Grant. — Lucy W. Hayes. — Lucretia R. Garfield.— Ella L. Arthur. — Frances Folsom Cleveland. — Caroline Scott Harrison . . .65 10 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. WOMEN LBADBK8 IN BOClltTT. Martha Jefferson Randolph. — Mrs. Donelson. — Mrs. Andrew Jack- son, jun. — Angelica Van Buren. — Abigail Fillmore. — Harriet Lane -7 Martha Patterson. —Mary Stover —Sarah Livingston Jay. — Elizabeth Temple Winthrop. — Mercy Warren. — Han- nab Wlnthrop, &;c 129 CHAPTER V. PHILAJfTHKOPIO WOHBM. Bnsan Huntington. — Margaret Prior. — Mary Ledyanl — Kate Moore. — liLa Lewis. — Fatlier Taylor's Widowed Friend. — Sarah Hoffman. — Isabella Graham. — Sophia C. Hoffiijaii — Lydia Maria Child. — Maria Chapman and other Anti-Slavery Womeu. — Charity Uodman. — Dorothea L Dix. — Clara Barton, &c 1.51 CHAPTER VI. WOMEN DUHINQ THB CIVIL WAK. Womwj of the Sanitary Commission. — Womeu of the Christian Commission. — Women Soldiers. — Women Nurses. — Women TeaauaGago. — Julia Ward Howe. — Elizabeth Stuart Phelps. — Louisa M. Alcott, &c 214 CHAPTEK ^^^. WOMEN POETS. Jalla Ward Howe. —Lydia H. Sigouruey. — Elizabeth Akeni AUeu — T..acy I^rcum. — Alice and IMiebe (^arey. — Prances S. O.sgood. — raroline A. Mason. — Celia Thaxter, &c 249 CllAl'TER IX. WOMEN-SCIENTISTS. Maria Mitchell. — Grac'e Anna Ivewis. —Sarah Hackett Stevenson. — Ann Maria Radtield. — Ly' MISS ION AROCS. Ajin H. Judsou. — Harriet Is'ewell. — Sarah B. Judson. — Henrietta Shuck. — Women connected with the various Church Boards of Foreign and Home Missions. — Woman's Centenary Associar tion. —Mrs. Howe's Peace Mission to England, &c. . . .497 I CHAPTEIt XV. 1 WOMBN KDU» ATOK8. Catherine E. Kee>o Millar, p. 33. PflBLIMINARY. 23 science ? The verdict of history will surely be in their favor who deserve it, whenever history is written by an impartial pen ; and both man and woman can afford to wait. The apostolic writings give a feminine name and character to the Christian Church, — the bride of Christ ; and hence the writer above quoted draws the conclusion, that, " in proportion as woman is ele- vated and promoted, will the divine religion of Jesus prevail ; and, in the ratio that that prevails, wUl woman be lifted out of her subject state." He believes also, th3.t moral elements controlling in society are needed ; and that Christian women are to supply those elements, partly because Christian, and very largely because women. In his laudable enthusiasm, he goes on to pic- ture the future of the world when the Christian women of coming centiuies shall do fully the work God has given woman to do. " I have now no more doubt," he says : " I am fully persuaded, that emanci- pated, enlightened, and enfranchised, she will be equal to the demand. Commissioned by the great Messiah, and clothed in the armor of affection, she will go forth to conquer the world with the sword of the Spirit. The shining hosts of heaven will enlist under her banner of love ; and Christ himself will lead the way. The whole world will surrender to her divine command, and before her triumphant march the powers of dark- ness flee. Prison-houses will be transformed into schools, aud dram-shops and brothels be turned into market-places and homes of purity. Inebriates wil] shake off the demon spell that enslaves them, and stand erect in their manhood ; and the Magdalen sisters of men will look up and smile amid tears of repentance and peace. Oppression's yoke will be broken, and the 24 WOMEN OF THE OBNTUBY. clanking chains of the captive be heard in the land no more forever. The scaffold, the slave-pen, and the whipping-post wUl be remembered only as relics of an animal age. Navies will be turned into ships of commerce, and the implements of death be beaten into the implements of life. ' Nation will not lift up sword against nation ; neither will they learn war any more.' " But the author thus quoted is not the only writer who bears testimony to the great mission of woman, the daughter of the Lord Almighty. Mrs. Sarah J. Hale, in her admirable book, " Woman's Record," says, " Woman is God's appointed agent of morality, the teacher and inspirer of those feelings and sentiments which are termed the virtues of humanity ; and the progress of these virtues, and the permanent improvement of our race, depend on the manner in which her mission is treated by man." As far back in human tradition or history as the Garden of Eden, we find that the mother spirit of that era had the acknowledgment of her woman's mission in the glorious promise that " the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head." Tracing the path of Scripture record, we find the 'vomen of Israel often tlie chosen instruments of God to teach and to exhort that people. Deborah, the prophetess and judge, selected for herself the sweet and tender title of " Mother in Israel." Beautiful in character, noble in Ufe, " her genius was superior to any recorded in the history of the Hebrews, from Moses to David, an inter- val of more than four hundred years ; and scriptural commentators have remarked that Deborah alone, of aU the rulers of Israel, has escaped unreproved by the prophets and inspired historians." ^ Of the familiar ' Mrs. Hale's Woman's R«coni. PRELIMINABY. 25 triumphal ode composed by this remarkable woman of Israel, Milman says, " Lyric poetry has nothing in any language, wnich can surpass the boldness and animation of this striking production. This hymn has great historic as well as poetic value." Other women of Israel were notable, and exercised good and wide influence in their day. We call to mind Abigail, the wise wife of the foolish Nabal ; Esther, the fair queen of Ahas|ierus ; Huldah, the inspired prophet- ess ; Miriam, the prophet-sister of Moses and Aaron ; Naomi the model mother-in-law, and Ruth her model daughter-in-law ; besides Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Leah, Judith, and others whose deeds have given them prom- inence on the historic page. To those who would pur- sue the study of their lives and influence may be commended Grace Aguilar's characteristic book, " Wom- en of Israel." The women of Pagan Greece and Rome were not altogether unworthy of praise. Indeed, the names of some who dwelt in classic lands are the synonyms of graces and virtues that may well be imitated in a later age. The wifely virtues of Lucretia, and the motherly excellence of Cornelia, — '•^ mater 0-racchorum" — are commended in all lands. Greece and Rome had their great orators among their men ; but Aspasia,^Cornelia, Hortensia, and others, might be mentioned as showing the genius and eloquence of their women also. Cicero said of Cornelia, who gave public lectures on philosophy in Rome, " Cornelia, had she not been a woman, would have deserved the first place among philosophers." Aspasia's fame brightens with tlie lapse of centuries ; and the asp'ersions of Aris- tophanes fail to dim its lustre, when it is remembered that she wa'^' the friend of Pericles, and the teacher of Socrates. 26 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Among the Greeks, women as well as men were ad mitted to the sacred functions of the priesthood, and the priestesses were usually unmarried. These Athen- ian virgins were " chosen fi'om the most noble families, and carried the distinctive emblems of the deity to whose science they were devoted. Those of Minerva were clad in the armor of that goddess, with the ceyis^ the cuirass, and the helmet ; the priestess of Ceres car- ried in her hand a small sheaf of corn." * The women of Sparta are always mentioned as hero- ines : they were educated with their brothers, and were accustomed to hardships, and the greatest virtue they cultivated was that of patriotism. The soldier of Sparta was exceptionally brave, be- cause he had an heroic mother as well as a fearless father. A Spartan mother, as history assures us, when reaching his shield to a son as he was about to depart for the field of deadly strife, said to him, in words that have become familiar to all as translated from the language of Sparta, " With it or upon it ; " that is, " Return as a conqueror or a corpse," for death was preferable to cow- ardice. And on another occasion, a Spartan mother said to her son, who complained that his bword was too short, " Add a step to it ; " in other words, " Be brave enough to get so much nearer to the enemy, and let courage and skill decide in the contest." " After the disastrous battle of Leucreta, in which the Spartans had been conquered, in a manner most honorable to their own courage and discipline, by the superior genius and the novel tactics of Epaminondas, many of the vanquished, rather than foolishly waste their lives, violated the military rules ; but, when they returned to t}teir homes, the women would accept no I Cl^ivwland's Antiquln»«« PRELIMINARY. 27 explanations. The wives and mothers of those who had died on the field acted as if they were celebrating a triumph ; while the others lamented their humiliation, and were ashamed to show themselves on the streets. A Spartan mother met a messenger from the war, and asked him how the battle went. He said, ' I have sad news for you ; your son was slain.' — ' Fool,' she replied, ♦ T want news of the battle.' " Such a speech by a mother in any other country would be, or would have been regarded as, insincere, or as an indication of an exceptional character ; but not in Sparta." ' Exceptional as it may seem, the women of our land, during our first century, showed a Spartan hero- ism often, both during the Revolution and the civil war. One mother in the town of Waltham, Mass., received the aews of her son's death in battle in 1861, but kept oalmly on with her work for other soldiers, not even laying down the scissors with which she was at that time cutting out shirts for the Sanitary Commission ladies around her to sew. There may be those who think that culture alona has helped woman to her present place of freedom and in- fluence. But, while allowing culture to be a mighty lever in uplifting humanity, Christianity must be re- garded as the greatest force in the elevation of woman in every age and nation. The author of " Women of Christianity " reminds us that '" the preaching of the gospel is an era in the modern world. If we would know what it did for woman, we need only compare the earliest Christian women with those of the ar oients in their purest days. No doubt there were many noble women before the word of Christ was known or ac- knowledged in Europe, — women of lofty intellect and 1 Hittell'B History of Culture, p 102. 28 WOMKN OF THB CENTURY. high character, accomplished Greeks and rigid Romans, fit to rule with Pericles, or worthy to suffer with Brutus. But the difference is clear and striking : there was no Dorcas. " There could not have been one : the virtues of Dorcag weie not those which formed the Pagan ideal ; and, at the time when she lived, that ideal was already a thing of the past. When the first dawn of Christianity ap- peared, the faith of the ancients had been failing them for several ages. Epicurism, superstition, and a moral depravity too deep to bear record, held sway over the subjects of the wide empire ; until suddenly a secret murmur, welcome as the glad tidings of liberty to the fallen, arose and spread from Jerusalem to Rome. " To the capricious tyranny of the emperors, to the slavery of thousands of human beings, to the subjec- tion of many nations to one nation, Christianity opposed the equality of all before God, the spiritual freedom of which no bonds can deprive the soul, and the universal brotherhood of men. The evils were not removed, but the principles by which they were to perish had awak- ened. The ' good tidings ' were told to the lowly and the great, to the oppressed and the free, in the market- place and by the household hearth. There they reached woman, — woman, alternately the toy or drudge of man, whom only birth, beauty, or genius could raise to equalitf ; who, to be something, must be the daughter, wife, or mother of an illustrious citizen, and who »eemed destined never to know the moral dignity of Individual worth. *' Christianity at first appeared to change little in the condition of woman. It told them in austere precepts to obey their husbands, to dwell at home, to mind household duties, and to leave the great aims of life PBELIMINABY. 29 to man ; and yet it proved the charter of their liberty. We must not ascribe this fact to the widows, virgins, and deaconesses of the early Church, important as was the part they acted. Had not the Pagan creed its ves- tals, priestesses, and prophetic sibyls ? Not there lay the diflference. Christianity freed woman, because it opened to her the long-closed world of spiritual knowl- edge. Sublime and speculative theories, hitherto con- fined to the few, became, when once they were quick- ened by faith, things for which thousands were eager to die. Simple women meditated in their homes on ques- tions which had long troubled philosophers in the groves of Academia. They knew this well. They felt that from her who had sat at the feet of the Master, listen- Lug to the divine teaching, down to the poorest slave who heard the tidings of spiritual liberty, they had all become daughters of a great and immortal faith. Of that faith, they were the earliest adherents, disciples, and mart3rrs. Women followed Jesus, entertained the wandering apostles, worshipped in the catacombs, or died in the arena. The Acts of the Apostles bears record to the charity of Dorcas, and the hospitality of Lydia ; and tradition has preserved the memory of Praxedes and Pudentiana, daughters of a Roman sena- tor, in whose house the earliest Christian meetings were held at Rome. The wealth of the two virgins went to relieve the church and the poor. United in their lives and in their charity, they were not divided in death : they were buried side by side on the Salarian Road. The Church of St. Pudentiana, erected on the spot where the palace of their father once stood, is held to be the most ancient in existence. *' Many of those early Christian women won the crown of martyrdom. They were now beings with immortal 30 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. 8oals : they suffered as such both worthily and willingly. The Elysium of the ancients was the home of heroes : the heaven of the Christian was opened to the meanest slave. The new faith showed no favor of sex in its rewards ; and the old, as if knowing this, made no ex- ception in its cruelty. From the days when Nero raised the first general persecution against the Church, and lit up the evenmg sky of Rome with the fires in which Christians were slowly consumed, women shared all the torments and heroism of the martyrs. ... It showed very forcibly the spirit of the new religion, that to women was chiefly intrusted the practice of its purity and charity, in their severest and most extensive meaning." ^ Wherever the principles of true Christianity prevail, in any country, either with tribes or individuals, there is seen the progress of culture, civilization, and the con- dition of woman. Contrast tlie women of the various parts of the world to-day, and the condition of those in Asia, — toys or serfs as they are, in Africa the same, — with those in Euro])e and America, who are taught in the principles of the gospel, and live under some flag which protects their dearest interests. Asia has some bright spots ; but the very mention of Hindostan, China, Japan, and the islands of the Indian Ocean, brings to mind the need of Christian teachers, and the self-deny- ing labors of gospel missionaries, showing at once the want of something to elevate both man and woman. Africa has only here and there a spot where the light of the truth has made glad human hearts ; and many a Christian teacher is needed to follow in the footstep? of Mungo Park and Livingstone, of Stanley and Bayard Taylor, before the land of the Nile will show a place of culture and advancement for woman. ' "Women of Christianity, hy Julia KavanagL PRELIMINARY. 31 Europe, with its marvellous historic and classic treas- ures, has done as much for woman as the form of Christianity which prevails over by far the larger por- ticei will permit. It is reserved for America to show to the world the rarest excellence of woman in the exercise of the largest and truest liberty the world has ever known. The well- remembered speech of Counsellor Phillips, so familiar in our school-days as a model of oratory, given us by John Pierpont, preacher and poet, in the " National Reader," arises to the mind ; and involuntarily one ex- claims, " Happy, proud America I The lightnings of heaven yielded to your philosophy. The temptations of earth could not seduce your patriotism." And if the speaker has noticed the condition of woman in America, compared with her condition in any other portion of the world, there must be added, " Happy, proud America ! for in thee woman is duly exalted, and will ultimately take her place completely, side by side with her brother man, the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, to bring the world to knowledge and holiness, to wis- dom and love." Does this seem arrogant ? Yet it is in harmony with the facts of history. Other nations have done well, in proportion to their gospel light ; but "thou excellest them all." Oh, happy, proud America, whose centennial year is a year of thanksgiving and joy 1 " The United States of North America," says Mrs. Hale, " is the land of modern chivalry, where the moral qualities of woman are most highly valued, and hei station in society as ' the glory of the man ' most fully acknowledged. The remarkable effect this has had on the destiny of the nation was comprehended by M. de Tocqueville, who observed the result, though he did not analyze the process. At the close of his work on 82 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. America, he remarks that, if he were required to point out the cause of the wonderful advance in prosperity and civilization of the American people, he should reply ' It was the superior character of their women.' " ' There have been American heroines who were not properly the women of the United States, whose names have been honored, and whose deeds were worthy of that honor. If Roman matrons are mentioned, Indian women should not be forgotten ; for the aborigines of America had something to do with the early history of a people that has superseded them, besides greeting them with the tomahawk or the pipe of peace. One Indian woman is held in honor, — Pocahontas, the daughter of Powhatan, the Indian chief in Virginia; born about 1594, and dying in England in 1617, when only about twenty-three years of age. This young, heroic child of a chieftain, in saving the life of Capt. John Smith, when, as he was about to be slain by her father's club, she sprang before him, and shielded him with her own body, earned for herself an honorable mention in American history. She married a brave English officer named Rolfe ; and the celebrated John Randolph was one of her descendants. Very beautifully has Mrs. Hale remarked concerning her, " Pocahontas has been the heroine of fiction and of song ; but the simple truth of her story is more interesting than any ideal description. She is a proof of the intuitive moral sense of woman, and the importance of her aid in carrydng forward the progress of human improve- ment. " Pocahontas was the first heathen who became con- verted to Christianity by the English settlers. The reli- gion of the gospel seemed congenial to her nature : she * Woman's Record, note to General Preface. PRELIMLNARr. 33 W&9 like a guardian angel to the white strangers who had come to the land of the red men. By her the races were united, thus proving the unity of the human family through the spiritual nature of the woman, ever, in its highest development, seeking the good, and at enmity with the evil ; the preserver, the inspirer, the exemplar, of the noblest virtues of humanity." ^ The author of " The Conquest of Florida " gives a graphic story of four Spaniards who fell into the hands of the Indians, three of whom were shot ; and the fourth, named Ortis, was only saved by the cacique's noble daughter, who assisted him to escape. The history of the settlement of our country reveals many such noble instances of humanity in women, though the women who revealed this lovely trait were but illiterate In- dians. Space forbids further reference to any of them at this time, and leaves but little opportunity for men- tioning any of the early heroines of Colonial days. Some of those pioneer women, like the Widow Storey, deserve much as well as honorable mention. Her hus- band being killed by the fall of a tree, she went from Connecticut to Salisbury, Vt., with her ten children, to take his place, and preserve and clear up his farm. " And this bold resolution she carried out to the letter, in spite of every difficulty, hardship, and danger which for years constantly beset her in her solitary location in the woods. Acre after acre of the dense and dark for- est melted away before her axe, which she handled with the dexterity of the most experienced chopper. The logs and bushes were piled and burnt by her own strong and untiring hand: crops were raised, by which, with the fruits of her fishing and unerring rifle, she supported herself and her hardy brood of children. As a place of 1 Woman's Record, p. 476. 34 WOMEN O" THE CENTCTRY. refuge from the assaults of Indians or dangerous wild beasts, she dug out an underground room, into which, through a small entrance made to open under an over- hanging thicket in the bank of tlie stream, she nightly retreated with her children. And here she continued to reside, thus living and thus laboring unassisted, till by her own hand and the help which her boys soon began to afford her, she cleared up a valuable farm, and placed herself in independent circumstances in life." ' The readers of Colonial history well remember the names of many women who were prominent in the higher walks of life. First of all the Pilgrim Mothers will be remembered. " There is a beautiful tradition, that the first foot which pressed the, snow-clad rock of Plymouth was that of May Chilton, a fair young maid- en ; and that the last survivor of those heroic pioneers was May Allerton, who lived to see the planting of twelve out of the thirteen Colonies which formed the nucleus of the United States. In 'The Mayflower,' eighteen wives accompanied their husbands to a waste land and uninhabited, save by the wily and vengeful savage. On the un floored hut, she who had been nur- tured amid the rich carpets and curtains of the mother- la^id rocked her new-born babe, and complained not. She who in the home of her youth had arranged the gorgeous shades of embroidery, or ]>erchance had com- pounded the rich venison pasty as her share in the housekeeping, now pounded the coarse Indian corn for her children's bread, and bade them ask God's blessing ere they took their scanty portions. When the snows sifted through their miserable roof-trees upon her little ones, she gathered them closer to her bosom ; she taught them the Bible and the catechism, and the holy hymn, 1 Noblt» I>««e«d8 of American Women. 52 WOMEN OP THE CENTURY. wheD they were visited by British soldiers. The iii' vaders fled in dismay. Anne Fitzhuqh was one who could respond to the exclamation in Proverbs, " Who shall find a valiant woman ? The price of her is as things brought from afar." Accompanying her blind husband, whom the saucy Britishers determined to take as prisoner to New York, she left her home half-clad, but firm in her purpose not to leave her helpless charge. She had previously placed pistols in the hands of her sons, and sent them forth from the other side of the house to a place of safety. " It was a cold and rainy night ; and with the mere protection of a cloak, which the officer took down and threw over her shoulders before leaving the house, she sallied forth with the party. While on the way to the boat, the report of a gun was heard, which the soldiers supposed was the signal of a rebel gathering. They hastened to the boat, where a paxole was written out with trembling hands, and placed in the old gentleman's possession. Without even a benediction, he was left on shore with his faithful and fearless companion, who thought but little of her wet feet as she stood and saw the cowardly detachment of British soldiers push off and row away with all their might for safety." * The women of Revolutionary days afforded the poet ample opportunity to praise their devotion and heroism, ind say, as one did,* — " Proud were they by such to stand, 111 hamiuock, fort, or glen; To load the sure old rifle, To run the leaden ball, To watch a battling husband's place, And fill it, should he fall," 1 Moble Deeds. &c., p 2B9. « W. D. Gallaghar WOMEN OF THE REVOLUTION. 53 This was illustrated in the noble act of a woman whose husband, a gunner named Pitcher, was killed during the battle of Monmouth ; and she then stepped forward, ind took his place. " The gun was so well managed as to draw the attention of Gen. Washington to the <;ircumstance, and to call forth an expression of his admiration of her bravery and her fiilelity to her country. To show his appreciation of her virtues and her highly valuable services, he conferred on her a lieutenant's commission." She was afterwards known as Captain or Major Molly. An incident is related, which occurred while Wash- ington was at Valley Forge with his army, and the enemy was in Philadelphia, which proved that a coun- try girl had fidelity and courage. Major Talmage, hearing that such a girl had gone to Philadelphia, ostensibly to sell eggs, but really to obtain information concerning the enemy, moved his detachment to Ger- mantown, and waited with a small party at a tavern in sight of the British outposts. He soon saw the coun- try girl, and was about to be told by her of British plans, when he was informed that their Hght horse was advancing. " Stepping to the door, he saw them in full pursuit of his patrols. He hastily mounted ; but, be- fore he had started his charger, the girl was at his side begging for protection. Quick as thought he ordered her to moimt behind him. She obeyed, and in that way rode to Germantown, a distance of thr^^j aiiles. During the whole ride, writes the major in his journal, where we find these details, ' Although there was con- siderable firing of pistols, and not a little wheeling and charging, she remained unmoved, and never once com- plained of fear.' " ' 1 Noble Deeds. &(>., p. 239. 54 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. During the war a woman's society was formed, whose object was the relief of the soldiers who were in need of clothing. In 1780 the ladies of Philadel- phia city and county sold their jewelry, and converted other trinkets into something more serviceable, col- lected large sums of money, purchased the raw mate- rial, plied the needle with all diligence ; and, in a short time, the aggregate amount of their contributions was seventy-five hundred dollars. This sum was raised in and immediately around Philadelphia. The efforts of the ladies were not, however, hmited to their own neighborhood. They addressed circulars to the adjoin- ing counties and States; and the response of New Jersey and Maryland was truly generous. The number of shirts made by the ladies of Philadelphia during that patriotic movement was twenty - two hundred. These were cut out at the house of Mrs. Sarah Bache, daughter of Dr. Franklin. This lady, writing to a Mrs. Meredith of Trenton, N.J., at the time, says, ' I am happy to have it in my power to tell you that the sums given by the good women of Philadelphia, for the benefit of the army, have been much greater than could be expected, and given with so much cheerful- ness, and so many blessings, that it was rather a pleas- ing than a painful task to call for them. I write to claim you as a Philadelphian, and shall tliink myself honored in your donation.' " ^ In the early part of February, 1770, the women of Boston publicly pledged themselves to abstain fi-om the use of tea. On Feb. 9 there were three hundred ma- trons who had become members of the league. Three days after, the young women followed the good exam- ple of their mothers, signing the following document : » Noble Deeds, p. 78. WOMEN OF TELE REVOLUTION. 55 " We, the daughters of those patriots who have and do now appear for the public interest, and in that princi- pally regard their prosperity, as such do with pleasure engage with them in denying ourselves the drinking of foreign tea, in hopes to frustrate a plan which tends to deprive the whole community of all that is valuable in life." No wonder that after years saw such prodigies of valor in those who showed themselves able to prac- tise such patriotic self-denial. Side by side the men and women of the Revolution objected to and protested against "■ taxation without representation." The spirit of the ancestry still lives in the true children of such noble progenitors. Among the active women of the Revolution was Esther Reed, the wife of Pres. Reed, who stood at the head of the Relief Association in Philadelphia, and who wrote a letter to Washington, informing him that the subscription of the women amounted to $200,580, and X625, 6s. Sd., in specie. Mrs. Reed died in 1780, at the early age of thirty-four ; and it was thought that her arduous labors hastened her departure. She was thus a martyr to liberty, and did not alone deserve that distinction. As in the civil war, many other women were overworked, and fell a sacrifice to their patriotic responsibilities and toils. Lydta Darrah is mentioned in the first number of " The American Quarterly Review," as an amiable and heroic Quakeress of Philadelphia, who overheard the order read for the British troops to march out and attack Washington's army, then at White Marsh. She obtained a pass from Gen. Howe, for a visit to a mill for flour ; and going safely through the British lines, leaving her bag at the mill, she hastened to the Ameri- can lines, saw Col. Craig, and told him what she had 66 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. overheard. By means of that information, the Ameri- can army was saved ; for the British found them pre- pared, and forbore to make the contemplated attacli:. Butler's " History of Grotou," in Massachusetts, states that, " After the departure of Col. Prescott's regiment of ' minute-men,' Mrs. David Wright of Pep- perell, Mrs. Job Shattuck of Groton, and the neigh- boring women, collected at what is now Jewett's Bridge, over the Nashua, between Pepperell and Gro- ton, clothed in their absent husbands' apparel, and armed with muskets, pitchforks, and such other weap- ons as they could find ; and, having elected Mrs. Wright their commander, resolutely determined that no foe to freedom, foreign or domestic, should pass that bridge. For rumors were rife, that the regulars were approaching ; and frightful stories of slaughter flew rapidly from place to place, and from house to house. Soon there appeared one on horseback, supposed to be treasonably engaged in conveying intelligence to the enemy. By the implicit command of Sergeant Wright, he was immediately arrested, unhorsed, searched, and the treasonable correspondence found concealed in his boots. He was detained prisoner, and sent to Oliver Prescott, Esq., of Groton, and his despatches were sent to the Committee of Safety." Historians tell us of the Kentucky women braves, who were successful in warding off the attacks of Indians in the early days of our country ; and the wife of a Mr. John Merrill of Nelson County is specially mentioned, as brave and successful in her defence of her home during the summer of 1787. She was "a perfect Amazon in strength and courage." Such women were needed in those " dark and bloody days." That American women have never been wanting in WOMEN OF THE REVOLUTION. 67 bravery, either in Revolutionary days or since, Mrs. Ann Chase showed to the world, when, at the capture of Tampico in 1846, she displayed the American flag, opposed by the common council. No menaces could awe this intrepid woman, the wife of the American consul, who, in her daring and patriotism, had also pre- viously given Commodore Connor full information in regard to the defence of the place. Dicey Langston was a South Carolina woman, who was equal to the times of emergency which often came in the days of the Revolution. She was in the good custom of conveying intelligence to the friends of free- dom. The British would have despised her as a spy, but we honor her as the friend of a holy cause. She often hazarded her life in crossing marshes and creeks to save the lives of others ; and on one occasion, when she was returning from a settlement of Whigs, she was set upon by a party of Tories, and questioned. " The leader of the band then held a pistol to her breast, and threatened to shoot her, if she did not make the wished- for disclosure. ' Shoot me, if you dare I I will not tell you I ' was her dauntless reply, as she opened a long handkerchief that covered her neck and bosom, thus manifesting a willingness to receive the contents of the pistol, if the officer insisted on disclosures or life. The dastard, enraged at her defying movement, was in the act of firing, at which moment one of the soldiers threw up the hand holding the weapon, and the cower- less heart of the girl was permitted to beat on ' Re- becca MoTTB has her name also on the scroll of honor, as one who willingly consented to tlie burning of her large mansion, which stood near the trench, in order to effect the capture of Fort Motte, which was then in the hands of the British. The Americans wore suo- 58 WOMEN OF THE CENTUBT. cessful, partly by the firing of arrows so prepared as to set fire to the shingles of the roof ; and those arrows had been presented to Mrs. Motte by a favorite Afri- can. She saved them when the British officer allowed her to pass out of the fort to the Americans ; and he was greatly displeased that they should be used against him. Elizabeth Steele is worthy of note for her patri- otic donation made to Gen. Greene in an hour of need. She was the landlady of the hotel in Salisbury, N.C. ; and the wounded Americans were brought to her house. The general felt much discouraged ; for, added to the defeat at the battle of the Cowpens, he was penniless. Mrs. Steele generously donated to the cause he repre- sented two bags of specie, saying, " Take these, for you will want them, and I can do without them." Gen. Greene's biographer says, " Never did relief come at a more propitious moment ; nor would it be straining conjecture, to suppose that he resumed his journey with his spirits cheered and brightened by this touching proof of woman's devotion to the cause of her coun- try." Mary Redmond was called in Philadelphia " the little black-eyed rebel," because she was so ready to assist women whose husbands were in the American army, in gaining intelligence from the camp. Mrs. EUet states, that " the despatches were usually sent from their friends by a boy, who carried them stitched in the back of his coat. He came into the city bring- ing jn-ovisions to market. One morning, when there was some reason to fear he was suspected, and his movements watched by the enemy, Mary undertook to get the papers in safety from him. She went, as usual, to the market, and, in a pretended game of rompa WOMEN OF THE REVOLUTION. 69 threw her shawl over the boy's head, and thus secured the prize. She hastened with the papers to her .anxious friends, who read them by stealth, after the windows had been carefully closed. When the news came of Burgoyne's sun-ender, and the Whig women were se- cretly rejoicing, the sprightly girl, not daring to give vent openly to her exultation, put her head up the chimney, and gave a shout for Gates." Hannah Israel, whose maiden name was Erwin, was the wife of a farmer so patriotic, that he declared he would sooner drive his cattle as a present to George Washington, than receive thousands of dollars in Brit- ish gold for them. He was taken prisoner, and was on board a British frigate anchored in the Delaware in front of his house, when the commander, who had been told of that saying by some telltale loyalists, ordered some soldiers to drive the cattle down to the river's bank, and slaughter them before their rebel owner's eyes. Mrs. Israel, who was brave as a Spartan, divined the purpose of the soldiers, and, calling a boy eight years old, started off in haste to defeat their project. "They threatened, and she defied, till at last they fired at her. The cattle, more terrified than she, scattered over the fields ; and, as the balls flew thicker, she called on the little boy ' Joe ' the louder and more earnestly to help, determined that the assailants should not have one of the cattle. They did not. She drove them all intc the barnyard, when the soldiers, out of respect to her courage or for some other cause, ceased theii molestations, and returned to the frigate." * The noble deeds of the days of Revolutionary hero ism were not all confined to the women who were of the dominant race. Red women, as well as white, who ' Nol.lH Deeds, Ac, p. 165 60 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. dwelt in our land in those days, were inspired with gen- erous asdor and benevolent zeal. Says Mr. Clement, " During the Revolution, a young Shawanese Indian was captured by the Cherokees, and sentenced to die at the stake. He was tied, and the usual preparations were made for his execution, when a Cherokee woman went to the warrior to whom the prisoner belonged, and, throwing a parcel of goods at his feet, said she was a widow, and would adopt the captive as her son, and earnestly plead for his deliverance. Her prayer was granted, and the prisoner taken under her care." Emily Geiger was a messenger from Gen. Greene to Gen. Sumter. Her mission was a dangerous one, for spies often paid for their temerity with their lives. She was mounted on horseback on a side-saddle, aiad was intercepted by Lord Rawdon's scouts. She could not deny that she came from the direction of Greene's army ; and therefore she was locked up, and an old Tory matron ordered to search her. She did not wish to be proved as a spy, nor have the intelligence in the letter she was bearing imparted to the British. She there- fore, while alone, ate up the letter piece by piece ; and, when the searcher arrived, she was unable to find any trace of her errand upon her, and she was allowed to depart. She hastened to the camp of Gen. Sumter, and delivered her message verbally. Nancy Van Alstine is said to be "one of the bravest and noblest mothers of the Revolution." Her fifteen children could " rise up and call her blessed ; " for her life was pure and noble, and, in the days of her country's peril from hostile tribes of Indians, she was fearless and undaunted. The pioneer families in many parts of our land, a century ago, had reason to keep a vigilant watch over their children and goods, lest tJie WOMEN OF THE REVOLUTION. 61 Startling war-whoop, too often heard, might be followed by theft, destruction, and awful massacre, Martha Bratton was a woman of the Revolution,. of whose deeds and character we may judge by the following toast given at Brattonsville, S.C., on the 12th. July, 1839, at a celebration of Huck's defeat : " The memory of Mrs. Martha Bratton. In the hands of an infuriated monster, with the instrument of death around her neck, she nobly refused to betray her husband : in the hour of victory, she remembered mercy, and aa a guardian angel interposed in behalf of her inhuman enemies. Throughout the Revolution, she encouraged the Whigs to fight on to the last, to hope on to the end. Honor and gratitude to the woman and heroine, who proved herself so faithful a wife, so firm a friend to liberty I " . v Elizabeth Zane, — she was the young heroine of Fort Henry. When the little band in the garrison at the mouth of Wheeling Creek, in Ohio County, Va., were holding out against thirty or forty times their number of savage assailants, and were about to sur- render for lack of powder, Elizabeth Zane insisted upon being the one who should risk life in seeking to obtain a keg which was in a house ten or twelve rods from the gate of the fort. The Indians did not molest her till on her return they divined the nature of her errand, and then they fired upon her ; but " the whizzing balls only gave agility to her feet, and herself and the prize were quickly safe within the gate. The result was that the soldiers, inspired with enthusiasm by this heroic adventure, fought with renewed courage ; and, before the keg of powder was exhausted, the enemy raised the siege." This occurred during the Revolutionary war. Esther Gaston showed her bravery by mounting 62 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. her horse, and, with her sister-in-law, hastening to the battle of Rocky Mount. Meeting some cowardly runa- ways, they asked them for their guns, and proposed to stand in their places, whereupon the men returned lo duty ; and, while the fight was raging, Esther and her companion cared for the wounded and the dying. Mahy Ann Gibbes, when but a girl of thirteen, earned the name of heroine, as she went back in the dark, and amid firing of guns, to the mansion of her father on John's Island, near Charleston, S.C, in order to rescue a boy cousin who had accidentally been left in the hands of the British when the rest of the family fled. Even the young girls had the spirit of heroism and patriotism which marked the women of the Revolution. Mrs. Wilson, the wife of Robert Wilson, whose own name we do not know, was one worthy to be remem- bered as the mother of eleven sons, most of whom were soldiers, and some were officers, in the war of the Revo- lution, and who, when asked by Lord Cornwallis to use her influence with her husband and sons, who were his prisoners, to induce them to fight for the crown, replied, — " I have seven sons who are now or have been bear- ing arms ; indeed, my seventh son Zaccheus, who is only fifteen years old, I yesterday assisted to get ready to go and join his brotliers in Sumter's army. Now, sooner than see one of my family turn back from this glorious enterprise, 1 would take these boys," pointing to three or four small sons, " and with them would myself enlist under Sumter's standard, and show my husband and sons how to fight, and, if necessary, to die for their country." That woman deserves to be known as the heroine of Steel Creek. Mbs. Shitbrick. wife of Richard Shubrick, defended WOMEN OF TELE REVOLUTION. 63 an American soldier who had sought refuge with her, by placing herself before the chamber in which he was secreted, and resolutely telling the British officer, " To men of honor, the chamber of a lady should be as sacred as the sanctuary. I will defend the passage to it, though I perish. You may succeed and enter it, but it shall be over my corpse." The officer ceased further search. On another occasion, she reproved a British sergeant for striking a servant of their family, inflicting a severe sabre-wound on his shoulders, be- cause he could not disclose the place where the plate was hidden, and told him to strike her, if any one ; for, till she died, no further injury should be done to the aged overseer. The sergeant, discomfited, retired. Mary Kntght, the sister of Gen. Warrell, had the following tribute to her patriotism and humanity paid to her by a New Jersey newspaper in July, 1849 : " The deceased was one of those devoted women who aided to relieve the horrible sufferings of Washington's army at Valley Forge, cooking and carrying provisions to them alone, in the depth of winter, even passing through the outposts of the British army in the dis- guise of a market - woman. And, when Washington was compelled to retreat before a superior force, she concealed her brother Gen. Warrell — when the Brit- ish set a price on his head — in a cider-hogshead in the cellar for three days, and fed him through the bung- hole ; the house being ransacked four different times by the troops in search of him, without success. She was over ninety years of age at the time of her death." Margaret Corbin was one to whom might have been said, — *' Where cannon boomed, where bayonets clashed, There was thy fiery way." 64 WOMEN OF THE OBNTITRY. Mr. Clement's account of her is as follows : " An acl; similar to that recorded of Mrs. Pitcher at the battle of Monmouth was performed by Mrs. Margaret Corbin at the attack on Fort Washington. Her husband be- longed to the artillery ; and standing by his side, and seeing him fall, she unhesitatingly took his place, and heroically performed his duties. Her services were appreciated by the officers of the army, and honorably noticed by Congress. This body passed the following resolution in July, 1779 : ' Resolved, that Margaret Cor- bin, wounded and disabled at the battle of Fort Wash- ington while she heroically filled the post of her hus- band, who was killed by her side serving a piece of artillery, do receive during her natural life, or continu- ance of said disability, one-half the monthly pay drawn by a soldier in service of these States ; and that she now receive, out of public stores, one suit of clothes, or value thereof in money.' " Other women there were, who won a fair renown in Revolutionary days. The hmit of this chapter forbids further mention ; but those who will read Mrs. Ellet's " Women of the Revolution " will find her pages full of thrilling interest ; and will place the names of Eliza- beth Clay, Susannah, Sabina, and Anna Elliott,. Sabah Hopton, Jane Washington, Martha Wil- son, and a host of others, whose sympathy eucoiu-agedl the men who fought for freedom, and whose bravery and valor entitled them to honorable remembrance foi many a century, side by side with the names of those who signed the Declaration of Independence, and pledged to the cause of liberty " their fives, theii fortunes, and their sacred honor." CHAPTER III. THE WIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS. Martha Washington — Abigail Adams — Martha Jefferson — Dolly P. Madison — Mrs. Monroe — Louisa Catherine Adams — Kachel Jackson — Hannah Van Buren — Anna Harrison — Letitia Chris- tian Tyler — Julia Gardner Tyler — Sarah Polk — Margaret Taylor — Abigail Filmore — Jane Appleton Pierce — Mary Todd Lincoln — Eliza Johnson — Julia Grant — Lucy Hayes — Lucretia R. Garfield — Ella L. Arthiu' — Frances Folsom Cleveland— Caroline Scott Harrison. 'Fame hatli a voice whose thrilling tone Can bid the life-pulse beat; As wlien a trumpet's note hath blown, Warning the hosts to meet; But. ah ! let mine, a woman's breast. With words of home-born love be blessed." Mks. Hemans. "Her husband is known in the the land." — Pkov. xxxi. 23. s, when he sitteth among the elders of IT must be acknowledged that some of the women whom this chapter places prominent among the Women of the Century are mainly known and honored because connected with their illustrious husbands ; yet it is not true of them all, that their position in the 65 66 WOMEN OF THE CENTTJBT. nation, as the wives of our chief magistrates, was their only claim to recognition or remembrance. They were nearly all women of intellectual power and moral worth ; and some of them were eminently fit to be regarded when occupying the White House, as " the first lady of the nation." Mrs. Laura 0. Holloway, in her very interesting book, " The Ladies of the White House," has made the path smooth for the writer of this chapter: and the reader who would know more of those women who were the wives of our Presidents are urged to peruse her glowing pages, assured that they will have all the flavor of romance, and the value of truth. Martha Washington was the first who was hon- ored as a President's wife, and her history is perhaps as familiar to as as any ; for historian and biographer have viod with each other in presenting to us a vivid picture of the charming w'dow — Mrs. Martha Custis — whom Col. Washington gladly made his wife. Her maiden name was Dandridge, an J 5he was a descendant of the Rev. Orlando Jones, a clergyman of Wales. She is described as being " rather below the middle size, but extremely well shaped, with an agreeable countenance, dark hazel eyes and hair, and those frank, engaging manners so captivating in Southern women. She was not a beauty, but gentle and winning in her nature, and eminently congenial to her illustrious husband. During their long and happy married life, he ever wore her likeness on his heart." She was but twenty-five when left a widow with two children by her first hus- band. Col. Custis. The daughter died at the age of sixteen ; the son lived to be one of his illustrious step- father's aids, and then died at the age of twenty-eight, leaving four children, two of whom were adopted by MAKTHA WASHINGTON. THE WrV^S OF THE PRESIDENTS. 69 their graudmother, and ever after were the charge of Lady Washington and her noble husband. Benson J. Lossing thus describes the wife of the first President, as pictured in the days of her widowhood : " In the drawing-room at Arlington House, in Virginia, is a portrait of a beautiful woman, young and elegant, yet of matronly gravity. She is dressed richly, but in simple patterns and dignified arrangements. She is plucking a blossom from a shrub, apparently uncon- scious of the act, for her thoughts are evidently in the direction of her eyes that beam upon some more distant object. It is a pleasant picture, painted more than a hundred years ago, by Wollaston. It is the portrait of Martha Custis, a wealthy widow, and one of the most attractive of the women who graced the vice- royal court at Williamsburg, the ancient capital of Vir- ginia." On Jan. 17, 1759, Rev. David Mossom officiat- ing, that lady became Martha Washington. Her life for several years was one of unbroken sunshine. She received the best society of the country as the wife of a prosperous planter ; occasionally visiting Williams- burg with her husband, for Washington was for fifteen years a member of the Legislature. Then came the weary years of war, and for eight years the home was shadowed by his absence. " The trial of separation was mitigated, although often pro- longed to wear)' months. ' Even when the long Indian Summer days of October shed glory over the burnished forest trees, her cumbrous carriage, with its heavy hangings and massive springs, suggestive of comfort, was brought to the door, and laden with all the appur- tenances of a winter's visit. Year after year, as she had ordered supplies for this annual trip to her husband's ^amp, she trusted it would be the last, . . . 70 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. " The battles were fierce, and the struggles long ; and, if the orderly matron disliked the necessity of leaving home so often and for so long a time, her heart was glad of the sacrifice when she reached the doubly anxious husband who was watching and waiting for her ; anxious for his wife, somewhere on the road, and for his bleeding country, struggling unavailingly for the eternal principles of freedom. . . . Never but once or twice had those yearly moves been disagreeable ; and, though universally unoffending, she felt the painful effects of party bitterness. . . . Once, after an active campaign, as she was passing through Philadelphia, she was insulted by the ladies there, who declined noticing her by any civilities whatever. The tide in the affairs of men came ; and, alas, for human nature 1 many of those haughty matrons were the first to welcome her there as the wife of the President.'' Mrs. Washington was extremely plain in her dress, and displayed little taste for those luxurious ornaments deemed appropriate for the wealthy and the great. In her own home the spinning-wheels and looms were kept constantly going ; and her dresses were many times woven by her servants. Gen. Washington wore at his inauguration a full suit of fine cloth, the handiwork of his own household. At a ball given in New Jersey in honor to herself, she wore a "• simple russet gown," and white handkerchief about her neck, thereby setting an example to the women of the Revolution, wh( could ill afford to spend their time or means as lavishly as they might have desired. " On one occasion, she gave the best proof of her success in domestic manufac- tures by the exhibition of two of her dresses, whicf were composed of cotton striped with silk, and entirely homemade. The silk stripe,":^ in the fabric were woven TETB WIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS. 71 from ' the ravelings of brown silk stockings and old crimson chair-covers.' As a wife, mother, and friend, she was worthy of respect ; but only as the com- panion of Washington is her record of public interest. She was in no wise a student, hardly a regular reader, nor gifted with literary ability ; but if that law, stern necessity^ which knows no deviation, had forced her from her seclusion and luxury, hers would have been anorganizationof active goodness. . . . She assumed the duties of her position as wife of the chief magistrate, with the twofold advantage of wealth and high social position ; and was in manner, appearance, and character, the pleasing and graceful representative of a class of which, unfortunately, the original is now taken from us, — a lady of the olden time." ^ The republican court was held in Franklin Street, New York, at first; but in the second year the seat of government was re- moved to Philadelphia, and Pres. Washington rented a house in Market Street, between Fifth and Sixth Streets. At the close of his administration, they retired to Mount Vernon, and there Martha Washington became again a widow. History has painted often the scene of Washington's last hours ; but no pen could faithfully depict the grief of her who said as she took one last, lingering look at the room in which he died (a room she would never enter again), " 'Tis well all is now over. I shall soon follow him. I have no more trials to pass through." Two years passed away, and then she went to him ; and their remains rest side by side in the sarcophagi at Mount Vernon. Not soon will the writer of these pages forget her pilgrimage thither. The beauty of that April day, when with my daughter and my friend I stood beside that sacred niausoleum, 1 Ladies of the White House, pp. 20, 22. 30. 72 WOMEN OP THE CENTURY. and thought of the illustrious pair whom death had not divided, and gathered the purple flowers of the myrtle growing luxuriantly there, as mementos of the visit to the hallowed scenes of Mount Vernon, will long be pleasantly remembered ; and the lapse of time will fail to take away the blessed influence of that memorable day. And well wrote Mrs. HoUoway : " Stealtliily the years go by, and we wist not they are passing : yet the muffled and hoarse voice of a century astounds us with its parting. The centennial birthdays have been cele- brated ; soon we approach the hundreth anniversary of victories won and independence achieved. If the glad, free spirits of the chief and his companion are per- mitted to review tlieir earthly pilgrimage, let it be a source of gratification to us to know they smile upon a Republic of peace. Their bodies we guard, while they crmnble away in the bosom of theii* birthplace ; and, as long as a son of America remains a freeman, it will be a well-spring of inspiration, to feel that Virginia contains the Pater Patrice, and the woman immortalized by his love." ^ Abigail Adams, the wife of Pres. John Adams, was the daughter of a New England Congregationalist clergyman named Smith, and was born in Weymouth, Mass., in 1744. Her father lived in the days of long pastorates, and for forty years he was settled in Wey- mouth : her grandfather was a Congregationalist minis- ter in a neighboring town. . Born of such stock, we might expect a conscientious woman ; and Mi-s. Adams was all that those words imply. She was cultured also, end a woman of remarkable judgment, as well as imagina- tive and poetic ability. She excelled as an epistolary 1 Ladiua of tlie White House, p. 58. THE WIVES OF THE PEESIDRNTS. 73 correspondent, in proof of which is the fact that the ** Letters of Mrs. Adams " are still read with pleasure and profit. During the early years of her married life she was often charged with the sole care of their chil- dren, while her husband was attending to his profes- sional and other duties in Congress ; and it was on one of these occasions that she witnessed the cannonading around Boston, as the British sought to secure a victory over patriotism that was unfaltering, and a love of liberty that nothing could paralyze. Her husband was chosen to go on a mission from Congress to France, and took their eldest son, John Quincy Adams, with him ; and in loneliness, but with courage and fidelity, she cared for the rest of the flock at home. In those days there were no steamships nor ocean cables, so that news from the Old World must be long in reaching the patient, waiting wife. But she was worthy of the praise so willingly accorded to her in this centennial year. " Circumscribed as her lot was, she has left upon the pages of history an enviable record ; and, while Americans forget not to do honor to her husband's zeal and greatness, her memory lends a richer perfume, and sheds a radiance round the incidents of a life upon which she wielded so beneficial an influence." ^ All through the years of lier husband's absence in Europe, at the court of Great Britain and elsewhere, she was the faithful, active wife and mother, caring for her aged father and for her children. At last the time arrived when she could leave her home, and cross the ocean to her husband's side. Her father had gone to the heavenly home, her sons were placed with careful guardians, and her only daughter accompanied her to England. She remained one year in France and three 1 Ladies of the White House, p . 69 74 WOMKN OF THE CENTURY. in England, and then returned to tne land of her birth. Her husband being elected vice-president, she accom- panied him to the seat of the United States Government, where she was respected and beloved. Her letters show, better than these brief sentences can possibly do, the woman of sound sense and varied culture and noble heart. May the new century furnish many readers for them ! " The first New- Year's reception at the White House in Washington was held by Pres. Adams in 1801. The house was only partially furnished ; and Mrs. Adams used the oval room up stairs, now the library, as a drawing-room. The formal etiquette established by Mrs. Washington at New York and Philadelphia was kept up in the wilderness-city by Mrs. Adams." ^ Owing to the failure of her health, she soon after sought the bracing air of her native State, and resided much of her time at Quincy, Mass. " She lived in Washington only four months, and yet she is insep- arably connected with it. She was mistress of the White House less than half a year ; but she stamped it with her individuality, and none have lived there since who have not looked upon her as the model and guide. . . . The sacrifices made by Mrs. Adams during the long era of war, pestilence, and famine, deserve and should receive from a nation's gratitude a monument as high and massive as her illustrious husband's. Let it be reared in the hearts of the women of America, who may proudly claim her as a model ; and let her fame be transmitted to remotest posterity, — the Portia of the rebellious provinces. . . . Not in marble or bronze be her memory perpetuated, for we need no such hieroglyphics in this country of free schools. Place hex J Laiiies of the White House, p. 99. THE "WIVES OF THE PKESIDENTS. 75 nistory in the libraries of America, and the children of freedom will live over her deeds. On the 18th of Oc- tober, 1818, then seventy-four years of age, she ceased to live in the flesh, and her remains were placed by the side of her husband, in Quincy, Mass., while a marble slab beside the pulpit in the church where they wor- shipped, surmounted by the bust of the husband, bears an inscription in memory of both parents, written by their eldest son." The next wife of an American president here to be mentioned is Martha Jefferson. She had been dead, however, nineteen years before her husband entered the White House as its master. She is said to have been remarkable for her beauty and accomplishments. She died in 1782, leaving three children. '' It was her fate to die young, and be denied the honors that, later in life, crowned the brow of her gifted husband. Had she survived, no more pleasant life could have been traced, than this gentle, cultivated Southerner's." Dolly P. Madison is the name by which the wife of President Madison is known, though she was called Dorothy by her Quaker parents. She was born in North Carolina, May 20, 1772. Like Mrs. Jefferson, she was twice married. She was wedded to Mr. Madi- son in October, 1794. She is said to have been " hum- ble-hearted, tolerant, and sincere. . . . The power of adaptiveness was a life-giving principle in her nature. With a desire to please, and a willingness to be pleased, she was popular in society. . . . During the eiglit years' life of her husband as Secretary of State, she dispensed with no niggard hand the abundant wealth she rightly prized ; and the poor of the district loved her name as a household deity. In 1810 Mr. Madison was elected president ; and, after Mr. Jefferson left the 76 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. city he removed to the White House. Under the former administration, Mrs. Madison had, during the absences of Mr. Jefferson's daughters, presided at the receptions and levees, and was in every particular fitted to adorn her position as hostess of the mansion she was called to preside over. . . Mrs. Madison's sole aim was to be popular, and render her husband's administration brilliant and successful. Her field wa?! the parlor; and, with the view of reigning supreme there, she bent the energies of her mind to the one idea of accomplishment. In her thirty-seventh year she entered the White House." ^ When the second war with Great Britain was declared, she was there. History tells us how the Secretary of State labored to preserve the valuable documents, which, in this centennial year, will be gazed upon by thousands with so much pride and interest. Among them was the original Declaration of Independence. As we look back to those days, it seems almost incredible that the Capitol, the White House, and other public edifices, could have been ruthlessly demolished by a foreign foe. Under Mrs. Madison's supervision, the magnificent portrait of Gen. Washington was taken down, and carried to a place of safety. The British soon evacuated the city ; and the presi- dent and family returned, but to a home of blackened ruins. Peace was restored ; and in 1816 the levee of the president was spoken of as the most brilhant ever seen in the Executive Mansion. " It was on this occa- sion that Mr. Bagot made the remark, that Mrs. Madi- son ' looked every inch a queen.' " Mrs. Madison was in no sense " a learned woman, but decidedly a talented one ; and her name will ever be a synonyme for all that 1 Ladies of the While House. THE WITES OP THE PRESIDENTS. 77 is charming and agreeable." Mrs. Madison survived her husband, and died at the age of eighty -two, on the 12th of July, 1849, "beloved by all who personally knew her, and universally respected." Mes. Monroe is almost unknown. Her name wag Eliza Kortright before marriage, if the statement con- cerning a Washington belle of that name in " Ladies of the White House " refers to her ; but the author of that book adds shortly after, " Not a line was written of Mrs. Monroe during her life, save a mention after her husband's election to the presidency ; nor has any his- tory of his life been written from which to glean even A mention of her name." And still further on she says, " Of gentle and winning manners was Mrs. Mon- roe, and possessed of a face upon which beauty was written in unmistakable lines. Tall and gracefully formed, polished and elegant in society, she was one fitted to represent her countrywomen at the court of St. Cloud," whither she accompanied her husband. The story of her fearless visit to Madame Lafayette, when she was confined in the Austrian prison, reflects great credit upon her. In after-time she acted well her part as the wife of the American minister in England and Spain, spending about ten years in Europe. " When the war of 1812 was declared, Mrs. Monroe was living in Washington City, dispensing the duties of" her station as wife of the Secretary of State, " and enjoying the society of her two daughters." In 1817 her husband became president, and she then dwelt in the White House ; and the leading paper called her " an elegant, accomplished woman, possessing a charming mind and dignity of manners which peculiarly fitted her for her elevated station " But she was of domestic tastes, and did not 78 WOMEN OF THE OBNTUBY. enjoy the formal or senseless talk usual in drawing- room receptions. She mingled but little in society ; and, as her health failed, she became still more a recluse. She died suddenly in 1830. " Little of interest or variety is there connected with one whose identity was so completely merged in her husband's existence." LomsA Catherine Adams was the wife of John Quincy Adams, the son of the second president, and himself the sixth president of the United States. " With her closed the hst of the ladies of the Revolu- tion. A new generation had sprung up in the forty- nine years of independence. She was London born, her parents, though patriotic Americans, having their home in England at the outbreak of the war. He was appointed by the Federal Congress a commissioner, and therefore at once removed to Nantes. But, when our national independence was recognized, he returned to Loudon ; and there she was married to Mr. Adams, who took her shortly after to Berlin, where she was a happy bride ; and for four years she maintained a high posi- tion in the regard of all who knew her, winning friends for herself and her country. In 1801, after the birth of her eldest child, she came to the United States ; and, as her husband was soon elected senator to Washing- ton, she found her home in tne sunny South till her husbaud was appointed minister to Russia ; and they sailed from Boston, leaving her two eldest cliildren with their grandparents, and taking a third, not two years old. Europe was a battlefield then ; and, while in St. Petersburg, they waited for Napoleon to conquer Russia. During the six years of her stay in Russia, what wondrous things transpired, what intense interest marked the era, we in comparative quiet cac scarcely conceive. THE WIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS. 79 " Death took from her an infant, born whilst there ; and the twofold afiQiction of public and private trouble weighed upon her." They lived frugally, laying a foun- dation for future competence in America. National affairs called Mr. Adams to Ghent; and she was left " alone in tliat place where she had lived five years," tci pass a sixth winter longing for release. At last she ^ as advised to travel by land to join her husband hi Paris. She went ; and " hers piust have been an in- domitable spirit, else the lonely days of constant motion through villages, and wild, uncultivated countries, where every inanimate thing bore traces of grim-visaged war, would have convinced her of the risk she was running. With the passports of the Russian govern- ment, and the strong recommendation of being the American minister's wife, she bade adieu to all appre- hensions, and risked all to only get nearer home and children," Her husband being appointed minister to the Court of St. James, they found their home in Lon- don in May, 1815 ; and there she gathered her children once more about her. In 1817 Mr. Adams was ap- pointed Secretary of State, and they returned to America, where after a brilliant series of winters in Washington, her home being a centre of attraction, in 1825 her husband was inaugurated President of tlie United States ; twenty-eight years after his honored and then venerable father had taken the same chair With the close of his presidental duties, Mr. Adams still served his country in Congress as a representative from Massachusetts ; and therefore for fifteen years they resided in Washington, though often at his old home in Quincy. And his wife was usually at his side. When he was suddenly stricken with paralysis in the Capitol, she was ill, but hastened to him. He died, and she 80 WOMEN OF THE CBNTUBT. accompanied his remains to Quincy, and there she dwelt till, four years after, her remains were placed by his side ; and her memory is now cherished by her country as that of one worthy to be the daughter-in-law of Abigail Adams. Rachel Jackson was the beloved wife of Andrew Tackson, but ended her earthly life before he entered the White House as the President. She was the daughter of Col, John Donelson ; and her early home was in the wilds of Kentucky, though she was born in Virginia. She married a man named Robards ; but he was a cruel and unprincipled man, and she was finally divorced from him, and married Andrew Jackson. " Subsequent events proved this marriage to be one of the very happiest ever formed. . . . Nothing could exceed the admiration and love, and even deference, of Gen. Jackson for his wife. Her wish to him was law. It was a blessed ordering of Providence, that this kind, good heart should find at last, after so many troubles, a tender and true friend and protector, understanding her perfectly, and loving her entirely. *•' Mrs. Jackson was a noble woman, and abundantly blessed with superior sense. She was a good manager, a kind mistress, always directing the servants and tak- ing care of the estate in her husband's frequent ab- sences, and withal a generous and hospitable neighbor. . . . She had no children of her own, and it was a source of regret to both ; but a fortunate circumstance throw a little child across her pathway, and she gladly took the babe to her home and heart. Her brother had twin boys born to him ; and, wishing to help her sister in a care which was so great, she took one of them " ' home when but a few days old. The general became «o ' Ladies of the White House. THE WIVES OF THE PRESmENTS. 81 attached to it that he adopted the child, and gave him his own name ; and this son, Andrew Jackson, jnn., was the sole heir to the general's large estate. The record of Mrs. Jackson's sad early marriage, and of the forty years happily spent with Gen. Jackson, is full of interest ; and the reader rises from its perusal with a profound respect for her as a Christian woman. To gratify her, Gen. Jackson built a little church on his estate, where a Presbyterian divine ministered to the family and neighbors ; and therein she spent many happy hours. Her health being delicate, she passed most of her happy married life at the Hermitage, as their estate was called, visiting Florida and Washing- ton with her husband, but preferring the quiet of home. On the 23d of December, 1828, when the friends of the general were expecting to give a public dinner in Nashville in his honor, she had parted with earth and all its scenes ; and his heart was wrung with grief. Six- teen years he mourned for her ; and then the summons of re-union came, and the pure wife and brave husband were together again. Their remains rest in the garden of the Hermitage, a monument being raised over the vault ; and tablets are there inscribed, — one with only the general's name, and the record of his birth and death ; while the other, by his direction, has the follow- ing testimony to one woman's worth : " Here lie the remains of Mrs. Rachel Jackson, wife of President Jackson, who died the 22d December, 1828, aged 61. Her face was fair, her person pleasing, her temper amiable, and her heart kind. She delighted in reliev- ing the wants of her fellow-creatures, and cultivated that divine pleasure by the most liberal and unpre- tending methods. To the poor she was a benefactor, 82 WOMEN OP THE CENTURY. to the rich an example, to the wretched a comforter, to the prosperous an ornament. Her piety went hand in hand with her benevolence, and she thanked her Crea- tor for being permitted to do good. A being so gentle yet so virtuous, slander might wound, but could not dishonor. Even Death, when he tore her from the arms of her husband, could but transport her to the bosom of her God." Hannah Van Buren was born in Kinderhook, on the Hudson, in 1782. She was but little younger than her husband, Martin Van Buren, who was her school- mate. She was of Dutch descent. In February, 1807, at the age of twenty-five, she married Mr. Van Buren, who was then just admitted at the bar. They dwelt eight years in Hudson, thence removing to Albany, where she died in 1819. She did not live to enter the White House. She was the mother of four children, one of whom passed on before her. She died in Chris- tian hope, calling her children about her, bidding them farewell, and committing them to the care of that Saviour she loved, and in whom she trusted. " The Albany Argus " speaking of her said, " Humility was her crowning grace : she possessed it in a rare degree. . . . She was an ornament of the Christian faith." Seventeen years after her departure, her husband became president. Anna Symmes Harrison, "the wife of the ninth president, was born the famous year of American independence, and but a few months after the renowned skirmish at Lexington. Her birthplace was near Mor- ristown, N.J. Left motherless when very young, she was trained by an excellent grandmother on Long Island, and became fond of religious reading, and acquired habits of industry. She was a pupil at one time of the THE WIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS. 83 well-known Mrs. Isabella Graham, and was an inmate of her family. Judge Symmes, her father, took for his second wife a daughter of Gov. Livingston of New York ; and they removed to Ohio, taking the youthful Anna with them. Ohio was then ' the Far West.' In her twentieth year Anna became the wife of Capt. Har- rison, ' subsequently the most popular general of his day, and president of the United States.' Her husband was soon after elected to Congress ; and she accompanied him to Philadelphia, then the seat of the General Government. Gen, Harrison was appointed by Pres. Adams governor of the Indiana Territory ; and they removed to Wabash, where Mrs. Harrison lived for many years a retired but happy life. Dispensing with a liberal hand and courte- ous manner the hospitality of the gubernatorial mansion, she was beloved and admired by all who knew her. . . After the battle of Tippecanoe, Gen. Harrison removed his family to Cincinnati, and accepted the position of major-general in the forces of Kentucky, then about to march to the relief of the North-western Territory. Mrs. Harrison was thus left a comparative stranger in Cincinnati, with the sole charge of her young and large family of children, dui'ing the greater part of the war of 1812. During this time several of the cliildren were prostrated by long and severe illness ; and to this trial was added the painful anxiety attending the fate jf her husband. But, under these and all afflictions, Mrs. Harrison bore up with the firmness of a Roman matron, and the numility and resignation of a tried Christian mother." But she experienced sore bereave- ments. She was the mother of ten children ; but during her residence of thirty years at North Bend " she buried one child in infancy, and subsequently followed to the grave tliree daughters and four sons (all of whom 84 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. were settled in life), and ten grandchildren. . . . Her influence over her family was strong and abiding ; and all loved to do reverence to her consistent, conscientious life. Her only surviving son wrote in 1848, ' That I am a firm believer in the religion of Christ, is not a virtue of mine : I imbibed it at my mother's breast, and can no more divest myself of it than I can of my nature.' " In 1840 began the exciting presidential campaign which is the first remembered by the writer of this vol- ume, when she loyally wore the Harrison medal, and heard much talk of log-cabins and hard cider, and much singing of " Tippecanoe and Tyler too," and other campaign songs. The Whig party was successful ; but " this triumphant victory brought no sense of pride to Mrs. Harrison. She was grateful to her countrymen for this unmistakable appreciation of the civil and mili- tary services of her husband, and rejoiced at his vindi- cation over his traducers ; but she took no pleasure ii^ contemplating the pomp and circumstance of a life at the Executive Mansion. At no period of her life had she any taste for the gayeties of fashion or the dissipa- tions of society. Her friends were ever welcome to her home, and found there refined pleasures and innocent amusement ; but, for the life of a woman of the world, she had no sympathy." But she was never called to the White House recep- tions, grave or gay ; for before she could cross the mountains, her health being feeble, the president was dead. The blow was sudden and hard, " but it was borne meekly by the Christian wife and mother ; and she aroused herself from the stupor in which the announcement had thrown her." She lingered many years, a blessing to her children and grandchildren, and to all whom her continual benevolence could reach THE WIVES OF THE PBESIDBNTS. 85 '* Her intellectual powers and physical senses were re- tained to the last ; and at the age of eighty-eight she was an agreeable companion for both old and young. On the evening of the 25th of February, 1864, in the eighty- ninth year of her age, she died at the residence of her son. Her funeral took place at the Presbyterian Church at Cleves, on Sunday, Feb. 28. The sermon was preached by the Rev. Horace Bushnell, from the text, 'Be still, and know that I am God.' The selection was made by herself, and given several years before to Mr. Bushnell, her pastor and intimate friend for many years. The remains were deposited beside those of her husband ; and they together sleep by the banks of the beautiful Ohio, at North Bend." The faithful pastor has now followed them to the better land. Pres. John Tyler married first Letitia Christian ; and, thirty years afterward, he took for his second wife Julia Gardiner. The former was a Virginian, the latter a New-Yorker. The first wife was born Nov. 12, 1796, and was married to Mr. Tyler, March 29, 1813. She was a woman of beauty, taste, and refinement, but of great modesty. She is said to have been " perfectly content to be seen only as a part of the existence of her beloved husband." She did not court society, and was not ambitious to shine in any social circles, though as her husband was successively the governor of Virginia, a member of Congress, and finally president, she would have had ample opportuni- ty. " No English lady was ever more skilled and accomplished in domestic culture and economy than was Mrs. Tyler, and in her own home was a pattern of order, system, and neatness, as well as of hospitahty, charity, and benevolence." She was baptized in in- fancy in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and in early bb WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. life became a consistent communicant. Her daughter- in-law spoke of her as " the most entirely unselfish person you can imagine." When she died at the Executive Mansion, in September, 18-42, many poor people of the vicinity gathered round the White House in groups, and stood sobbing, and saying, " The poor have lost a friend." Pres. Tyler was married again in 1844, June 26 ; and Miss Julia Gardiner then became the lady of the White House. It was the first marriage of a president while in ofiSce, that had occurred in this country ; and great interest was felt in the matter all over the United States. The bride was verj'- much younger than her husband. For eight months she performed the agree- able task of presiding at the Executive Mansion with credit to herself, and pleasure to her friends. She was the beautiful daughter of a wealthy gentleman who was suddenly killed by an explosion of a cannon while on the return-trip from Alexandria to Washington with a pleasure-party invited to accompany the president, and whose remains were buried from the White House, of which, the following summer, his young daughter be- came mistress. She was well educated and accom- plished. For seventeen years she lived in Virginia, retired from public life, until the death of Pres. Tyler at Richmond, the 17th January, 1862. After the presi- dent's death, Mrs. Tyler made her home in Staten Island, N.Y., in circumstances of aflQuence, and sur- rounded by her children and friends. Sarah Polk was the wife of the eleventh president. She was born in Tennessee, Sept. 4, 1803, the daugh- ter of a wealthy farmer ; educated at the Moravian Institute, at Salem, N.C. She was but nineteen at the time of her marriage to James K. Polk, who was THE WITBS OF THE PRESIDENTS. 87 theu a member of the State Legislative. The next year, he was elected to Congress, and continued a member for fourteen years, in 1836 being Speaker of the House. Mrs. Polk accompanied him to Washing- ton every winter save one, and " occupied there a con- spicuous place in society ; and, by her polite manners and sound judgment, made her companionship pleasant and inspiriting. She was a highly cultivated without being a literary woman." She was a member of the Presbyterian Church ; and " her character has been entirely a Christian one. She was faithful and devout, consistent in her conduct to every rule and require- ment of her sect." " The Tennessee Democrat '' said of her, " We have seen few women that have devel- oped more of tlie genuine republican characteristics of the American lady. She has her admirers not only in the highest, but in the humblest walks of life. The poor know her for her benevolence ; the rich, for the plainness of her equipage ; the church, for her consist- ency ; the unfortunate, for her charities ; and society itself, for the veneration and respect which her vii-tues have everywhere awarded her." At the close of his presidential term, Mr. Polk retired to Nashville, Tenn. ; and there he died. His widow still continued to reside at the elegant mansion, maintaining her usual dignity and propriety of life, calmly awaiting the time when they should be re- united. The study of the president is kejtt in order by her own hands, just as he left it. Mrs. Holloway closed her sketch of her with these words : " The life- time imitation of a pure and useful standard of excel- lence has rewarded her with a glorious fame ; and she dwells among the friends of her youth, honored and respected, trusted and beloved." 88 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. M AUG ABET TAYiiOR was bom in Maryland, and became the wife of the twelfth president, Zachary Taylor. Her maiden name was Smith. She was one of the brave, heroic spirits, who endured the hardships of the camp with her husband while he was trying to overcome the wily Seminoles in the Everglades of Florida, and the savages of our Western borders. For a quarter of a century, Gen. Taylor's house was a tent ; and all that while Lis wife was his companion in privation and hardship, separated much from her children, who were generally left at school. Her education comprised the practical, rather than the intellectual ; and she could prepare her husband's meals with success, though she might not have been able to plan his campaigns, or write a history of them. But she was a Christian woman ; and it was through her instrumentality that the Episcopal Church was established at Baton Rouge. While her husband was winning laurels in Mexico, she was pursuing the quiet home-life she loved so well. When her hus- band was elected president, she declined to act as the lady of the White House ; and her daughter Betty, the wife of Major Bliss, took the position, the mother re- maining out of sight, in those apartments she had selected, and where she received her more intimate friends. She preferred to attend personally to her hus- band's wants. A year passed, and then came the sudden death of that husband ; and with no regard for vanished splendor, which she never enjoyed, Mrs. Taylor departed for a home in Kentucky, but finally returned to the residence of her son in Louisiana, and there died, in August, 1852, possessed of a Christian spirit and a Christian faith. Abigail Fillmore was the daughter of the Rev THE WIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS. 89 Lemuel Powers, a Baptist clergyman, acd was born in Stillwater, N.Y., March, 1798. Her father dying while she was young, and her mother being left with limited means, she was left to struggle with the ills of poverty, and to be " made strong through discipline, and spirit- ualized through sorrow." Being studious, she soon became a teacher, and for several years taught in sum- mer, and studied in winter, earning while teaching the money to pay for her tuition. She became a thorough scholar and an admirable woman. While yet a teacher, she met Mr. Fillmore, who was then a clothier's apprentice, but teaching in the winter months, and looking forward to a place at the bar, for which he was studying. In February, 1826, they were married, and made their home in Erie County. " Into the small house built by the husband's hands, the wife carried all the ambition and activity of other days, and at once resumed her avocations as a teacher while per- forming the duties of maid-of-all-work, housekeeper, and hostess. Mr. Fillmore was thus enabled to practise his profession, relieved of all care and responsibility by his thoughtful wife ; and so rapid was his progress that in less than two years he was elected a member of the State Legislature. ... In the spring of 1830 Mrs. Fill- more removed with her husband to Buffalo. In the enjoyment of her children's society, her husband's pros- perity, and the pleasure of entertaining her friends, she found great happiness ; and, as the years passed by, they were noted only for the peace and contentment they brought her. . . . Well balanced and self-reliant, affectionate and happy, there was wanting nothing to complete her character. The domestic harmony of her life can be partly appreciated from the remark made by ner husband after her death : ' For twenty-seven years^ 90 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. my entire married life,' he said, ' I was always greeted with a happy smile.' . . . After her husband's accession to the presidency, she went to the White House ; but the recent death of a sister kept her from entering into the gayety of the outer world. As much as possible she screened herself from public observation, and left to her daughter the duties devolving upon her " as the president's wife. Her health had become impaired ; ar d she died at Willard's Hotel, Washington, March 30, 1853, and her remains were taken to Buffalo. Jane Pierce was born at Hampton, N.H., March 12, 1806. She was known as Jane Means Appleton. Her father, Rev. Jesse Appleton, D.D., assumed the presidency of Bowdoin College when she was one year old. She was " reared in an atmosphere of cultivation and refined Cliristian influences ; " delicate in constitu- tion, of strong mind, and great love of the beautiful. At the age of twenty-eight she married the Hon. Franklin Pierce, then of Hillsborough, and a member of the lower house of Congress. " The mother of three children, none survived her ; and the death of the last, under circumstances so peculiar, shattered the small remnant of failing health, and left the mother's heart forever desolate." The young son, thirteen years of age, was killed by a railroad accident just after the election to the presidency. A wi'iter says, " It is no disparagement to others who have occupied her station at the White House, to claim for her an unsurpassed dignity and grace, delicacy and purity, in all that per- tains to public life. There was a home, a Christian home, quietly and constantly maintained ; and very many hearts rejoiced in its blessings." In the autumn of 1857 Mrs. Pierce, accompanied by her husband, visited the island of Madeira, and afterwards various THE WIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 91 portions of Europe. On the 2d December, 1863, she died at Andover, Mass., and was buried by the side of her children in Concord, N.H., where her husband con- tinued to reside until his death. The press, in referring to her departure, spoke of her as possessed of every estimable quality which could become a true Christian gentlewoman. Mary Todd Lincoln was the wife of the beloved martyr president ; and the hallowed memory of the noble husband sanctifies all connected with his family, or bearing his name, in such measure that their faults will be likely to be overlooked, and their peculiarities excused. Mrs. Lincoln "was a Kentuckian by birth, and a member of the good old Todd family of Lexing- ton. Her early years were spent in that homely town of beautiful surroundings, with an aunt who reared her, she being an orphan. Childhood and youth were passed in comfort and comparative luxury, nor did she ever know poverty. But her restless nature found but little happiness in the society of her elders ; and she went, when just merging into womanhood, to reside with her sister in Springfield. The attractions of this then small place were greatly augmented by the society of the young people ; and Mary Todd passed the pleas- antest years of her life in her sister's Western home. On the 4th of November, 1842, at the age of twenty- one, she was married to Abraham Lincoln, a prominent lawyer of Illinois." Four years later, Mr. Lincoln was elected to Congress; but Mrs. Lincoln remained with her children in Springfield, 111. " The daughter of a Congressman, she became the wife of a successful politician, and had ample means and time to develop and cultivate herself in every particular." If she did not do this, it was not the fault of her husband, but 92 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. of herself. She is said to have been ambitious, vain, and overbearing, and failed to fill creditably the place which she so long aspired to fill ; and this failure has been attributed to ignorance of human nature, and want of self-respect. The sad fact that she was re- garded as insane in after-years, and was placed in an asylum by her own son, may go far to excuse her in the eyes of many who desire to be charitable in their judgment of a woman who was called in the troublous times of war, and with the sorrow of bereavement, to occupy the place which had been so admirably filled by the niece of Pres. Buchanan in a time of peace. " The Republican Convention of Chicago verified Mrs. Lincoln's prophecy of being the wife of a presi- dent. It assembled the 16th of June, 1860. . . . Mrs. Lincoln waited in her own home for the result of her prediction ; and when, at noon, the cannon on the pub- lic square announced the decision of the convention, breathless with excitement, she scarcely dared to ask the result. Her husband, in the excitement of the moment, did not forget her ; but, putting the telegram in his pocket, he remarked to his friends that there was a little woman on Eighth Street who had some interest in the matter, and walked home to gladden her heart with the good news. That Friday night must have been the very happiest of her life ; for few women have ever craved the position as she did, and it was hers." But the White House was not a place of comfort to her long. The death of little Willie was a heavy blow to both parents. " Two years of mourning outwardly, and perhaps a Hfetime of inward grief, succeeded Willie's death ; and the mother, faithful to the memory of hei lost child, crossed never again the guests' room in which, or the Green Room where, his body had lain." THE WIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS. 93 The shock of her husband's death was very great, and so affected her mind, doubtless, as to render her unfit for the cares that then devolved upon her. Her subsequent life has been that of a woman to whom life had been largely a disappointment, though she once attained the goal of her ambition. She travelled in Europe with her son Thaddeus, who afterward died . Mrs. Lincoln died in 1882. Closing a charitable and interesting sketch of her Mrs. Mary Clemmer says : — " They laid her beside her illustrious husband, wear- ing the wedding ring that for forty faithful years she had worn for hira, bearing the inscription he placed there : ' Love is eternal.' Let us hope that in its eter- nity she has already said to him : ' Good-morning ! ' " It is a credit to American manhood that the men who have written of Mrs. Lincoln's death have not for- gotten that she was the consort, honored and beloved, of the first martyr of their country, and, as such, passing swiftly by her faults, they have laid with reverent hand the bays of kindly honor on her exalted grave." Eliza IMoCardle married Andrew Johnson when she was seventeen, and he twenty-one, without a thought that he would ever reach the high position which he afterward filled. "It is a mistaken idea that she taught her husband his letters ; for in the dim shadows of the workshop at Raleigh, after the toil of the day was complete, he had mastered the alphabet, and made himself generally acquainted with the coiistruction of words and sentences. The incentive to acquire mental attainment was certainly enhanced when he felt the superiority of her acquirements ; and from that time his heroic nature began to discover itself. In the silent watches of the night, while sleep rested upon the vil- lage, the youthful couple studied together ; she oft- 94 WOMEN OF THE CBNTURy times reading as he completed the weary task before him, oftener still bending over him to guide his hand in writing. He never had the benefit of one day's schooling in his hfe ; yet he acquired, by perseverance, the benefits denied by poverty. What a contemplation it must have been to those mothers [his own and his wife's, both widows] who watched over their children as they struggled together ! In that obscure village in the mountains [Greenville, Tenn.], three strong yet tender-hearted women watched over and cherished the budding genius of the future statesman. History, in preserving its record of the life and services of the seventeenth president of the United States, rears to them a noble tribute of their faithfulness." Mrs. Johnson always opposed any publicity being given to her private life ; but it is not just to woman- hood that she should be silently passed by. She once remarked that " her life had been spent at home, caring for her children, and practising the economy rendered necessary by her husband's small fortune." When the war began she was in the South, in feeble health, but was ordered to proceed northward, and, after days and nights of suffering and fatigue, reached Nash- ville. It was a perilous journey, but the heart of the feeble woman was strong. That heart was almost broken by the sudden death of her son, an army sur- geon, who was thrown from his horse, and killed. Then came the assassination of the president, and the accession of her husband to the chair of government. But she never shone as the lady of the White House. A news- paper correspondent wrote, " Mrs. Johnson, a confirmed invalid, has never appeared in society in Washington. Her very existence is a myth to almost every one. She was last seen at a party given to her grandchildren. MRS. U. S. GRANT. TBDffi WIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS. 97 She was seated in one of the republican court chairs, — a dainty affair of satin and ebony. . . . She is an invalid now ; but an observer would say, contemplating her, ' A noble woman, God's best gift to man.' " Mrs. Johnson shared as little as possible in the honors accorded to her family, as well after as during their stay at the White House, and gladly turned her face homeward, to find rest so necessary to her feeble con- stitution. God gave her the long repose at last, and to her husband also. Peace to their memory I Julia Dent Grant was the lady of the White House during centennial year. Her husband, the conquering general of the Union army, is the eighteenth president of the United States. She was born in St. Louis, Mo., Jan. 26, 1826. The social standing of her family may be inferred from the fact that her great-grandfather was "surveyor-general of the Colony of Maryland," her grandfather was " surveyor-general of the State of Maryland," and her father was " surveyor-general of Missouri." The latter early in life acquired a compe- tency, and retired with his family to a farm near St. Louis, spending the winters in the city. That farm was in the possession of the family more than thi-eescore years. The mother, Mrs. Dent, was unassuming in man- ner, but possessed of rare common-sense ; and her daugh- ters, both Mrs. Sharp and Mrs. Grant, greatly resemble her in personal appearance and mental characteristics. The youthfid Julia attended a fine select school of the city, and, while not remarkable as a student, yet acquitted herself with credit, and became accomplished in music, drawing, dancing, &c. She left school at the age of seventeen, and spent the following winter with her school friend, a daughter of a gentleman distin- guished for wealth and benevolence, coming out in society under the chaperonage of his wife. 98 WOMEN OF THK CENTUBr. Her brother brought to his home his messmate and roommate at the Jefferson Barracks ; and Lieut. Grant obtained favor at once in the eyes of all her family before she had seen him. But she met him at last, and they were soon lovers. Their engagement lasted four years, young Grant in the mean time distinguishing him- self in the Mexican war. Four months after his return they were married, on Aug. 22, 1849, and dwelt quietly AS private citizens till his country called him to her ser- vice, when she nobly seconded his patriotic efforts ; and, when his grateful country called him to the presidential chair, she came with dignity to his side, where she com- mands the respect of all who behold her. She has three children now on earth, — Frederick, Ulysses, and Nellie (now Mrs. Sartoris). Mrs. Grant's sound common-sense and admirable tact have enabled her to bear a sudden elevation from comparative obscurity to a position where every act is liable to criticism, and to share the success of her hus- band, so quietly that it is evident she possesses qualities of mind and heart worthy of commendation and imita- tion. In person, Mrs. Grant is a little below medium in stature, has dark hair and eyes, is somewhat inclined to be stout in figure, and with dark complexion. She is said to dress richly, but with due regard to her complex- ion, age, and position. A lady who saw her at a recep- tion, before Gen. Grant was president, describes her dress " as black velvet lined with white silk, and with court train and flowing sleeves, with amber ornaments on wrist, throat, and hair," and thinks she could not have worn any thing more becoming. " Her manner is very unassuming and winning, especially to children and to people who feel a little embarrassment : she will put her MES. E. B. HAYES. TECB WIVES OF TTIE PRESIDENTS. 101 self out to put such at their ease, even when dignitaries have to wait her pleasure for an introduction." Her summers are usually spent at Long Branch, N.J. ; and the true mother heart was shown when she declared that her grandchild should be born by the sea, for she would not risk her cliild's life for the sake of having it to say that her babe was born in the White House. Washington was a furnace ; and Long Branch was a summer retreat where a young mother's health would not be so endangered. Mrs. Grant is deserving of honor as a true wife and mother ; and, as in the earlier year?? of her married life she necessarily gave much personal attention to her domestic affairs, so now her various places of residence bear a home look such as a good housewife alone can give. The nation has no reason to be ashamed of the wife of its centennial president ; and the women of the century may well hold in high esteem one who regards duty as paramount, and who honors her position as first lady in the nation by a pure, Christian life. The wife of President Rutherford B. Hayes is espe- cially known as the noble woman who favored temper- ance so far as to give the sanction of her social position and the whole weight of her social influence to that cause, while in the White House, even to the extent of banishing the intoxicating cup from the social gatherings over which she presided. So greatly was her example prized that the thousands of women in our land con nected with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, procured a full-length portrait of the much-esteemed lady and framed it with great elegance, so that it might adorn the White House, and thus bear to posterity the" estimate in which Mr?. Hayes and h*^r temperance careei* was held. 102 WOMEN OF THE CENTURA. Lucy W. Hayes was born in Chillicothe, Ohio. Hei father, Dr. Webb, died during her infancy, and her mother then removed with her family to Delaware, Ohio. Here she studied in the Oliio Wesleyan University, recit- ing with her brothers, their mother having taken rooms in the college for the benefit of her children. That mother's influence is said to have been wonderfully ex- cellent and powerful. Her rare common sense was the inheritance of her daughter. Says Miss F. E. Willard : — " Two years at the Ohio Wesleyan University were followed by several years of study in the Cincinnati Wesleyan Female College, of which Rev. Mr. and Mrs. P. B. Wilbur had the management. Many of the no- blest women of the West, foremost in missionary, tem- perance, and other Christian work, were graduated hei-e. Under the influence of these gifted educators and their successors, the daughters of Ohio have matured charac- ters full of the benignant strength which discipline of mind can only give when Christ in the heart tempera and mellows the clear light it has imparted. One of these students, a life-long friend of Mrs. Hayes, and fore- most among the women philanthropists of our day, writes as follows : — " ' Lucy Webb was a first-class student. I was a member of the same class in botany and other studies with her, and I have reason to recall my feeling of min- gled annoyance and admiration, as our teacher, Miss De Forest, would turn from us older girls to Miss Webb, who sat at the head of the class, and get from her a clear analysis of the flower under discussion, or the correct transposition of some involved line of poetry. Some- what of this accuracy was doubtless due to the fact that she had been trained in the severe drill of the Ohio Wes- leyan University. She remained in the Ladies' College of Cincinnati until she completed its course of study. MRS. JAMES A. GARFIELD. THE Y^rrvES OF THE PRESIDENTS. lOS^ ' ' While yet in her teens, she met Rutherford B. Hayes, who, after his graduation at Garabier, Ohio, had opened a law off.ce in Cincinnati.' " In 1852 they were married. Through all the progress of her husband, in military and civil life, she was a help- meet. As the wife of a Union general and as a govern- or's wife, Mrs. Hayes was not only conspicuous, but emi- nently worthy of esteem. She ruled as a republican queen in the White House, her receptions there without wine provoking remark, but showing her to be true as steel to her principles. She retired to more private life at the expiration of her husband's presidential term, with the esteem of all, and the warm love and admiration of her sisters in the temperance ranks, who were proud of the victory which the calm dignity and decision of character manifested by this Christian matron had se- cured. Colonel Conwell, in his " Lives of the Presi- dents," says, " Not one of all the wives of our Presidents was more universally admired, reverenced, and beloved than is Mrs. Hayes, and no one has done more than she to reflect honor upon American womanhood." LuCRETiA R. Garfield followed Mrs. Hayes into the White Plouse, as the wife of the next President, Gen. James A. Garfield. The whole nation bears her tenderly and compassionately on its heart, on account of her great sorrow in the terrible sufferings and untimely death of her husband, the second martyred President? Says a reliable monthly : — " It is said that Mr. Gurfield's domestic relations werd of the happiest kind ; that his wife was not to him merely his housekeeper and the mother of his children^ but an intelligent, congenial companion, who helped him in his struggle with the world and contributed to his 1 Phrenological Journal, November. 1881. 106 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. great success. The daughter of an Ohio farmer, Lucre- tia Rudolph is described as being at seventeen 'a quiet, thoughtful girl of singularly sweet and refined disposi- tion fond of study and reading, and possessing a warm heart and a mind capable of steady growth.' At this time she was attending the Geauga Academy at Chester, and there James A. Garfield, a boy of eighteen, who was working his own way toward an education, met her. Three years later the two met at the Eclectic Institute, at Hiram, Portage County, Ohio, where Garfield was still the hard-working student. A mutual attachment sprang up between them, which culminated in their mar- riage in the fall of 1858, Mr. Garfield being then teacher of Latin and Greek. . . . And the farmer's daughter was well fitted to be a teacher's wife, as she had acquired a knowledge of Latin, Greek, German, and French, and was well informed in mathematics and general litera- ture, being able to assist her husband in the preparation of his lectures." She had also been a teacher herself in Cleveland and elsewhere. Seven children were born to them, of whom five survived to become inmates, with their parents, of the White House, a place which they remember only with sadness, for there the mother was ill almost to death, and there the assassinated father lingered in ag- ony till he was borne to Elberon, where he died. The details of his assassination will long remain fresh in the public mind, and the admiratic i which his devoted wife won as his faithful nurse, in th jse dark hours, will never be forgotten. When the end came, — and even the Queen of England sent her message of sympathy and her floral token of respect, — the whole country followed her with prayers and tears to his resting-place in Cleveland, and many added to their other tokens of sympathy large THE WIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS. 107 contributions in nooney, so that Mrs. Garfield should not lack for the means to educale the children of the la- mented President, or to make comfortable the declining years of his beloved mother, Mrs. Eliza Garfield, to whom he owed so much, inheriting from her his elo- quence and love of study, trained by her in the path of integrity and encouraged by her in all his laudable ef- forts to be something more than a canal boatman. If this chapter was devoted to the mention of the moth- ers, as well as wives of the Presidents, there would be many pages in reference to " the little white - haired mother," whom James Abram Garfield kissed when he turned from the Bible he had kissed as he took the oath of inauguration ; the mother with whom every heart sympathized as she sat in her country home at Mentor, Ohio, and listened for news from her suffering " boy." When those solemn midnight bells waked the nation to the knowledge that their President had " put on immor- tality," millions of sympathetic hearts turned towards his aged mother, as well as to his heroic wife ; and the names of Eliza and Lucretia Garfield are now " house- hold words " in every Christian home throughout the land. There remains at this writing (1882) but one more name to mention, and that is the name of Ella L. Arthur, the wife of the Yice-President, Chester A. Arthur, who succeeded to the chair of state so sadly vacated by President Garfield. Though she died previ- ous to his nomination as Vice-President, and, of course, never occupied the White House, yet she is none the less to be mentioned among the wives of the Presidents. Mrs. Arthur was the daughter of Lieutenant-Com- mander Herndon of the United States Navy. She was married to Chester A. Arthur in 1853, and died in New 108 WOMEN OF TELE CENTURY. York city, January 12, 1880, leaving two r.liildreu, a son and a daughter. She is spoken of by Colonel Con- well as " a most excellent example of all that is sweet- est and best in the life of American women." ^ Had she lived to have shared the whole public life of her husband, she would doubtless have graced the White House and Washington society like her predecessors. That in spirit she is with him there may be supposed, when the " Chi- cago News" informs us that " Mrs. Arthur's room in her beautiful New York mansion, in which she died, has never been disturbed ; her needle is still threaded and sticking in a bit of delicate embroidery in her work-bas- ket undisturbed ; nor will her husband allow any one to change the room in any of its furniture arrangements. There is the little rocker beside the standard work-bas- ket, and the little nigllgi crocheted slippers. There stands her desk, with the ink dried on her pearl-handled pen, which she had hastily put aside from some interrup- tion, never to use again on earth. Her favored books are placed in a tiny case, with a marker in one of them, just as she left it. On the table are placed each morn ing, by orders of the President, a bunch of her favorite flowers. Even her favorite perfumes are in the toilet bottles at her dressing-case, and in the wardrobe hang her dresses. This room is bright and sunny, her former maid keeping it neat, and arranging the flowers in the vases, and attending the canaries in the window, but never altering the places of the furniture, books, etc. This room is a place where the President takes much comfort in reading and meditation, and they who know say that the bit of needlework has been many times wet with tears by the husband." ^ Lives of the Presidents, cage 599. THE WIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS. 109 On the second day of June in 1886, after having occupied the Presidential chair a little more than a year as a bachelor, Grover Cleveland, the first Democratic President for nearly a quarter of a century, took to himself a wife. He chose the daughter of his former law partner, Oscar Folsom, Esq., of Buffalo, N. y. There was great disparity of years, but, it is said, that from the lady's childhood there had always been a warm affection between guardian and ward, and to many the marriage seemed but the fitting close of long-continued interest on the part of both. Mrs. Frances Folsom Cleveland was born in Buffalo, July 21, 18G4. The first year of her earthly life witnessed the dawn of peace in our land after the sad, internecine strife which desolated so many homes both North and South. She could thus have known nothing of the bitterness and disloyalty, or of the patriotism and loyalty which stirred the nation during that period of war, except as she heard it mentioned, or read of it in later years. She did not live in the midst of it. Hence in being called to stand beside the head of the nation on the occa- sions of social courtesy, she could easily ignore the distinctions of party and politics, and in the disi>ensing of her cordial greetings could easily know no North and no South. That she was born the year before the war closed may therefore have been her first important preparation for her place among the wives of the Presidents. She certainly won many hearts with- out distinction of locality, and those who called upon the Presi- dent were not more gratified to take his hand, than they were, to receive the winning smile of the bride whose grace and beauty were in strong contrast to his sedate appearance and JefFersonian simplicity of manners. The erudite sister of the President, Miss Rose Elizabeth Cleveland, presided over the hospitalities of the White House till the younger lady came as its mistress. Miss Cleveland's quiet dignity and great good sense enabled her to fill acceptably 110 WOMEN OP THE CENTURY. her place in the home of her bachelor brother. One testifies, of the sister who had been previously known and respected as teacher, lecturer, and author, that "Her life had been too serious and practical to fit her for the fashionable vortex of the capital, but she is a lady, has strong individuality, good con- versational powers, and is far from being commonplace. She took care to keep up the cuisine, the floral decorations, and the entertainments. Slie held weekly receptions and gave frequent lunch parties, at which, under her lead, there was much bril- liant talk and sparkling wit." * But she was only mistress of the White House for about a year, and then she gracefully stepped aside for one to whom the President of the United States extended heart and hand. As Lydia L. Gordon tells us in her deeply interesting book entitled, "From Lady Washington to Mrs. Cleveland," the sister had all along anticipated giving way to the wife. Miss Gordon says (page 437), "Miss Cleveland knew Avhat the public did not know — kn'3w that her own reign was to be short — that a young girl in Europe, 'the sweetest in the world,' she called her, was coming to reign as legitimate mistress over the White House. "In the years gone by, when the President had been only a city lawyer, he had had a partner who was a genial, generous, whole-souled, companionable man, and his handsome wife had charming manners. Many an hour had the President whiled away in their hospitable home. There was a blue-eyed, viva- cious little daughter who often climbed upon his knee and called him Uncle Cleve — to-day she calls him Mr. President. "At a time when mother and child were away on a visit, Mr, Folsom met with a fatal accident. The tender and sympathetic nature of the President made him assiduous in his attentions to lighten the affliction and attend to their interests. "The girl had been taught in Madame Brecker's kinder- garten, the Central School, Buffalo, and afterwards went to the High School at Medina, where her mother had gone upon the *"From Lady Washington to Mrs. Cleveland." — p. 437. FEAJSTCES FOLSOM CLEVELAND. THE "WIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS. 113 death of her husband. * * * * She entered the Sophomore class of Wells College upon the merits of her school certificates. Every week came a hamper of flowers from the gubernatorial mansion at Albany, and upon her graduation, from the con- servatories of the White House. The interest and fondness of the President for the beautiful Miss Folsom was well known. She stood with her mother in the group behind him on the day when he was officially notified of his nomination ; and the two also spent a few days at the Executive Mansion after the inau- guration. * * « * The first rumor of the real state of things was by a telegram sent from Washington the evening Miss Folsom was about to sail for Europe. * * * Now and then came a rumor from Paris that there was a beautiful trous- seau preparing for Miss Folsom, and that it was to be worn in the White House. If she were the fiancee of the President, Minister McLane thought it incumbent upon him to do her honor, but the girl would not be lionized in advance, and only went about in a quiet way to see sights and do her dainty shopping. In May she sailed for America. Rumors had thickened as to the President's intentions, and when the steamer was due, his private seci-etary, Colonel Lamont, came and outwitted the newspaper men by quietly taking the party on board a little steamer held in readiness for the purpose." The death of her grandfather, which occurred while Miss Folsom was on her way home, doubtless changed the plans previously made, and it was decided that the marriage cere- mony should take place in the White House, with but little delay. Hence on the 2d of June, 1886, that lovely Avard be- came her guardian's bride, "It was a very private wedding, only the families of the bridal pair, and the Cabinet members, with their wives, being present." Of course the papers of the day were full as possible of the details of the wedding, but there was little to tell, since the recent death of a near relative, and the quiet tastes of the parties 114 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. most concerned, led to a ceremony devoid of ostentation, and much more private than the general public might have wished. Miss Gordon's estimate of the personal attractiveness of Mrs. Cleveland, is given in her book, as follows : — "Mrs. Cleveland's pictures are everywhere, but not one does her justice ; the gleam of the eye and the radiant smile are wanting. In repose, you say she is very pretty ; if she smiles, you say she is beautiful ; if she takes you by the hand and gives you her cordial greeting, you feel for the moment she has given you a piece of her heart, and you are very sure she has won your own. "She has a tall, girlish figure, and there is a girlish delicacy in her pale, transparent skin, touched with a roseate gleam, her eyes are sapphire blue, fringed Avith lashes so thick and long they look almost black ; and the eyebrows are heavy, delicately arched, very dark, and nearly meet ; the broad, well- formed brow stamps her intellectually, and is shaded by fluffy, abundant waves of chestnut hair ; her lips are full and red, and the artist, Ammi Farnham, declares that she has the most beautiful mouth ever seen." Her graceful dignity has been remarked by all as she has fulfilled the duties of social leadership which have devolved upon her. To quote once moi'e from the above-mentioned writer, whose admiration of the President's bride is very evident: "Mrs. Cleveland, the youngest among the wives of the Presidents, seems the soul of the administration ; she has become an in- tegral part of it by her sweet, womanly ways, which subdue even the bitterest political opponents ; she has but to show her gracious presence and winsome manners, to capture every heart and bridge every pitfall. "It is a comparatively easy thing for a beautiful woman to captivate men, but to please women is quite another thing, and requires a different sort of talent, something in which a beau- tiful face is not the chief factor. The women do admire her grace and beauty, but it is her sincerity, naturalness and cor- THE WIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS. 115 diality, that has won all hearts. * * * * Mrs. Cleveland laughingly turns from politics ; only reproaches wine-bibbers by her own abstinence ; is a religious woman, and goes about her duties in a gladsome sort of a way, as if the Master's ways were ways of pleasantness." These words of a lady writer, who had probably much op- portunity of knowing the characteristics of the young mistress of the White House, will doubtless have many a hearty "Amen" from the ladies who, on the occasion of the "International Council of Women," held in Washington in 1888, were gra- ciously received by President and Mrs. Cleveland, one bright afternoon, at the White House. As I recall that March day, the first on which the sun had shone during the week of the Council, there arises a pleasant mingling in my memory of the long procession of notable women, the thronged parlors, the kindly greetings, the beautiful flowers and the cordial smile of the President's young wife — Frances Folsom Cleveland. It is said that she was disappointed at the non-election of her husband for a second term. If that be so, it is but natural, and it certainly has not led her by word or act to manifest any change of ladylike dignity for the pettish manners of a spoiled child. She will doubtless retire to private life with the un- diminished respect of the American people who have watched her career with natural and somewhat careful interest. She has shown a wonderful measure of discretion, and even practiced self-denial, in order to conform to the standard which seemed to be set up by public opinion for "the first lady of the land." In proof of this we have a sprightly paragraph in a New York paper, written by a Washington correspondent, which it is but fair to give : — "As a schoolgirl Mrs. Cleveland was extravagantly fond of dancing, and her classmates have told of her excitement and keen enjoyment of some dancing parties they attended together. As soon as she left school she went to Europe, and, purposely avoiding all social attentions there, had no chance to indulge in her favorite amusement until she came back to be married. 116 WOMEN OF Th£ CENTURY. Dancing has not taken place at any White House entertain- ments since the cotillions given by Nellie Grant, and until this winter Mrs. Cleveland has not attended any entertainments here where dancing was a part of the amusement. For the first time she has attended anything but dinner' parties in Cab- inet houses in the formal evening hours, and her presence at the Army and Navy ball was an innovation of this season, too. The young ladies who have visited Mrs. Cleveland here have often told of her mock envy and despair when they were dress- ing to go to balls or germans, and she was doomed to stay at home and live up to the dignity of her White House seclusion. Mrs. Cleveland used to tell those schoolgirl friends that she *was just dying for one good dance,' and any one can believe it and sympathize with that active young woman, suddenly tied down to the gait and daily rule of the middle-aged and elderly matrons who had preceded her in the Executive home." In a letter to the Independent, a writer pictures what she termed Mrs. Cleveland's farewell to the White House recep- tions, in these words : — "At the close of the reception, people waited to see the presidential party go upstairs, instead of going off as one does from an ordinary reception, leaving a weary host and hostess still standing by the entrance door. The little procession passed through a line of people in the inner hall and then up the private staircase, broad and handsome, and with one long landing which commands the length of the hall below. In the middle of this landing, Mrs. Cleveland stopped, turned and looked down at the bright picture beloAv. All eyes were turned toward her with a feeling that she was taking a farewell look over a brilliant scene, where she had presided, and Avhich she had enjoyed for three years. All around in the throng arose whispers, 'Isn't she lovely? Too bad it is the last time. She ought to have been re-elected' — and then she moved on, up the stairs, as if she had made her farewell. I think it was an un- conscious act on her part ; she turned to look after some one THE WIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS. 117 who was to join the party upstairs, but it came to be, involun- tarily a farewell." The New York Tribune, of March 5, 1889, in speaking of the departures from the White House for the capitol, on the morning of the inauguration, says : — "As the President and the President-elect drove out from nnder the portico, Mrs. Cleveland and her mother, Mrs. Fol- som, appeared alone at one of the White House windows. Those of the party who could see the President's wife lifted their hats, and Mrs. Cleveland smiled brightly in return. Until the last carriage got away, she could be seen watching the procession of carriages, her face lit up with good-natured in- terest in the spectacle. No doubt she had contemplated many times in the last three months that final function of state in which her husband would figure, and which was now just be- ginning. But in her manner at the window, at least, no trace of regret was visible, and she turned a smiling face on the last guest she was to see depart from the White House." When the hour arrived for her own departure from the White House, it is said that she and her mother bade farewell to each domestic, and as the young mistress of the Executive Mansion took their hands and said good-by, every domestic re- sponded with tears and sobs, so great Avas the affection inspired by her in the hearts of those who Avere cheerfully subordinate to the will of the young wife of the President, They loved her whom they served, and that love is shared by a large part of the American people, who wish her happiness and peace in aU thb years to come. When Mrs. Cleveland left the White House on March 4, 1889, the wife of the next President came into possession of the Executive Mansion as its honored mistress. In a few hours President Benjamin Harrison was taking his first dinner there as master of the situation, and his comely wife was, as for long years she had been, his acceptable companion. She is a grandmother, and her children and grandchildren, too, were there. In the place of the bachelor who came to this 118 "WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. mansion in 1885, there may now be seen the happy grand- father, still in the vigor of maturity, and in place of the maiden sister presiding, is the matronly wife and mother and grand- mother. Caroline Scott Harrison is a daughter of the Rev. John Witherspoon Scott, D. D., now a venerable gentleman of eighty-nine years, whose snowy locks adorn a noble head, and whose life has been one of usefulness and honor. He is a son of a Presbyterian preacher, who was one of the Pennsylvania pioneers, and his grandfather. Col. John Scott, was a Revolu- tionary patriot. Dr. Scott was graduated from Yale in 1824, was a professor in several universities, and founded a college for women at Oxford, Ohio. After long years of teaching and preaching he is now clerk in the Pension Office, at AVashing- ton, residing with a widowed daughter, Mrs. Lord ; and no doubt rejoicing to behold his daughter Carrie the wife of the President of the United States. Four generations at the White House table has probably never before been seen, but now it will be, doubtless, a frequent event, on occasions when the little ones are favored to dine with their seniors. Once more, all over the land, there is rejoicing because there is family life at the White House in all its phases of love and activity. "Nellie Ely," the spicy writer of the New York World, called upon Mrs. Harrison previous to the election of her hus- band, and gave a graphic picture of the lady in her account of the visit ; too graphic and complimentary, and doubtless too truthful, not to be quoted entire. She says : — "I had waited several days for Mrs. Harrison's return from Put-in-Bay, and it was with some trepidation I called the next morning, fearing she would be too weary to see any visitors. However, there was no hesitancy about admitting me, no mysterious running about as if they had something to hide. The woman showed me into the parlor and returned almost immediately to say that Mrs. Harrison would be down in a few moments. MRS. BENJAMIN HARRISON. THE WIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS. 121 " 'Mamie,' I heard a clear, musical voice call, 'come take the baby ; I want to go down-stairs.' " 'Yes, mamma,' and a slender, girlish figure, in a neat morning gown, ran lightly past the door upstairs. I heard the soft rustle of skirts, and then a little lady with large, brown eyes and grayish hair stood before me. " 'I am Mrs. Harrison,' she announced, and held out her hand and looked at me inquiringly, while I told the nature of my visit. " 'I think it is rather embarrassing to ask one to talk of themselves,' she said, with a smile. 'You would get a better story, either favorably or otherwise, by going to some one who knows me ; yet if I can give you anything that will help you, I shall be most happy.' " 'I was afraid that you might be too tired from your trip to see visitors this morning.' " 'I am not in the least tired,' she asserted, with a bright smile. 'It Avas a trip for rest, and has been of benefit to Mr. Harrison. I am proud that I have a great deal of vitality. I am never ill, and since the nomination I have not had an hour, I can say, to rest. A little baby girl has come to my daughter since then, and I have had the entire care of them both and of my grandson Benjamin added to my other duties. With it all I am Avell and happy. I have always taught myself not to fuss and worry ; that it only increases discomfort and never deducts from it ; so I think that the secret of my perfect health.' " 'With all these duties it must be necessary to have a house- keeper,' I suggested. " 'No, indeed,' she laughed, merrily. 'That's what I never had. When I was a gii'l my dear old mother made me learn to work. It used to make me angry. "I will never do this when I am married," I would assert, petulantly. "Very well," mother would answer, quietly, "the knowledge will be of no trouble if you don't, and if you are ever compelled to, it will be invaluable." So I was taught everything, and became quite an expert, especially as a baker. My bread was beauti- 122 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. fill. I don't know how nice it would be now, foi' it is years since I have made any. My knowledge has served me well in making me a skillful housekeeper. I have always attended to my own household matters and think it a great pleasure. I often get up at six o'clock in order to go to market. I always take Benjamin, my grandson, with me, because the early morn- ing ride does him good. Do my own marketing? Why, cer- tainly, always ; how else could I expect to have things to please me?' " 'AVill you tell me of your girlhood days?' " 'Yes, they were my happy ones,' she said, feelingly. 'I was born in Oxford, Ohio. My father. Dr. John W. Scott, was professor of the Miami University at the time of my birth, and Avas afterwards President of the female college in the same town, which position he held at the time of my marriage. I received my education at the seminary there and was a happy girl. We village girls were very simple in our wants then. We had driving and sleighing parties, but we did not dance. It was considered a great sin there, but we managed to have just as much fun without. We would put on our newly- starched calico dresses and sun-bonnets and we were grand and content. Isn't it wonderful how the lives of girls have changed ? Imagine any girl during her graduating year wear- ing a sun-bonnet, yet we all did so, and were proud of them when newly-laundered.' " 'Where did you meet Gen. Hai'rison?' " 'At Oxford. He was a student at the university and I at the seminary. We were friends and we were graduated the same year. When he was twenty years old and I almost that, Ave were married. So we started in life young, and we have never been sorry.' " It is not supposable that Nellie Bly gave the exact language, but the stamp of truth is upon the thoughts expressed. Mrs. Harrison's life has been one of usefulness and good Avill. In reply to the query, "What family have you?" came the answer (as per the World) : — THE WIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS. 123 " 'I have a son in Montana. He is married to the daugh- ter of Senator Saunders, the old War Governor. My son has a cattle ranch and is somewhat of a journalist. He has one child, Marthena, a little daughter. I have a daughter, Mrs. Mary — we call her Mamie — McKee. She lives here with us, and her husband is a tradesman in a boot and shoe house in this city. They were married when Mr. Harrison was in Washington, so we had them take charge of the house for us, and since our return they have lived with us. My daughter has two children, Benjamin Harrison McKee, eighteen months old, who is the ninth Benjamin Harrison directly down, and the baby, Mary Lodge McKee, who is but eight weeks old, but is a jolly, plump little fairy.' " 'What is your regular routine of the day?' " 'It does not differ from any one's,' she said. 'I get up at 6, do my marketing, breakfast at 7.30, bathe and dress the babies and have a romp with Benjamin, lunch at one and have dinner at six. Except in the summer months I devote two mornings weekly to painting lessons, and one morning to a literature class, of which I am a member. By the way, this is a very literary city. We have three literary classes as well as literary clubs ; and we have a Woman's Club, which is most entertaining and instructive. Besides the Woman's Club we have the Fortnightly Club and the Merrill Literary Club, named in honor of our teacher. Miss Katharine Merrill, a re- markably gifted woman. Our success is due to her teaching.' "In addition to all this," adds the reporter, "Mrs. Harrison is quite a musician, understanding music thoroughly and being very fond of it. And now I have not told you Avhat she looks like, but as her ftice is already familiar to the reading public there is not much to tell. Suppose I describe her as she looked the morning I called on her. She is small, probably not more than five feet two, and has a plump figure. Her hands and feet are baby-like in size, and her little dimpled fingers display a marriage ring and three diamonds. She wore a plain gray cloth skirt and plaited jacket, belted at the waist. Her sleeves 124 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. were tight and jilain, showing the outlines of a finely-molded arm, and enameled gold bracelets clasped the fair wrists. Her eyes are large and a soft brown and her hair contrasts beauti- fully, being gray. Her mouth is the right size for beauty. She wears a soft, fluffy bang and her hair coiled low on her neck. Her pictures do not do her justice, as they cannot show how her face lights up, how the soul comes into her eyes and how the expression foretells every thought. She is a brilliant conversationalist, and indeed a most cultivated as well as a beautiful woman. "Mrs. Harrison is devoted to the babies in her household. Little Benjamin is her treasure. She pets everything that comes her way, from her husband down to Dash, the collie, which lies snapping flies in the sunshine. She carries sugar and apples in her pockets for her horse. It rubs its nose grate- fully and aflectionately against her shoulder and begs for more as well as gives thanks for that received. She did own a mocking bird that followed her about the house and perched on her shoulder when she sat down, and the neighbors do say it could almost talk, and that the understanding was perfect be- tween them. It died not long since, so it is not mentioned now. A beautiful young fawn, a gift to grandson Benjamin, is just now the newest pet. "Mrs. Harrison is a diligent and studious reader, but does not find much interest in the novels of to-day. She is a mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church, and until she removed to Washington taught a class in Sunday-school. She is also one of the most useful and tireless managers of the Orphan Asy- lum. She is passionately fond of music and has quite a bril- liant performer in her daughter, Mrs. McKee. Moreover, with all her brilliancy, Mrs. Harrison enjoys a good joke, and can tell in*an inimitable manner very funny anecdotes. ****** " 'I lived in Indianapolis all alone with my two children while Mr. Harrison was in the war,' said Mrs. Harrison, after showing me around. 'Those .vere my sad days, but I forced THE WIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS. 125 myself to be cheerful, and looked after my home and little babies until merciful Providence restored my husband to me.' " 'Carrie Scott, as Mrs. Harrison was known in youth, was a beautiful girl,' said Mrs. Miller, a neighbor, who has been acquainted with Mrs. Harrison for many years. 'She was always well-bred, has a lovely disposition, makes friends every- where and changes in fortune never leave any mark on her. She is always dignified and yet cordial. She never holds her- self aloof and is very sympathetic. I have never known her to grow impatient, and she meets every one who is anxious to see her. She is very discreet, and her worst enemies, if she has any, could find no fault. One beautiful thing in her dis- position is charity for human faults. She always speaks soft- ly of the erring and finds excuses for them. As for dressing, she prefers plain gowns and keeps to quiet colors — dark shades for street, and white, pearl and gray for evenings. She dresses becomingly and properly and as befits her society ; outside of that she does not care. She does not like much jewelry and especially dislikes a display of large diamonds.' " A writer in Frank Leslie's Magazine, says : "Both Mrs. Harrison and Mrs. Morton, in taking their places at the head of society in the national capital, as the wives respectively of the President and Vice-President of the United States, are welcomed back to a social environment in which they have previously shone, and with whose usages and personnel they are perfectly familiar. Mrs. Harrison, accomplished, and of artistic tastes, in character at once dignified and sympathetic, a leader in social and charitable enterprises, won a high place in the social life of Washington during General Harrison's term in the Senate. She now takes possession of the White House seconded by her bright and charming daughter, Mrs. McKee, 126 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. who, Avith her two cliildren, is to forna a part of the Presiden- tial household. The two ladies visited New York last month on a shopping tour, and feminine rumor has it that Mrs. Har- rison will wear a dress of splendid black silk velvet with a very long train. Around her throat will be a broad, black velvet band clasped with a diamond star, Mrs. Harrison's handsome gray hair will be worn high in puffs, Avith crimps upon the forehead and an aigrette of black and Avhite heron plumes set amid the puffs," At the inauguration of President Benjamin Harrison on March 4, 1889, the New York Tribune spoke of the aged father of Mrs, Harrison, still hale and hearty, as sitting near her "the object of her care and attention throughout." At Mrs. Harrison's right was seated Russell Harrison, and thus there were present the representatives of three generations in the family. "Mrs. Harrison wore a cloth gown of dark sage color, embroidered with black silk. A wrap to match, and a bonnet wholly of black and gold effects, completed the simple but effective costume. Mrs. McKee, the President's daughter, wore a cloth costume of light olive shade, the skirt having panels of white moire and white ball fringe. A dainty little wrap with 'a love of a bonnet,' matched the gown. Mrs. Russell Harrison's gown was dark red cloth, with trimmings of black silk and Astrachan fur in applique. The panels of the skirt, the waist trimmings and the wrap Avere of this rich design in silk and fur. A bonnet of black and red with red roses, made up the bright and pretty costume. * * * * The toilets, and flowers carried by many of the ladies, gave a good deal of effective coloring to the gallery. Mrs. Harri- son carried a large bouquet of lilics-of-the-valley ; Mrs, THE WIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS. 127 McKee, La France roses ; Mrs. Russell Harrison, violets and pink I'oses ; Mrs. Morton did not cany flowers." "Feminine rumor" did not correctly prefigure the appearance of Mrs. Harrison at the inauguration ball, but the Tribune thus refers to what it calls The Triumph of American Gowns. "The toilets of the President's family and the Vice-Presi- dent's wife were of exceptional elegance. The gowns of Mrs. Harrison, Mrs. McKee and Mrs. Morton were of truly Ameri- can stamp in manufacture, material and makeup. The beauti- ful fabrics of which they were made were manufactured at the Auburn Silk Mills, New York. The superb fringes, passe- menteries of gold, silver, pearl and amber beads were the work of American skill in New York, and the goAvns were made up by New York artists, who certainly surpassed themselves in the artistic beauty of the gowns. Mrs. Han-ison and Mrs. Morton are very proud of their genuine American gowns. The gown of the President's wife as she appeared in ball toilet was a silver gray faille brocaded in gold color burr oak leaves, the design of Miss Williamson, an Indiana artist. The court train is of brocade, and the open panels on the front and sides were of apricot pink crepe covered with exquisite cream lace. The V-pointed neck, back and front, is filled in with amber and silver crystal beaded net close up to the band about the throat. Elbow sleeves are finished Avith the crystal fringe and passementerie, and the panels of the skirt are bordered with this rich trimming. The combination of gray and yellow of the faille and silver and gold of the trimming is most effective and beautiful. "Mrs. McKee's gown was a pearl satin, brocaded in the 128 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. yellow golden rod, also designed by Miss "Williamson from the Indiana prairie golden rod. The waist and court train were of the brocade, the front of the skirt was of grape-green velvet, the waist and sleeves also having the velvet. The pointed neck was filled with amber bead network, and the elaborate trimmings were of amber and pearl fringes and passemen- teries. It would be difficult to make choice of beauty between the two gowns worn by the President's wife and his daughter." Yet while the nation is gratified that the wife of President Harrison is becomingly and fittingly arrayed, it is obvious that the great source of satisfaction in reference to Mrs. Harrison, is the fact that she is a woman whom, in all the domestic and social relations, and especially as a home-maker, all may re- gard as a peerless example to the women of America. CHAPTER IV. WOMEN LEADERS IN SOCIETY. Martha Jefferson Randolph — Mrs. Donelson — Mrs. Andrew Jackson, jun. — Angelica Van Buren — Abigail Fillmore — Harriet Lane — Martha Patterson — Mary Stover — Sarah Livingston Jay — Elizabeth Temple Winthrop — Mercy Warreu — Hannah Winthrop, &c. " So the gay lady, with excessive care, Borrows the pride of land, of sea, and air : Furs, pearls, and plumes the glittering thing displays, Dazzles our eyes, and easy hearts betrays." Gay's Rural Sports. "She maketh herself coverings of tapestry: her clothing is silk and purple." — Prov. xxxi. 32. AMONG the valuable books which Mrs. E. F. Ellet has prepared, there is one entitled " The Queens of American Society," to whose name exception was taken ; which exception she meets in her Preface to the book in the following manner : " Some friends have 129 130 "WOMEN OF THE CENTUKiJ. objected, in advance, to the title of this volume, on thp ground that the term ' queens,' as applied to the subjects, seems out of place in the society of a republic. But, If we call to mind how continually and universally the expression is used in ordinary conversation, it must be conceded that no other would do as well. We are all accustomed to hear of any leading lady, that she is a * perfect queen,' the ' queen of society,' a ' reigning belle,' the ' queen ' of the occasion, &c. The phrase is in every one's mouth, and no one is misled by it. The sway of beauty and fashion, too, is essentially royal : there is nothing republican about it. Every belle, every leader of the ton^ is despotic in proportion to her power ; and the quahty of imperial authority is absolutely inseparable from her state. I maintain, therefore, that no title is so just and appropriate to the women illus- trated in this work as that of ' queens.' " Mrs. Ellet has a right to her opinion : so has the author of this book to hers ; and they so differ, that the title of this chapter mentions not " queens," but " women leaders," in society. And, in order to be true to my own convictions, I must protest against the too prevalent custom of exalting women who are butter- flies of fashion above those who are bees in the social hive, as is too often done. The notice which Mrs. Ellet's book received from " The New Covenant " con- veys the sentiment I would express. It is forcible and just, and is probably from the fearless pen of that better than queen in American society, the cultured writer and speaker, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore. This critic says, — " With a portion of this book we are pleased and interested. The sketches of Mrs. Washington, Mrs. Hancock, Mrs. Madison, and other estimable and his- WOMEN LEADERS IN SOCIETY. 131 toric wx)meu, are exceedingly fascinating. Their story has often been narrated ; but it never palls, and loses nothing by repetition. But in other portions we are obhged to protest against its tendency, which is towards emphasizing the value of much that is fictitious and arti- ficial in life. Many of the ' queens ' of this book are women who have ' led the fashions ; ' who have excelled in the splendor of their receptions, the magnificence of their balls ; who could wear the most extravagant dia- monds and pearls, display the heaviest velvets, the rarest laces, the costliest jewels ; who could give parties where * the dresses cost fifty thousand dollars, and the jewelry half a million.' One lady was distinguished because she ' could entertain twenty gentlemen at once ; ' and another, because ' she received sixteen ofi^ers of marriage before she was eighteen.' The daughters of the ' first families of Virginia,' who were among these ' queens,' were taught fine embroidery, and the care of their complexions. ' No high-born maiden would " spread her hand " by turning the door-knob, or touching the tongs, or handling a heavy object.' These ladies had ' family ' and ' pedigree ' and sang pur to boast of : they were noticed at courts, were introduced to Vic- toria and Eugenie, had personal charms and fascinating arts, which they made liberal use of. Is this a life to be held up for emulation to the women of this earnest nineteenth century ? Shall the women of this country be incited to live for the empty aim of obtaining com- pliments from foreign courts, of being leaders of fashion, achievers of social triumphs, senseless, useless, frivo- lous, gilded butterflies? . . . We do not undervalue family, wealth, nor social distinction. Tliey are the good gifts of God, and should be nobly employed ; but when prostituted to low aims, to the purchase of selfish 132 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. and unworthy gratifications, the example is to be dep- recated, not made a boast of, nor held up for emulation. The book is illustrated with a dozen, or more, finely- engraved steel portraits of beautiful women, and is very pleasant reading, even when you do not sympathize with the characters portrayed." With this editorial expression, every high-toned, lite- rary, and scientific and religious woman will concur. But it is fair, also, to note that Mrs. Ellet herself says in her Preface, " I trust the candid reader wiU admit that the women most prominent in our society have had better than frivolous claims to distinction ; that they have possessed high moral worth and superior intellect. Many of them have devoted their influence and efforts to works of charity. It is the blessing of New York, — so justly reproached as the temple of money-worship, — that her most elevated society is per- vaded by a noble spirit of benevolence, and the refine- ment of taste growing out of mental culture. A line of distinction is drawn between the class that confers honor on the country, and mere shallow, vulgar pre- tenders, whose lavish display of wealth is their only merit." The readers of Mrs. Ellet's book, if otherwise informed concerning the private lives of those who shone in public, will be able to judge how far that dis- crimination extended. Among the many who are admiringly mentioned as adorning society in the early part of the first American century is Martha Jefferson Randolph, the daugh- ter of Thomas Jefferson, and the wife of Thomas Mann Randolph, afterwards governor of Vuginia. This lady, when a young girl, was intrusted in Paris to the care of Mrs. Adams, and was kind in manners, and pleasant in conversation. The scope and style of her attain- WOMEN LEADERS IN SOCIETY. 133 ments may be gathered from the directions of hei father to her teacher, Mrs. Trist of Philadelphia : " From eight to ten, practise music ; from ten to one, dance one day, and draw another ; from one to two, draw on the day you dance, and write a letter next day ; from three to four, read French ; from four to five, exercise your- self in music ; from five to bedtime, read English, write, &c." This is somewhat different from the routine of study Margaret Fuller knew ; but perhaps it was all that seemed necessary for one who was not to engage in literary pursuits, nor to stamp indelibly her spirit upon the women of America. But Mrs. Randolph was undoubtedly a woman of amiable character ; for John Randolph, who was the political enemy of her father and her husband, called her " the sweetest woman in America." Mrs. Randolph was one of the " Ladies of the White House ; " and thus I am reminded to speak of another, who in later years led society in Washington as the mis- tress of the Executive Mansion, but has not of course been mentioned among the wives of the presidents, — Mrs. EivnLY Donelson, the niece of Pres. Jackson's wife. The president himself settled the question of precedence between herself and her relative, the wife jf Andrew Jackson, jun.,and installed Emily as hostess jf the White House. It is said that in person she resem- bled Mary, Queen of Scots. She had exquisite taste in dress, and, " of lively imagination, she was quick at repartee, and had that gift possessed by so few talkers, of listening gracefully. Thi'own in contact with the brightest and most cultivated intellects of the day, she sustained her part ; and her favor was eagerly sought by the learned and political. A foreign minister once saic to her, ' Madam, you dance with the grace of a 134 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Parisian. I can hardly realize you wore educated in Tennessee.' — ' Count, you forget,' was the spirited reply, ' that grace is a cosmoi)olite, and, like a wild flower, is much often er found in the woods than in the streets of a city.' " ^ The wife of Andrew Jackson, jun., made her entrie at the White House as a bride, and won the admiration of all from her mingled dignit}^ and affabihty. She was a Miss YoRKE of Philadelphia. For years she presided at the Hermitage, as Gen. Jackson's home was termed ; and the crowds who gathered there were as blessed by her society and welcome as by that of the old hero whose fame attracted them. Angelica Van Buren may be termed a leader in society, since she presided at the White House when her husband's father was president. She was a lady of South Carolina, and in early life enjoyed those advan- tages for education and accomplishment which well fitted her for the sphere she was later to fill. Mrs. Halloway bears testimony that " her entire existence has been one of prosperity ; but it has not rendered her selfish : it has rather, on the contrary, induced the employment of her gifts in behalf of others." The White House had a young lady as its mistress during the presidency of Millard Fillmore, — his only daughter, Mary Abigail Fillmore, who was well fitted by education, and a long residence in Washington, to adorn the high station she was called to fill, and who acquitted herself with great dignity. She was a fine scliolar. French, German, and Spanish were well known to her ; and she had a taste for sculpture, fostered by her loved schoolmate, Harriet Hosmer. She was a 1 Mrs. Halloway's I^adies of the AVhite Hous«. WOMEN LEADERS IN SOCIETT. 135 pupil, at one time, of the celebrated school of Mrs. Sedgwick, in Lenox, Mass., and afterward of the State- Normal School ; and, to her honor be it spoken, she taught in a public school of Buffalo till her father needed her attendance in the White House. She died suddenly of cholera in 1854, while on a visit to her grandfather, in Aurora. Her name is cherished as that of ojie worthy to lead in the most refined and educated circles, where dress and fashion are subordiruite to cul- ture and good sense. Harriet Lane was a leader in society whom none could criticise. Being the favorite niece of Pres Buchanan, she was at the White House, its admirable mistress, winning the praise of the many whom she assisted to entertain. Early left an orphan, she had been educated under her uncle's direction ; was abroad with him when he represented our country at the court of St. James ; and was a favorite with the queen and the royal family. And it is written of her (who is now the wife of Henry Elliott Johnston) that she retired from the White House, " leaving behind a memory all pleasantness, and a record of untarnished lustre. Her lofty place had not spoiled her ; for the nobleness of lier inner life recognized no superiority of the ex- ternal badges of greatness. Li its fullest, finest sense^ she had been a belle, and withal a very beautiful and good woman." The White House had, a few years after, another lady as its mistress, whose claim to be a leader in society could be based upon personal excellence as well as upon that distinction ; viz., Martha Patterson, the daughter of Pres. Johnson. She was reared in the mountain region of East Tennessee. She was early distinguished by her industry as a student ; and, in 136 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. domestio duties, " she never had time to play." She was the eldest of five children ; and her mother needed her eflBcient help, which she always rendered cheerfully. While her father was a member of Congress, she was placed at school in Georgetown. In 1856 she married Judge Patterson, and visited Nashville, where her father was then governor of the State. When, by the death of Pres. Lincoln, her father became president, she presided at his home in the place of her invalid mother. Among other words of deserved commenda- tion, Mrs. Halloway says of her, " Simple but elegant in her apparel, never descending to a disregard of place, yet not carried away by the follies of fashion, Mrs. Patterson has pleased the eye, and gratified the pride, of all who felt an interest in her success. Golden opinions of her taste were won by the rich simplicity of her toilet on every public occasion ; and the beauty of her dress consisted always in the artless, unassuming manner of the wearer." Her sister, Mary Stover, shared with Mrs. Patter- son the honors of the White House and the name of a leader in society. " Mrs. Stover, unlike her sister, is a blonde, with very light auburn hair, and features in keeping with her temperament." She is " slight and tall, with much repose of manner." She was no leader in society from taste, but simply from position ; and even that might not be conceded by those who consider a great regard for fashion and dress and worldly pleas- ure necessary in a society leader. Mrs. Stover was a woman of genuine kindness of heart. " Tried and proved true in the high station of a president's daugh- ter, she will never be found wanting in any position in life ; and into her retirement the kind wishes and sincere thanks of the American people follow her." WOMEN LEADERS IN SOCIBTT. 137 The ladies thus far mentioned owe much of their celebrity to the fact that they presided at the capita] of the nation. Other women there have been since the dawn of our first century, as in colonial days, who were gentlewomen in the truest sense, and therefore worthy leaders in society. The limits of this chapter allow but the merest mention of them ; but the book of Mrs. Ellet, before mentioned, and the pages of American history, whereon their husbands or fathers are men- tioned, will help one to understand their position and attainments ; while the biographies of the husbands of some of them will assist in the appreciation of their social qualities and success. Sarah Livingston Jay, wife of the minister to Spain in 1779, was a leader, of whom the daughter of John Adams, writing from Paris in 1785, said, " Every person who knew her when here bestows many encomiums upon Mrs. Jay. Madame de Lafayette said she was well acquainted with her, and very fond of her, adding that Mrs. Jay and she thought alike, that pleasure might be found abroad, but happi- ness only at home, in the society of one's family and friends." Elizabeth Temple Winthrop was the reigning belle of Boston in 1786. Her husband, the governor of Massachusetts, " possessed an ample fortune ; and they lived in style, exercising a generous hospitality, and receiving at their table most strangers of considera- tion who came to the vicinity." Mercy Warren was a daughter of James Otis of Barnstable, Mass. The Otis family first settled in Hingham, a quiet, ancient town of that State. She married a merchant, and resided on a farm, continuing her literary pursuits, but receiving, also, distinguished guests, — Washington, Lee, Gates, and other officers. 138 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Mrs. Adams was her lifelong friend. " Seldom has a woman in any age," says Mrs. Ellet, "acquired such ascendency by the mere force of a powerful intellect ; and her influence continued to the close of her life." Her friend, Hannah Winthrop of Cambridge, Mass., deserves to be mentioned also in this connection. Both women had much influence on their times. Mrs. Knox led also in the society of those days which tried men's souls, and women's too. Sl'e was the daugh- ter of the last secretary of the Province of INIassachu- setts Bay, and was said, by the Due de la Rochefoucauld Liancourt, to possess " sprightliness, knowledge, a good heart, and an excellent understanding." " The daughters of William Sheaffe of Boston were noted for beauty and fasliion." Susanna eloped with Capt. Molesworth, a nephew of Lord Ponsouby, who was in command of the British troops landing at Boston. Margaret married John R. Livingston, then a Boston merchant. Lafayette admired her ; and she was said to be so handsome, no one could take her picture. The impartial sun was not then known as an artist. Helen married James Lovell, an oflBcer in the naval service. At thirteen she wrote a poem in answer to the question, " What is religion ? " Dorothy Quency Hancock was the daughter of Judge Edmund Quincy, and married the governor of Massachusetts, who was afterwards president of the first Congress. She was the midaunted woman who ordered her servants to milk the cows pastured on Bos- ton Common, for the accommodation of her guests from the French fleet. The anecdotes told by Mrs. Ellet of her and her husband are of considerable interest in these centennial days, but mainly prove them to have been kindly and intelligent people of the bon vivant sort. WOMEN LEADKR8 EN SOCIETY. 139 Catherenb Greene was a leader of society in hor day, as the wife of Gen, Nathaniel Greene of Revolu- tionary memory ; but she is much more worthy of note as the patron of Eli Whitney, and therefore the one who helped introduce the cotton-gin to the world. " The incident of her quitting her own house when Aaron Burr claimed her hospitality, after his duel with Hamilton, leaving the house for his use, and only return ing to it after his departure, illustrates her generous and impulsive character. In her later years she retained her singular power of fascination, and would hold a company in breathless attention with her winning tones and brilliant sketches of character, or tales of adven- ture. She had, in truth, a faculty of charming all who approached her." Mary Wooster was the daughter of Dr. Clapp, the president of Yale College, and was only sixteen when married to Gen. David Wooster, who was killed in Connecticut during the Revolutionary War. She was brilliant in conversation, beautiful, well educated, and religious. Sarah Thompson — the Countess Rumford — was the daughter of Benjamin Thompson, who was made a count by the Elector of Bavaria. Her grandfather was Rev. Timothy Walker, the first clergyman in Concord, N.H. She inherited her father's title ; never married ; died iu Concord, N.H., in 1852. " She had considerable property saved from her father's estates, with a pension of nearly one thousand dollars a year from the Bavarian Government for the services rendered by her father. This she bestowed chiefly in charity, and, dying at seventy-^ight, left fifteen thousand dollars for an asylum at Concord for widows and female orphans." She was more truly one who mingled much in foreign 140 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. society than a leader in her own land ; but I meution her here as an American woman of peculiar connections^ whose name will not soon be forgotten, because of her bequests. Anne Bingham was a Philadelphia belle, the daugh- ter of Thomas Willing, and grand-daughter of the first mayor of Philadelphia. At sixteen she married William Bijigham, and went abroad ; attracting much attention at the court of Louis XVI. She then went to England, where, it is said, " her elegance and beauty attracted more admiration than, perhaps, was willingly expressed in the old court of George the Third." Immense wealth en- abled her to live in luxury ; and thus her charms were displayed in society so as to win a recognition. She returned to Philadelphia, where her husband built a magnificent house, and she led society. " Her style illustrated all that was imposing and superb in the sociai life ; and her acknowledged judgment and taste in dress, and in the arrangements of her house, her influence over aU with whom she came in contact, the splendors with which she was ever surrounded, and the aristocratic character of her parties, gave her a celebrity which be- came historical in the annals of higher social life in America." ^ Elizabeth Graeme Ferguson was the daughter cf Sir William Keith, the governor of Pennsylvania. She married a Scotch gentleman, ten years her junior ; *nd political differences led to their separation ; for she Wck-s a patriot, and he espoused the royal cause. She presided in her father's house, who was a physician (Dr. Thomas Graeme), and collector of the port. Her talents and accomplishments rendered her home, " tha Carpenter Mansion," attractive and celebrated. I Qneen8 of Amerifan S'^riety. WOMEN LEADERS IN SOCIETY. 141 SAJtAH Bache was the only daughter of the phi- losopher and statesman, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, and was bom in Philadelphia in September, 1744. She was a zealous republican, and was prominent in the best society. Her house was the rendezvous for the committee superintending the making of shirts for the army. In 1792 she accompanied her husband, Richard Bache, to whom she was married in 1767, to England ; and two years afterward they settled on a farm near the Delaware, where they exercised un- bounded hospitality for many years. Rebecca Franks, the daughter of a wealthy Jewish merchant, was distinguished for beauty, intelligence, and wit. She married Lieut.-Gen. Sir Henry Johnston, and lived abroad. When Gen. Scott visited her long years afterward, she exclaimed, " I have gloried in my rebel countrymen 1 " She evidently felt that the women of Revolutionary days should have been loyal to the stars and stripes. Mrs. Annis Stockton was a patriot, — the wife of one, and the mother-in-law of another, signer of the Declaration of Independence. She was called " the Duchess " for her elegance and dignity. Her daughter Julia became the vife of the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Rush. Mary Alsop King was the only child of a wealthy New York merchant, who was a member of the first Continental Congress. She was noted for beauty and an unspoiled nature, and at sixteen married Rufus King. Catherine Schuyler was the only daughter of a gieat landholder, and the wife of Gen. Philip Schuyler. She was remarkable for her vigorous intellect and good judgment ; and many instances of her heroic spirit are 142 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. recorded. " Her social influence was widely recog- nized, and was transmitted to her accomplished daugh- ters. The second of these, Elizabeth, married Alexan- der Hamilton in December, 1780. Mrs. Wilson was the daughter of Col. Charles Stewart, and was celebrated in New Jersey, both in the days of her girlhood and widowhood. " In her jour- neys to and from the camp, Mrs. Washington stopped to visit Mrs. Wilson. During the presidency of Wash- ington, when Mrs. Wilson came to Philadelphia with her daughter, and entered society, she was distinguished by particular attentions from his family. . . , For fif- teen years after her father's death, she devoted her time to the settlement of his large estates, and the care of two orphan nephews, one of whom was the distin- guished missionary and author. Rev. Charles Stewart. In 1808 she removed to Cooperstown, N.Y. ; but her last years were spent at ' The Lakelands,' the beautiful residence of her daughter, near that town. Hers was a lovely close of life, universally respected and honored : it might better be called a ripening for im- mortality." * Cornelia Beekmaij was born in 1752, and lived to the great age of ninety-five years. Her birthplace was on the banks of the Croton, in the Cortlandt manor house ; her place of death, the old manor house in Tarrytown, on the banks of the Hudson. " Her social qualities and unbounded hospitality made her famous throughout the country. . . . She was known as an accomplished lady of the old school. With steadfast principles, she had a lofty sense of honor ; with force of will and stern resolution, a heart alive to ail kindly feeling** In her prime she was noted for beauty of 1 Que«na of Ajuerican Society. WOMEN LEADERS IN SOCIETY. 143 person, refinement, and dignified courtesy ; while hei conversation was brilliant and interestiag. Amid her stores of anecdote were thrilling tales of the olden time. Her mental faculties were unimpaired to the last, though her sight failed. Calmly she awaited death, with the clear faith of a Christian, and, while counting the fail- ing beats of her pulse with one hand, signed her name with the other, shortly before she breathed her last." Catherine Field, the grand-daughter of Mrs. Beek- man, had the blood of some of the most distinguished families in America in her veins. She was carefully educated, and has hospitably entertained her friends in New York, and devoted herself to the care of her two children. Though not really distinguished in any sphere of public hfe, she is a worthy wife and mother ; and one can but respect domestic virtues and social qualities. Susan Rudd, afterward the wife of Judge Hunting- ton of Indiana, was of the Carroll family of Maryland. She was educated in a convent, and was accomplished in music, and a good linguist. She married, when but sixteen, a Mr. Fitzhugh ; but her husband soon died, and she married Judge Huntington. She was the mother of five children, and died at the age of thirty- two. " This lovely woman had a ruling influence in social circles, but one more valuable in the hearts of those nearest to her." Pamela Williams married Gen. Jacob Brown, at the age of eighteen. " Her house was the centre of a polished coterie." Sallte Ward was a belle in Kentucky and the West, cradled in luxury, and a leader of fashionable society. Mrs. Ellet's pages glow with her praises and descriptions of her dress, — a matter of no small impor- 144 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. tance to society lovers, and of minor importance with others. Eleanor Parke Ctjstis, the grand-daughter of Lady Washington. She married Lawrence Lewis on the birthday of " the Chief," 1799. She was worthy of her relationship to George and Martha Washington. Marcia Van Ness married Hon. John P. Van Ness, at the age of twenty, and became a resident of Wash- ington ; and " their home was one of the most brilliant and agreeable in the capital." She was the first Amer- ican woman buried with public honors, her husband being at that time mayor of Washington. " One of the intimate friends of Mrs. Van Ness, and one called by her ' the most popular woman who was ever in Washington,' was the wife of Levi Woodbury, secretary of the navy. She was the daughter of Hon. Asa Clapp of Portland, the most wealthy man, at that time, in the State of Maine." " The niece of Mrs. Van Ness of Washington was celebrated as a belle, universally admired in the society of the capital in the winter of 1828-29. She was ?»Iiss Cornelia Van Ness, the daughter of Cornelius P. Van Ness, the eminent chief justice, and governor of Ver- mont. He was appointed minister to Spain by Gen. Jackson; and she accompanied him, and won a high place among the Spanish grandees. She had a brilliant career in Spain as a favorite in social circles of the highest grade ; and in May, 1881, in Paris, she was married to James J. Roosevelt of New York; Gen. Lafayette giving away the bride. For many years she was a queen in the leading society of New York. She has recently deceased ; and " The New York Tribune " contained the following tribute to her memo- ry:— WOMEN LEADERS EN SOCIETY. 145 To THE EdXTOB of THB TBIBtJNK. Sir^ — The remains of a noble lady, Mrs. Cornelia Roosevelt, have been taken to your city for interment. She will be mourned on both sides of the ocean. She was indeed a noble lady in heart, intellect, cultivation, and all the graces. For more than a quarter of a cen- tury, she dispensed the refined hospitalities of her New Y'ork home, after presiding over her father's (Minister Van Ness's) establishment. Her many graces were not merely those of the high-bred lady. She was a woman of queenly dignity, who had sympathy for all suffering. She had all the graces of the daughter, of the mother, of the wife, of the friend, of the sister of mercy. This is the tribute which all who knew her will pay to her memory. W. A. H. Washinoton, April 22, 1876. Her sister Marcia, married Sir William Gore Ouse- ley, and accompanied him to Rio Janeiro, to represent England at the coronation of the Emperor of Brazil. She was a celebrity in Washington and elsewhere for her " personal loveliness, charming manners, and ac- compHshments of conversation." Mary Leavenworth, the daughter of Hon. Joshua Forman, is identified, in a measure, with the prosperity of Syracuse, N.Y., which was founded by her father. Her maternal grandfather was a member of parliament for Glasgow. She was noted for beauty of person, and refinement of manners, with mental powers that aided her in the management of an ample fortune. Elizabeth Bordman Otis, better known by the name of her husband, Harrison Gray Otis, jun., was the daughter of a Boston merchant, and grand-daugh- ter of the first high sheriff of Suffolk County in Mass- 146 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. acliusetts, whose duty it was to read tbe proclamation of Congress announcing a " Treaty of Peace between Great Britain and America." She and her husband were said to be " the handsomest bridal pair in Bos- ton." Of her benevolent works, mention* will be made in another place. She was early left a widow with young sons, for the sake of whose education she spent seven years abroad. On her return to Boston, " she opened her house for Saturday morning receptions, and Thursday evening soirSes, conducted on the foreign plan of tea and cakes. She did not vary this simple style of entertainment, even when strangers of dis- tinction were her guests." The record of her Hfe is worthy of a volume by itself; and, now that she has departed to the higher Ufe, it is hoped that American biographical literature will be enriched by it. Elizabeth Crittenden, the daughter of Dr. James W. Moss, was born in Kentucky, but soon removed to the We.«t,. She was twice widowed, and then, in 1853, married Hon. John J. Crittenden, then attorney-general of the United States. She was a favorite and leader in fashionable circles while in Washington, and Frankfort, Ky., and, after her husband's death, dispensed elegant hospitality in New York City. Mrs. Myra Clark Gaines has been at different times prominent in society in Washington. It is under- stood that a volume, embodying the singular history of her efforts to obtain her father's estate, is to be pub- lished. She is mostly known in connection with that most extraordinary case in the annals cf American jurisprudence. Mrs. Gilpin, formerly the widow of Hon. I. S. John- ston, then the widow of Hon. Henry D. Gilpin, has had a ruling influence in the society of Philadelphia. She WOMEN LEADERS IN SOCIETI!. 147 was the daughter of a distinguished surgeon ; and in a home of wealth, after years of travel and enjoyment abroad, dispensed a regal hospitality, especially to the lovers of art and literature. She has been active in benevolent works. She is mentioned by Mrs. Ellet as a society-queen worthy of highest esteem. Ann Ridgeway, the daughter of a Philadelphia merchant who rivalled Girard, became Mrs. Rush by her marriage to a son of the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- pendence. Wealth belonging to both husband and wife, it was easy for her to become a leader in fashionable circles. She was peculiar ; and her social tastes wei-e not shared by her husband, who often sat alone in his library, absorbed in study, when the rest of the house was a scene of bewildering gayety. Mrs. Ellet devotes several pages to the history of this woman-leader in society. She died in 1857. Mrs. Coventry Waddell was, before her hus- band's name represented her, Charlotte Augusta South- wick. Born amid luxury, and always accustomed to great wealth, the tenor of her life can be easily imagined. Descriptions of her parties, and the elegance of her attire, were common in the papers ; and Mrs. Ellet furnishes a portion of them to her readers. " Emilie Schaumberj," says Mrs. Ellet, " is a Phila- delphia celebrity in society, who has added the fascina- tions of rare skill in vocal music, and still rartr powers of dramatic expression as an amateur comedienne, to the attraction of great beauty." Madame Octavia Le Vert " has reigned as a belle in both hemispheres ; has received the chivalrous admi- ration, alike in the northern and southern sections of the United States, as well as in the courtly circles of 148 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Great Biitain and Continental Europe, and, at the same time, has never been assailed by the shafts of envy or calumny." ' Her grandfather was Gen. George Wal- ton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independ- ence, and afterwards governor of Georgia. Her father, Col. Walton, was a millionnaire when he married the daughter of an eminent lawyer of Georgia, — a woman of brilliant accomplishments and large fortune. As her father was governor of Florida, " the little Octavia became early familiar with society. Her father took great pains with her education. Before she was twelve years old, she could write and converse in three lan- guages ; and often the colonel took her into his office, to translate, from the French or Spanish, letters con- nected with important affairs of state. Perched on a high stool, the little girl interpreted her foreign despatches with great exactness."* Miss Walton married Dr. Henry Le Vert of Mobile, in 1836, who died in 1863, " having been an invalid four years, tenderly nursed by the wife whom he blessed with dying breath." Other relatives having also died, she " was left alone in the world with her two young daugh- ters." But she retained the pleasing manners, and the noble qualities of heart and mind, which rendered her a favorite in earlier days. The change of fortune which she knew in later years did not diminish her power to charm ; she was a favorite in society till death, ever wel- come, reapected, and beloved. Mrs. Adelicia Cheatham, formerly Mrs. Acklen, was the daughter of Oliver B. Hayes of South Hadley, Mass., who was one of the pioneers of the middl« divis- ion of Tennessee, and married a daughter of a weai» farmer of that State. He was an eminent lawyer, and ^ Queens of American Society. WOMEN LEADERS EN SOCIETY. 149 afterward a clergyman, and was in possession of a large fortune. His daughter was consequently surrounded by all the advantages of wealth and culture. She was married in early youth to an opulent planter of Louisi- ana, who lived but a few years, and bequeathed his immense fortune to his beloved wife. The young widow was sought by many, and finally married Col. Joseph Acklen, an eminent lawyer. He lived but a few years ; and, shortly after his death, INIrs. Acklen went to Europe with her two children, where her accomplish- ments and wealth gave her entrance to the first society. She returned to her princely home in Nashville, and was at once a leader in social circles. She married Dr. W. A. Cheatham for her third husband, and is said to be distinguished for charities as for social graces. Martha Pierce Stannard "was a celebrated leader in fashionable society in Richmond, Va., where she lived thirty years. She was educated in Baltimore, and married at a very early age. Her house was the last burned when Richmond was in part destroyed, and it the close of the war she went to Europe." She has since returned, and will make her home in Fredericks- burg, Va. " Another distinguished lady, prominent in all noble works, as she has been in society by right of intellectual gifts and charming manners, is Miss Emily Mason of Kentucky," says Mrs. Ellet. During the war, her prop- erty was destroyed ; and she went to the hospitals, and proved herself worthy to be called a woman-leader in other circles than those of so-called "society." Jessie Benton Fremont, the widely known daugh- ter of Senator Benton, has historic fame from her connection with her husband, Gen. Fremont, and his exploring expeditions. " Very few women in the 150 WOMEN OP THE CENTUKY. United States have equalled Mrs. Frdmont in brillian- cy of conversation. Almost at all times, her talk ia sparkling, flashing, it may be said, with lively wit and picturesque illustration, — ornament as unstudied, with al, as the play of a sunlit fountain. Her witticisms are continually repeated in society. It is the great charm of her humor and repartee, that they are perfectly spon- taneous. . . . Her appearance and manner are those usually thought distinctive of an J^nglish woman, and strikingly like those of her father. Her form is rather above the ordinary height, splendidly proportioned ; and her face is very handsome, and full of intellectual expression ; always lighted up with the glow of a bright spirit and the benevolence of a generous heart."' But the limits of this chapter forbid further mention of the women who have been, or are, leaders in the social circles of our land. Mrs. Ellet's book will afford further knowledge of those to whom reference is herein made, and the mention of others not unknown to social fame among the women of the past and present century. ' Qu«eas of American Society. |7l^^ THE GREATEST OF THESE 18 CHARITY CHAPTER V. PHILANTHROPIC WOMEN". Susan Huntington — Margaret Prior — Mary Ledyard — Kate Moore — Ida Lewis — Father Taylor's Widowed Friend — Sarah Hoffman — Isabella Graham — Sophia C. Hoffman — Lydia Maria Child — Maria Chapman and other Anti-Slavery Women — Charity Rod- man — Dorothea L. Dix — Clara Barton, &c. ' Kindness in women, not their beauteous looliS, Shall win my love." Shakspeare. " Be not weary in well-doing; for in due season ye shall reap if ye faint not.' Gal. vi. 9. THE kindness of woman is proverbial. Philanthropy- has always been championed by feminine men (not effeminate), or manifested by tender women. Mungo Park, fainting in the wilds of Africa, found woman a solace and a blessing ; and all the ages have shown that it is as natural to woman to engage in philanthropic labors, as it is for man to be warlike and fond of the chase. So Mary M. Chase could write truthfully, -— 152 WOMEN OF THE CENTUBY. " What if to pestilential cell whose very air is death, Man comes, on mercy's errand bent, with half-suspended breath? There hath her footstep passed ere his, her gentle voice been heard The dark air of the prison-house her snow-white garments stirred. " And every reader of the records which blaze with the glory of " good-will to men " will remember with loving reverence the names of Elizabeth Fry and Florence Nightingale, — the name of the one forever wedded to the thought of Newgate and its prisoners, who hung with joy upon her lips as she read from the word of God to them, or lifted her voice in solemn prayer ; the name of the other blended with the recollections of the Crimea, and the thought of the soldiers in those hospi- tals who gladly kissed the shadow of their good angel, whose philanthropy was the guaranty of their comfort in the hour of need. It has been the same with American women : only their names have seldom been emblazoned on the scroll of fame, and perhaps will never reach the celebrity of those whom England and all civilized countries " delight to honor." Yet our first century has shown the United States to be honored in the possession of such women as are worthy to be named with Mrs. Fry in respect to deeds of philanthropy and benevolence. The author of " Noble Deeds of American Women " mentions Susan Huntington as a woman with the very spirit of her who made such angelic visits to London prisoners. She was born Jan. 27, 1791 ; was the daugh- ter of one minister, and wife of another ; the latter being pastor of the historic Old South Church of Bos ton, Mass. Her memoir was written by her husband's successor in the pastorate, and passed through five editions in Scotland. After she was a widow she was robbed of jewelry by a young woman ; and at the trial PHrLANTHROPIO WOMEN. 153 ol the thief she refused to appraise her jewels, knowing that the degree of punishment depended on the value of the property stolen. Another was called upon to appraise them , and " she told him to bear in mind that they had been used for many years, were conse- quently damaged, and out of fashion. In this way she secured a low and to herself a satisfactory valuation. She then addressed the judge, stating that she had herself taken the jewelry from a trunk, had carelessly left it exposed on a table, had thus throwu temptation in the way of the girl; and suggested that her own heedlessness might possibly have been the cause of the offence. She did not, she assured the judge, wish to interfere with his duties, or wrongly bias his decis- ions ; but she would nevertheless esteem it a favor, if the punishment inflicted on the unfortunate trans- gressor could be the lightest that would not dishonor the law. Hoping the ignorant girl would repent and reform, she left the stand with tears in her eyes, which greatly affected the judge. In his sentence he reminded the culprit, that the person whom she had most offended was the first to plead for a mitigation of her punishment, and had saved her from the extreme rigors of a broken law." This was not an act of philanthropy which would entitle her to a niche in the temple of fame, perhaps, in the view of some ; but surely it was an act in the same kindly spirit in which all philan- thropic acts are performed ; and out of such a spirit have grown our prison-reform societies and many other benevolent enterprises. Margaret Prior had this same spirit. She was born in Fredericksburg, Va., in 1773. Her maiden name was Barrett ; and she married first William Allen, a merchant of Baltimore, and then William Prior, 154 WOMEN OF THB CENTURY. a public-spirited and benevolent Quaker. She was at that time a Baptist, but in 1819 united with the Methodists. When the New York Orphan Asylum was instituted, she was one of the managers, and ever after engaged in similar good works. Of her self-deny- ing habits and self-sacrificing labors, one can learn by reading a book entitled " Walks of Usefulness ; or, Reminiscences of Margaret Prior." In soup-houses, and as a city missionary among the poor, her labors were arduous ; and she adopted several children. She is numbered among those active Christians, of conserva- tive theological opinions, and large heart, who are industrious in " organizing week-day and sabbath schools, industrial associations, and temperance societies, establishing soup-houses and orphan-asylums, visiting the sick, the poor, the idle, the culprit, the outcast; pointing the dying to a risen Saviour, leading the desti- tute by the hand to a place of relief, the idle to housei of industry, and warning the outlaw and the corrupl of the certain and terrible doom that would attend persistency in their downward course. With the sweet- ness, gentleness, simplicity, and delicacy, so becoming in woman iinder all circumstances, were blended in her character, energy that was unconquerable, courage that danger could not blench, and firmness that hxmian power could not bend. The contemplation of such a character is superficial, if it does not prompt benevolent feelings, re-afifirm virtuous resolutions, and revive and strengthen drooping piety." If service to the soldiers of liberty was ever philan- thropic, as it always is, it was surely so in the day when Fort Griswold was attacked by the British, and the city of New London, Conn., burned. Historians record the cruelty of the British soldiers as almost incredible, PHILANTHROPIC WOMEN. 155 their barbarity to the wounded American soldiers being monstrous. " One of the ministering angela who came the next morning to the aid of the thirty-five wounded men who lay all night freezing in their own blood, was Miss Mary Lbdyard, a near relation of the colonel. ' She brought warm chocolate, wines, and other refresh- ments ; and while Dr. Downer of Preston was dressing their wounds, she went from one to another administering her cordials, and breathing into their ears gentle words of sympathy and encouragement. In these labors of kindness she was assisted by another relative of the lamented Col. Ledyard, — Mrs. John Led yard, who had also brought her household stores to refresh the sufferers, and lavished on them the most soothing personal attentions. The soldiers who recovered from their wounds were accustomed, to the day of their death, to speak of these ladies in terms of fervent grati- tude and praise.' " England is proud of her Grace Darling, and her name and prowess in rescuing the drowning is familiar to all who cherish deeds of heroic philanthropy ; but England is rivalled by America when Kate Moore and Ida Lewis are mentioned. Kate Moore was the daughter of a light-house keeper, and. her home was Fairweather Island, on the coast of Conuecticut. In 1851 Mr. Clement wrote of her, " She has so thoroughly cultivated the sense of hearing, that she can distinguish amid the howling storm the shrieks of the drowning mariners, and thus direct a boat, which she has learned to manage most dexterously, in the darkest night, to the spot where a fellow-mortal is perishing. Though well educated and refined, she possesses none of the affected ielicacy which characterizes too many town-bred misses , but, adapting herself to the peculiar exigencies of her 156 WOMEN OF THE CENTUKY. father's humble yet honorable calling, she is ever ready to lend a helping hand, and shrinks from no danger, if duty points that way. In the gloom and terror of the stormy night, amid perils at all hours of the day and all seasons of the year, she has launched her bark on the threatening waves, and has assisted her aged and feeble father in saving the lives of twenty-ona persons during the last fifteen years." Ida Lewis, who has been termed " the Grace Dar- ling of America," is a Newport heroine. Col. Brewer: ton, the artist, has made an interesting word-picture of this noble young woman and her deeds of heroism. She is the daughter of Capt. Hosea Lewis of Hingham, Mass., and was named after her mother, Idawalley Zo- rada Willey, who was a daughter of a Block Island physician, Dr. Aaron C. Willey. Ida was born on Feb. 25, 1842, and was fifteen when her parents moved to Lime Rock Lighthouse. Until that time she had at- tended the public schools of Newport. Her father becoming paralytic, she was obliged to use the oars, and bring all the supplies to the lighthouse, and row her brothers and sister to and from school. Hence she became an expert rower, and was as fearless on the ocean as others on the land. In the fall of 1858 she first gratified her philanthropic nature, and won a place among the brave, by rescuing four young men from drowning, when their pleasure-boat had been upset through recklessness. She was then but sixteen. Eight years after, when Ida had barely reached the age of Grace Darling, she rescued a drowning soldier from the neighboring fort. In 1867 she rescued three Irishmen who were out in a boat after a sheep which was drifting out to sea. Their skill and courage failed them, and amid the white-capped billows they were powerless to PHILANTHROPIC WOMEN. 159 reach the shore ; and having taken the men off their sinking boat, and safely landed them, she returned, and rescued also the sheep. Two weeks after, she rescued a man whose boat, ' stove by a rock, had sunk, and left him up to his neck in water, while the rising tide was threatening to ingulf him. " On the twenty-ninth day of March, 1869, at about five o'clock, p.m., Ida was sitting in her favorite seat beside the fire, finishing some work before the preparation of the family's evening meal." Her mother discovered suddenly a boat capsized, to which were clinging two men, soldiers from the garrison at Fort Adams. The lad who was the manager of their sail-boat was already drowned, and they were in fright- ful peril. The mother rushed toward her daughter, and shrieked out the awful fact. " The daughter only catches the words, ' drowning men,' and is already upon her feet, prompt and eager for action. In spite of her father's expostulations (for the old sailor knows the danger, and fears the risk), she springs to the door. All thought of the warmth and safety within have vanished now. The patient, toiling girl, immersed in vulgar cares of mending, or preparing the evening meal, becomes the heroine, flying with dauntless soul to the rescue of the perishing. She has no shoes upon her feet, no hat upon her head, no outer garment to protect her slight figure from the storm. A towel is hastily seized, and knotted loosely about her neck ; and her stocking-clad feet are bruised by the sharp rocks and stones, as she speeds her way to the ever-ready boat. A younger brother, at her request, goes with our heroine, to assist in dragging in the drowning men. But to Ida's practised hand, and to Ida's willing arms, must be trusted the plying of those 160 WOMEN OP THE CENTUBY. oars, upon whose dexterous use depends, under Provi- dence, the saving of the lives now so sorely threatened. Never before were those hands so tried, the strength of her woman's arm so tested, as they must be by the struggle of to-day. Pull bravely, girl, though the green billows, crested with foam, come flying over the open boat, drenching its occupants to the skin, and every instant threatening their destruction. Pull bravely, nor heed the dash of the billows, the blinding rain, or the muttering storm. For fame, success, and a nation's encomiums wait upon your exertions ; or, it may be (but she never paused to think of that), a watery grave beside those whom you are endeavoring to save. Mean- while, the mother has rushed out into the storm, and, regardless of the weather, takes her stand upon the rock, wildly gesticulating, and answering the cries of the drowning men, in the hope that they may be en- couraged to continue their efforts for life by the pros- pect of succor. It is all she can do, and she does it well. . . . The race for life is accomplished, the drifting wreck overtaken, and its exhausted crew add new laurels to Ida's wreath of well-earned fame. Once more in a place of safety, they speedily regain the Light, where Sergt. Adams is barely able to totter up to the house, while his companion is so far gone that their united strength is required to remove him from the boat. So ends the story of our heroine's exploits, — deeds worthy of emulation, which, in the grand old days of classic Greece and Rome, would have gained the applause of senates, and been perpetuated through the sculptor's marble, and upon the historian's tablet of brass, to ages yet unborn." A silver medal and a check for one hundred dollars were awarded Ida from the Life-Saving Benevolent PHILANTHKOPIO WOMEN. 161 Association of New York. In the General Assembly of her native State, Rhode Island, resolutions in ac- knowledgment of her valuable services were passed, and communicated to her in due form by a document from the Secretary of State, and with the State seal afl&xed. The ofl&cers and soldiers of Fort Adams sent their thanks, and a purse of two hundred and eighteen dollars ; and letters from all parts of the country, with various gifts, were forwarded to her, indicative of her fame as a heroine. Since she thus became famous, thousands have visited the Lime Rock Lighthouse to see her ; among them the vice-president of the nation, Mr. Colfax. And when the president (Gen. Grant) visited Newport, he solicited an interview with her, with the same spirit of regard for her heroism. Her fellcw-townsmen honored themselves in presenting to her a boat, on the 4th of July, 1869; the public presen- tation taking place on the parade-ground in front of the State House. The rudder was of walnut with silver plate inscribed, and was from the Narragansett Boat Club of Providence. The officers of the steamer " Newport " presented two beautiful flags. The speech in presenting the boat was made by the Hon. Francis Brinley ; and the response in behalf of Miss Lewis was by Col. T. W. Higginson. Few women may ever be- come famous as she has for handling the oar so bravely and with such results ; but all true women will delight to honor one who so nobly reflects honor on her sex and on humanity. There are many philanthropic women who in Chris- tian faith and love have done noble deeds of which the world has only learned through the results of their labors upon others who have become famous, while their own names are lost to human knowledge. Such an one 1G2 WOMEN OF THE CENTUEY. was the widowed friend of him who was afterwaxda known as " Father Taylor,'* — the Rev. Edward T. Taylor, the successful preacher to seamen in Boston. She was one who found her happiness as many women do, in " Humble toil and heavenwaxd duty; " and, as she resided in an ignorant and vicious neigl bor- hood, she used to open her little front room for prayer- meetings, and scattered seed on the arid soil. Father Taylor, then a gay sailor, attended, and became in- terested in religious truth. He was summoned to sea, and was made a prisoner in Halifax. The widow visited her relatives there, and, in a philanthropic spirit, visited the prison. " In one apartment were the Ameri- can prisoners. As she approached the grated door, a voice shouted her name, calling her mother ; and a youth appeared, and leaped for joy at the grate. It was the lost sailor-boy 1 They wept and conversed like mother and son ; and, when she left, she gave him a Bible, — his future guide and comfort. During her stay in Hali- fax, she constantly visited the prison, supplying the youth with tracts, religious books, and clothing." Long years afterwards, an aged English local preacher met Father Taylor in Boston ; and, as they conversed, it was found that his wife was the same philanthropic widow. Father Taylor hastened away, and in a short time reached the residence of this local preacher, with all his family, and introduced himself as the sailor-boy of the prayer-meeting and the prison. One can easily imagine the scene that followed. Her labors, she then found, had not been in vain in the Lord. Isabella Graham came to this country from Scot- land, and in 1789 settled in New York. She was noted. PHTLANTHROPIO WOMEN. 163 during the latter part of her life, for her Christian benevolence ; and though not properly a subject for notice in this volume, which aims to mention those born in our States mainly, she commenced so many benevolent enterprises, and her influence is so widely felt, and name so well known, among the philanthropic women of America, that one is justified in regarding her as one of the notable women of the century. She made it a rule to give a tenth part of her earnings to religious and charitable purposes, a rule which it would be well for all Christian women to adopt. In 1795 she received, at one time, an advance of one thousand dollars on the sale of a lease which she held on some building-lots ; and, not being used to such large profits, she said, on receiving the money, " Quick, quick, let me appropriate the tenth, before my heart grows hard." She assisted to establish a society for the relief of poor widows, and was first directress. Her biography, by Mrs. Bethune, gives accounts of numerous similar charities which she organized or promoted. She started, day schools, and established sabbath schools, visited the alms-house, and attended to the instruction of the children there. On March 15, 1806, a society for establishing an orphan-asylum was formed, and she was the presiding officer. " In the winter of 1807-8, when the suspension of commerce by the embargo rendered the situation of the poor more destitute than ever, she purchased flax, and lent wheels ; " and the indus- trious poor spun and wove the flax, which was after- ward made into tablecloths and towels for the family use. Mrs. Graham was president of the board of ladies who superintended the Magdalen Asylum, and assisted in forming a society for promoting industry among the 164 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. poor. She died July 27, 1814. Of her it was said, as of Dorcas, " This woman was full of good works and alms-deeds which she did." Sarah Hoffman was one of her valued coadjutors. She was daughter of Judge David Ogden of New York ; born at Newark, Sept. 8, 1742, married Nicholas Hoff- man in 1762. If, as Granger declares, — " The height of virtue is to serve mankind," — she reached that height. " Mrs. Hoffman, with Mrs. Graham and their associates, often perambulated the districts of poverty and disease from morning till night, entering the huts of want and desolation, and carrying comfort and consolation to many a despairing heart. They clambered to the highest and meanest garrets, and descended to the lowest, darkest, and dankest cellars, to administer to the wants of the destitute, the sick, and the dying. They took with them medicine, as well as food ; and were accustomed to administer Christian counsel or consolation, as the case required, to the infirm- in body and the wretched in heart. They even taught many poor creatures, who seemed to doubt the existence of an overruling Providence, to pray to Him whose laws they had broken, and thereby rendered themselves miserable." The founder of the benevolent institution known as the Chapin Home, in New York City, was a woman, — Sophia C. Hoffman, — a native of Sheffield, Berkshire County, Mass. In her early life an invalid aunt, by her own suffering with a sense of dependence, impressed upon Mrs. Hoffman's mind the importance of a home where aged women who had been accustomed to the comforts of a competence in earher days could feel inde- PHILANTHBOPIO WOMEN. 165 peudent, at the same time that they were made com- fortable ; and she promised this relative, that, if ever the means were in her possession, she would seek to establish such a retreat. The Chapin Home was the outgrowth of this experience, and, from its inception to its comple- tion, was the subject of earnest prayer. Faith and love were the pillars upon which this arch of benevolence rested. As the years rolled on, and Mrs. Hoffman found herself the wife of a successful merchant of New York, and dwelling in one of the palatial homes on Fifth Avenue, this dream of her childhood became a reality ; and, with the hearty co-operation of her hus- band, George Hoffman, she consecrated the first con- tribution to the new enterprise, and then toiled to obtain co-laborers, that the home might be reared and occupied. It was to be whoUy unsectarian, and was so incorporated, though it was to bear the name of a widely known Universalist preacher, who had been for many years Mrs. Hoffman's own honored and beloved pastor, and whose teachings had greatly strengthened her in benevolent purpose, so that she often declares this Home to be a blossoming of the truths so elo- quently proclaimed by him ; an evidence of the truth expressed by Whittier in the words, — ♦' God is loved through love of man." The first annual report of this charity mentions that the first meeting of friends interested in the enterprise was held on Feb. 1, 1869, in the basement of Dr. Chapin's church. New York ; but prior to this several private meetings had been held in Mrs. Hoffman's parlors ; and the corner-stone of the ha-ndsome brick edifice was laid by Mrs. Hoffman's own hands. This ig iG6 WOMEN OF THB CENTUBY. not the only charitable cause to which this woman of philanthropy has given aid. She is to be numbered also among the reformers, as one of the first treasurers of the Association for the Advancement of Woman, and a vice-president of the Woman's Centenary Associ- ation among the Universalists. But the Chapin Home was especially her work, since from early youth she hs.d planned such a charity, and while in Europe visited many such homes in Great Britain and on the Continent, that she might study their methods, and develop a plan for a self-sustaining and permanent institution. " And thus," as a friend writes, " when fair fortune so smiled on her that she could command money enough to start the enterprise, she did so not with the hand of a novice, but with a hand strong to fulfil the pledge made to her soul in its spring- time." Chahity Rodman proved herself worthy of her name. She was bom in Newport, R. I., in 1765, and married Thomas Rotch of Nantucket, June 6, 1790. He died in 1823, and left a large amount of property at her disposal. She established a school fund for orphan and destitute children, which four or five years after her death, " which occurred on Aug. 6, 1824, amounted to twenty thousand dollars. The interest of this sum has since purchased a farm of a hundred and eighty -five acres, one and one-half miles from the village of Massillon, O., and erected, at a cost of five thousand dollars, a large brick edifice for educational and dwelling purposes, which has been open seven years, and which sustains forty pupils. The real and personal estate of the institution is now esti- mated at thirty-five thousand dollars. A class of ten pupils enters annually,* and remains four years. The PHrLAlJTHROPIO WOMEN. 167 school is established on the manual labor plan ; and the boys are thoroughly instructed in the art of husbandry, and the girls in culinary duties, and the manufacture of their own wearing apparel. Children enter between the ages of ten and fourteen ; hence the youngest leave as advanced in life as their fifteenth year, a period when their habits of industry and their moral princi- ples usually become too well estabhshed to be easily changed. ** This school, founded by the benevolence of a single individual, a devout yet modest and quiet member of the society of Friends, is destined to become a source of inestimable blessings. Ever}' half a century, five hundred otherwise neglected plants in the garden of humanity will there be pruned and nurtured and strengthened for the storms of life. And this offering of Christian philanthropy — the school — will stand as a memorial of woman's worth. The highest ambition of its founder was, to be a blessing to those who should come after her ; and it may be said, that, while she did not live in vain, neither did she die in vain. Her death threw a legacy into the lap of orphanage, the benignant influence of which wiU long be felt." Among the philanthropic efforts in our country, may surely be counted all those made during the days of slavery in the land, for the benefit of the slave, espe- cially for his liberation from the cruel bondage which as John Wesley declared was " the sum of all villanies." The roll-call of the philanthropic women in the seranks would be long and brilliant. The saintly and sainted Samuel J. May, in his " Recollections of the Anti- Slavery Conflict," has mentioned many of them, and given anecdotes of their self-sacrifice and bravery, for w^hich there is not space on these pages, but which 168 WOMEN OF THE CENTUBT. timll the heart of the reader, and make one glad to be in a world where such women have lived and labored. Ltdia Maria Child was one of those philanthro- pists whose able pen won others to the advocacy of freedom, while provoking also the prejudice of the South. She was a Francis, born in Medford, Mass., Feb. 11, 1802, but passed her early Ufe in Maine. Id the " Eminent Women of the Age," is an extended biographical sketch of this noble woman, written by Col. T. W. Higginson. Further mention will be made of her in the chapter devoted to literary women. But her literary fame, though verj^ great, is almost eclipsed by the sense of her philanthropic spirit. The exercise of this noble spirit caused her books to fall into sudden obscurity. She anticipated this when she wrote her "Appeal" in behalf of the poor slave. Her words had the Spartan ring and the Christian martyr tone as she said in its preface, " I am fully aware of the unpop- ularity of the task I have undertaken ; but, though I expect ridicule and censure, I cannot fear them. A few years hence, the opinion of the world will be a matter in which I have not even the most transient interest ; but this book will be abroad on its mission of humanity long after the hand that wrote it is mingling with the dust. Should it be the means of advancing, even one single hour, the inevitable progress of truth and justice, I would not exchange the consciouaness for all Rothschild's wealth, or Sir Walter's fame." This was the first anti-slavery work in book-form ever printed in America ; and evem Dr. Channing attributed a portion of his anti-slavery zeal to this book. In her work as a philanthropist, as well as a literary woman, Mrs. Child assisted her husband, the late David Lee Child, Esq., to edit "The Anti-slavery Standard," and PHELANTHKOPIO WOMEN. 169 also prepared several other books and pamphlets besides her powerful " Appeal." Nor has she labored with her pen alone as a philanthropist. The haunts of misery have known her presence, bearing help and consolation to the weary and heavy laden. Lowell, in his "Fable for Critics," renders poetic tribute to her worth, in which occur these truthful words : — " Ah, there's many a beam from the fountain of day, That, to reach us unclouded, must pass on its way Through the soul of a woman ; and hers is wide ope To the influence of heaven as the blue eyes of hope ; Yes, a great soul is hers, — one that dares to go in To the prison, the slave-hut, the alleys of sin. And to bring into each, or to find there, some line Of the never completely out-trampled divine ; What a wealth it would bring to the narrow and sour, Could they be as a ChUd but for one little hour I ' ' For almost or quite a quarter of a century, Mrs. Child has dwelt at Wayland, Mass., in the cottage bequoathed to her by her father, enjoying a realization of Thomson's description of a happy life, — " Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books, Ease, and alternate labor, useful life, Progressive virtue, and approving heaven." Her cheek still glows with the rose of youth, though her hair has begun to be silvery with age, but the heart of love looks through the sweet blue eyes ; and one is constrained to say there are few women so handsome in their declining years, and justify the admiring look of her husband as he called her, in my hearing, " an angel of mercy," while he spoke of her continued interest in philanthropic enterprises. No wonder CoL 170 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Higginson closed his sketch with the words, " No rural retirement can hide her from the prayers of those who were ready to perish when they first knew her ; and the love of those whose lives she has enriched from childhood will follow her fading eyes as they look toward sunset, and, after her departing, will keep hei memory green." There is another woman of the first centurj', still lingering on the shores of time to bless those who are around her, as she has blessed the world for eighty years, — Lucketia Mott, the philanthropic woman, as well as the Quaker preacher. She is " a native of the island of Nantucket, of the Coffins and Macys on the father's side, and of the Folgers on the mother's ; through them related to Dr. Franklin. Born in 1793 ;" brought up to be useful in the family; in 1804, re- moved to Boston, and studied in the public and private schools there. Afterwards studied in the Friends' Boarding School in Dutchess County, N.Y., and then became a teacher there, though but fifteen years of age. At the early age of eighteen she married James Mott of New York, and removed to Philadelphia, where she has since resided, dwelling now in a lovely suburban retreat which she adorns and makes attractive to visit ors from many lands. Mrs. Soule writes thus of a recent visit : — " I go where I have long wanted to go, — to the roof- tree that shelters the venerable Lucretia Mott. It is a lovely home, standing in a lawn of spotless beauty. Part of the house is old and of Quaker simplicity ; and part of it modem, and, though corresponding with the older part, yet tastefully elegant. We count it a great privilege to have seen Friend Mott in her own home, queen of the household, as she has long been queen of LUCRETIA MOTT PHILANTHROPIO WOMEN. ^ 173 the platform. She received us very kmily, and gave an inimitable description of Abel Thomas, the grandfather of Rev. A. C. Thomas, who was a celebrated Quaker preacher when ' Lucretia ' was a very young girl; and she showed a surprising familiarity with all the topics of the day, demonstrating that assertion we sometimes make, that because people grow old they need not necessarily grow rusty. She is really a won- derful woman ; brilliant in intellect, tender in heart, guileless in soul. Though past eighty, she is one of the most industrious women of the period. She spends several hours every day in reading and writing in the cosey little library which she showed us, saying, as she did 80, ' I keep a wood-fire on the hearth ; and I build it myself, by choice, every morning.' Nor does she fold her hands when her hours for study are over. She showed us twenty yards of beautifully fine rag-carpet which she had made since she was eighty ; and brought out her tiny work-basket, with the rags cut by herself, an unfinished ball lying in the midst, and beside it her skeins of ravellings, for she maintains that ravellings are better to sew carpet-rags with than thread I ' But don't they break too easily ? ' — ' On the contrary, I find them too strong sometimes.' I looked at her dainty fingers ; and it seemed to me a spider's thread would be strong enough for th^m to sew with. Yet the carpet, when done, is substantial and likewise really beautiful, the rags are cut with such precision, and the colors so fairly blended. We each — and I should have said before, the venerable Elizabeth Peabody, of kinder- garten experiments and kindergarten success, was also a caller — we each begged a yard or so from the unfin- ished ball ; and, as she placed my strips in my hand, I was prouder than if Victoria had given me » ' Garter- 174 WOMEN OP THH CBNTUBY. ribbon.' Birth, made Victoria a queen; but her own pure, sweet life makes Lucretia Mott a queen, — queen of a realm on which the sun never sets, the realm of humanity. If ever any woman ' inherited the earth,' It 18 this blessed Quaker woman. I shall carry the memory of this brief call with me till I meet her in the higher home." A faithful picture is thus given of this saintly woman, — the " Saint Lucretia " of those who bow at the shrine of reform and philanthropy in America. With her " Every wrinkle is a line of beauty; " and she long ago learned how to " grow old gracefully." Combe, the phrenologist, pronounced her head the finest he had ever seen on a woman ; and it was well said by Theodore Til ton, that, " in the same sense in which the greatest man ever produced in this country was Benjamin Franklin, the greatest woman ever pro- duced in this country is Lucretia Mott." She early engaged in the temperance movement and in the peace reform. But she has been specially known in connec- tion with the anti-slavery effort, and the movement in favor of universal suffrage. In this connection her labors will be mentioned in another chapter. Her sister Martha Coffin Wright, who deserves also to be mentioned with philanthropists and reformers, said of her, "The striking traits of Lucretia's character are remarkable energy that defies even time, unswerving conscientiousness, and all those characteristics that are smnmed up in the few words, ' love to man and love to God.' " If the anti-slavery laborers may also be called phi- lanthropists, as surely they should be, then there are PHILANTHROPIC WOMEN. 175 many more names that should gleam on the list of philanthropic women of the century. But the mere mention of Maria Weston Chapman, whose valiant defence of anti-slavery principles led to her receiving the cognomen of Capt. Chapman, and who was a woman of literary as well as philanthropic tastes ; the mention of her sisters also ; of the Grimk^ sisters ; of Prudence Crandall, who persisted in teaching a colored pupil in her school in Connecticut, though she was imprisoned one night in a cell just before occupied by a murderer, for disobeying a wicked law of her State in so doing, — this line of mention must suflBce, while reference will be made to others in future chapters. Yet as long as memory lasts to those who have listened to anti-slavery philanthropists, or read their pathetic appeals in behalf of the slave, will the names of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Ernestine L. Rose, Susan B. Anthony, Sallie Holley, Caroline Putnam, Harriet Beecher Stowe (whose " Uncle Tom's Cabin " prepared the way for the war which resulted in emancipation), Anna Gardner, Sarah Pugh, &c., be sacred and precious. Samuel J. May bore testimony, that, " from the begin- ning of Mr. Garrison's enterprise, excellent women werw among his most earnest, devoted, unshrinking fellow- laborers. Their moral instincts made them quicker to discern the right than most men were ; and their lack of political discipUne left them to the guidance of their convictions and humane feelings." ^ One philanthropic woman, who died in 1818, waa the wife of the joint founder, with his uncle, of the well-known Phillips Academy. Phebb Phillips was accustomed, for years, to make the health of every pupil in the academy a subject of personal interest. 1 RecoUectiona of the Anti-Slavery Conflict. 176 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. She sought to be as a mother to the students far from their homes. During the Revolution she was one of those who prepared bandages, scraped lint, and made garments for the soldiers. "An offender of justice was once passing her house on his way to the whipping- post, when a boy who observed him from her window could not withhold a tear. He tried to conceal his emo- tion, but Mrs. Phillips saw the pearl-drop of pity ; and, while a kindred drop fell from her own eyes, she said to him with much emphasis, and as though laying down some golden maxim, ' When you become a law- maker, examine the subject of corporal punishment, and see if it is not unnatural, vindictive, and produc- tive of much evil.' She was very discriminating, and could detect talent as weU as tears ; and addressed the lad with a premonition that he was destined to become a legislator, which was indeed the case. Elected to the assembly of the State, with the sacred command of his early and revered Mentor impressed on his memory, he early called the attention of that body to the sub- ject of corporal punishment ; had the statute-book revised, and the odious law, save in capital offences, expunged, and the pleasure of announcing the fact to the original suggestor of the movement." ^ Dorothea L. Drx, known as the prisoner's friend, was born in Massachusetts, and passed her youth in or near Boston. In earlier years she was a teacher, and prepared several books, mostly for children. " Her name was not given to any of her works ; but we allude to them here," says Mrs. Hale, " to show that a refined literary taste and genius are compatible with the most active philan- thropy, even when compelled to seek its objects through researches that are both painful and terrible." » Noble De«d5 of Amarioan Women. PHELANTHBOPIO WOMEN. 177 In 1834 she went to Europe for her health, and there gained much valuable information about charita- ble institutions. " In 1837 she returned to Boston, and soon commenced visiting the poor-houses and houses of refuge for the unfortunate. She also be- came interested for boys in the naval asylum. Then she went to prisons and lunatic-asylums, everywhere seeking to ameliorate suffering, and instruct the igno- rant." For many years she labored persistently in behalf of the insane. " In founding the State hospi- tals in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Indiana, Illinois, Louisiana, and North Carolina, her exertions were of much importance, by preparing the public mind to sympathize with this pecuhar charity." Dur- ing the war, she labored in the hospitals, but will doubtless be mainly remembered for her faithful labors in behalf of the insane. Mrs. Child brought Miss Dix first to the notice of many in her charming " Letters from New York," where she says, " Dorothea L. Dix, our American Mrs. Fry, the God-appointed missionary to prisons and almshouses, told me that her experience more than confirmed her faith in the power of kindness over the insane and vicious. " Among the hundreds of crazy people with whom her sacred mission has brought her into companionship, she has not found one individual, however fierce and turbu- lent, that could not be calmed by Scripture and prayer, uttered in low and gentle tones. The power of reli- gious sentiment over these shattered souls seems per- fectly miraculous. The worship of a quiet, loving heart affects them like a voice from heaven. Tearing and rending, yelling and stamping, singing and groan- ing* gradually subside into silence ; and they faU on their knees, or gaze upward with clasped hands, as if 178 WOMEN OF THE CENTTJBY. thej saw through the opening darkness a golden gleam from their Father's throne of love. '* On one occasion this missionary of mercy was earnestly cautioned not to approach a raving maniac. He yelled frightfully, day and night, rent his garment, plucked out his hair, and was so violent that it was supposed he would murder any one who ventured within his reach. Miss Dix seated herself at a little distance, and, without appearing to notice him, began to read, with serene countenance and gentle voice, cer- tain passages of Scripture filled with the spirit of ten- derness. His shouts gradually subsided, until at last he became perfectly still. When she paused, he said meekly, ' Read me some more : it does me good.' And when, after a prolonged season of worship, she said, ' I must go away now,' he eagerly replied, ' No : you can- not go. God sent you to me ; and you must not go.* By kind words and a promise to come again, she finally obtained permission to depart. ' Give me your hand,' said he. She gave it, and smiled upon him. The wild expression of his haggard countenance softened to tearfulness, as he said, ' You treat me right : God sen/, you.' " On another occasion, she had been leading some twenty or thirty maniacs in worship ; and, seeing them all quiet as lambs gathered into the Shepherd's fold, she prepared to go forth to other duties. In leav- ing the room, she passed an insane young man with whom she had had several interviews. He stood with hands clasped, and a countenance of the deepest rever- ence. With a friendly smile, she said, ' Henry, are you well to-day ? ' — ' Hush 1 hush I ' replied he, sinking his voice to a whisper, and gazing earnestly on the space around her : ' hush I there are angels with you. They PHILANTHROPIO WOMEN. 179 have given you their voice.' But let not the formalist suppose that he can work such miracles as these in the professed name of Jesus. Vain is the Scripture or the prayer, repeated by rote. They must be the meek utterances of a heart overflowing with love ; for to such only do the angels ' lend their voice.' " Mention might be made of Claba Barton and Fbances Dana Gage. The one will be mentioned among the toilers in the war-time, and the other as a reformer. Jenntb C. Collins, who has done much philanthropic work in Boston and elsewhere, has writ- ten her name on the heart of many a young girl whom she has helped to gain employment, and thereby saved her from temptation to vice. " Boffin's Bower," — a pleasant retreat which she has established in Boston, where innocent amusement, and opportunities for gain- ing knowledge by means of lectures, readings, &c., is afforded these girls, as well as some way of obtaining employment, — it is hoped, will long continue a proof of her wise philanthropy. Annie T. Endicott, wife of William Endicott, jun., was mentioned by the press of Boston as one of the philanthropic women of the cen- tury. A writer in *' The Transcript " said, " She was beloved by friends who felt the charm of her rare powers of conversation and of her unselfish life. Dur- ing the civil war, she was an efficient manager of the Women's Association, which was auxiliary to the Sani- tary Commission, devoting a large measure of her time to the preparation of supplies, and to the employment of the wives of soldiers. Then and later, she was in- terested in sending teachers to the freedmen. She waa appointed by Gov. Claflin a trustee of the Lancaster Industrial School for Girls. In this service her excel- lent sense and executive ability were conspicuous. 180 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. She saw the necessity of a change of methods, and insisted on labor as an essential part of any scheme for the reformation of the vicious. Somewhat disheartened with the obstructions which were opposed to a reform, she resigned after several years of earnest effort. Some three or four years ago she joined in a move- ment for the higher education of women, and was to the end deeply interested in it. She was the president of the society ; and many will long remember her as she shared in the conferences which were held m Boston at the residence of Gov. Claflin. On a visit to Athens, two years ago, she gave such time as was at her command to a kindred effort then in progress in that city ; and a Greek lady of the highest culture was cheered by her sympathy and counsels. She gave much time to the fair which was held in Boston for the relief of the French after the German invasion. She was associated with the Christian work of King's Chapel, where she wor- shipped, and with other miscellaneous activities of phi- lanthropy." Women have not been wanting in those efforts to prevent cruelty to animals, which is a part of true philanthropy. Among these may be mentioned Cabo- LINE L. Barnard, who provided in Lynn, Mass., at an expense of three hundred dollars, a pump and stone drinking-fountain, expressly intended for the use of the thirsty horses whom she justly commiserated. Caro- line Earle White of Philadelphia has also been earnest and efficient in this department of philanthropy, caring especially for the canine favorites who have been lost, that they should not be tormented or killed without efforts to find their owners, who would gladly rescue them, and would not willingly mourn the loss of " Something that always loved me, Something that I could trust." PHILANTHROPIO WOMEN. 181 Linda Gilbert has chosen as her special philan thropic work, the furnishmg of libraries for prisoners, in the same spirit, doubtless, with which Elizabeth Fry- secured libraries for the coast-guard in England at their lonely stations. A Chicago paper says, " Miss Linda Gilbert, after a year or more of labor, has finally accom- plished an undertaking which will make her name memorable as long as we shall have a jail, and culrrits to fill it." The same work has been prosecuted by her in other cities. A New York paper says, — "Miss Linda GHbert, of No. 143 East Fifteenth Street, encloses to us a copy of her report of work in New York, which began Sept. 1, 1873. Since that date she has disbursed |3,644. Seven hundred volumes were presented by the young ladies of the New York Normal College ; and six hundred volumes have been sent to the House of Detention. Of these books the publishers contributed four hundred volumes, und the balance by other parties. The Police Board are building a bookcase to contain them. These books are properly covered and classified. An intelligent man (now waiting the motion of the courts in Ludlow- street Jail) is devoting his time to the library work. Independent of this library business. Miss Gilbert has three practical ladies who assist in furnishing homes, clothing, night lodgings, and more especially employ- ment for released prisoners who come from all parts of the country." Very wisely have some of our Commonwealths ap- pointed women as prison-inspectors. Mrs. Elizabeth B. Chase, a woman ready for every good word and work, has been a lady visitor in Rhode Island, appointed by its governor, and afterward read a valuable paper before the Prison Congress held in London, proving the need of the appointment of such visitors. 182 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. At a prison-reform meeting held in New York, June 8, 1876, Mrs. C. F. Coffin of Indiana, who is an oflBcial visitor to the Indiana State Prison for Women, read an able paper on the subject of Reform in Prisons, in which she said, with great wisdom, that the women's prison should be entirely imder the controi of women. So should women in our almshouses have full charge of women there. Every intelligent woman in this country so believes ; and it is devoutly hoped that the second century of American independence will see women using their special ability as philan- thropists in oflBcial capacity, and with all needful author- ity- Gov. Dingley of Maine wisely appointed women as visitors to the insane hospitals, and among them Mrs. Cordelia Adeline Quinby, the philanthropic wife of Rev. G. A. Quinby, D.D., editor of " The Gospel Banner," in Augusta, Me. She is a native of Lewiston, and taught in the public schools of her native State for thirteen years, when she took upon herself the duties of a pastor's wife, and stepmother ; both of which she has faithfully performed for many years. The care of three children of her own was added to these ; but she has yet found time to attend to philanthropic work in various directions, and to assist her husband in his editorial labors. Mrs. Quinby, in her modesty, would disclaim prominence as a philanthropist ; but it is cer- tain she has ably seconded her husband's noble efforts, till both at last have the satisfaction of seeing the death-penalty abolished in Maine. "May it soon be abolished from the code of every other State in our Union I" prays every philanthropic woman in the land. Women have not been wanting in philanthropio PHILANTHROPIC WOMEN. 183 efforts towards the education of the ^Toung. Volumes might be written, and not complete the tale of self- sacrificing effort by many, many women, to educate their relatives, themselves often toiling in the cotton-factory that their brothers might be supported in college, as Lucy Larcom has depicted Ruth Woodburn in her " Idyl of Work," saying of her as she tended the loom in the cotton-mill, — " She's here To save the homestead, and help educate Brothers and sisters. She will do it too." One woman of this century, Miss Sophia Smith of Hatfield, Mass., chose to bequeath her fortune, and found thereby the college in Northampton, known as Smith College ; the object of which is, to estabhsh an institution for the higher education of young women, with the design of furnishing them the same facilities as those enjoyed by young men in the best colleges of the land, as far as practicable. This is a truly philan- thropic work, and deserves more space than can be accorded to the enterprise here. Coming days and gen- erations will attest its value. Mrs. Colt of Hartford, Conn., was also philan- thropic when she built a church and schoolhouse on her extensive grounds, that the families of those who are employed in Colt's Armory may be duly instructed. Aurora Phelps has indicated the philanthropic spirit in her efforts to secure homesteads for women. But what avails it to mention more ? The list is too long, but it is bright as the midday sun. And among the names that shine with greatest lustre will be found those of the Sisters of Mercy and Charity connected with the Roman Catholic and other churches, not ex- cepting the Quakers ; for the plain quaint, garb of the members of the Society of Friends seldom fails to cover 184 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. the heart of a philanthropist, whether man or woman, whether Isaac T. Hopper or Lucretia Mott. Since the first publication of this chapter, the saintly Lucretia Mott has passed away. She died at her beauti- ful home, November 11, 1880, and her funeral was at- tended by thousands. Rev. Dr. Furness, Miss Phebe Couzins, and others, bore testimony to the value of her philauthropic life. Her co-worker, Mrs. Child, has also closed her useful life on earth. The grave of Lydia Maria Child, in the old moss-grown cemetery at Way land Centre, Mass., is marked only by a plain white marble slab, bearing her name in full, age, date of death, and the words "You call us dead. We are not dead, but truly living now." Those who would know more of the benevolent Sis- ters of Charity are referred to a book called " Heroines of Charity," which has also an account of Mrs. Eliza A. Seton and her labors, with some record also of a phil- anthropic order called " The Little Sisters of the Poor," and the methods whereby they clothe the naked and sat- isfy the poor with bread. " Sorosis," the well-known society in New York, com posed of literary, professional, and philanthropic women, has a committee on philanthropy, which has done brave work under the earnest leadership of Mrs. Esther Herr- man, its chairman. The " Society of the Red Cross," at whose head in this country is Clara Barton, has been recently organized, with fair prospect of success in doing good, both in times of war and peace. A study of philanthropic success would leave the stu- dent with the conviction that while well-organized char- ity is desirable, no organizations can preclude the neces- sity for individual philanthropic effort, and God is stilj saying to every friend of humanity, " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with tJiy might." CHAPTER VL WOMEN DURING THE CIVIL WAB. Women of the Sanitary Commission — Women of the Christian Com- mission — Women Soldiers — Women Nurses — Women Teachers among the Freedmen — Heroic Women, North and South. Whispered low the dying soldier, pressed ber hand, and faintly smiled, Was that pitying face his mother's? did she watch beside her child ? All bis stranger words with meaning ber woman's heart sxipplied. With ber kiss upon his forehead, ' Mother,' murmured be, and died." John G. Whittier. " She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, the needy." — Peg v. xxxi. 20. 36 reacbeth forth her hands to IF the women of the Revolution were valiant, and manifested a commendable fidelity to the cause of freedom, and a hearty sympathy with its defenders, the women who lived in the days of the Rebellion were no less patriotic and devoted. Rev. Dr. Bellows, who was the efficient president of the Sanitary Com- mission, bears a noble testimony to the facts that prove the truth of this statement. He says in his introduc- 186 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. tion to the excellent work, " Woman's Work in the Civil War," by Dr. Brockett and Mrs. Vaughan, " Women there were in this war, who, without a single relative in the army, denied themselves for the whole four years the comforts to which they had been always accustomed, went thinly clad, took the extra blauAet from their bed, never tasted tea or sugar or flesh, that they might wind another bandage round some un- known soldier's wound, or give some parched lips in the hospital another sip of wine. Others never let one leisure moment, saved from lives of pledged labor which barely earned them bread, go unemployed in the service of the soldiers. God himself keeps this record : it is too sacred to be trusted to men. ... As a rule, American women exhibited not only an intense feeling for the soldiers in their exposures and their sufferings, but an intelligent sympathy with the national cause, equal to that which furnished, among the men, two million three hundred thousau'i volunteers. It is not unusual for women of aU countries to weep and to work for those who encounter the perils of war. But the American women, after giving up with a princi- pled alacrity, to the ranks of the gathering and advan- cing army, their husbands and sons, their brothers and lovers, proceeded to organize relief for them ; and they did it, not in the spasmodic and sentimental way which has been common elsewhere, but with a self- controUed and rational consideration of the wisest and best means of accomplishing their purpose, which showed them to be in some degree the products and representatives of a new social era, and a new political development. ... It is impossible to over-estimate the amount of consecrated work done by the loyal women of the North, for the army. Hundreds of "WOMEN DURING THE CIYIL WAR. 187 thousands of women probably gave all the leisure they could command, and all the money they could save and spare, to the soldiers for the whole four years and more of the war. Amid discouragements and fearful delays, they never flagged, but to the last increased in zeal and devotion. And their work was as systematic as it was universal. . . . They showed a perfect apti- tude for business, and proved by their own experience that men can devise nothing too precise, too systematic, or too complicated for women to understand, apply, and improve upon, where there is any sufficient motive for it. . . . The distinctive features of woman's work in this war were magnitude, system, thorough co-opera- tiveness with the other sex, distinctness of purpose, business-like thoroughness in details, sturdy persist- ence to the close. . . . The work which our system of popular ^education does for girls and boys alike, and which in the middle and upper classes practically goes farther with girls than with boys, told magnificently at this crisis. Everywhere well-educated women were found fully able to understand, and to explain to their sisters, the public questions involved in the war. Everywhere the newspapers, crowded with interest and with discussions, found eager and appreciative readers among the gentler sex. Everywhere started up women acquainted with the order of pubHc business ; al)Le to call and preside over public meetings of their own sex, act as secretaries and committees, draft constitutions and by-laws, open books and keep accounts with adequate precision, appreciate system, and postpone private inclinations or preferences to general principles, enter into extensive correspondence with their own sex, co-operate in the largest and most rational plans proposed by men who had studied carefully the subject 188 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. of soldiers' relief, and adhere, through good report and through evil report, to organizations which commended themselves to their judgment, in spite of local, secta- rian, or personal jealousies and detractions. ... Of the practical talent, the personal worth, the aptitude for public service, the love of self-sacrificing duty, thus developed and nursed into power, and brought tc the knowledge of its possessors and their communities, it is difficult to speak too warmly. Thousands of women learned in this work to despise frivolity, gossip, fashion, and idleness ; learned to think soberly and without prejudice of the capacities of their own sex ; and thus did more to advance the rights of woman, by proving her gifts and her fitness for public duties, than a whole library of arguments and protests. *' The prodigious exertions put forth by the women who founded and conducted the great faijrs for the soldiers in a dozen principal cities, and in many large towns, were only surpassed by the planning, skill, and administrative ability which accompanied their prog- ress, and the marvellous success in which they ter- minated. Months of anxious preparation, where hun- dreds of committees vied with each other in long- headed schemes for securing the co-operation of the several trades and industries allotted to each, and during which laborious days and anxious nights were unintermittingly given to the wearing work, were fol- lowed by weeks of personal service in the fairs them- selves, where the strongest women found their vigor inadequate to the task, and hundreds laid the founda- tions of long illness, and some of sudden death. These sacrifices and far-seeing provisions were justly repaid by almost fabulous returns of money, which, to the extent of nearly three million dollars, flowed into the WOMEN DURING THE CIVIL WAB. 189 treasury of the United States Sanitary Commission. The chief women who inaugurated the several great fairs at New York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and administered these vast movements, were not behind the ablest men in the land in their grasp and comprehension of the business in hand ; and often, in comparison with the men associated with them, exhibited a finer scope, a better spirit, and a more victorious faith. But for the women of America, the great fairs would never have been born, or would have died ignominiously in their gilded cradles. Their vastness of conception and their splendid results are to be set as an everlasting crown on woman's capacity for large and moD ey-yielding enter- prises. The women who led them can never sink back into obscurity." Besides ths United States Sanitary Commission, w^hich was created on the 9th of June, 1861, there was organized the Western Sanitary Commission, which " only supplied the wants of Western armies, and of the freedmen and white refugees of the Mississippi Valley ; " ^ and whose first authority to act came from Gen. Fremont, Sept. 5, 1861. There were also several State Sanitary Commissions ; and in November, ] 861, what was called the United States Christian Commis- sion was organized by the Young Men's Christian Associations convened in New York City at that time. " The general character of the duties of the Commis- sion was defined at the meeting that brought it into existence ; its grand ojbject as avowed was to promote the physical comfort and the spiritual welfare of the brave men of the army and navy, in the field, in the hospital, the prison, or wherever they may he found. 1 Annual Cyclopedia for 1864, p. 739 190 "WOMEN OF THE CBNTUBY. Like the Government, it embraces within the range of its influence the whole Union, and provides for the material and spiritual necessities of suffering humanity, without regard to race, creed, or position. It aims to save life in the hour of peril ; to ameliorate the condi- tion of our soldiers and seamen ; to perform, in the midst of war, the office of a kind friend ; to supply, as far as posidble, the place of home ; to furnish opportune and substantial relief when required ; to bind up the wounds ; to pour in the wine and the oil of love and peace ; to speak a word of sympathy and encourage- ment to the suffering and depressed ; to bring the influ- ences of the gospel to bear upon those who are far from home and its privileges, exposed to the dangers and temptations peculiar to the camp ; to arrest the thoughtless in their course, and reclaim the wayward ; to send forth the living, practical teachers to whisper Christian consolation to the dying, the wounded, the heavy laden in heart." ^ And all this work was faithfully done by every Com- mission ; women laboring in them all, and everywhere toiling faithfully and successfully. To narrate their self-denying deeds, to write aU their names even, would require a volume of many pages ; and they must be left unwritten and untold, but not unhonored and un- known. There were thousands, beside those who were actively connected with the Commissions, that labored for the comfort of the soldier. Quaker women, who could not sanction war and its horrors, were " left at liberty " to pursue a course of benevolence toward the wounded, " as best wisdom might direct ; " and they did not fail to hear the voice within, and heed it, as it told of the Good Samaritan, and said, " Go thou, and do likewise." 1 Annual Cyclopedia for 1864, p. 802. WOMEN DURING THE CIVIL WAR. 191 There is one aged woman in Philadelphia, who has been termed the Corneha of America ; for she, like the mother of the Gracchi of whom Plutarch speaks, con- versed of the sacrifices of her sons for their country " with the calmness that proceeds from unexampled fortitude." She enjoys also the distinction of being the oldest living female graduate of any institution in America. Her name is Mary Ellet. Her diploma from the Jay Ladies' Academy, of Philadelphia, was given to her in her fifteenth year. She was born on the 17th of June, 1779. She is the daughter of that Hannah Erwin Israel who is mentioned as a heroine or the Revolution in the chapter concerning those noble women, and is herself the mother and grandmother of heroes. Her son, Col. Charles Ellet, jun., lost his life in the service of his country ; and the son of that son died from the effects of loyal efforts, which impaired his health. A clergyman called upon her, in company with Mr. George H. Stuart, president of the Christian Commis- sion, whom she desired to employ as her almoner in dis- tributing the proceeds of two beautiful and valuable shawls among the widows and orphans of soldiers fallen in battle. The body of her grandson, Charles Rives Ellet, had just arrived ; and the clergyman ex- pressed the hope that the Lord would sustain her under her bereavement. Her answer was worthy of the American Cornelia. She stated that she had given her son, Col. Ellet of the Ram Fleet, and Brig.-Gen. Ellet of the Marine Brigade, and four grandchildren ; add- ing, '"'' I do not regret the gift to my country. If I had twenty sons, I would give them all, for the country must be preserved. And, if I were twenty years younger, I would go and fight, myself, to the last.^^ The above 192 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. anecdote of her patriotism is from a sketch by Johc W. Forney in 1869. There were women soldiers in the war of the Rebellion as in the war of the Revolution. Women were not only on the battle-field to take care of onr brave defenders, but they were there, not seldom, to show that women can be soldiers in our land and times. The names of Annie Etherldge and others are dear to many regiments as the names of women who were noble and virtuous in character and life, and were brave and fearless on the field of battle. It is confi- dently asserted that " the number of women who ac- tually bore arms in the war, or who, though generally attending a regiment as nurses, at times engaged in the actual conflict, was much larger than is generally sup- posed, and embraces persons of all ranks of society." Those who from whatever cause, whether romance, love, or patriotism (and aU these had their influence), donned the male attire, and concealed their sex, are hardly entitled to a place in our record, since they did not seek to be known as women, but preferred to pass for men ; but aside from these there were not a few who, without abandoning the dress or the prerogatives of their sex, yet performed skilfuUy and weU the duties of soldiers. Among them we may name Madame Tur- chin, wife of Gen. Turchin, who rendered essential service by her coolness, her thorough knowledge of military science, her undaunted courage, and her skill in command. She is the daugliter of a Russian officer, and had been brought up ir the camp, where she was the pet and favorite of the regiment up to nearly the time of her marriage to Gen. Turchin, then a subordi- nate officer in that army. When the war commenced, she and her husband had been for a few years residents WOMEN DURING THE CrVTL WAB. 193 of Illinois ; and, when her husband was commissioned colonel of a regiment of volunteers, she prepared at once to follow him to the field. During the march into Tennessee in the spring of 1862, Col. Turchin was zaken seriously ill, and for some days as carried in an ambu- lance on the route. Madame Turchin took command of the regiment during his illness, and, while ministering kindly and tenderly to her husband, filled his place admirably as commanding the regiment. Her administration was so judicious that no complaint or mutiny was manifested : and her commands were obeyed with the utmost prompt- ness. In the battles that followed, she was constantly under fire, now encouraging the men, and anon rescu- ing some wounded man from the place where he had fallen, administering restoratives, and bringing him off to the field hospital. ... In all the subsequent cam- paigns in the West, this general's wife was in the field, confining herself usually to ministrations of mercy to the wounded, but ready, if occasion required, to lead the troops into action, and always manifesting the most perfect indifference to the shot and shell or the whirring Minie balls that fell around her. She seemed entu-ely devoid of fear, and, though so constantly exposed to the enemy's fire, never received even a scratch. The Rev. A. H. Conant, who was the devoted chap- lain of the Nineteenth Illinois while this lady was con- nected with it, wrote about her to his wife, in a letter dated Aug. 20, 1861. The Rev. Robert CoUyer quotes it in his Memoir of the lamented chaplain. Mr. Conant wrote thus : " The few ladies — officers' wives in camp — are worth more than a file of soldiers in keeping order. I wish we could have twice as many ; but it is no place for a woman of delicate nerves. The most 194 WOMEN OF, THE CENTURY. shocking sights, sounds, and odors of all sorts are of perpetual occurrence : yet a strong-minded and pure- hearted woman may pass through it all unharmed. Mrs. Turchin blooms like a fair flower in it. She reminds me very much of Lucy Stone Blackwell. With all the refinement of a lady, she has the energy and self-reh- ance of a man ; she feels able to take charge of herself, carries a nice little revolver and dagger in her belt, and has a dignity of manner and bearing that seourea respect from the roughest soldier." Another remarkable heroine, who, while from the lower walks of life, was yet faithful and unwearied in her labors for the relief of the soldiers who were wounded, and who not unfrequently took her place in the ranks, or cheered and encouraged the men when they were faltering and ready to retreat, was Bridget Divers, a stout robust Irishwoman who accompanied the First Michigan Cavalry regiment, in which her husband was a private, to the field, and remained with the regiment and the brigade to which it belonged until the close of the war. She became well known throughout the brigade, for her fearlessness and daring, and her skill in bringing off the wounded. Occasion- ally when a soldier whom she knew fell in action, after rescuing him if he was only wounded, she would take his place, and fight as bravely as the best." Mrs. Hus- band, in Brockett's interesting volume about the Work of Women in the War, tells this story of her energy and courage : " In one of Sheridan's grand raids, dur- ing the latter days of the Rebellion, she as usual rode with the troops night and day, wearing out several horses until they dropped from exhaustion. In a severe cavalry engagement, in which her regiment took a prom- inent part, her colonel was wounded, and her captain WOMEN DURING THE CIVIL WAR. 195 killed. She accompanied the former to the lear, where she ministered to his needs ; and, when placed in the cars bound to City Point Hospital, she remained with him, giving all the relief in her power, on that fatigu- ing journey, although herself almost exhausted, having been without sleep four days and nights. After seeing her colonel safely and comfortably lodged in the hospi- tal, she took one night's rest, and returned to the front. Finding that her captain's body had not been recovered, it being hazardous to make the attempt, she resolved to rescue it, as ' it never should be left on rebel soU.' So, with her orderly for sole companion, she rode fifteen miles to the scene of the late conflict, found the body she sought, strapped it upon her horse, rode back seven miles to an embalmer's, where she waited whilst the body was embalmed ; then, again strapping it on her horse, she rode several miles farther to the cars, in which with her precious burden she proceeded to City Point, there obtained a rough coffin, and forwarded the whole to Michigan. Without any delay, Bridget returned to her regiment, and told some officers tha+ wounded men had been left on the field from which she had rescued her captain's body. They did not credit her tale : so she said, ' Furnish me some ambulances, and I will bring them in.' The conveyances were given her : she retraced her steps to the deserted battle- field, and soon had some eight or ten poor sufferers in the wagons on their way to camp. The roads were rough, and their moans and cries gave evidence of intense agony. While still some miles from their desti- nation, Bridget saw several rebels approaching. She ordered the drivers to quieken their pace, and endeav- ored to urge her horse forward ; but he balked, und refused to move. The drivers, becoming alanx^pd, 196 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. deserted their charge, and fled to the woods, while the wounded men begged that they might not be left to the mercy of the enemy, and to suffer in Southern prisons. The rebels soon came up. Bridget plead with them to leave the sufferers unmolested ; but they laughed at her, took the horses from the ambulances, and such articles of value as the men possessed, and then dashed off the way they came. Poor Bridget was almost desperate, darkness coming on, and with no one to help her, the wounded men beseeching her not to leave them. For- tunately, an officer of our army rode up to see what the matter was, and soon sent horses and assistance to the party. When the war ended, Bridget accompanied her regiment to Texas, from whence she returned with them to Michigan ; but the attractions of army life were too strong to be overcome, and she has since joined one of the regiments of the regular army stationed on the plains in the neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains." Mrs. Katy Brownell, the wife of an orderly ser- geant of the First and afterwards of the Fifth Rhode Island Infantry, who like Madame Turchin was born in the camp, and was the daughter of a Scottish soldier of the British army, was another of those half-soldier heroines. Adopting a semi-military dress, and prac- tising daily with the sword and rifle, she became as skilful a shot and as expert a swordsman as any of the company of sharpshooters to which she was attached. Of this company she was the chosen color-bearer ; and asking no indulgences, she marched with the men, car- rying the flag, and participating in the battle as bravely as any of her comrades. In the first battle of Bull Run, she stood by her colors, and maintained her position till all her regiment and several others had retreated ; and came very near falling into the hands of WOMEN DURING THE CIYTL WAB. 197 the enemy. She was in the expedition of Gen. Burn- side to Roanoke l&land and Newbern, and by her cool- ness and intrepidity saved the Fifth Rhode Island from being fired upon by our own troops by mistake. Her husband was severely wounded in an engagement at Newbern ; and she rescued him from his position of danger. He was finally pronounced unfit for service ; and she returned to Rhode Island with him, and received her discharge from the army. These are only a few of the many instances where women showed that they could and would be soldiers, warriors, defend- ers of the " dear old flag." It is diflBcult to ascertain all the facts relative to such instances ; and I am obliged to confess, that, in some cases, the women-warriors failed to maintain that unsullied character without which courage and daring are of little worth. But whether the women who fought in Revolutionary days or in the late war, or defended their homes in " bleeding Kansas," as many were obliged to do with rifle and ball, — whether they were honest and virtuous women, has nothing to do with the question of their ability to fight. Facts — the stern uncompromising facts of history — show that women have been warriors ; and what woman has done woman can do. So when the opponents of woman suffrage say, " You can't fight : therefore you should not vote," point quietly to the record, and say, " Women can fight, if they will." Heaven be praised that they do not all wish to fight I or earth would be a pandemonium at once. But Heaven be praised also, that, when Kansas homes were in danger, the women were as brave as the men ; and when rebellion aimed a parricidal blow at our country's flag, and all our free and glorious institutions were imperilled, women were uot wanting to prepare sanitary stores, to tend the 198 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. dying soldiers in our hospitals, ay, and to fight, if thej chose, the battle of liberty. The WOMEN NURSES of those four years of war won deserved commendation. The book called " Wo- man's Work in the War " renders due praise to those devoted patriots. Rev. Dr. Bellows, referring to them and their noble work, in his introduction, said, " Of the labors of women in the hospitals and in the field, this book gives a far fuller history than is likely to be got from any other source, as this sort of service cannot be recorded in the histories of organized work. For far the largest part of this work was done by persons of exceptional energy and some fine natural aptitude for the service, which was independent of organizations, and hardly submitted itself to any rules except the impulses of devoted love for the work, — supplying tact, patience, and resources. The women who did hospital service continuously, or who kept themselves near the base of armies in the field, or who moved among the camps, and travelled with the corps, were an exceptional class, as rare as heroines always are ; a class representing no social grade, but coming from all ; belonging to no rank or age of Hfe in particu- lar, sometimes young and sometimes old, sometimes refined and sometimes rude ; now of fragile physical aspect, and then of extraordinary robustness : but, in all cases, women with a mighty love and earnestness in their hearts, — a love and pity, and an ability to show it forth and to labor in behalf of it, equal to that which in other departments of life distinguishes poets, philos- ophers, sages, and saints, from ordinary or average men. Moved by an indomitable desire to serve in person the victims of wounds and sickness, a few hundred women , impelled bv instincts which assured them of their abil- WOMEN DURING THE CIVrL TVA.lv. 199 Ity to endure the hardships, overcome the obEtaeles, and adjust themselves to the unusual and unfeminine cir- cumstances in which they would be placed, made theii way through all obstructions at home, and at the seat of war, or in the hospitals, to the bedsides of the sick and wounded men, ... A grander collection of women, whether considered in their intellectual or their moral qualities, their heads or their hearts, I have not had the happiness of knowing, than the women I saw in the hospitals : they were the flower of their sex. Great as were the labors of those who superintended the operations at home, of collecting and preparing supplies for the hospitals and the field, I cannot but think that the women who lived in the hospitals or among the soldiers required a force of character and a glow of devotion and self-sacrifice, of a rarer kind. They were reaUy heroines. They conquered their fem- inine sensibility at the sight of blood and wounds, their native antipathy to disorder, confusion, and vio- lence ; subdued the rebellious delicacy of their more exquisite senses ; lived coarsely, and dressed and slept rudely ; they studied the caprices of men to whom their ties were simply human, — men often ignorant, feeble-minded, out of their senses, raving with pain and fever ; they had a still harder service, to bear with the pride, the official annoyance, the hardness or the folly, perhaps the impertinence and presumption, of half-trained medical men, whom the urgencies of the case had fastened on the service. Their position was always critical, equivocal, suspected, and to be justified only by their undeniable and conspicuous merits, their wisdom, patience, and proven efficiency ; justified by the love and reverence they exacted from the soldiers themselves. True, the rewards of these women were 200 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. equal to their sacrifices. They drew their pay from a richer treasury than that of the United States Govern- ment. I never knew one of them who had had a long service, whose memory of the grateful looks of the dying, of the few 'awkward words that fell from the lips of thankful convalescents, or the speechless eye- following of the dependent soldier, or the pressure of a rough hand softened to womanly gentleness by long illness, was not the sweetest treasure of all their lives. Nothing in the power of the nation to give or to say can ever compare for a moment with the proud satisfac- tion which every brave soldier who risked his life for his country always carries in his heart of hearts ; and no public recognition, no thanks from a saved nation, can ever add any thing of much importance to the rewards of those who tasted the actual joy of min- istering, with their own hands and hearts, to the wants of ooi- sick and dying men." The hospitals established by the Empress Helena in the fifth century were an evidence of Christian feeling ; and it was the same Christianity in action, that was evident in Margaret Fullr ? and in Florence Nightingale when in Italy and in the Crimea they nursed the wounded soldiers. That same Christian spirit sent women, young and old, grave and gay, homely and handsome, to the hospitals where " our boys in blue " needed their assistance. Bravely they wrought, and often bravely they fell, by the side of those whom they nui-sed, and were the martyrs of liberty as well as they. Helen L. Gilson of Massachusetts was one of those. She is mentioned in the book " Woman's Work in the War;" but the sixteen pages given to her are not enough to show her devotion to the cause for which she sacrificed health ; and it is feared the life which she yielded not WOM31N DURING THE CIVIL WAR. 201 long after the war was a final sacrifice, for which those who knew her best were least prepared. " In the sum- mer of 1862 Miss Gilson was for some time attached to the Hospital Transport Service, and was on board ' The Knickerbocker ' when up the Pamunky River at White Horse, and afterward at Harrison's Landing during the severe battles which marked McClellan's movement from the Chickahominj to the James River. Amidst the terrible scenes of those eventful days, the quiet energy, the wonderful comforting and soothing power, and the perfect adaptability of Miss Gilson to her work, were conspicuous. Whatever she did was done well, and so noiselessly that only the results were seen. When not more actively employed, she would sit by the bedsides of the sulfering men, and charm away their pain by the magnetism of her low, calm voice, and soothing words. She sang for them ; and kneeUug beside them, where they lay amidst all the agonizing sights and sounds of the hospital wards, and even upon the field of carnage, her voice would ascend in petition for peace, for relief, for sustaining grace in the brief journey to the other world, carrying with it their souls into the realms of an exalted faith." ^ Dr. William Howell Reed thus eloquently testified concerning this sainted nurse, who, though superior in education and refinement perhaps to many, was yet in her efforts for the soldiers a type of the ©ther faithful nurses from the East and West. " One afternoon just before the evac- uation, when the atmosphere of our rooms was close and foul, and all were longing for a breath of our cooler northern air, while the men were moaning in pain or were restless with fever, and our hearts were sick with pity for the sufferers, I heard a light step upon the 1 Woman's Work in the Civil War, p. 136. 202 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Btairs ; and looking up I saw a young lady enter, wlio brought with her such an atmosphere of calm and cheerful courage, so much freshness, such an expression of gentle, womanly sympathy, that her mere presence seemed to revive the drooping spirits of the men, and to give a new power of endurance through the long and painful hours of suffering. First with one, then at the side of another, a friendly word here, a gentle nod and smile there, a tender sympathy with each pros- trate sufferer, a sympathy which could read in his eyes his longing for home love and for the presence of some absent one, — in those few minutes hers was indeed an angel ministry. Before she left the room, she sang to them, — first some stirring national melody, then some Bweet or plaintive hymn to strengthen the fainting heart ; and I remember how the notes penetrated to every part of the building. Soldiers with less severe wounds, from the rooms above, began to crawl out into the entries ; and men from below crept up on their hands and knees to catch every note, and to receive of the benediction of her presence — for such it was to them. Then she went away. I did not know who she was ; but I was as much moved and melted as any soldier of them all. This is my first reminiscence of Helen L. Gilson." ^ Otlier writers than those mentioned — Rev. Charles H. Leonard in the " Ladies' Repository," and Mrs. P. M. Clapp in the " Old and New," and others — have also told the story of her noble work. Her relative, Hon. Frank B. Fay, under whose charge she went to the battle-fields, has sanctioned all their praise ; and the fast-falling tears of many soldiers who attended hei funeral, and laid their tributes of violets on her casket, 1 Hospital Life in the Army of the Potomac. WOMEN DURING THE CIYTL WAR, 203 while they reverently bent and touched with quivering lips the icy brow of their true friend, attest the charac- ter and service of this noble woman. " What radiance of womanly sweetness she spread around her by her presence, the music of her voice, her gracious loveli- ness I " exclaimed Rev. William H. Channing concern- ing her ; and added, " How raised above all frivolous foUy she seemed, by earnest straightforwardness, trans- parent sincerity, and commanding conscience 1 . . . Do you remember that Sunday evening in the gloaming, when she came with her attendant on horseback to the Rowe House Hospital on the plains, and at our request, standing at the head of the stairs, sang hymn after hymn to our poor wounded fellows ? They said it was like the voices of angels. Ay, it was so. She stands for us now at the head of the golden stairway to the heavens ; and the voice is ever, ' Nearer, my God, to thee, — nearer to thee.' " This chapter will not afford space for due record of similar noble service on the part of the many other women who were nurses ; but Clara Barton must not be forgotten. She performed the same work for the wounded soldiers, often at the risk of her life ; and when the war was over she organized the " Bureau of Records of Missing Men in the Armies of the United States," which was found afterwards to be an enterprise of great value to the Government, as well as to the friends of the soldiers. She induced the Government to lay out ceme- tery grounds at AndersonviUe, placing head-boards when possible to identify the graves. During the French and Prussian war she was in Europe, assisting the women of the nobility in their efforts for the wounded soldiers, and doing noble service for humanity In a foreign as she had already done in her native land. 204 WOMEN OF THE CENTUBY. The name of Clara Babton will forever shine among the women who won a deathless fame in the days of war that called for loyal and philanthropic effort. She is a native of Massachusetts, and the daughter of one who served his country as a soldier in the West, in the early days of the Republic. The mere list of those who followed in the same path that those mentioned made glorious would extend this chapter to an unreasonable length : therefore the reader must be referred to those books which are devoted wholly to the record of these noble deeds, and to such books as the various histories of the civil war, to biog- raphies such as those of '' Chaplain Fuller," Lieut. Derby,' Ulric Dahlgren,' Major Soule,^ and the Hke, and to the histories which have been published of the Civil War. " Mother" Bickbrdykb of the West, Mrs. Harris, Mrs. Eliza C. Porter, Margaret Elizabeth Breckenridge, Mrs. Barker, Amy M. Bradley, Mrs. Arabella Griffith Barlow, Mrs. Nellie Maria Taylor, Mrs. Adeline Tyler, Mrs. Hol- STEiN, Mrs. Cordelia A. P. Harvey, Emily E. Parsons, Mrs. Sarah R. Johnston, Almira Fales, Cornelia Hancock, Mrs. Mary Morris Husband, (granddaughter of Robert Morris, the great financier of our Revolutionary war), Katherenb P. Wormelky, the Misses Woolsey, Anna Maria Ross, Mary J. Safford (now Dr. M. Safford Blake), Mrs. Lydia G. Parrish, Mrs. Annie Wittenmeyer (whose tem- perance work will be hereafter mentioned). Miss Mel- CENLA Elliott, Mary Dwight Pettes, Louisa 1 The Youug Captain; and Field, Gunboat, Hospital, and Prison Both by Phebe A. Hanaford « By Rev A. CaldweU. WOMEN DURING THE CIVIL WAR. 205 Maertz, Mrs. Harriet R. Colfax, Clara Davis (now the wife of Rev. Edward Abbott of Cambridgeport, Mass.), Mrs. R. H. Spencer, Mrs. Harriet Footb Hawley, Ellen E. Mitchell, Miss Vance, and Miss Blackmar, Hattib a. Dada, Sitsan E. Hall, Mrs. Sarah P. Edson, Maria M . C. Hall, Mrs. Abby Hopper Gibbons and daughter Sarah H. Gibbons, Mrs. E. J. Russell, Mrs. Mary W. Lee, Cornelia M. Tompkins, Mrs. Anna C. McMeens, Mrs. Jerusha R. Small, Mrs. S. A. Martha Canfield, INIrs. E. Thomas and Miss Morris, Mrs. Shepard Wells, Mrs. E. C. Wetherell, Phebe Allen, Mrs. Edwin Greble, Mrs. Isabella Fogg, Mrs. E. E. George, Mrs. Charlotte E. McKay, Mrs. Fanny L. Ricketts, Mrs. I. S. Phelps, Mrs. Jane R. Mun- 8ELL, — all these ladies are mentioned as heroic and efficient women nurses in " Woman's Work in the Civil War ; " and to that book the reader must be commended for further knowledge of them. Besides those whose names have been published in books, there were many more teachers who spent their school-vacations in the hospital, as did M. Jennie Miles of Waltham, Mass., and others ; and women who, like Mrs. Lucie F. John- son and sister Mrs. Sarah Spear of New Haven, and Mary E. Capen of Boston, and others, who were con- tent to be blessings to the suffering soldiers, but whose names have not been scattered far and wide, though their labors are appreciated. Surely the women of thia war-portion of our century are women of whom the nation may well be proud. Volumes would be required to give due credit to such women as Abby W. May of Boston, and her co- laborers, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, then of Chicago (though Boston born), and Mrs. A. M. Hoge, and their 206 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. assistants, who organized aid-societies, and solicited received, and forwarded supplies to the hospital, devot- ing most or the whole of their time to this work. Mrs. Maby a. Livermobb did essential service, both in hospitals, in aid-societies, bj conducting fairs, and by her eloquent voice and active pen, addressing audiences in such a way as to gain all she asked for the soldiers, and wielding, through the paper of which she and her patriotic husband were editors, an influence which was wide extended, in behalf of loyalty and freedom. " During the whole war, even in the busiest times, not a week was passed that she did not publish sometvhere two or three columns at the least. Letters, incidents, appeals, editorial correspondence, — always something useful, interesting, — head and hands were always busy ; and the small implement, ' mightier than the sword,' was never allowed to rest unused in the inkstand. ... In the autumn of 1863, the great North-western Sanitary Fair, the first of that series of similar fairs which united the North in a bond of large and wide- spread charity, occurred. It was Mrs. Livermore who suggested and planned the first fair, which netted almost one hundred thousand dollars to the Sanitary Commis- sion. Mrs. Hoge had at first no confidence in the pro iect ; but she afterward joined it, and, giving it her earnest aid, helped to carry it to a successful conclusion. It was indeed a giant plan ; and it may be chiefly cred- ited, from its inception to its fortunate close, to these indefatigable and skilful workers."^ The biographical sketches of Mrs. Hoge and Mrs. Livermore in Dr. Brockett's book are full of interest. A brief sketch is there also of Miss May, a woman of rare executive ability. With characteristic modesty she once wrote 1 Woman's Work in the Civil War. WOMEN DURING THE CIVIL WAR. 207 to a lady who asked for items and names wl: ere with to make due record of the work of women in New Eng- land, " It was necessary that some one should be at the head of the work, and this place it was my blessed privilege to fill. But it was only an accidental promi- nence ; and I should regret more than I can express to you, to have this accident of position single me out in any such manner as you propose from the able, devoted, glorious women all about me, whose sacrifices and faithfulness and nobleness I can hardly conceive of, much less speak of, and never approach to. As far as I am personally concerned, I would rather your notice of our part of the work should be of ' New England women.' We shared the privileges of the work ; not always equally : that would be impossible ; but we stood side by side through it all, as New England women ; and, if we are to be remembered hereafter, it ought to be under that same good old title, and in one goodly company. When I begin to think of individual cases, I grow full of admiration, and wish I could tell you of many a special woman ; but the number soon becomes appalling, — your book would be overrun, and all or most of those who would have been omitted might well have been there too." This is just the state of mind in which the brief record of woman's work in the war has been penned for this chapter. If a book could not contain them, how much less can one chapter 1 The recording angel, thank Heaven 1 knows them all ; and their " labor was not in vain in the Lord." Rev. Dr. T. M. Eddy, in his intro- duction to " The Boys in Blue," Mrs. Hoge's thrilling book, wherein she gives the credit so largely due to the " rank and file " of the army of the Union, truly declares, " It will be a wonderful story, if ever some one shall 208 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. write, as it should be written, ' Woman's Deeds in the War,' and tell, as it should be told, the story of her heroic toil. Enough is known, enough has been told, to excite the world's admiration ; but much remains untold." When the war was over, there was a work for the women of this century to do, in training the freedmen, and especially their children ; and the noble women who had been nurses, and many who had not, enlisted in this new enterprise, with the same Christian zeal and self-sa'^rifice that they had shown in the hospitals. The niece of the poet Whittier was among them, wearing a name that is dear to all lovers of freedom, because hia lyrics have so earnestly plead for the slave. Anna Gardner was there, the teacher of colored children on her native island of Nantucket, when the abolitionists were ostracised. She taught one of the first normal schools ever established for colored girls, and doubtless did grand service in training for the negroes of the South teachers of their own race. The New England Commission employed about seventy teachers, twenty- two in Virginia; and most of these were women who were zealous and self-sacrificing, and wi-ought an untold amount of good for the freedmen. The American Tract Society has issued a little volume as a deserved tribute to one Christian woman, — a free colored woman, whose father was a white man, — Maby S. Peake, who was the first teacher at Fortress Monroe. After long years of silent and, as many felt, unrighteous ignoring of the question of slavery, the American Tract Society at last gave the meed of praise to Christian effort without regard to race or color Among the ladies distinguished for service among the freedmen, is Mrs. Frances D. Gage, a lady of Ohio WOMEN DURING THE CrVTL WAR. 209* birth, but of New England parentage. Early the wife of a lawyer who was an abolitionist, she shared with him his hatred of oppression. Her family of eight children necessarily took much of her time : yet she was able to use her graceful pen, and dealt powerful blows for freedom, temperance, and other reforms. She fought the. battle of an abolitionist anew when she removed from Ohio to St. Louis. She has lived the hfe of a philanthropist ; and when the war broke out she gave voice and pen to the right, editing, si)eaking, and writ- ing ever till the cry of the freedmen reached her, and she found herself free from other cares, and found her mission among them. Four of her own boys were in the Union army ; and in the autumn of 1862 she went without appointment or salary to Port Royal, where and at other places near she labored fourteen months. She returned North in 1863, and lectured on her expe- riences among the freedmen, rousing others to labor also for their welfare. This all winter, wearying and unpaid work for herself, but successful as far as the cause was concerned ; and then in summer down the Mississippi as the unsalaried agent of the Western Sanitary Commission. Her name will forever stand among the noble, faithful women of the first century who " remembered those in bonds as bound with them," who cared for the soldier and the freedman, and to whom our God has already said, " Well done 1 " Mrs. Lucy Gaylord Powers was another true friend of the soldier and the freedman. " Her last active benevolent work was commenced in 1863, — the foundation of an asylum at the capital for the freed orphans and destitute aged colored women whom the war and the Proclamation of Emancipation had thrown upon the care of the benevolent." But she was in 210 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. feeble health for years, and died on the bosom of the lordly Hudson, as she was going in the steamer to Albany, on the 20th of July, 1863. " After her life of usefulness, her name at last stands high upon the roll of martyr- women whom this war has made." ' Mabia Rullann of Massachusetts proved herself worthy of her kinship to the first secretary of the board of education isi that Commonwealth, who finished his noble career as president of Antioch College, Ohio, by her faithful service as a teacher and philanthropic worker in Helena, Ark., and afterward as a teacher of colored people in Washington and Georgetown. Sarah J. Haqar was one of the heroic nurses, and served by the side of her mother, Mrs. C. C. Hagar, and after- wards taught among the freedmen at Vicksburg, where she died, giving her life for the sacred cause. Mrs. Josephine R. Griffen was a heroine, who was always an advocate for freedom, was faithful to the soldier boys when her other duties in Washington allowed, and finally took charge of the good work for freedmen in that vicinity. One of the philanthropic methods she pursued in their behalf was the finding of good places for domestic service for them, and taking a company from time to time to various Northern and Western cities. " The cost of these expeditions she provided almost entirely from her own means ; her daughters, who have inherited their mother's spirit, helping as far as possible in her noble work. She has now gone to her rest. Further mention will be made of her among the reformers. " There were great numbers of other ladies equally efficient in the freedmen's schools and homes in the Atlantic States ; but their work was mainly imder the direction of Freedmen's Relief, and subsequently 1 Woman's Work in the Civil War WOMEN DURING THE CIVIL WAR. 211 of the American Union Commission ; and it is not easy to obtain from them accounts of the labors of particular individuals. The record of the women who have labored faithfully, and not a few of them to the loss of their health or lives, in work which was in some re- spects even more repulsive to the natural sensibilities than that in the hospitals, if smaller in numbers, is not less honorable than that of their sisters in the hos- pitals." * Reluctantly the theme is concluded ; for " the half has not been told " concerning the work of women during the war for the soldiers, and during and since the war for the freedmen. The aeons of the future alone can give the opportunity for a full history of their noble work and their blessed influence. It is a tale of self-sacrifice and of heroism. And there were heroic women. North and South ; women loyal to the Union, who sacrificed and toiled for the " dear old flag." Henry C. Watson compiled a volume in 1852, called " Heroic Women of History." Had he waited a decade, he could have written three of the same octavo size, and not have exhausted the theme. He declares in his preface, " An heroic woman is almost an object of wor- ship." Then there are many shrines to-day for the devotees of physical and moral heroism ; for North and South, the women of the first century were brave, patriotic, and heroic. The women of Gettysburg " won for themselves a high and honorable record for their faithfulness to the flag, their generosity and their devotion to the wounded. Chief among these, since she gave her life for the cause, we must reckon Mrs. Jennie Wade, who continued her generous work of baking bread for the Union army, till ^ Woman's Work in the Civil War.j 212 WOMEN OF TECE CENTURY. a rebel shot killed her instantly. A rebel officer oi high rank was killed almost at the same moment near her door ; and the rebel troops, hastily constructing a rude coffin, were about to place the body of their com- mander in it for burial, when, in the swaying to and fro of the armies, a Union column drove them from the ground, and, finding Mrs. Wade dead, placed her in the coffin intended for the rebel officer. In that coffim she was buried the next day, amidst the tears of hundreds who knew her courage and kindness of heart. . . . Miss Carrie Sheads, the principal of Oak Ridge Female Seminary, is also deserving of a place in our record, for her courage, humanity, and true womanly tact. . . . Another young lady of Gettysburg, Miss Amelia Har- mon, a pupil of Miss Sheads, displayed a rare heroism under circumstances of trial." * The bravery and patriotism of Barbara Frietchie has been fitly told by Whittier ; and the heroism of Mrs. Hetty M. McEwen, who would not permit the rebels to tear down the dear old flag that waved above her dying son, has been finely told by Mrs. Lucy H. Hooper. " The loyal women of Richmond were a noble band. Amid obloquy, persecution, and in some cases impris- onment (one of them was imprisoned for nine months for aiding Union prisoners), they never faltered in their allegiance to the old flag, nor in their sympathy and services to the Union prisoners at Libby and Belle Isle and Castle Thunder. With the aid of twenty-one loyal white men in Richmond, they raised a fund of thirteen thousand dollars in gold, to aid Union prisoners, while their gifts of clothing, food, and luxuries, were of much greater value. Some of these ladies were treated with great cruelty by the rebels, and finally driven from the 1 WoTTiaTi'8 Work in the Civil War. "WOMEN DURING THE CIVIL WAR. 213 city ; but no one of them ever proved false to loyalty. In Charleston, too, hotbed of the Rebellion as it was, there was a Union league, of which the larger propor- tion were women, some of them wives or daughters of prominent rebels, who dared every thing, even their life, their liberty, and their social position, to render aid and comfort to the Union soldiers, and to facilitate the return of a government of liberty and law. Had we space, we might fill many pages with the heroic deeds of these noble women." ^ Abruptly the chapter must close, for it is simply im- possible to do justice to all the noble Union women. God knows them all, and will one day say to each, " In- asmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me." a Work In the ClvU War. CHAPTER VII. LITERARY WOMEN. Hannah Adams — Catherine M. Sedgwick — Catherine E. Beecher — Sarali J. Hale — Margaret Fuller D'Ossoli — Adeline D. T. Whit- ney — Harriet Beecher Stowe — Frances Dana Gage — Julia Ward Howe — Elizabeth Stuart Phelps — Louisa M. Alcott, &c. " No good of worth sublime will Heaven permit To light on man, as from the passing air: The lamp of genius, though by Nature ht. If not protected, pruned, and fed with care, Soon dies, or runs to waste with fitful glare ; And learning is a plant that spreads and towers Slow as Columbia's aloe." Carlos Wilcox. " What thou seest, write in a book." — Rev. i. 2. THE eloquent Bethune expressed the truth in regard to woman's worth in the fiekl of modern literature, where she has certainly won a place both large and high, when he said, " What the elevation of woman has done for the reform of social manners, her educated mind is doing for our books." America has furnished her full share of women useful 214 LITERARY WOMEN. 215 and notable with the pen ; and it is among the elements of her centennial glory, that her list of those who have written wisely and with an attractive pen is long and bright. But again the brevity which is needful forbids all the praise which is due. A portion only of the stars in the galaxy of women who love literature, and have been successful in the paths of literary endeavor, can be mentioned here. Abigail Adams won the laurels which no other president's wife ever won, when she ' wrote her " Let- ters," albeit she did not write them for publication ; yet, being published in after-years, they showed her worthy of a place among the " women of letters " in our land. Hannah Adams, the daughter of a farmer in Med- field, Mass., was born in 1755 ; but she wrote for many years after this century commenced, and belongs among its literary women, as one who has helped others who have since arisen to fame. She left off the making of lace for a living, in order to prepare young men for col- lege ; and her fame as a teacher was great. Yet she is more known by her books, " The View of Religion " (a history of different sects), " The History of New England," " The Evidences of the Christian Religion," and a " History of the Jews," which latter is now con- sidered the most valuable of her productions. She was a childlike and eccentric person. Mrs. Child, in her " Letters from New York," devotes a chapter to anec- dotes concerning her. Absent-minded but kind-hearted, with literary ability but no business capacity, she would have suffered in her old age but for three wealthy gentlemen of Boston, who settled an annuity upon her. She died in 1832, aged seventy-six, and was the first person buried in Mount Auburn. " She was warmly cherished and esteemed for the singular excellence, 216 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. purity, and simplicity of her character. . . . Through life, the gentleness of her manners, and the sweetness of her temper, were childlike. She trusted all her cares to the control of her heavenly Father ; and she did not trust in vain." ^ Mrs. Sigourney, and other American women who have won distinction with the pen, but who have written more verse than prose, or are better known as poets, will be mentioned in another chapter. A writer in the " North American Review " ^ declares, that " it is a for- tunate thing for any country, that a portion of its litera- ture should fall into the hands of the female sex ; because their influence in every walk of letters is almost sure to be powerful and good." Such has surely been the influence of our American women, who have written books the world will not soon stop reading. Catherine M. Sedgwick was one of these. She was born in Stockbridge, Mass.; and her first book appeared in 1822. It was called " The New England Tale," and was received so favorably that in 1827 she published a novel in two volumes, called " Redwood." This was republished in England, and translated into French and Italian. She then produced her most popu- lar tale, " Hope Leslie ; or. Early Times in America." Then came " Clarence," " Le Bijou," and " The Lin- woods ; or, Sixty Years since in America." Several volumes for the young, and a collection of her tales, then met the public eye ; and in 1840 she published " Letters from Abroad to Kindred at Home," and shortly after a " Life of Lucretia M. Davidson." Miss Sedgwick was a frequent contributor to the periodicals of her day ; and her fugitive sketches were afterward collected to enhance 1 Woman's Record, by Mrs. Hale. « Vol. XTvi. p. 403. LITERARY WOMEN. 217 the value of a new edition of her works. A writer in the "National Portrait Gallery," with many other words of commendation, says, " Her style is peculiarly good : equally free from stiffness and negligence, it is more distinguished by delicacy and grace than strength ; and the purity of her English may afford a model to some of our learned scholars." She lived a useful life in philanthropic as well as literary ways, until 1867, when sh2 passed away. Mary E. Dewey has written hei biography in a charming manner. Mrs. Kemble writes, " Her memory now remains to me, as that of one of the most charming, most amiable, and most excellent persons I have ever known." The world is blessed, when such a woman uses the pen. Margaret Fuller D'Ossoli was, many think, the grandest woman of the nineteenth century. She was certainly one of the most cultured which America ever sent to the Old World, at the time she went, — in 1846. Born 23d of May, 1810, in Massachusetts, of educated and refined parentage, she gave herself to study with a thoroughness and enthusiasm seldom if ever equalled. " Few eminent scholars, struggling in youth for univer- sity honors, and preparing for a career of exclusive literary labor, have made such attainments, in the same period of life, in philosophy and various learning, as Margaret Fuller accomplished long before she was twenty." ^ Reverses of fortune, following her father's death, led her to become the teacher of the youngei members of the family, and finally to teach others. She taught Latin and French in the school which A. Bronson Alcott had established in Boston, and assisted private pupils also in the study of various languages. An evening of each week in this busy period was given I Portrait Gallery of Eminent Men and Women. 218 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. to reading German authors to Dr. Channing. She soon after became principal of a school in Providence, R.I. In 1839 she opened classes for conversation in Boston, which were largely attended and became widely famous. There was more of excellent lecturing on her part than of conversation on the part of her class. " Greek Mythology " was one of the principal themes. Five winter seasons these oral lectures continued ; the fine arts, ethics, education, with kindred topics, supplying the themes. Margaret's pen was busy also. She trans- lated from the German several works ; and in 1840 she was engaged in furnishing articles for " The Dial, a Mag- azine for Literature, Philosophy, and Religion," which was continued quarterly till 1844. The first two vol- umes she edited. "Several of her best articles were written for it ; among which may be particularly men- tioned a judicious appreciation of Goethe, full of insight and sagacity, in the fifth number ; and a finely conceived discussion of what is called the woman question, in a paper entitled ' The Great Lawsuit,' in the fourth vol- ume, which was subsequently developed into a volume bearing the title, ' Woman in the Nineteenth Century,' a highly poetical as well as practical treatment of the subject in many of its aspects, with illustrations drawn from the heroism and literature of all lands." ' In the autimin of 1844 Miss Fuller accepted an offer to write for " The New York Tribune," and removed to the resi- dence of Horace Greeley. Twenty-five years afterward the talented wife of Mr. Greeley bore ample testimony (in conversation with the author of this volume) to her genius as a writer, and her attractions as a woman. She lived in the hearts of those who knew her, though they may not always have been her equals intellectually ; 1 Portrait Gallery, &c. LITBBAKY WOMEN. 219 and those who did come near to her in sympathy for reforms or culture always held her in highest esteem. Of her sojourn in foreign lands ; her marriage ttere ; hei labors in Italian hospitals ; the birth of her only child, whose remains rest in Mount Auburn ; her sad shipwreck on Fire Island beach on the IGth of July, 1850, — one may read in the admirable memoir prepared by three of her friends, — Ralph Waldo Emerson, James Freeman Clarke, and William H. Channing. Her memoir in two volumes, and her works in four, form a valuable set of books for any library, and are a better monument to her worth and genius than any granite shaft or marble statue could be. Her name lives in the history of American literature, an inspiration to the student, a strength to the reformer, one of the noble women of whom America may well be proud. Emily Chubbuck Judson, well known by her nom de plume of Fanny Forrester, was a literary woman who struggled upward through circumstances of poverty and discouragement to a high place among the writers of our land. She was born in Eaton, Madison County, N.Y., Aug. 22, 1817. When only eleven she worked in a woollen factory, going to the district school when the mill was closed in winter. She engaged in mantua-mak- ing, while she studied at other hours ; helped to take charge of the house with the boarders, by which the family gained a livelihood ; rose at two o'clock to wash before school-time some days, and sat up till two o'clock studying on other occasions. Finally, when only fifteen, she obtained a situation as teacher, and thenceforward she taught and wrote, till her name became familiar to the patrons of the Utica Female Seminary as a teacher, and to the readers of " The New Mirror " as a writer of sprightly prose or touching verse. Her first book was 220 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY, " Charles Linn," for which she only received fifty-one dollars, the proceeds of an edition of fifteen hundred. Other juvenile works were issued by the Baptist Sun- day School Publishing House ; and with the proceeds, and out of her small salary of one hfindred and fifty dollars and board, she saved enough in four years to buy a house and garden for her parents at Hamilton, thus gratifying the filial instincts of her noble nature. Her magazine stories were published in book-form, with the title of " Alderbrook," the book by which she was mostly known until, in 1846, she became the wife of the eminent missionary, Adoniram Judson. She then pre- pared the " Memoir of Sarah Boardman Judson," and for a season labored in a foreign land, learning the Bur- mese language. In 1847 her daughter was bom, and her poem, " Our Bird," came into its pleasant form. " There's not in Ind a lovlier bird, Broad earth owns not a happier nest. O Grod I thou hast a fountain stirred, Whose waters nevermore shall rest. ' ' The illness of Dr. Judson led to his trying a sea-voy- age ; but he had to leave her in that far-off land, to give birth to a son who did not survive, and was himself buried in the deep. Her health imperatively required return to her native land, and in October, 1851 she arrived in Boston. " Her few remaining years were largely occu- pied in devotion to the memory of her husband. She rendered important assistance to Dr. Wayland in the preparation of the memoirs. A collection of her poems entitled ' The Olio ' appeared in 1852. She also wrote other occasional poems ; a book entitled ' The Kathayan Slave,' and her thoughts reverting to the past, a touching memorial of her deceased sisters, with the simple title, LITER ART WOMEN. 221 ' My Two Sisters.' Calmly meeting the emi which she had long foreseen, she died with Christian hope and res- ignation, at her home in Hamilton, N.Y., June 1, 1854."* Harriet Beecher Stowe is a name that will live as long as there are lovers of freedom and haters of slavery in our broad land or the world. She is the third daugh- ter and sixth child of Rev. Dr. Lyman Beecher and Roxanna Foote, and was born in Litchfield, Conn., 14th of June, 1812. Her mother died when she was but four years old. Two years more, and her father brought a gentle step-mother, whose influence was excellent upon the future writer. Harriet was sent to a famous academy in her native place at the age of seven, and continued there till twelve. She was a diligent reader, even at that early age, and the novels of Sir Walter Scott were among her favorite books. She profited greatly by the instruction given in the art of compo- sition, and in her twelfth year was appointed one of the writers for the annual exliibition. " The question pro- posed was, ' Can the immortality of the soul be proved by the light of nature ? ' in which she took the nega- tive. ' I remember,' says she, ' the scene, to me so eventful. The hall was crowded with all the literati of Litchfield. Before them all our compositions were read aloud. When mine was read, I noticed that father, who was sitting on the right of Mr. Brace, brightened, and looked interested; and at the close I heard him say, " Who wrote that composition ? " — " Your daughter, sir," was the answer. It was the proudest moment of my life. There was no mistaking father's face when he was pleased ; and to have interested him was past all juvenile triumphs.' " She married Rev. Dr. C. E. Stowe in 1836, and I Eminent Portraits, &c. 222 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. resided for some time in Cincinnati, where he was a professor in the Lane Theological Seminary. Here slie felt the pressure of poverty ; and the struggle to care for a growing family with limited means led to the use of her pen. She wrote stories for periodicals and Sunday- school books. In 1851 she wrote for " The National Era " the story of Uncle Tom. " It was shortly after published in Boston, with the title, ' Uncle Tom's Cabin ; or. Life among the Lowly.' Its success was immediate and extraordinary. . . . Within a few months of its publication, one hundred and fifty thousand copies of the work were sold in the United States, and its success abroad was quite as remarkable. The first London edition, published in May, 1852, was not large, . . . but in the following September the London publishers fur- nished to one house ten thousand copies per day for about four weeks, and had to employ one thousand per- sons in preparing copies to supply the general demand. By the end of the year, a million of copies had been sold in England. It was at once translated into most of the languages of Europe. Mr. Allibone, in his ' Dictionary of Authors,' enumerates nearly forty trans- lations in seventeen different foreign tongues. ... In addition to this, it was dramatized in twenty different forms, and acted in the leading cities of Europe and America. The sale of the work in the United States, including the German version, has reached, it has been calculated, half a million of copies. In England, in the absence of copyright, it had the advantage of being re- produced in some twenty editions, ranging in price from ten shillings to sixpence a copy. A popular edition of large circulation was illustrated by George Cruikshank. As a vindication of the essential truthfulness of the pictures of slave-life in her book, Mrs. Stowe snbae- LITERARY WOMEN. 223 quently published a volume entitled A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin,' a collection of facts on the subject, drawn from Southern authorities."^ " Uncle Tom's Cabin " was Mrs. Stowe's chef-d'oeuvre^ but she has since written other works of great interest. Her " Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands " is an attract- ive sketch of what she saw and enjoyed in Europe in 1853. Another anti-slavery novel, " Dred, a Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp," met with a sale of three hundred thousand copies in England and America. Mrs. Stowe has written many graphic sketches of New England life in earlier periods, wliich are extremely popular ; among which " The Minister's Wooing," " The Pearl of Orr's Island," and " Oldtowu Folks," are chief in size and mterest. She also wrote for " The Atlantic Monthly " and " The Cornhill Magazine," to be published simul- taneously, an Italian romance, " Agnes of Sorrento." A volume appearing in 1869, concerning Lord and Lady Byron, awoke much controversy. Since then she has written only moral tales and stories for the young, among them " Palmetto Sketches," descriptive of Florida, where she resides each winter. Mrs. Stowe rightly holds a very high place among the literary women of our first century ; and her writings had undoubtedly a wide and marked influence, inducing those political changes and military events which preceded the emanci- pation of the slave in this country. Sarah Jane Leppincott nee Clarke, widely known as Grace Greenwood, born in Onondaga, N.Y., is of Pil- grim stock. She commenced her career as an authoress by writing letters to the editors of " The New Mirror," and using the alliterative nom de plume of " Grace Greenwood." The brilliant letter-writer, who wrote 1 Eminent Portrsdts 224 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. also earnest, impassioned poetry, became at once a favor ite, and such she has continued to be. A volume of her prose writings, called " Greenwood Leaves," was published in 1850, and a volume of " Poems " in 1851, followed by a book for children called "My Pets." She has also published a book called " Haps and Mishaps of a Tour in Europe." In later years she has been suc- cessfully active as a lecturer and reader, and is now in Europe, writing readable letters to "The New York Times," which are eagerly perused all over the land. She is verifying her own words, — " Oh, no! I never will grow old, Though years on years roll by, And silver o'er my dark brovra hair, And dim my laughing eye. They shall not shrivel up my soul, Nor dim the glance of love My heart casts on this world of ours, And lifts to that above." Elizabeth F. Ellet, has used her pen nobly and successfully. She was born on the shore of Lake Ontario, the daughter of Dr. William A. Lummus, and grand-daughter of Gen. Maxwell, a Revolutionary offi- cer. No wonder that in after years she wrote three excellent volumes telling of " The Women of the Revo lution." She wrote also the book called " Queens of American Society," and a voliune concerning " Women Artists " of all nations. From these three books have been gleaned many of the facts and incidents which adorn these pages. She wrote poetry as well as prose ; and a volume of her poems, original and translations, was published in 1835. She contributed largely to various periodicals, including " The North American Review," for which women did not usually write. In LITERARY WOMEN. 225 1850 she published the " Domestic History of the American Revolution," designed to exhibit the spirit of that period, to portray, as far as possible the social and domestic condition of the colonists, and the state of feeling among the people during the war. Though dealing with the same great events which developed the peculiar characteristics of the " Women of the Re- vlution," this last work is not a continuation, but a novel and interesting view of that tremendous struggle, which resulted in gaining for America a place among nations." She has also written " Pictures from Bible History ; " and it is hoped has not yet laid aside her facile pen, which has been used in producing nearly all varieties of literature. Emma C. Embury, nSe Manley, was born in New York City, and began to write when very young ; her first articles appearing in the periodicals of the day under the name of " lanthe." Her first volume was published about the year 1828, " Guido, and other Poems ; " but the works which have gained her most celebrity are those written to assist in the education of the young, especially of girls, — " Constance Latimer, the Blind Girl," " The Waldorf Family," " Nature's Gems, or American Wild Flowers," and " Glimpses of Home Life." Besides these books, she has written many tales and poems for the magazines, but more prose than verse. Harriet Farley, well and widely known as the editor of " The Lowell Offering," the magazine of the factory girls of Lowell, is now Mrs Donlevy. Her father was a Congregational clergyman of Claremont, N.H., with a family of ten children ; and she was therefore early called to assist in her own maintenance, and soon (by entering the cotton-mill, where the la^ borers were almost wholly American girls of good 226 WOMEN OP THE CENTURY. families iu those early days) was enabled to assist in the liberal education of a brother. Largely through the influence of Rev. Abel C. Thomas of Lowell, the factory girls were induced to use the pen as well as tend the loom ; and the magazine was started which has since gained world-wide celebrity, though it did not endure. Miss Farley became the proprietor, and wrote as follows : " I do all the publishing, editing, canvassing ; and, as it is bound in my office, I can, in a hurry, help fold, cut covers, stitch, &c. I have a little girl to assist me in the folding, stitching, &c.; the rest, after it comes from the printer's hand, is all my own work. I employ no agents, and depend upon no one for assist- ance. My edition is four thousand." A sketch of the life and labors of this remarkable toiler is given in Mrs. Hale's book ; * and from it we learn that English critics acknowledged the merit of the work, as selec- tions from the " Offering " were published in London in 1849, entitled " Mind among the Spindles." " The Lowell Offering " was first issued in 1841, and in 1843 Miss Harriet F. Curtis, was associate editor. Both were literary women, of whom America as well as Lowell had reason to be proud ; for they showed the power of that genius which could not be repressed by the conditions of a laborious life with the hands as well as brain. Eliza Lee Follen was a miscellaneous writer, whose maiden name was Cabot, and who was born in Boston, and in 1828 married a German, Professor of German in Harvard College. Her principal works are, " Sketches of Married Life," " The Skeptic," and a "■ Life of Charles Follen," and several books for the young. " She has also edited the works of her late 1 Mrs. Hale's "Woman r H«c.ord." LITERARY WOMEN. 227 husband, in four volumes, besides contributing to va- rious literary periodicals, and has written a volume of poems, which appeared in 1839." ^ Carolinb Gllman, born in Boston, on the spot where the Mariner's Church now stands, was the daughter of Samuel Howard, who died before she was three years old. An interesting autobiographical sketch of this lady, who still lives on earth, may be found in Mrs. Hale's " Record of Distinguished Women." She says, " ' At sixteen I wrote " Jephthah's Rash Vow," and was gratified by the request of an introduction from Miss Hannah Adams, the erudite, the simple-minded, and gentle-mannered author of " The History of Religions." The next effusion of mine was " Jairus's Daughter," which I inserted by request in " The North American Review," then a miscellany. ... In 1882 I commenced editing " The Rose-Bud," a hebdomadal, the first juvenile newspaper^ if I mistake not, in the Union. From this periodical I have reprinted at various times the following vol- umes, " Recollections of a New England House- keeper," " Recollections of a Southern Matron," "Ruth Raymond, or Love's Progress," " Poetry of Travelling in the United States," " Tales and Ballads," " Verses of a Life Time," *' Letters of Eliza Wilkinson during the Invasion of Charleston." Also several volumes for youth, now collected in one, and recently published as " Mrs. Gilman's Gift-Book." '"..." The character of Mrs. Gilman's writings," says Mrs. Hale, " both prose and poetry, is that of a healthy imagination, and cheer- ful mind, just what her reminiscences would lead us to expect." Sarah Josepha Hale, has given to the world one I Mra. Hale's Woman's Record. 228 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. book which manifests great industry on her part ; and which calls for gratitude on the part of many readers who find it multum in parvo^ the book " Woman's Record," a large octavo of 918 pages, being " Bio- graphical Sketches of Distinguished Women," in all ages and nations : a fine encyclopaedia, marred in some instances by the expression of opinions narrow and bigoted, but in the main accurate and useful. Mrs. Hale was born in Newport, N.H. Her hus- band, a young lawyer, dying, left her with five children to support ; and she had recourse to her pen, and proved her genius as a writer, her ability as an editor. She edited for ten years •'• The Ladies' Magazine," of Boston ; and when it was united to the " Ladies' Book," of Philadelphia, in 1837, she still continued its editor. Her first book, " Northwood," was reprinted in London, under the title of " A New England Tale." Among her published works are " Sketches of Ameri- can Character," " Traits of American Life," " Flora's Interpreter," " The Way to Live Well, and to be Well while we Live," " Grosvenor, a Tragedy," Alice Ray, a Romance in Rhyme," " Harry Guy, the Widow's Son " (the last two were written for charitable pur- poses, and the proceeds given away accordingly). " Thi-ee Hours, or the Vigil of Love, and other Poems," published in 1848 ; " A Complete Dictionary of Poetical Quotations, containing Selections from the Wiitings of the Poets of England and America." This volume contains nearly 600 double-column large octavo pages, and is the most complete work of the kind in the English language. Many writers have found themselves greatly indebted to Mrs. Hale for this volume ; and by her " Woman's Record," many of the pages of this book have been enriched. Amid all L.ITERARY WOMEN. 229 the other laurels she has won as a writer, she haa recently been declared the author of the famous juve- nile poem, — " Mary had a little lamb." Caroline Lee Hentz was born in Lancaster, Mass. For many years she was a teacher in the West and South. " Her first work was her drama, ' De Lara, or the Moorish Bride;' for which she obtained the prize of five hundred dollars and a gold medal, offered in Philadelphia for the best original tragedy. Other tragedies, written by her, have been acted, but are unpublished. She is widely known by her popular prose tales and novelties, which have appeared in our different periodicals. " Aunt Patty's Scrap-Bag," and " The Mob Cap," which obtained the prize of two hundred dollars, have been almost universally read. Some of her other stories are " Aunt Mercy," " The Blind Girl," " The Pedlar," " The Village Anthem," and a novel called " Lovell's Folly." Caroline M. Kirkland was born in New York, wrote in 1839 her first book, " A New Home, Who'll Follow ? or, Glimpses of Western Life. By Mrs. Mary Clavers, an Actual Settler." " Forest Life," in two volimies followed this ; and afterward, in 1845, "Western Clearings." She became editor of a magazine, and in 1848 visited the Old World, recording her impressions in a work called " Holidays Abroad," a pleasant volume. Hannah F. Lee, born in Newburyport, Mass., was the daughter of an eminent physician. In 1838 she wrote, " Three Experiments of Living," which wa? circulated widely by the English press, and was adver- tised in large, letters at the booksellers' in Dresden. About thirty editions were issued in America. Her next work was " Old Painters ; " and this was succeeded 230 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. by "Luther and his Times," " Cranmer and his Times," and " The Huguenots in France and America," all of these being written for the instruction of youth. " Her first publication was a novel called " Grace Sey- mour." "Nearly the whole of this work was burnt in the great fire at New York, before many of the volumes had been bound and issued. . . . Another little book, ' Rosanna, or Scenes in Boston,' was written by par- ticular desire, to increase the funds of a charity school. As her name has not been prefixed to any of her books, it is impossible to enumerate all which have proceeded from her pen. . . . Her first known publication was the appendix to Miss Hannah Adams's memoir of herself, edited by Dr. Joseph Tuckerman. Nearly all Mrs. Lee's works have been republished in England." ^ Eliza LESiiiB of Philadelphia was of Scottish and Swedish ancestry, but is often mentioned as an English authoress, when she is really a woman of our country as well as century. She wrote the celebrated " Sev- enty-Five Receipts ; " but afterward she wrote for the nursery rather than for the kitchen. The childhood of the writer of these pages rejoiced in '•'• The Mirror," which was one of the Ijooks in the first library with which she was ever connected as a joint proprietor, and which was formed by the contributions of school-girls on Nantucket Island ; and Mrs. Leslie's " Stories for Emma " was one of the earliest books I received as a prize in school. " The American Girls' Book " en- chanted those early playmates also, while later years were enlivened by her contributions to " Godey." Mrs. LesUe did not forget the cuisine^ and prepared a large work on " Cookery," which met with great favor; also, " The House Book " and " The Ladies' New ^ Mrs. Hale's Womau's Recora. ALICE CAKY. LITERARY WOMEN. 233 Receipt Book." In 1841 " Althea Vernon " apj^eared ; in 1848, " Amelia, or a Young Lady's Vicissitudes ; " and her pen was busy till in 1856 it was laid aside forever. Maria I. McIntosh is a native of Georgia, and received her education in her native place, Sunbury. In 1835 she removed to New York, and there her first work appeared, " Blind Alice." Then came " Jessie Grahame," " Florence Arnott," " Grace and Clara," " Ellen Leslie," " Conquest and Self-Conquest," " Woman an Enigma," " Praise and Principle," and " The Cousins," some of which were published by the Harpers. The Appletons published " Two Lives, or To Seem and To Be," " Aunt Kitty's Tales," " Charms and Counter Charms," and " Woman in America, her Work and her Reward." In 1850 appeared her work entitled "The Christmas Guest," intended as a book for the holidays. In all her writings there are said to be " evidences of originality and freshness of mind as well as of good judgment and sound religious prin- ciple." Alice B. Neal was born in Hudson, N.Y., and educated at New Hampton, N.H. She married Joseph C. Neal in 1846, and wrote for his paper, " The Satur- day Gazette," which after his death she assisted to edit. Her writings, in 1850, were collected into a volume called, " The Gossips of Rivertown : with Sketches in Prose and Verse." She wrote two charm- ing little books, " Helen Morton's Trial " and " Pictures from the Bible." She has now passed to the land where, as she wrote once, — " The stars are trembling in the flood Of melody that thrills, Onward and upward, till all space The glorious anthem fills 1" 234 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Alice and Phebe Gary, sisters aud sister-poets, are lovingly remembered. Both were natives of Mount Healthy, near Cincinnati, Ohio. Alice was born April 26, 1820, and Phebe on September 4, 1824. They lived till 1871, and then Alice departed on the 12th of Febru- ary, and Phebe lingered only till the sultry days, and died on the last day of July of the same year. The sisters could not long be separated. " They were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in death they were not di- vided." Their early opportunities for education were slight, but they were rarely gifted. Alice's sketches in the " National Era " first attracted attention. In 1850, the sisters published a volume of poems, and a second and third soon followed. Several healthful novels, redo- lent with pure morality and sweet scenes of home-life, followed in later years ; " Hagar," " Plollywood," " Mar- ried, but not Mated," " The Bishop's Son," " Pictures of Country Life," and " Snowberries." Underwood says Alice Cary had " the clear vision, the instant sense of comparison, aud the perception of anal- ogies not discerned by common eyes. Her memory treasured all the picturesque associations of her child- hood, and we find them in profusion in her poems. . . . Her poems can be read with hearty enjoyment, and ought to be remembered and esteemed as among the best utter- ances of American women." ^ Alice Cary died in the home, so well known to the literary men and women of her times, in Twentieth Street, New York city, now owned by Dr. Emily Blackwell. Her funeral was at- tended, so Horace Greeley said, by more distinguished men and women, and a larger audience beside, than any he had ever known. Phebe Cary lingered only six months longer on the ' Handbook of Englisn Literature. FHGiBE CARY LITERARY WOMEN. 237 earth, and then seemed to die of heart-sickness and loneli- ness. Her sister Alice seemed to need her, she said. She died in Newport, R. I., whither she had gone for her health. Her remains were taken to their old home in New York, and from All Souls Church (Dr. Bellows) she was buried. They were laid side by side in Green- wood Cemetery, and Mrs. Mary Clemmer Ames, in 1873, prepared an acceptable biography of both, contain- ing their portraits, and some of their later poems. Emma D. E. N. Southworth is known principally as a novelist. She is a Maryland lady, was left with two children to maintain, and wrote for " The National Era," at first anonymously. Encouraged by friends to write more, and to write books, she did so, till now her name is familiar to story-lovers all over the land, per- haps the world. Her principal productions, when Mrs. Hale prepared her " Record " in 1851, were '.' Retribu- tion, or the Vale of Shadows," " The Deserted Wife," " The Mother-in-Law, or the Isle of Rays," and " Shan- nandale." Since then they have been so numerous as to merit the name of Legion ; and, though of the class termed sensational, are regarded as of high moral tone. Ann S. Stephens was a native of Derby, Conn. She was a valued contributor to various magazines, some of which she edited ; and for one of her stories, " Mary Derwent," she received a prize of four hundred dollars. In the autumn of 1850 Mrs. Stephens accom- panied some friends on a tour through Europe aixd Eastern lands, expecting to be absent about two years. So says Mrs. Hale. The fruits of that season of travel appeared in her later writings, which have been very popular. The culture which foreign joumeyings afford is invaluable alike for the story-writer or the sermon- izer. Novelists and clergymen are among the people 238 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. most benefited by rambling in storied haunts and classic lands. One of Mrs. Stephens's later novels, " Fashion and Famine," is said to have been exceed- ingly popular, and its author to " possess powers of description of the first order." Louisa C. Tuthill was born and educated in New Haven, Conn. " In 1825 she was left a widow with four children, and to solace herself under her heavy affliction she had recourse to her pen. At this time she w^rote ' James Somers, the Pilgrim's Sou,' published in 1827; and 'Mary's Visit to B.', in 1829. She continued to write anonymously for periodical literature for some time, and in 1848-49 published ' The Young Lady's Reader,' and ' Young Lady's Friend ; ' the first works to which her name was attached. In 1842 she removed to the vicinity of Boston, where she wrote, ' I will be a Gentleman,' and ' I will be a Lady ; ' books for the young, which have been very successful. She continued the series." And not long after having removed to Philadelphia published, " The History of Architecture," following it with a book for young mothers, and a series of books entitled " Success in Life." "Mrs. Tuthill is a pleasant writer," says Mrs. Hale : " her cheerful spirit and hopeful philosophy give an attractive charm even to good advice^ which, like medicine, requires often to be sugared before it is willingly taken." " Harriet V. Cheney is a native of Massachu- setts. Her love of literature was developed in child- hood, probably owing much to the influence of her mother's taste and genius, who was author of one of the earliest American novels, ' The Coquette, or His- tory of Eliza Wharton.' Soon after she left school, she wrote, in conjimction with her sister, ' The Sunday LITERARY WOMEN. 239 School, or Village Sketches.' " Her next work was "A Peep at the Pilgrims," which was republished in London. "The Rivals of Acadia" was the next; and then for a number of years her time was devoted to her -family. The death of her husband led her again to literary exertions ; and she wrote " Sketches from the life of Christ," and " Confessions of an Early Martyr," and afterward wrote largely for a magazine in Canada, to which region she removed. Susan Fenemore Cooper, the daughter of the distinguished novelist of Cooperstown, N.Y., ought not to be forgotten as one of the women who loved litera- ture in our first century. Her " Rural Hours," pub- lished in 1850, and other books written since that period, show that she has inherited some of the paternal ability to wield a pen. Margaret Coxe of Burlington, N.J., wrote some excellent works : " Botany of the Scriptures," " Won- ders of the Deep," and " The Young Lady's Compan- ion." " Eliza FarRAR, wife of Prof. John Farrar of Har- vard College, has written several works of merit . . . 'The Life of Lafayette,' and 'Life of Howard,' 'The ' Youth's Letter Writer,' ' The Children's Robinson Crusoe,' ' The Young Lady's Friend,' and latest ' Rec- ollections of Seventy Years.' " Mary Ann Hammer Dodd is known as a fine magazine writer, and Jane A. Eames as a writer of Sunday-school books. Minnie S. Davis is a resident of Hartford, Conn., the daughter of Rev. S. A. Davis, and from early youth busy with her pen ; and, though an invalid for many years, there are many books, magazine articles, juvenile dramas, poems, &c., to prove her industry. " Marion 240 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Lester " is the title of one of her volumes which has been very popular ; " Clinton Forest," the title of another. It is confessed this brief notice does justice neither to the literary excellence and high moral tone of her productions, nor to the Christian submission of the patient sufferer. Ellen E. Miles, born in Randolph, Mass., in 1835, has compiled a dainty volume called " Our Home Beyond the Tide, and other Poems ; " and has written both pi-ose and verse for various periodicals. She assisted in collecting a volume of poems by Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford, and wrote the biographical sketch which accompanies the volume. She is now writing, in con- junction with the same lady, a volume called " Seashore and Woodland Rambles," a portion of which has already been published as a magazine article. Caholine a. Soule. This writer will be specially mentioned in the chapter on " Women Journalists." She is one of the busy women who with voice and pen seek to benefit humanity. Elizabeth Palmer Peabody is well known as an educator, and perhaps should be mentioned mainly with " Women Teachers." Mrs. Hale says of her, " Daugh- ter of Dr. N. Peabody, she is descended on the moth- er's side from the two Joseph Palmers, one of whom was president and the other secretary of the first Pro- vincial Congress that assembled in Massachusetts to consider British wrongs ; and both of whom, the father as brigadier-general, the son as his aid, were engaged in the battle of Lexington. Miss Peabody was born. May 16, 1804, at Billerica, and lived in her early life in Salem, Mass., but, since 1822, has resided principally in Boston, where she has been engaged in education and literary pursuits. She first published a ' Key to LITERARY WOMEN. 241 Hebrew History,' and a ' Key to Grecian History ; ' she next wrote the ' Records of a School,' which went into the second edition ; and also contributed to the early numbers of the ' Journal of Education ; ' to the ' Christian Examiner ' of 1834, in which are some arti- cles on the ' Spirit of the Hebrew Scriptures ; ' and to the * Dial,' in which she wrote the articles on Social- ism. In 1849 Miss Peabody edited ' The Esthetic Papers,' to which she contributed an article ' On the Dorian Culture,' more elaborate than any thing else she has written ; and a paper upon ' The Significance of the Alphabet ; ' besides several shorter articles and poems. Her latest work is a school-book, entitled the ' Polish-American System of Chronology,' being a modified translation of Gen. Bem's method of teaching history on a chronological system." Thus speaks Mrs. Hale concerning Miss Peabody, who has continued her literary labors since that date, and has been especially active in introducing books on the kindergarten system of education to the notice of parents and teachers. She has also united in the reforms of the day, aud given pen and voice to the cause of the advancement of women. Mrs. Hale says, " Miss Peabody's writings are of a class unusual to her sex. They evince great learning and research, a mind free from the trammels of prejudice, and capable of judging for itself on what- ever subject its attention may be turned : one whose aim is high, — no less than the progressive improve- ment of her race, and who presses forward to the end she has in view with an earnestness and energy pro- portioned to its importance. Her poems are harmoni- ous, and show more thought than is usually seen in such effusions." The two sisters of Miss Peabody, who are known 242 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. more by their husbands' names, and because of theii husbands' fame, — the wife of Horace Mann, and the wife of Nathaniel Hawthorne, — were women of liter- ary tastes, and performed some literary work, entitling them to be among the literary women of the century. Phebe a. Hanaeord, the writer of this volume, has wielded the pen for the press ever since the age of thirteen ; and in the third of this century during which she has written, has had published the following vol- umes, which have met with encouraging sale. "My Brother," a miniature volume of prose and verse, pub- lished in 1852 ; " Lucretia, the Quakeress," an Anti- Slavery story, published first in " The Independent Democrat" of Concoid, N.H., and then in book-form in 1853 ; " Leonette," a Sunday-school book, published in 1857 ; " The Best of Books and its History," pub- lished in 1860, having previously been delivered, chapter by chapter, as lectures in the Baptist Sunday school of Nantucket ; " The Young Captain," a memorial of Capt. Richard C. Derby, who fell at Antietam, pub- lished in 1865 ; " Frank Nelson, or The Runaway Boy " a juvenile, pubhshed in 1865 ; " Life of Abraham Lincoln," published in 1865, by B, B. Russell of Bos- ton, the sale of which reached twenty thousand, five thousand being also published in German ; " Field, Gunboat, Hospital, and Prison," being records of the war, published in 1866 ; and " The Soldier's Daughter,' a prize-story, also in 1866 ; " The Life of George Pea- body," in 1870 (which reached a sale of sixteen thou- sand) ; " From Shore to Shore, and other Poems," published in 1871 ; and in the same year, " The Life of Charles Dickens." Other smaller volumes for chil- dren, many editorials, sketches, and other articles in prose and verse for many periodicals, and several pub- LITERARY WOMEN. 243 listed speeches and sermons, attest to the busy pen of one who will be mentioned biographically in the chap- ter on " Women Preachers." Mary B. Shindler, better known as Mary S. B. Dana, published several works : " The Southern " and the " Northern Harp," " The Parted Family and other Poems," and afterward several tales for youth. But the book by which she is best known is one published in 1845, entitled "Letters to Relatives and Friends," which justifies her change from Calviuistic opinions to Unitarian. Since then she has married an Episcopal clergyman, and united with his church. Anna E. Appleton, born in Boston, July 22, 1826, educated in the best schools of Boston, and in the State Normal School under Cyrus Pierce and Samuel J. May, a pupil and assistant in the school of Elizabeth P. Pea- body, has written both prose and verse, chiefly for the young. In 1869 a volume from her pen was published as one of a prize series by the Unitarian Sabbath School Association, entitled " Stories for Eva." Will be men- tioned among '' Women Teachers." Cornelia Tuthill, is the author of " Wreaths and Branches for the Church," '* Christian Ornaments," " The Boy of Spirit," and other juvenile works. She is a native of New Haven, Conn. Sarah Halt., born in Philadelr.hia, Oct. 30, 1761, daughter of Rev. John Erving, pubhshed a book entitled " Conversations on the Bible." " This work, which was very well received, both in this country and and in England, contains a fund of information, which could only have been collected by diligent and pro- found thought. While engaged in this undertaking she began the study of Hebrew, to enable herself to make the necessary researches, and attained a consid- 244 "WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. able proficiency in this difficult language. When it ia stated that Mrs. Hall commenced this work after she had passed the age of fifty, when she had been the mother of eleven children, and that during her whole life she was distinguished for her industry, economy, and attention to all the duties of her station, it must be allowed that she was no ordinary woman. Her other writings were confined to contributions to the leading literary periodicals of the day." Mary E. Lee of Charleston, S.C, wrote prose and verse to great accept- ance. The Massachusetts School Library Association published "Social Evenings, or Historical Tales," which was very popular. After her death, in 1849, a selection from her poems was published. Margaret Harrison Smith, the daughter of Col. John Bayard, who signed the first legislative act ever passed in any of the United States for the aboli- tion of slavery, as Speaker of the Pennsylvania Legis- lature, was born in 1778. Her first book was pub- lished in 1827, title, " A Winter in Washington ; or, The Seymour Family." Her next, " What is Gen- tility ? " was published in 1830. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, the mother^ was daugh- ter of Prof. Moses Stuart, and wife of Prof. Austin Phelps. .She died in 1852, stiU young. Her three books, " Sunny Si^e," "A Peep at Number Five," and "The Angel over the Right. Shoulder," have been much read and admired. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, the daughter, has fol- lowed worthily in her footsteps. Her " Gates Ajar," " Hedged In," " Men, Women, and Ghosts," have gained wide and deserved circulation. But this chapter is already long enough, and the writer's pen weary in its proud mention of the literary women ir LITERARY WOMEN. 245 America. Some can hardly be mentioned, and some must be left out utterly, in the hope that some other writer, with more space and more leisure, will do justice to all. Elizabeth Warner, or Wetherell, and her sister, will not be forgotten while " The Wide, Wide World" or"Queechy" shall be read. Maria Cum- MiNGS will be remembered till "The Lamplighter " is no more. Augusta J. Evans is known as far as " Beu- lah " is read. And there is " Gajl Hamilton " (Mary A. Dodge of Hamilton of Mass.), who has added valua- ble books to our American libraries, — " Country Liv- ing, and Country Thinking " " Gala Days," " Stumbling Blocks," " Summer Rest," " Wool Gathering," " Skir- mishes and Sketches," " Woman's Wrongs," &c. Long may she send forth her spicy utterances, becom- iag daily more earnest for reform and righteous living I But Adeline D. T Whitntey (daughter of the late Enoch Train, born in Boston, Sept. 15, 18:^4) is a name that must be here, since her admirable books have so blessed and strengthened human souls. The tes- timony of reviewers has been given so decidedly in her favor, that no further word is needed ; and " Faith Gartney's Girlhood," " We Girls," " The Other Girls," " Real Folks," " Hitherto," " Patience Strong's Out- ings " and Sights and Insights," &c., will carry on her fame to latest American generations. Sarah Payson Parton, better known as " Fanny Fern," and the sister of N. P. Wilhs, should be remem- bered among our literary women. Abba Goold Woolson, born at Windham, Me., April, 30, 1838, is the author of " Woman in Ameri- can Society," and a work on " Dress Reform." She is a contributor to various periodicals, and writes verse as well as prose. Her poem, " Over the Hills," is in Underwood's " Handbook of American Authors." 246 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. LomsE Chandler Moulton, born in Pom fret, Conn., 1835, contributor to " Harper's " " New York Tribune," &c. Her poem, " The House in the Meadow," is in the above mentioned " Handbook." Lucy Lar- COm's " Hannah Binding Shoes " is also there. Har- riet Elizabeth Prescott Spopford was born in Calais, Me., April 3, 1835. She was married in 1855, to Richard S. Spofford, Esq., a lawyer of Newburyport, Mass. She was early distinguished by her literary abihty. She contributed a story entitled " In a Cellar " to the " Atlantic Monthly," in its first year of publication, which was greatly admired for its vivacity, its insight into character, and its brilliant dialogue. In 1859 she published a story called " Sir Rohan's Ghost." " In 1863 she collected a series of tales which she had written for the magazines, entitled ' The Amber Gods, and Other Stories.' ' Azarian ' followed in 1864. ' A Thief in the Night,' a short but powerful novel- ette, was published in 1872. She has also written many poems, sketches, and stories that remain uncol- lected." 1 Helen (Fiske) Hunt, daughter of the late Prof. N. W. Fiske of Amherst College, was born in Amherst, Mass., in 1831. She was married to Major Edward B. Hunt, U.S.A., an eminent officer of engi- neers, and assistant professor at West Point, who was killed in 1863 by a premature explosion while experi- menting with a submarine battery of his own invention. Mrs. Hunt resides in Newport, R.I. She has published a volume of poems called " Verses by H. H." (1871), and a collection of foreign sketches, entitled Bits of Travel" (1872)." 2 1 Underwood's Handbook of American Authors. "^ Underwood's Handbook, &c. LITERABY WOMEN. 247 Henbibtta Lee Palmer, wife of J. W. Palmer, M.D., of Baltimore, has written a work called " The Heroines of Shakspeare." Emma V. Hallett has published a story called "Natalie; or, A Gem Among the Seaweeds." Lydia P. Palmer and Emily L. Meyer, mother and daughter, of Nantucket, Mass., but now residing in Germany, have written much for periodicals, both original and translations. Julla Cranch has contributed " Three Successful Girls " to our literature. Lida M. Dickln- BON has given us a religious-philosophic story, called '* Mistaken," and writes for the " Woman's Journal " under the name of " Lydia Fuller." Edna D. Cheney has blessed the young people with stories, and used her pen in the service of art and humanity, till one is at a loss whether to place her with reformers, artists, teachers, or literary women. Marie A. Browne has, in connection with her friend Selma BoRQ, given America many translations of the works of Sophie Schwartz. Helen C. Conant has furnished us a fine " History of the Translation of the Enghsh Bible," "Life of Judson," and other works. Antoi- nette Brown Blackwell should be mentioned in this chapter, but that she deserves mention also with the preachers, and women of science. Some women who have high claims to be numbered among literary women will be mentioned in the chapter on " Poets," or among the professional women. And how the children would lebuke the writer if Louisa M. Alcott of Concord, Mass., should be wholly ignored. But who could forget the author of " Little Women," " Little Men," " Old-Fashioned Girl," "Work," &c., (Sec, which all the children, old and young, enjoy. " Louisa M. Alcott may be credited 248 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. with inventing a new substitute for a speech. She visited the Sorosis the other day, and was formally pre sented to the Club by the president as the ' most suc- cessful woman author in America,' and being on hei feet told a little story. She said at Vassar College the girls, as usual, asked for a speech ; and when she, also as usual, told them she never had and never intended to make one, they requested that she would place herself in a prominent position, and turn around slowly. This she consented to do ; and, if revolving would satisfy or gratify Sorosis, she was willing to 'revolve.' " There are others worthy of praiseful remembrance ; but like the day that will come to a close before all our work is done, so must this chapter before all has been said concerning our literary galaxy ; but, with a thought of McDonald Clarke's words, — " Now twilight puts her curtain down And pins it with a star," this chapter shall be finished, and emblazoned with the name of one who will be more fully mentioned in the next chapter, but who is now one of the chief among our literary women, viz., Julia Ward Howe. CHAPTER VIII. WOMEN POETS. Julia Ward Howe — Lydia H. Sigourney — Elizabeth Akers Allen — Lucy Larcom — Alice and Phebe Gary — Frances S. Osgood — Caroline A. Mason — Celia Tliaxter, &c. " God wills, man hopes : in common ?ouls Hope Is but vague and undefined, Till from the poet's tongue the message rolls, A blessing to his kind." J. R. Lowell "Make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered." — ISA. xxiii. 16. EVERY land has had its smgers ; and m all lands the real poets have been, and are, the true proph- ets. Our country forms no exception. The women of our country and our first century have genuine poets among them, — some still here amid the shadows of time, some already resting amid the unveiled splen- dors of eternity. This chapter will mention a few of them. And first, Julia Ward Howe, whose " Battle Hymn of the Republic " has been " Marching on " with the 250 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. author's fame towards the appreciation of a whole peo- ple. Mrs. Howe has written many exquisite poems, thoughtful and strong as Emerson's, sweet as Whittier's, and welcome as herself to those who know her. She has been called the Browning of America, but Eliza- beth and Julia do not strike one lyre. Americans maj be pardoned for preferring the author of " Passion Flower," " Words for the Hour," and " Later Lyrics." There is a drama also, " The World's Own," which is poetic, and are not her prose works full of poetry ? " The Trip to Cuba," so redolent with memories of the scholar and preacher, Theodore Parker, then an invaUd fellow-voyager ; " From the Oak to the Olive," so rich in fancies and fine descriptions I One is at a loss to know whether to call Mrs. Howe poet or philoso- pher. In later years she has added the title of re- former, and shown herself worthy of her place by the Bide of Samuel G. Howe, the philanthropist, whose " Memoir," for the use of the blind and others, the faithful wife has just prepared. That she is the daugh- ter of Samuel Ward, a New York banker, that her mother, Mrs. Julia Ward, was a poet, and that she was finely educated, with other facts, may be learned from the volume called " Eminent Women of the Age ; " and, since it is there to be found, less may be said here. May it be many a day before her biography in full shall be penned ; for the world hath need of such as she, and our country can ill afford to lose a woman at once so sweet and strong, so loving and so wise ! Lydla. H. Sigotjbney was an earlier writer in rhyme, and her rhythmic contributions to the literature of our first century are many. In the volume published by her daughter, called " Letters of Life," the story of her efforts and successes as a writer, and her worth as a MRS. JULIA WARD HOWE. WOMEN POETS. 253 woman, is well told. She wrote prose as well as versa " She was a most prolific writer, having published no less than fifty-five volumes, consisting of poems, biographies, tales, and miscellanies." She was born in Norwich, Conn., Sept. 1, 1791, and died in Hartford, Conn., June 10, 1865. " Elizabeth Akebs Allen was born in the town of Strong, Franklin Co., Me., Oct. 9, 1832. ' She was mar- ried in 1860 to Paul Akers, the sculptor, who died within less than a year afterwards. She is now the wife of Mr. E. M. Allen of New York. Her first efforts in verse were pubUshed with the nom de plume of Florence Percy, and had a wide popularity through the newspapers. A volume of her poems was published in 1867 by Messrs. Fields, Osgood, & Co. They have undoubted merits, being full of tender feeling, with no tinge of morbidness, and touched here and there with high lights of vivid imagery and picturesque epithets. Notice this picture of chestnut blossoms : — ' Lanterned with white the chestnut branches wave.' " And the plaintive song of the wild-bird : — ♦ Filling with his sweet trouble all the air.* " Observe the effect of the church windows : — ' Where through the windows melts the unwilling light, And in its passage beams their gorgeous stain, Then bars the gloom with hues all rainbow bright, As human souls grows beautiful through pain.' *' See this glimpse of the camp ' The dar Mushroomed with tent If besides the specimens printed here, our readers ' The darkened hills Mushroomed with tents.' 254 WOMEN OF THE CBNTUBY. would see instances of the author's power, especially in pathetic description, let them turn to her volume, and read * The Sparrow at Sea,' and ' Left Behind.' " ' Let them look also for " My Angel Name," the poem by which she first became known to the author of this volume and to many others. Lucy Labcom is a poet to whom applies the phrase, " Poeta naseitur non fity She was born at Beverly Farms, Mass., in 1826, so Underwood tells us ; and then he quotes her "Hannah Binding Shoes," which has been sung by the Hutchinsons far and wide. Mrs. Hale says, " While she was employed as an operative at Lowell, she first began to write ; and her earliest effu- sions, both in prose and verse, appeared in " The Low- ell Offering," and were received with particular favor. At present Miss Larcom is employed as a teacher in Illinois." Since the publication of Mrs. Hale's book, Miss Larcom has been a teacher in the Wheaton Semi- nary for Young Ladies at Norton, Mass., and afterward editorially connected with " Our Young Folks." She has published at least two volumes: one simply entitled " Poems by Lucy Larcom ; " the other, " An Idyl of Work," a poem embodying scenes in factory life. Mary T. Webber, born in Beverly, Mass. (The daughter of Israel Trask, the successful introducer of Britannia ware into this country), has written mostly with the nom de plume of " Mary Webb." She studied at the celebrated Bradford Academy, of which the sis- ter of Ann Hasseltine Judson was principal ; and has written less than she might, through a modesty equal to her fine talent. In 1861 she united with the author of this volume in compiling a collection of loyal and patriotic poems, called " Chimes of Freedom and 1 Underwood's Handbook, &c., p. 349. WOMEN POETS. 255 Union," to which she contributed, from her own pen, poems " On the Death of Ellsworth," and " Our Mas- sachusetts Dead." Miss Miles's little volume opens with a poem bearing the title of the book, " Our Home Beyond the Tide," and closes with one of the same title by " Mary Webb," both composed by their authors in Beverly, Mass., after a contemplation of the same picture. Cakoline a. Mason was the daughter of Dr. Cal- vin Briggs, and was born at Marblehead, Mass., in 1823. She was a schoolmate and friend with Mrs. Webber at the Bradford Academy. The wife of Charles Mason, Esq., a lawyer of Fitchburg, Mass., she now resides there on the side of the famous Roll- stone Mountain, which adds to the pictui'esqueness of the city. " Her earlier poems were published in the ' Salem Register,' under the signature of ' Caro.' She afterwards contributed to the ' National Era ' and Anti- Slavery Standard.' She has also written for ' The Con- gregationalist,' ' The Liberal Christian,' ' The Monthly Rehgious Magazine,' ' The Independent,' ' The Christian Union,' and occasionally for other papers and periodi- cals. In 1852 she published a volume of her verses, entitled ' Utterance : a Collection of Home Poems.' These were the productions of her earlier days. They gave good promise however, of the still better offerings of her maturer years." ^ The Mass. S. S. Society pub- lished a small prose volume from her pen, entitled " Rose Hamilton." Mrs. Mason is widely known as the author of " Do they miss me at Home?" a song she wrote when a homesick school-girl, and which was sung by our soldier-boys in camp during all the war. J Singera and Songs of tLe Liberal Faith, by Alfred P. Putnam. i'5G WOMEN OF THE CENTUBY. '« Lydia Louisa Ann Very," says Dr. Putnan, " sister of Jones and Washington Very, both of whom have a place in the roll of our singers, was born in Salem, Nov. 2, 1823. For about thirty years she has been with her sister, Francis Eliza, a teacher in the schools of her native city. She shares largely the fine poetic gift which distinguishes the family, and in 1856 published a volume of her verses, which was printed by W. F. Draper, Andover, Mass. Since then, she has from time to time contributed other offerings to various Boston and Salem papers, while yet engaged in her vocation as a teacher. As an artist, she has produced pictorial illustrations of ' Red Riding Hood,' and other children's stories, accompanied by exquisite designs and pretty juvenile verses. Those have proved to be very popular, and have been re-published in Germany." ^ " Sabah White Livermore was born in Wilton, N.H., July 20, 1789, and was the daughter of Rev. Jonathan Livermore, who was settled as the first min- ister of that town, Dec. 14, 1763." So says Dr. Put- nam, from whose book we learn that she was a teacher, and was instrumental in establishing one of the earliest Sunday schools in the country. She wrote verses for a variety of occasions, but they were never collected into a book. She died July 3, 1874, at Wilton, N.H., nearly eighty-five years old. Caroline Gilman, who has been mentioned among the literary women, should be classed with the poets also. Judge White of Salem noted for several years the hymns sung in the First Church of that city, and on examination found that Mrs. Gilman's hymn, " God Our Father," had been most used. The first stanza is this : — 1 Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith. WOMEN POETS. 257 " Is there a lone and dreary hour, When worldly pleasures lose their power, My Father, let me turn to thee, And set each thought of darkness free." LoTTiSA Jane Hajll, daughter of John Paxk, M.D., was born in Newburyport, Mass., Feb. 2, 1802. She began to publish poems at the age of twenty, at first anonymously. " Miriam," a fine drama in verse, was published in 1827. She was married, Oct. 1, 1840, ta Rev. Edward B. Hall. A volume of her writings, entitled " Verse and Prose," was published in 1850. Sabah E. Miles was born March 28, 1807, in Boston, Mass. Her father was Nathaniel W. Appleton. She married in 1833, Solomon P. Miles, who was then principal of the Boston High School. She resided in or near Boston till recently, when she removed to Brat- tleboro', Vt. " The few of her hymns or poems which have been published were sent to the printer by her father, who did not fail to discover their rare merit : they were mostly composed while she waa at a very early age." Two of her hymns are familiar and favor- ites, one commencing, — " Thou who didst stoop below." The other, — " The earth all light and loveliness." Af.MTRA Seymotxr of Hingham, Mass., long and- favorably known as a teacher in Boston, has written hymns and poems for various occasions which entitle her to be numbered among the women poets of ihe century. Akke Meles, born in Salem, Mass., on the second day of February, 1803, has penned poems of great beauty and power, hymns and songs for various occa- sions, descriptive pieces and commemorative verses that 258 WOMEN OP THE CENTURY. have been much prized in the hour of their special use, and have delighted stranger eyes when they have appeared in print. Her three daughters have become successful teachers, but only one of them, — Ellen E. Miles, has inherited her mother's poetic talent. Her verses have appeared in " The Liberal Christian," " The Woman's Journal," " Voice of Peace," and in the various newspapers of the towns where they have been sung or recited by choir's or pupils. Phebb a. Hanafoed has written very many fugi- tive stanzas for all sorts of occasions, grave and gay, most of which found their way into print, though, according to the opinion of the writer of this volume, they were not equally worthy of pubUcation. She has twice delivered the poem at the annual commencement at Westbrook Seminary, Maine, and once at the Com- mencement of Buchtel College, Ohio. In 1865 the pub- lisher of this volume issued a small volume, entitled " The Martyred President, and other Poems," from her pen ; and in 1870, a much larger one, entitled " From Shore to Shore, and other Poems." Mary W. Hale of Boston, born Jan. 28, 1810. Baptized by Dr. Kirkland, whom she afterward com- memorated in verse. A teacher for many years in Boston, Keene (N.H.), Wellfleet (Cape Cod), Newton and Taunton (Mass.), and Bristol (R.I.). She died Nov. 17, 1862, and her remains lie in Mount Auburn. A fine sketch of her is to be found in Dr. Putnam's excellent book on "Singers and Songs.' In 1840 a volume of her " Poems " was published by Ticknor in Boston. Frances M. Chesbro, born in Warwick, Mass., July 13, 1824 (the sister of Rev. A. D. Mayo), has written WOMEN POETS. 259 Qumeroufl liymns and poems, published mainly in Uni- tarian periodicals. She published a story-book for chil- dren in 1858, entitled " SmCes and Tears." Mabtha Perky Lowe was bom at Keene, N.H., Nov. 21, 1829. She married the sainted Rev. Charles Lowe in 1857, and not long after " published a volume of poems, entitled 'The Olive and -the Pine,' the words being typical of scenes in Spain and New Eng- land, which she contrasted in her verses. Several years afterward she published a second volume, ' Love in Spain, and other Poems,' containing a lyric drama of diplomatic and social life in that country [which she visited before her marriage], and also some pieces that had appeared from time to time during the late war in our own land. In 1871 she accompanied her husband and two children to Europe, where she corre- sponded regularly with ' The Liberal Christian,' on subjects that were connected with the advancement of a broader religious faith in the Old World. She re- turned to America with her family in 1873, and now lives in Somerville, Mass." ^ Elizabeth Lloyd Howell wrote a poem entitled " Milton's Prayer of Patience," so excellent and apt that many have believed it composed by Milton himself, tiU informed as to its authorship. It commences, — " I am old and blind ; Men point at me as smitten by Grod's frown ; Afflicted and deserted by my kind, Yet am I not cast down." This lady is said to be a Philadelphia Quaker. It is certain she is a Christian poet. Her poem ^' Watch '' has no equal in its Hue, where she teaches that, — 1 Singers ami Songa. ^<^0 WOMEN OF THE CENTO R?. " The captive's oar may pause upon the galley. The soldier sleep beneath his plumed crest, And Peace may fold her wings o'er hill and valley. But thou, O Christian I must not take thy rest." Ceua Thaxter is a poet for whom the writer of this volume once heard Charlotte Cushman, in private conversation, express a preference that was high praise from such a source. Underwood says, " Mrs Celia Thaxter was born in Portsmouth, N.H., June 29, 1835. She passed the greater part of her early life upon the Isles of Shoals, a rocky group about ten miles distant from the main land. She published in the ' Atlantic Monthly,' in 1867-8, a series of papers upon thest* islands which were of exceptional interest and value. . . . An examination of her poems, recently publibhed (1872), showed that the elements of strength and beauty in her prose were retained, and even heightened, in her verse. The range of the poems is confined to the sea and its shores. . . . On the solitary coast, in view of the sea, with its changeful skies, its distant ships, and its white-winged sea-birds, she is emphati- cally the most picturesque of poets and subtilest of ideal colorists. Her verses have the very swing of the sea. As we read we feel its cool breath, we perceive its delicate scent, and we hear the ripple of the waves and the soft note on the pebbly beach,"* Rose Terry was born in Hartford, Conn., Feb. 17, 1827. She is now the wife of Rollin Cooke. " She published a volume of poems in 1861, which evince a delicate sense of the beautiful iu nature, a tender and rather melancholy feeling, and a sweet and melodious style of versification." ^ ' Handbook of Amencan Authors, p. 660. « Ibid. WOMEN POETS. 2G1 " Julia H. Scott was born in 1809, in the northerii part of Pennsylvania. Her maiden name was Kinney. She began to write verses when she was very young, and her first pieces were published when she was little more than sixteen. ... In 1835 she was married to Dr. David L. Scott of Towanda, where she died in 1842. Her poems, together with a biography of the writer by Miss S. C. Edgarton, were published in 1843. Her songs are those of the household, full of gentle and feminine feeling and tender pathos." ^ Anna Maria Wells was born in Gloucester, Mass., in 1797. Her name was originally Foster. She wrote when young, but published little till after her marriage. In 1830 she published a small volume of " Poems and Juvenile Sketches." Mary Maria Chase, born in Chatham, N.Y., Aug. 12, 1822. She studied at the Albany Seminary, edited there " The Monthly Rose," and in 1845 won two gold medals for a poem and a moral tale. In 1846 she received a gold medal from the same AlumnsB Association for a prize essay on flowers. In 1846 she accepted the charge of the composition department in Brooklyn Female Academy, but on account of illness resigned. In a charming volume edited by Henry Fowler, called " Mary M. Chase and her Writings," we are told that " Mary's poetical genius was early manifested. When she was eight years old, her teacher, residing in the family, discovered one of her poems on ' The Three Days' Revolution in France,' which he deemed extraordinary, and with a pardonable zeal sent it to a city newspaper. When a copy came back, she detected her production in the ' poet's comer,' flushed deeply, and burst into tears. For years after, 1 Mrs. Hale'a Woman's Record. 262 WOMEN OF THE CENTURA. it was impossible to get a sight at her compositions, although she wrote much ; and this early piece cannot be found." She was almost an improvisatrice, and the record of her life, as well as the poems and letters the volume contains, should be widely read. Hannah F. Gould was born in Lancaster, Vt. ; but she spent most of her life in Newburyport, Mass., where she died in 1865. Her father was a Revolutionary soldier ; and in her poems, " The Scar of Lexington," " The Revolu- tionary Soldier's Request," and " The Veteran and the Child," she probably referred to him. Her poems are mostly brief: they were written for periodicals first, and were published in successive volumes in 1832, 1835, 1841, and 1850. Her poems " Jack Frost," " A Name in the Sand," and " The Pearl Diver," are well known, and will always be favorites. Anna Gardner of Nantucket, Mass., has written many exquisite poems for "The Commonwealth," " The Anti-Slavery Standard," and other papers. Mary Starbuck Coffin of the same island, the daughter of David and Phebe Starbuck, wrote many excellent poems. Both these ladies are descended from Peter Folger, the grandfather of Dr. Franklin, who was possessed of much poetic ability, which has cropped out in every generation which has succeeded him, and almost in every branch of his large family of descendants. Maria Mitchell and her sister Anne M. Macy, who are also of this descent, possess the rhyming ability, as the book " Seaweeds from the Shores of Nantucket " shows. Several others who contributed to that volume have the same Folger blood in their veins. Elizabeth Starbuck, nSe Swain, has written many acceptable poems for various occasions and the local press ; the same may be said of Eliza women poets. 263 Babney, Hannah M. Robinson, Margaret Perry Yale, and others to whom the gift of poesy has been a joy for themselves and their readers. Katharine A. Ware was born in Quincy, Mass., in 1797. Her maiden name was Rhodes. Among lier poems was one addressed to Lafayette, and presented to him at his reception in Boston by her eldest child, then five years old ; and another, in honor of Gov. Clinton, was recited at the Great Canal celebration in New York. She published " The Bower of Taste " for several years. In 1839 went to Europe, and died in Paris in 1843. Shortly before her death she published her book, " The Power of the Passions, and other Poems." Lydia M. Child, though more widely known by her prose writings, is also a poet. Had she written nothing but " Marius," we would call her such. Most of her poems are in a small book called " The Coronal." Frances H. Green, born in Southfield, R.I., has written poems said to be " original and ingenious." Elizabeth M. Chandler was born 24th of December, 1807, in Delaware. Her father was a Quaker, and the influence of his principles may be seen in her works. She received, when only eighteen years old, a prize from the editors of " The Casket," for a poem called " The Slave-Ship." Her poems, together with a Memoir, and some of her essays, were published in Philadelphia in 1836. Lucretia Maria and Margaret Miller David- SON were sisters and poets. Theii' mother, Margaret M. Davidson, was also possessed of poetical ability. Both sisters, when very young, wrote marvellously excellent poetry. The eldest died when in her seven- teenth year, the youngest in her sixteenth ; each having 264 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. written poems equalling those of many other poets writ- ten during a long life-time. The Memoirs of these sis- ters, and a volume of their mother's poems, have been published and widely read. From them the reader is advised to find further information concerning these prodigies. Elizabeth Oakes Smith was born in 1806, in Port- land, Me., and was married when but sixteen to Seba Smith, a poet and political writer and editor. She has written many songs and sketches as well as poems. But her book " The Sinless Child, and other Poems," has proved her genius. She still lives and writes with vigor and taste. Elizabeth F. Ellet, so well known for her prose writings, is also a poet. Griswold gives several pages of her originals and translations in his " Female Poets of America." Anna Peyke Dinnies of South Carolina published, in 1846, a riclily illustrated volume, entitled " The Floral Year." Griswold says, " Her pieces celebrating the domestic affections are marked by unusual grace and tenderness ; and some of them are worthy of the most elegant poets." Sarah Louis P. Smith, nSe Hickman, born in Detroit, June 30, 1811. Married, in her eighteenth year, Samuel Jenks Smith, editor in Providence, where he published a collection of her poems in a volume of two hundred and fifty pages, many of which poems were written while it was passing through the press< She died in February, 1832. Sophia Helen Oliver, born in Lexington, Ky., in 1811. She married Dr. J. H. Oliver in 1837. In 1842 went to reside permanently in Cincinnati. Her poems are spirited and fanciful. WOMEN POETS. 265 Caroline M. Sawyer, n6e Fisher, was bora in 1812, in Newton, Mass. A fine sketch of her is published in the Universalist " Ladies' Repository." Griswold says, " She commenced the composition of verse at an early age, but published little till after her marriage. Since then she has written much for various reviews and other miscellanies, besides several volumes of tales, sketches, and essays. . . . She has also made numerous translations from the best German literature, in prose and verse, in which she has evinced a delicate appre- ciation of the original, and a fine command of her native language. The poems of Mrs. Sawyer are numerous, sufficient for several volumes, though there has been published no collection of them. They are serious, and of a fresh and vigorous cast of thought, occasionally embodied in forms of the imagination, or illustrated by a chaste and elegant fancy." Mar- garet L. Bailey, daughter of Rev. Thomas Shands, born in Sussex County, Va., Dec. 12, 1812, married at the West, in 1833, G. Bailey, jun., subsequently editor of Cincinnati papers, and then of " The National Era," in which papers her poems appeared. "They have less individuality than her prose, but they are informed with fancy and a just understanding." ^ Laura M. Hawley, afterward Mrs. Thurston (born 1812, died 1842) was a native of Norfolk, Conn. Under the signature of " Viola," Mrs. Thurston had made herself known by many productions marked by feeling and a melodious versification, which were for the most part published in " The Louisville Journal." She died in Hartford, Conn., where she taught many years. Anna Charlotte Botta, a native of Bennington, 1 Female Poets of America. 266 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Vt., was a student at a popular young ladies' school in Albany, where her writings first attracted attention. She afterwards wrote much in prose and verse. " The poems of Mrs. Botta are marked by depth of feeling, and grace of expression." Emily C. Judson was a poet, as already mentioned. Her volume is entitled, " An Olio of Domestic Verses." "Elizabeth J. Eames, whose maiden name was Jessup, is a native of the State of New York, and her early years were passed on the banks of the Hudson. In 1837 slie was married to Mr. W. S. Eames, and re- moved to New Hartford, near Utica, where she has since resided." So says Griswold, and tells us also that her poems have appeared in " The Tribune," " Gra- ham's Magazine," and " The Southern Literary Messen- ger." Margaret Fuller, Marchioness D'Ossoli, known better as a prose writer, also wrote in rhyme. Eveline Sherman Smith, born 1823, in New York State, published in 1847 a volume entitled, " The Fairy's Search, and other Poems." Lydia Jane Pierson, a native of Middletown, Conn., has published two volumes of poems, *' Forest Leaves " in 1845, and " The Forest Minstrel " in 1847. Jane T. Worthington, nSe Lomax, died 1847, wrote poems mainly for " The Southern Literary Mes- senger," said to be " simple, graceful, and earnest." Sarah Anna Lewis (born 1824) was educated at Mrs. Willard's school in Troy. She was a native of Baltimore, but" removed to Brooklyn upon her mar- riage. Her volume, " Records of the Heart," was pub- lished in New York, in 1844. The principal poems are long ; and one of the minor poems, " The Forsaken," WOMEN POETS. 267 was said by Edgar A. Poe to be " inexpressibly beau- tiful." Her second volume was called " The Child of the Sea, and other Poems." Anna Coea Mowatt Ritchie, better known as an actress and reader, wrote poems and dramas, mostly brief and fugitive. Mary Noel Meigs, in 1845 published an octavo volume, entitled " Poems by M. N. M," and has since written many poems and prose essays for magazines, and volumes of stories for children. She was a Bleecker, belonging to the distinguished New York family of that name. Frances Sargent Osgood, a native of Boston, the daughter of Joseph Locke, born " 1812, passed her earlier life in Hingham, a village of peculiar beauty, well calculated to arouse the dormant poetry of the soul ; and here, even in childhood, she became noted for her poetical powers." ^ Her poems were published in 1839, under the title of " A Wreath of Wild Fowers from New England." Mrs. Lydia Maria Child was one of the first to perceive the merit of her poetry, and invited the young poet to write for a Miscellany she was then editing. In 1849 she passed on to a higher life, leaving many friends and a holy memory. Her poems meet responsive echoes in many hearts, espe- '»ially the one on " Labor," " Work, and pure slumbers shall wait on thy pillow ; Work, thou shall ride over care's coming billow. Lie not down wearied 'neath woe's weeping willow : Work with a stout heart and resolute will." Lucy Hooper was bom in Newburyport, Mass., Feb. 4, 1816, and died in Brooklyn, N.Y., Aug. 1, 1841. 1 Griswold's Female Poets of Aiuerica. 268 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. She wrote for years over her initial -i only. In 1840 she published an essay on " Domestic Happiness," and a volume entitled " Scenes from Real Life," and about the same time wrote " The Lost Hours of a Gay Poetess," a poem which has sometimes been referred io as an illustration of her own history. Her health from childhood was precarious, and she suffered for many years ; but nothing hindered her studies and the compositions which were a labor of love. Whittier wrote a beautiful poem in her memory. In 1842 Mr. John Keese collected and arrranged " The Literary Remains of Miss Hooper," with a memoir ; and in 1848 an enlarged edition of her poetical works appeared. Sarah Edgarton Mayo, already mentioned among literary women, was a poetic as well as prose writer. " Besides her numerous contributions to ' The New Yorker,' 'The New World,' 'The Tribune,' 'The Knickerbocker,' and other periodicals, she published, in the ten years from 1838 to 1848, ' The Palfreys,' ' Ellen Clifford, or the Genius of Reform,' ' The Poetry of Woman,' ' Spring Flowers,' ' Memoir and Poems of Mrs, Julia H. Scott,' ' The Flower Vase,' 'Fables of Flora,' and 'The Floral Fortune Teller.' These are small volumes, and two or three of them consist in part of extracts ; but they are all illustrative of a delicate apprehension of beauty and truth. She died on July 9, 1848." ^ Sarah S. Jacobs, daughter of Rev. Bela Jacobs, was born in Rhode Island. " Her poems are serious and fanciful, and evince cultivation and taste." Anna E. Appleton has written poems for young and old. Her translations of French and German poems show rare poetic taste, and power of versification. 1 Griswold's Female Poets of America. WOMEN POETS. 269 Susan Archer Talley, of Virginia, lost her hear- ing at the age of nine, but continued her studies ; and in her fifteenth year her father discovered a manuscript volume which showed her poetic ability. From that time she was encouraged to write for the press. When she was about seventeen, some of her poems appeared in " The Southern Literary Messenger." Rebecca S. Nichols, n6e Reed, published a volume in 1844, entitled " Bernice, or the Curse of Minna, and other Poems." She was a native of Greenwich, N.J. Amelia B. Welby, born in 1821 in Maryland, died in 1852. She wrote early poems under signature of " Amelia." In 1844 a collection of her poems ap- peared in a small octavo volume at Boston, which reached several editions. But the chapter must close without the names of some, or any facts in reference to Harriet McEwen Kimball, Kate Putnam Osgood, Emma Lazarus, Elizabeth Stoddard, and others who may be men- tioned in other parts of this volume. Many who are mentioned as prose writers, or in the professions, have also, like Harriet Beechbr Stowe, written excellent poetry. Reluctantly the list is here closed, with the comforting thought, expressed by Longfellow, that, whether widely known or not, all were ordained to vrrite in the musical flow of rhyme and rhythm. " Grod sent his singers upon earth With songs of sadness and of mirth, That they might touch the hearts of men, And bring them back to heaven again." CHAPTER IX. WOMEN-SCIENTISTS. Maria Mitchell — Grace Anna Lewis — Sarali Hackett Stevenson -= Ann Maria Redfield — Lydia F. Fowler — Elizabeth C. Agassiz— = Antoinette Brown Blackwell, and others. '" Resolves for this the dear, engaging dame Should shine forever in the rolls of fame ; And bids her crown among the stars be placed, And with an eternal constellation graced ; The golden circlet mounts; and, as it flies, Its diamonds twinkle in the distant skies." " The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein." — Psalm cxi. 2. SCIENCE knows no sex. The lover of science may- be man or woman ; but the love is the same, the toil is similar, the rewards which appertain naturally are not different, though tlie conventional gain may be less with one sex than the other. For many years it was supposed that woman could not be a genuine stu- dent, and had no capacity for science, if she had for literature. One who has written books men may be 270 WOMEN-SCiENTlSTS. 271 proud to understand says, '* I have realized in my in- most soul that most subtle outlawry of the feminine intellect, which warns it off from the highest fields of human research." ' But she has done much already to disprove the wisdom and righteousness of such ostra- cism. And other women there are who have wooed fair Science, and won her favor. Science promotes lon- gevity ; certainly the pursuit of science does not short- en human life, — the life of woman or of man. " The apparent physical strength of such women as Mrs. Som- erville," says Rev. Mrs. Blackwell, writing in 1875, "who lived to write science and philosophy at ninety years, is at least encouraging. Among living wome.u there are Miss Martineau, Frances Power Cobbe, jind many other robust women of eminent mental attainments, in England. In America, Mrs. Child, Catherine Beecher, Miss Cushman, Prof. Maria Mitch- ell, Drs. Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell, Mary L. Booth, Grace Greenwood, and the host of women who have done the largest share of brain-work in every direction for a quarter of a century past, the majority of them, have health much above the standard rates. They lead as to hope that if they would condescend to give in their ' woman's testimony,' according to good old-fash- ioned Quaker precedent, they would generally agree substantially in the opinion that reasonable brain- work habitually performed can have no inherent tendency to undermine the feminine constitution." The time is fast approaching, when the question of sex will not be mentioned in relation to brain-work. Already Harriet Martineau's works on political economy have been authority with male students ; and the wife of Prof. Fawcett of England is to-day furnishing Harvard Col- 1 Sexes thronghnnt Nature, by Antoinette Brown Blackwell. 272 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. lege with a manual of political economy. It is time to stop sneering, and to show a due respect to scientific and literary attainment, regardless of color, clime, or sex, acknowledging the kindred fact that scientists are cosmopolitan, and that with them knowledge is renown as well as power. America is younger than Europe and Asia ; but this Republic has women belonging to her first century whose names will live forever among the votaries of science. If Benjamin Franklin reached out his hand to the clouds, his relative Maria Mitchell has reached hers to the stars ; and, if he recorded wise sayings, hia other relative Lydia Fowler has penned wholesome truths and scientific facts, both being lovers of science and of mankind. Limited space in this book failed to encourage extensive research concerning the biography of each woman-scientist ; and therefore the record is meagre in some instances, — more so than those women deserve, or the writer could desire. Mabia Mitchell is first mentioned, for she stands at the head of the list of scientific women in Am6rica. Mrs. Hale says, " Maria Mitchell is the daughter of William and Lydia C. Mitchell, descendants of the earlier settlers of Nantucket Island, in the State of Massachusetts, and members of the society of Friends, or Quakers. Mrs. Mitchell (and the father also) de- scended from the same stock with Dr. Franklin, whose mother was from this island ; and it is quite remarkable, that throughout tliis family lineage are to be traced some of those traits of character which, in full measure, marked tlte character and history of that distinguished philosopher. The mother of Miss Mitchell was much distinguished, in her youth, for her fondness for books. Of these parents. Miss Maria was the third child, born WOMEN-SCIENTISTS. 275 Aug. 1, 1818. . . . From her mother and au excellent preceptress, she received the first rudiments of her edu- cation, and at the age of eleven entered her father's school, alternately as student and assistant teacher. To the study and practice of astronomy her father was a devotee. . . . Later in life, he became possessed of instruments, and engaged in practical operations ; and Miss Maria, who had already distinguished herself in mathematical learning, was employed as assistant in the observatory. " The onerous duties of a mere assistant in an estab- lishment of this kind are scarcely calculated to attach one to the employment: yet Miss Mitchell was en- amoured of the prospect of observing by herself, and commenced her career by obtaining altitudes of the heavenly bodies for the determination of the local time. The instrument thus used was the sextant, one of the most difficult of the observatory. Mastering this, she engaged in the study of the science ; and, familiarizing herself with all the instruments, she became skilful in their use. From this period she pursued with zeal the study of the firmament, devoting much time to the examination of nebulae, and sweeping for comets, often exposing herself to the elements in the most inclement seasons. Nothing can exceed her diligence and in- dustry. . . . On the 1st of October, 1847, she discov- ered a telescopic comet, for which she obtained the gold medal of the King of Denmark ; an interesting account of which has been written by Hon. Edward Everett, late president of Haivard University. " Miss Mitchell calculated the elements of this comet, and communicated a memoir on the subject to the Smithsonian Institute. She was for some time engaged with her fatlier in making the necessary astronomical 276 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. observations for the mensuration of an arc of the meridian between Nantucket and Portland, in the em- ployment of Dr. Bache, of the Coast Survey. At the invitation of the superintendent, she also made some observations at the northern extremity of this arc. She was also engaged in the computations of the new Nautical Almanac, authorized by the Government of the United States, and under the superintendence of Lieut. Davis. Amidst all these employments, she finds time to read many of the French and German mathematical writers, and to keep up with the lit- erature of the day. She has been elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the only lady having that honor; and subsequently, on nomi- nation of Prof. Agassiz, a member of the American Association for the Promotion of Science." The honor conferred by the King of Denmark on this woman of science was the more distinguished, from the fact that she had competitors in the Old World, of high astro- nomical rank, whom she distanced by her discovery. Miss Mitchell is now professor of astronomy and director of the observatory in Vassar College, and has been the pride of that institution for the past ten or eleven years, — a blessing to the pupils, and highly esteemed among her fellow-teachers. She is the second president, and for the second year, of the association for the advancement of woman, popularly known as " The Woman's Congress." Besides her scientific at- tainments. Prof. Mitchell has written sprightly articles (one on " Mary Somerville," in the "Atlantic Monthly ") for some of the literary periodicals, and more scientific communications for the scientific ones. She has also lectured acceptably on astronomical subjects before the Boston " Woman's Club," and in other places. Rutgers WOMEN-SCIENTISTS. 279 Female College conferred upon her the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy.* She has twice visited Europe, and added the culture of foreign travel to scientific study at home. While abroad she paid particular attention to the provision for the higher education of girls in Girton College and elsewhere, and reported by voice and pen on her return. She is one of the women whom her American sisters delight to honor. Long may she live to scan the midnight heavens, and win the trophies of science, while stars blaze and planets burn ! — "And oft, before tempestuous winds arise, The seeming stars fall headlong from the skies. And, shooting through the darkness, gild the night With sweeping glories and long trails of light. "'^ Gbace Anna Lewis, another descendant of the Quakers, is to be numbered with our women-scientists. " The Woman's Journal " for June, 18, 1870, contains this paragraph : " The Academy of Natural Sciences, in Philadelphia, has just elected three ladies to the honors of membership. A month ago, when these can- didates were proposed, they were rejected. But last week the vote was reconsidered, and they were tri- umphantly chosen ; the figures standing forty-five to five. The victors in this peaceful battle are three inter- esting maidens, — Grace Anna Lewis, Hannah T. Small- wood, and Ella Homer. Miss Lewis is an ornithologist; Miss Homer, a mineralogist ; and Miss Smallwood, an artist in scientific diagrams. So the good cause goes forward." The writer's first knowledge of Miss Lewis was in I Hanover College, Indiana, has conferred on her the degree of LL. D ' " Saepe etiam Stellas vento impendente videbia Praecipites coelo labi ; noctisque per umbram Flammarum longoa a tergo albescere tractus." — Viroil. 280 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. connection with the publication of h6r book, " Natural History of Birds : Lectures on Ornithology." This was to have been published in ten parts ; but the series has never yet been concluded, to the regret of every lover of science who has seen the commencement. Not alone an observer or student, Miss Lewis has also a capacity for profound theorizing on the basis of scien- tific apprehension. To her mind the truths of science seem revealed. As the old Quaker preachers sensed the spirit of their audiences, so she can sense the scientific truths which lie so close to the moral ; and the book of nature is an unsealed and illuminated volume to her. In a private letter to the writer, Misa Lewis once wrote : — " I suppose you wish to know what led me to the study of natural history. I think I learned the love of it from my mother ; at least, I never remember a time when she did not cultivate in her children a taste for it. Early left a widow, and cherishing for her husband a love which was never expressed in words, she sought to mould the minds left to her charge on the model loveliest to her soul. Mere infants when he died, we were women before our mother could trust herself to speak of our father. Naturally our thoughts of this unseen parent mingled with our reverence for the Author of all created tilings ; and thus, I think, was laid the foundation for a lover of nature. " Later in life, it was my privilege to be the chosen friend of the sister of a naturalist, herself the author of a little book for children, ' Life in the Insect World.' Eighteen years ago she bade farewell to earth ; and, after a long period, I wished for a studi/ kindred to hers. I occupied the leisure of a country home in observing the birds which visited us, and dreamed of WOMEN-SCIENTISTS. 281 preparing a little work as a companion to that of my friend. " * Nuttall on Birds ' was soon exhausted. * Cassin, Baird, and Lawrence,' was thrown in my way by acci- dent. This was an event. The book was my best help ; in fact, it was all I needed at the time. By its aid I could identify the species, and their habits I observed for myself. Years passed in this manner. My studies seldom interfered with household avocations. Gardening, walks, or rides, connected with business or pleasure, afforded me occasion for after-study. One book would contain references to many others ; and, as opportunity afforded, the available ones were secured, cabinets were examined, friends kindly sent specimens ; for, as you have doubtless found, it is the tendency of a nucleus to gather to itself. " At the time I was ripe for it, I think in 1862, a friend procured me an introduction to John Cassin, Vice-President of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. From hence I date my blessing. I had found a masteb, and, as time proved to me, one who knew also how to be one of the best of friends. From that day I needed no faciUties of study which he could procure me. " His business or his family cares never made him in- accessible. There were always hours when I could apply to him. The Academy of Natural Sciences was opened to me. My table there was filled to overflow- ing with books of his selection ; the museum, with its thousands of specimens, could be referred to ; but most valuable of all was the personal instruction which, in his leisure, he gave with a generosity akin to pleasure. " Walking in the genial warmth of such a presence, 282 WOMEN OF THE CENTTJRy. I forgot to fear it might fade away. INIay le, who could never have known the extent of his benefaction, understand it now in the fullest sense! He never seemed to think it strange a woman should wish to study, and I did not either. He had knowledge, I had not ; and he rejoiced in imparting it to me. " When a lady once thanked me because of the support I was giving to woman, it was really the first time I had ever thought of the matter in that light. I studied because I wished to find the truth. I am writing because there seems to be need of just such a work." This was in 1867. Later Miss Lewis has commenced to lecture on her favorite topics, and in a letter to the writer says, " I feel that my life's work is before me, in lecturing on zoology to girls just blooming into womanhood ; the inspiration being a desire to cultivate in them a faith in God, and in his superintending provi- dence, which cannot be swept away. This, too, is in reality the superstructure on which my book rests, philosophy and religion being in my view so intimately blended that neither can be wisely separated from the other. I am perhaps an enthusiast in the study of natural history ; but it is an enthusiasm which draws its nourishment from the centre of being. I love nature because it teaches me better to comprehend its Author." Miss Lewis is still a resident of Philadelphia. As an ornithologist she would probably enjoy the sight of a woman's unique contribution to the Centennial Expo- sition, though the exhibitor perhaps may not be a scien- tific seeker of birds. Mrs. Sarah E. Bonney, of Sterling, Mass., the only contributor from the town to the Centennial Exhibition, has two cases of goods, which will attract great atten- WOMEN-SCIENTISTS. 285 tion if their history is known. One case contains twenty-five choice birds of all varieties, from a hum- ming-bird to an owl, which were all shot by Mrs. Bon- ney herself, and stuffed, and mounted on an imitation of a laurel-branch. The second case contains several bird fans, with wings spread, and the full-size breast and head of a dove in the centre of each fan ; also a muff, boa, and hat, made out of ducks' feathers, each feather being put on separately, and prepared in the most delicate way. Mrs. Bonney has prepared these things unaided ; and it is said there are but few per- sons that can excel her in the use of a gun. The birds are all tightly wired to each branch, which also contains nests with eggs, &c. Two smaller birds are also seen in their nests in the hoUow part of the branches. Many of them are of a veiy bright color. Sabah Hackett Stevenson made a valuable con- tribution to the popular scientific literature, especially for the young, in her book entitled " Boys and Girls in Biology; or. Simple Studies of the Lower Forms of Life ; " based upon the latest lectures of Prof. T. H. Huxley, and published by his permission. (The inter- esting volume is illustrated by a lady, M. J. Macom- ISH.) Further mention of the scientific woman who has made good use of her opportunities for study, and has consecrated such a portion of her attainments to the youth of her country, will be given in the chapter on Women Physicians. Mary M. Chase (though she would hardly have numbered herself among the women of science) was a lover of botany. Her biographer says, " During the summer of 1849 she made a collection of most of the flowers growing in this region [Chatham County, N.Y.], comprising some three hundred varieties, put up with 284: WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. skill and taste in three portfolios, and accompanied with a description of each, arranged in an essay of fifty pagea. These were sent to the World's Exhibition at London, and returned with gratifying testimonials." Sabah E. Smith, whose modesty might forbid evcD the mention of her name, has been placed among women scientists, by a Boston teacher, Louise S. Hotchkiss,^ in this manner : " Waltham is composed of one long, broad street ; one beautiful river, the Charles ; and one beautiful mountain. Prospect. This is Waltham to pleasure-seekers ; to men and women of business, it is a busy, manufacturing, money-making town ; for the stu- dent, it has its intellectual hermits and retreats. It was for one of these hermit homes that I made my way directly this afternoon, and knocked at a low door of a little old-fashioned house, its windows vineclad without, and fern and moss clad within. A gentle step ap- proached the door, and a light hand raised the latch. A figure as graceful as a willow, a sweet, intellectual face, a voice of perfect culture, a single woman past middle age, the finest botanist and linguist in the State, I may say in any State, was before me, and bade me enter. We walked into a low room, only two windows, every ray of light from which is used in the growth of some choice lichen or plant. What a student's nook was this ! Here were shells and minerals all classified by a scholarly hand ; here were the most exquisitely arranged mosses and ferns of every domestic and for- eign species, on cards, pressed, and growing ; here was the student's desk, piles of books, one open and a mark laid just where the lady had left it ; here were pictures on the low wall, of learned faces, and lovely Madonna faces ; here were schoolbooks belonging to the young 1 Woman's Journal for 1872, p. 314. WOMEN-SCIENTISTS. 285 girls who came to recite; here was a telescope and microscopes which accompany the teacher and pupils in their rambles day and evening. The graceful figure bends over a table of moss ; and the quiet hand lifts a tuft to show me a very rare sight, — the fruiting of a species she has never known to fruit in any New Eng- land State before. How radiant grows the face over this success in developing and perfecting this tiny spray of moss I " The " Woman's Journal " of Sept. 14, 1872, mentions another woman-scientist thus : " At a meeting of the American Science Association in New York, Miss Swain read a paper entitled, ' Why we differ ; or. The Law of Variety.' Miss Swain is the first lady who has ever addressed this body. She handled her subject very judiciously. By well chosen illustrations from the animal and vegetable kingdoms, she showed that excess on one side and defect on the other, in the same qualities or properties, is the cause of difference ; in other words, that all distinction is relative, and pro- ceeds by infinite gradations. Men and women differ not in elemental composition, but in the proportions of their common qualities." Mrs. Ellet mentions " a lady residing in Syracuse, N. Y., whose social influence has been salutary and widely acknowledged. Mrs. Redfield (Ann Maria rreadwell) is not only noted for position, but known as the author of a popular work, ' Zoological Science , or. Nature in Living Forms,' — a book commended by Prof. Agassiz as one that would ' do great credit to a majority of college professors in this department.' She came of distinguished family. Her grandfather devoted his entire fortune and best energies to the support of American independence in the great struggle for 286 WOMEN OF THE CENTtJBY. nationality, and served his country l:i Congress during its first sessions ; while her father obtained distinction by his military services in the war of 1812." Mrs. Redfield was educated at the school of Mrs. Willard at Troy. Emma Willard herself may be numbered among the women-scientists when it is remembered that she wrote a work entitled "A Treatise on the Motive- Powers which produce the Circulation of the Blood." Mrs. Hale says that this work was the result of four- teen years' study, and that its object was to " introduce and establish the fact, that the principal motive-power which produces circulation of the blood is not, as has been heretofore supposed, the heart's action, that being only secondary ; but that the principal motive-power is respiration^ operating by animal heat, and producing an effective force at the lungs." Of this work, " The London Critic " said in 1846, " We have here an instance of a woman undertaking to discuss a subject that has perplexed and baffled the ingenuity of the most distinguished anatomists and physiologists who have considered it, from Hervey down to Paxton ; and, what is more remarkable, so acquitting herself as to show that she apprehended, as well as the best of them, the difficulties which beset the inquiry; perceived as quickly as they did the errors and incongruities of the theories of previous writers ; and lastly, herself pro- pounded an hypothesis to account for the circulation of the blood, and the heart's action, eminently entitled to the serious attention and examination of all who take an interest in physiological science." Al>uiia H. Lincoln Phelps, the sister of Mi-s. Wil- lard, was also interested in science. The first work she ever published was, in 1829, a large botany. Mrs. Hale WOMEN-SCIENTISTS. 287 says, " Few scientific books have had a more general circulation than this ; and for the last twenty years it has kept its place as the principal botanical class-book, notwithstanding numerous competitors. Her next work was a ' Dictionary of Chemistry,' which, though it pur- ported to be a translation from the French, contains much, in the form of notes and an appendix, that is original. With the learned, this work gave the author great credit, as it evinced much research and a thor- ough knowledge of the science which it illustrated." Her Botany and Chemistry for Beginners were also widely circiilated and very useful. The first book which the writer of this volume ever purchased with her own money — a child's hoard — was this " Botany for Beginners ; " and it was one of the few books saved from the great fire of 1846 in Nantucket, and will never pass from her possession till she has no longer need of books. Mrs. Hale says, " It was for her pupils that her scientific works were prepared. No woman in America, nor any in Europe excepting Mrs. Marcet and Mrs. Somerville, has made such useful and numerous con- tributions to the stock of available scientific knowledge as Mrs. Phelps : yet had she not been a teacher, and found the need of such works, it is very doubtful whether she would have prepared them." Margaret Coxe, the principal of a seminary for young ladies in Cincinnati, wrote " Botany of the Scriptures," and " Wonders of the Deep," which were calculated to instruct young readers, and awaken a love of science. Lydia F. Fowler, the daughter of Gideon Folger of Nantucket, and thus a descendant of Peter Folger, the grandfather of Dr. Franklin, was early a teacher on her native island, then married L. N. Fowler, the celebrated phrenologist, and has since be- 288 WOMEN OF THE CENTUBY. come famed herself as a writer, lecturer, and physician. She is now practising her profession with great succees in England. The book which leads to the mention of her name among women-scientists is a little work on astronomy, published in New York City about a quarter of a century ago. Mary' Treat should be mentioned as one whose interesting articles on microscopic observations of various objects, published in the *' New York Tribune," the " Popular Science Monthly," &c., have won the approbation of lovers of science. Helen S. Conant has furnished young readers with a valuable introduction to the study of entomology in her book, "■ The Butterfly Hunters," published in 1868. Fanny I. Burqe Smith has furnished for young readers, " Our Birds," published by the American Tract Society, who in publishing also " Frank's Search for Sea- Shells," and a smaller volume called " Land Shells," by the same author, whose name is not given, have done the world of boys and girls good service. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, who will be mentioned more fully elsewhere, has added to the scientist's library two valuable books, " Sexes Through- out Nature," and " Studies in General Science." With a pleasant memory of her brother's (Rev. William B. Brown, of Newark, N. J.) extensive cabinet of shells, and an acknowledgment of his superior attainments as a conchologist, the writer is inclined to expect yet more from the pen of Mrs. Blackwell, in days to come, of a scientific character, not unmingled with the lofty utterances of Christian philosophy. Mrs. P. V. Hath- away exhibits at the Centennial Exposition, in two cases of great interest to botanists, an herbarium of grapes, wild flowers, ferns, and the blossoms of shrubs. WOMEN-SCIENTISTS. 289 constituting the native flora of Illinois ; Jennie Wat- son has prepared North American mosses for exhibition there also, dried and neatly arranged on cards. Two women of the century who are interested in botanical science ! It is certainly proper to mention the name of Eliza- beth C. Agassiz as one who has assisted largely by her sympathy and personal aid in the scientific dis- coveries and explorations of one whose name she bears, and whom America adopted and honored. She is a Boston lady, and wrote the text of a book called " Seaside Studies in Natural History," published over her name and that of her son Alexander Agassiz. The marine animals of Massachusetts Bay, especially the radiates, are described in this volume, which was published with the hope of furnishing a seaside book of a popular character. It is evidently the first one of a series which, it is hoped, will some day be issued in full. Mbs. Eeminnie a. Smith, nee Piatt, has one of the finest cabinets of fossils, shells, gems, Indian articles, etc., in the country. Among its treasures is a piece of amber containing a small lizard. Mrs. Smith is a native of New York State, and was a pupil of Mrs. Emma Wil- lard. She early manifested an interest in scientific mat- ters, studied for four years in the School of Mines at Freyburg, Germany, is a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, and a Fellow of the American As- sociation for the Advancement of Science. She lectures at times upon " Gems," etc., has had published several papers on " Amber," etc., and, in connection with the Bureau of Ethnology of the Smithsonian Institute, she " has undertaken to prepare a series of chrestomathics of the Iroquois language, and has already made much prog- 290 WOMEN OF THOE CENTTJRy. ress. She has also collected interesting material relating to the mythology, habits, customs, etc., of these Indians ; and her contributions will be interesting and important." So says the Report of the Bureau Director, Major Powell. With a sense of the incompleteness of this record, yet glad and grateful for the work of the women men- tioned, this chapter is closed with the full assurance that there are many scientific women in other pro- fessions, and many students of natural history in our country, who, like Mabia L. Owen,i find " tongues in the trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in every thing," and in quiet ways help others to the beautiful study of God's wonderful works. 1 Formerly the writer's teacher in Nantucket • now a resident of ^is'rjngfield, Mass. CHAPTER X. WOMEN ARTISTS. Harriet Hosmer — Emma Stebbins — Eliza Greatorex — Lily M. Spen. cer — Margaret Foley — May Alcott — Emily Sartain — Mary B. Mellen, and others. " Art is wondrous long; Yet to the wise her paths are ever fair, And Patience smiles, though Genius maydespair." O. W. Holmes. " Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates." — Proy. xxxi. 31. WOMAN has succeeded in art ; not in the earlier centuries perhaps, when the freedom of Chris- tianity was not known ; but ever since she has been progressing in the appreciation and practice of that art which creates or embalms the beautiful. The Romans haa one woman painter, we are told ; and she is said to be of Greek origin. Her name was Laya. Germany produced the first woman sculptor, — Sa- BiNA VON Steinbach. Mrs. Ellet has traced the work of women as artists ; and her volume is most cordially recommended to all who would know what woman has achieved in other ages and other lands. " Women 291 292 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Artists " is a book of which it may be said, it is as useful as unique. England thought so, and therefore a London publisher reprinted it. But it first appeared from the press of the Harpers. Another New York firm, Hurd and Houghton, has done lovers of art good service in publishing " A Handboolj of Legendary and Mythological Art," by another woman, Clara Erskinb Clement. In this chapter mention can only be made of American artists, and that briefly. The mother of Benjamin West deserves honorable mention for the encouragement her kiss gave to her son when he had sketched the picture of his infant sister ; but many other mothers, consciously or unconsciously, have given similar help and encouragement to their children. Many, by cherishing a love of the beautiful, have secured a pre-natal influence for their children, which has afterwards developed into artistic skill and genius. Mrs. Ellet mentions the names of Rosalba Torrens, Eliza Torrens, Mary Mltiray, and Madame Plan- tea u, as painters ; also Mrs. Lupton as a modeller, as well as painter. She speaks of Charlotte Demlhg, Jane Sully, and a Miss O'Hara, as artists of merit ; and adds, "Mrs. Goodrich of Boston painted an excellent portrait of Gilbert Stuart, which was engraved by Durand for the National Portrait Gallery. Her miniatures have great merit, and are marked by truth and expression. ** Margaret Foley was a member of tl.e New Eng- land School of Design, and gave instruction in drawing and painting. She resided in Lowell, and was fre- quently applied to for her cameos, which she cut beau- tifully. Miss Sarah Mackintosh was accustomed to draw on stone for a large glass company ; and other ladies designed in the carpet factory at Lowell, and in WOMEN AUTISTS. 293 the Merrimack Print Works, showing the ability of women to engage in such occupations." Mrs. Ellet devotes several pages to an interesting account of Anna C. Pe.\le, now Mrs. Duncan, and Sarah M. Peale and Rosalba Peale, her sisters. They, and others of their family, were portrait-painters , and in that part of the century when the sun was not acknowl- edged as an artist, and photography was wholly un- known, they found their artistic career an exceedingly busy one, and quite prosperous. For the portraits of children, double price was charged. " The name of Leslie ha« been placed by a painter of eminent merit among the most distinguished of this century ; and his sister, Ann Leslie, has contributed to its fame." Mrs. Wilson, a native of Cooperstown, N.Y., but a dweller in Cincinnati when Mrs. Ellet prepared her volume. " A gentleman acquainted with Mrs. Wilson mentioned an incident that occurred on a journey to the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky. Struck with the aspect of a distinguished person in the company, — Mr. Emerson, — the sculptress gave directions to stop near a bank of soft red clay, and, putting out one hand to grasp a sufficient portion of the material, with the other she signed to her subject to remain motion- less. In a few moments she had modelled a very cred itable likeness of the author." Mrs. Dubois of New York showed great talent for sculpture and cameo-cutting. She is said to have dis- covered her abihty in this way : " Her father had his bust taken. Before the casting, he asked his daughter her opinion of it as a hkeness. She pointed out some defects, which the artist corrected in her presence, upon which she exclaimed, 'I could do that,' and requested the sculptor to give her some clay, from 294 WOMEN OF THE CENTURA. which she modelled with but little labor the bust of her husband, and was eminently successful in the like- ness." She afterwards studied in Italy. Anne Hall of Pomfret, Conn., the daughter of a physician, was encouraged by her father, who procured for her a box of colors from China. Visiting in New- port, R.I., she studied with Samuel King, and she cop- ied from the old masters on ivory in miniature. She finally came to excel in painting portraits thus. " The soft colors seem breathed on the ivory, rather than applied with the brush. A miniature group often sold for five hundred dollars." She was elected unani- mously to membership in the National Academy of Design. Mrs. Ellet says, " One of the best of her ori- ginal compositions is a group of a mother and child, — Mrs. Jay and her infant. The first, clasping the babe to her bosom, has a Madonna-like beauty ; the child is perfect in attitude and expression. Another group of a mother and two young children, the widow and orphans of the late Matthias Brueu, has a most charming ex- pression. One of the children was painted as a cherub in a separate picture, much valued by artists as a rare specimen of skill. Miss Hall has also painted the por- traits in miniature of many persons distinguished in the best social circles of New York. Several of her groups have been copied in enamel in France, and thus made indestructible. Three children of Mrs. Ward, with a dog and bird ; a child holding a grape-vine branch ; with portraits of Mrs. Crawford, widow of the sculptor, Mrs. Divie Bethune, and the daughters of Gov. King, — may be mentioned among numerous works, a single one of which has sufficient merit to establish the author's claim to the reputation which she has long enjoyed, of being the best of American miniaturists." WOMEN ARTISTS. 295 Mary Swinton Leqare (Mrs. Bullen) "had a great-grandfather and two grandfathers, besides other relatives, in the patriot army of the Revolution," where youths of sixteen and eighteen often fought beside their grandsires. She was a native of South Carolina, and was born in Charleston. She became skilled in the dehneation of animals and landscapes, the latter en- gaging her special enthusiasm. In 1849 she removed to Iowa. There she established " Legar^ College," for the liberal education of women, at West Point, in Lee County. When Mrs. Ellet wrote of her, seventeen years ago, she was about to resume her pencil. At the same time Mrs. Ellet wrote as follows : " Jane Stuart was the youngest child of Gilbert Stuart, the eminent portrait-painter. Like many of her sisters in art, she inherited the genius she discovered in early life ; but it was not till after her father's death that the talent she had shown found development in the prac- tice of art. She has resided for a long time at New- port, R.I., in the enjoyment of the celebrity hei talents have acquired. " Mrs. Heldreth of Boston deserves mention, espe- cially for her portraits of children in crayon. Miss May painted landscapes in Allston's style. Mrs. Orvis has been mentioned as a flower-painter of remarkable skill. Hoyt remarked that he knew nothing better in coloring than her autumn leaves and wild flowers. In this style Mrs. Badger of New York has acquired reputation by her book of ' The Wild Flowers of America,' published in 1859. The drawings were all made and colored from nature by herself. Mrs. Haw- thorne of Boston has painted many beautiful pieces. An ' Endymion,' which was greatly admired, she pre- sented to Mr. Emerson. She also modelled the head 296 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. of Laura Bridgman. Mrs. Hill is a highly successfuj miniature-painter. Mrs. Greatorex is a landscape- painter of merit, and is rapidly acquiring distinction."' Since Mrs. Ellet wrote the above, so many years have passed, that some of these ladies may have passed to the other life : and it is possible that some of them are not American women ; for Mrs. Ellet mentions among others Herminie Dassel, who was a Prussian, but came to America in 1849, and was a successful painter. The Athenaeum at Nantucket contains her very accurate portrait of the last Indian of the island, and his surroundings in his hut. A more interesting picture still, from her easel, is one representing the astronomers William and Maria Mitchell, and Kate, the youngest daughter of the family, noting their observations. This is as good a description of the picture as memory allows. Mrs. Dassel died in 1857, and was buried in Greenwood. A writer, in speaking of " Centennial Art Work," thus refers to one of the artists above mentioned : " Mrs. Eliza Greatorex, who has won fame not only in this country, but in Europe, stands at the head, among women, of etching and pen-and-ink drawing. Until her husband's death she studied art as an amateur, being a member of a sketching-club, and working with an enthusiastic love of the work ; but when thirty-foiu: years of age her husband died, and she was left with two daughters and no property. Then, with the encouragement and aid of her friends of the club, she began in earnest to use her gifts and knowledge as a means of support. For seventeen years she taught drawing ; fifteen years in Miss Maine's school, who gave her fullest liberty to work out her own peculiar ideas and methods of teaching. During this time she WOMEN ARTISTS. 297 was one year abroad, studying in Paris ; and again, three years ago, she spent two years abroad with her daughters, studying with them in Munich. She now has in hand a peculiar work for the centen- nial year. She has secured panels and woodwork from the old historical houses and churches that have been or are being torn down, working with her daughter, who decorates the panels with appropriate designs : she paints or sketches in the centre, using for her theme some historical event that has given interest to the build- ing. She has made an art-gallery of the first floor of their dwelling, in which her pictures and works will be for exhibition and sale, and where worshippers of the ancient can admire and buy by piecemeal the interior of St. Paul's, the pulpit of the old Fulton-street Church, a quantity of wood from the old Roger Morris house upon Washington Heights, of pre-Revolutionary times, or any other ancient building for which their hearts may hunger." A New York newspaper has also published the fol- lowing paragraph : — " Mrs. Eliza Greatorex, recently at the Association Building, has now opened a studio at her residence in Twenty-third Street, where she is at present teaching her daughters the art of reproducing etchings on plain glass. These young ladies have received a thorough training in di-awing, but as yet do not exhibit ; Mrs. Greatorex, with a feehng that does her infinite honor, preferring that they should wait until their works can stand on their own merit, and not through the influ- ence of her name. Both of these ladies evince talents of a high order, and are already becoming known in a quiet way in art circles." Mrs. Greatorex did not commence her career as an 298 WOMEN OP THE CENTURY. artist till past thirty. Her best-known work is a series of drawings from many of the old landmarks about the city of New York. They have been photographed, and published in a volume called " Old New York." Women have shown artistic ability in carving during our first century. P. Thorne, in writing to the " Chris- tian Register," April 17, 1876, said, " Last week some pieces of wood-carving done by young ladies of Cincin- nati for the Centennial were on exhibition in Mitchell & Rammelsberg's windows on Fourth Street, where they attracted many admirers. There was a bedstead of antique pattern, the high headboard and the whole woodwork covered with fine and elaborate carving of delicate designs ; also a shaving-stand, and what may in centennial times properly be called a ' chest of drawers.' The two Misses Johnson have worked six months on this bedstead alone. One room in the Women's Centennial Building at Philadelphia is to be entirely furnished with furniture carved by the ladies of Cincinnati. One lady is doing a mantel-piece in a variety of woods, said to be very beautiful by those who have seen it. Others are carving an organ-case, a piano-case, a table, &c. The ladies of Cincinnati have contributed five thousand dollars towards erecting the Woman's Centennial Building, and have still some thousands left, to be used in forwarding women's work in Philadelphia. This money was raised at the Wo- man's Centennial Fair held last May. From the first, the Cincinnati ladies have taken an active interest in the Centennial. Art-work is very fashionable here. Many of the ' first ' ladies go regularly to the School of Design, to learn carving, painting, &c. An unusual interest in, and knowledge of, art seems to" be diffused through the community. Painting china teacups and WOMEN ARTISTS. 299 sets is another popular accomplishment, each lady designing patterns to please herself." An artist friend speaks to the writer of Miss .Jesseh Curtis of Brooklyn, not known as a painter, but deserving of notice as a lady of much genius, who illustrated Miss Phelps's " Gates Ajar." Her drawings are remarkable for spirituality and grace ; and she is especially successful in her delineation of children. Besides many book-illustrations, she has drawn for the " Graphic " and other New York weekly publica- tions. Miss Fidelia Bridges of Brooklyn is a painter well known for her faithful and charming studies of bits of out-door nature. Her works are much sought and highly prized by art-patrons ; and she is well represented in the water-color exhibit at Memorial Hall, Philadel- phia. Some one wrote of her this year in a New York paper, — " Miss Bridges is a poet as well as a painter, and her delicate bits of canvas are faithful mirrors of Nature. She loves the cool, gray sands of the sea- side, and the neglected bits of landscapes. The birds she introduces into many of her pictures are exqui- sitely painted. She is represented in the Academy by ' Blackberry Bushes,' ' Marsh Flowers,' ' The Edge of a Pasture,' ' Catkins,' and ' The Mouth of a River.' " Miss Ellen D. Hale, daughter of Rev. Edward Everett Hale of Boston, is a young artist who has painted several pictures of great merit, among which may be mentioned a portrait of remarkable excellence ; also, " A Boy Reading," which is now at the Centen- aial Exposition. Miss Anna M. Lea is a very fine portrait-painter. A «orrespondent of " The New York Herald " thus wrote 300 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. of her : " Miss A. M. Lea from New York, now a stu- dent of art in London, has achieved a success and created a sensation of which all Americans may be proud. Miss Lea came to England some three years ago quite unheralded ; but at once, through her merit alone, commanded attention. The very first picture which she sent to the Academy was accepted, a com- pliment which has seldom been paid to an unknown artist, even among those who have afterward gained high distinction. But these American girls have a way of making their way wherever they appear. This year Miss Lea contributes three pictures, all of them of unusual beauty and power ; so remarkable, indeed, that we can, without fear, predict that this young artist has a great career before her, and will win a high place in the temple of fame." Our foremothers in the far-off Pilgrim days were artists in a very small way with their needles. In Plymouth, Mass., may be seen a piece of Pilgrim needlework, embroidered with colored silk, now sadly faded, in 1655, by a daughter of Capt. Miles Standish, and bearing this devout prayer : — "Lorea Standish is my name. Lord, guide my heart that I may doe thy will ; Also fiU my heart with such convenient skill, As may conduce to virtue, void of shame, — And I wiU give the glory to thy name." Samplers are not worked now so much as formerly ; but the women of the first part of the century were wont to exhibit their artistic ability more with the needle, and with colored worsteds or silks, than with the pencil. They were in the habit of embroidering muslin, and making lace-work. And though such WOMEN ARTISTS. 301 skill may not be artistic in one sense, it is in another , and it is a fact, doubtless, that the children of mothers who evinced great interest and skill in embroidery and lace-work have received an inheritance of taste and skill which have made them artists with brush and chisel. Mrs. Pabthenia S. Post of Jersey City possessed the skill above mentioned, was a perfect artist with the needle (as an embroidered cape and collar show, which are marvels in their way), and her daughter, CoB- NELIA S. Post, has inherited taste and skill which have enabled her to make pen-and-ink-sketches, cray- on portraits, water-color and oil paintings, with great success, and to engrave on wood. Having a father of superior mathematical ability, and inventive genius also,^ no wonder that the culture gained in the New York School of Design and elsewhere was not in vain. Miss Post has designed nearly all the vignettes in this volume, and drawn them on wood. A Boston lady. Miss Frances A. Smith, has engraved them. Miss Post is a native of Montpelier, Vt., but is of New Hampshire stock, her parents being from Lebanon, N.H. During the lifetime of her father, she was often a valued assistant to him, drawing and engraving dia- grams of his plans for bridges. Crayon portraits of her father and mother, and the writer of this volume, show that the difficult process of transferring to the canvas " the human face divine " is one of the gifts bestowed by Providence upon her ; and, if the posses- sion of a competency did not keep her among the amateur artists, her genius, shown through a commen- surate industry, would give her high place among those who stand before the easel, and transfer the beauty of nature to the canvas. 1 S. S. Post, an inv«uior of iron bridges 302 WOMEN OP THK CENTURY. " The Liberal Christian " thus speaks of another artist : — " Miss Mary Hallock, who illustrated ' The Hang- ing of the Crane ' and ' Mabel Martin ' so admirably, though her name was recently changed to Mrs. Foote, will not abandon her beautiful art in her California home. Milton, upon the Hudson, ISIiss Halleck's home, had been the inspiration of her pictures, her Quaker relatives appearing in several of her figures; but still more the scenery she loved has been sketched with rare fidelity and consummate grace." "Miss Sarah Clarke, sister of Rev. Dr. James Freeman Clarke, has for several years resided in Rome, where, by her gentle courtesy and sparkling vivacity, she has won for herself a large circle of friends. She has an artistic-looking apartment on the Via Quattro Fontane, overlooking the beautiful grounds of the Barberini Palace. She is now engaged on her great work on Dante." So says one newspaper writer ; and another adds, "The Dante drawings of Miss Sarah Clarke are thus spoken of by Aune Brewster in a letter from Rome : ' The contents of the books are very charming, — large pen-and-ink drawings of places visited by Dante, places made immortal by the great Italian poet. All these drawings have been made with the greatest care from studies which Miss Clarke exe- c -ted on the ground. She has traversed Italy as a true Dante pilgrim ; and these two beautiful books, unique and rare gems, are the results of her intelligent labor.' Miss Clarke, it must be remembered, was almost the only pupil Washington Allston ever had." Imoqene Robinson Morell has become noted for her historical paintings, of which a correspondent of " The Boston Journal " said, when they were exhibited WOMEN ARTISTS. 303 there, "They are spoken of in terms of the highest admiration by artists and art-critics, both at home and abroad. They are the result of long years of study and labor, under the first masters in France and Ger- many, and show great genius, inspired by patriotic enthusiasm. . . . The composition is strictly original in all its details : each figure and every animal was painted from a living model, after the strictest rules of genuine art. . . . " No one should lose the opportunity of seeing these pictures. The children of our families, and, indeed, all our schools, should be taken to Amory Hall to enjoy them, and to hear their stories, so pleasantly told, — that they may thus have impressed on their minds the fact that American liberty was not obtained but at a mighty cost. " We hear that Mrs. Morrell will leave Boston very soon, and that the pictures may be purchased for the Capitol at Washington. If this shall prove true, we only wish there was better company for them there ! But the day must come ere long, when some miserable daubs that deface the walls, through " lobbying," and disgrace good pictures there, may be replaced by works of real art. Such Mrs. Morrell's are pronounced to be, by Mr. Washburne, our Minister to France, Gustave Dor^, Isadore and JuKet Bonheur, Healy, Merle, and the eminent historical painter, Philippoteaux, and scores of others of equal standing. " Of pictures which draw forth the praise of such men, we, as Americans, may be justly proud ; and we should be grateful to our gifted countrywoman who has so nobly represented us, both in the art circles and in society abroad, not less by her genius than by her quiet womanly virtues and her lieroism during the siege of 304 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Paris, for even its horrors had not power to draw hei from her work. Let us not withhold from Mrs. MorreD the applause which foreigners so freely bestow upon her and her works." " I. G.," in " The Boston Commonwealth," sayi, " Mrs. Morrell has been devoted to art from her early years. She left Boston some fifteen years ago, since which time she has studied at Dusseldorf with Schroe- der, and Camphausen, now court painter of the emperor of Germany, and with Couture in France, from whom, and other distinguished artists, she has received testi- monials of their appreciation of her talents. The pic- tures will remain in Boston only a day or two next week, before going to Philadelphia for exhibition." Mrs. Ellet mentions the names of Mrs. Woodman, Mrs. RuGGLES, and Miss Caroline May, as fine land- scape-artists seventeen years ago. She also speaks of crayon heads by Miss Gore, flowers by Miss Gran- bury, and interior scenes by Juliana Oakxey. Mrs. Ellet devotes a large part of a chapter, in her work on " Women Artists," to an interesting sketch of Lily Martin Spencer, the well-known painter of " Truth Unveiling Falsehood." As she was born in England of French parents, we do not count her among the women of our century, but coming to America when but six years old her life has been American, and few have any suspicion that she is not native born. Louisa Lander of Salem, Mass., is a distant rela- tive of Benjamin West, and a descendant of Ca.pt. Richard Derby, noted in the Revolutionary struggle. " In various branches of her family has artistic talent shown itself. Her grandmother and her mother were remarkable for their fondness for art, and gave evidence thereof in works of their own. In the old family WOMEN ARTISTS. 305 mansion, where Louisa's childhood was spent, are carv- ings upon the walls and over the lofty doors, designed by her grandmother, and executed under her directions. Similar designs, evincing both taste and skill, decorated the mahogany furniture ; and the canopies and cover- ings of the furniture were embroidered by the lady, according to the fashion of the day, her own fancy sup- plying the beautiful designs. It can hardly be said when commenced the artist-life of the young girl brought up under such influences." Even in childhood she modelled heads for dolls with surprising skill, and her early drawings were marvels of excellence for a pupil. She left her native land to seek the culture of Rome, and was there a pupil of Crawford, — his only pupil, — and exhibited from the first great skill in portraits. She finished the bust of Chief- Justice Shaw in marble for Gore Hall, — the Har- vard library. " This talent for likenesses is observable in the first efforts of Miss Lander. When very young, before she had attempted modelling, she carved from an old alabaster clock, with a penknife, several heads and faces in bas-relief. These were noticed by a friend, who gave her a bit of shell and some gravers, and at once, without the least instruction, she carved a head in cameo. Likenesses of her mother and other friends were made, and pronounced very striking." She executed a fine portrait of Hawthorne and a bas-relief of Mountford. She made also a charming statuette of Virginia Dare, and afterward a statue of life size in marble. She executed '' To-day " and " Galatea," " Evangeline " and "■ Elizabeth, the Exile of Siberia," all of them delightful each in its own way. and to these she has added " Undine," as a sculptured creation of beauty, " Ceres Mourning for Proserpine." 306 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. and " A Sylph." These are all mentioned by Mrs. Ellet, Miss Lander has continued to brighten the world of art by her genius. May she long live to mould clay, and chip marble into forms of loveliness I Jennie E. Bartlett of Harmony, Me., was bom with a love of art that could not be repressed. She has succeeded as a portrait-painter, after struggles worthy of the prize she sought, and gives proof of a native energy and ability, which promises still very much more than she has yet wrought. Miss Margaret Hicks, who graduated in architect- ure from Cornell University, is the first woman in a col- lege to undertake this profession. The theme selected by Miss Hicks, as her Commencement Essay, was the " Tenement House," and she seemed — unlike many of the architects who have sent plans to New York for which premiums are offered — to have remembered that houses must have light and air, closets and bed-rooms. Kate N. Doggett is a well known patroness of art, with much ability as an artist, and especially as an art- critic. She resides in Chicago, and since her return from Europe has favored the formation of artists' socie- ties, and given great encouragement to young artists in various ways. Of Rebecca A. Morse of New York City very much the same may be said. She has been the chairman of the art committee of Sorosis for sev- eral years, and her papers on art have been worthy of wide circulation. She has bravely battled for art as represented in chromos, believing that good chromos are better than poor oil paintings, and that chromos may educate and adorn as well as other pictures, and because of their greater cheapness perform a greater work in educating children, because more homes can afford to purchase them. As the wife of Prof. Morse, WOMEN ARTISTS. 307 the artist and teacher, this lady has superior advantages in respect to criticism and information, which have been well improved. Many a struggling artist has been blessed by her kind encouragement and benevo- lent hand. Mart Weston, nee Pillsbury, is mentioned at some length by Mrs. Ellet. She was born in Hebron, N.H., the daughter of a Baptist clergyman. " One day, when between seven and eight, she noticed a beautiful woman ; and, returning home, went quietly to her father's study, creeping in, as it was locked, through two panes of a window, to which she climbed by a chair on the bed, in search of a slate and pencil. With this she began to make a sketch of the face that had charmed her. She made the oval outline, but could not give the expression about the mouth and eyes. With a keen sense of disappointment she relinquished the hopeless task. But the artist-passion was awak- ened within her." As the years rolled on, it was found that the task was not hopeless, though she had little encouragement from those about her. She was poorly furnished with materials. " For the colors of her flowers Mary used beet-juice, extract of bean-leaves prepared by herself, etc., till the welcome present of a box of paints made her independent of such contriv- ances." After many vicissitudes, graphically told by Mrs. Ellet, she was married to one who appreciated her genius ; and from that time she painted as much as was consistent with the care or her two children. Her copies from the old masters are considered admirable, and her portraits excellent. JuiiiA DU Pre, a native of Charleston, S.C, who afterward married Henry Bonnethean, is esteemed as a lovely woman, and fine artist, according to Mrs. EUet's 308 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. testimony. The Misses Withers of Charleston are also mentioned as good painters in oil, and as having ability in cutting cameos. Charlotte Chevbs of Columbia, S.C., and Ellen Cooper of the same place, and Mary Ann Douglas, now Mrs. Johnson of Westfield, Mass., are on Mrs. Ellet's pages as artists of worth. " About seven years ago " (now thirty), says .Mrs. Ellet, " a School of Design for Women was started by Miss Hamilton, which, supported by volun- tary contributions, met with encouraging success. It has now been adopted by the trustees of the Cooper Institute, and a sum is allowed annually for the support of teachers." Emma Stebbtns is a native of New York City ; and from Mrs. Ellet's sketch we learn that she was a pupil of Henry Inman in oU-painting, and that to this aid some of her friends attributed the masterly correctness and grace displayed in her portraits, and for which afterward her crayon sketches were so much admired. One of her early works was a volume to which she gave the title, " A Book of Prayer." It contains some beautiful specimens of her poetry, but is chiefly remark- able for its exquisite illuminations. Some of her crayon portraits, executed in Rome, received the highest enco- miums from acknowledged judges in that city. A copy she made of the " St. John " of Du Bceuf, and one from a painting in the gallery of the Louvre, representing " A Girl Dictating a Love-Letter," were noted among her oil-paintings. Her " Boy and Bird's Nest " was done in the style of Murillo. Her pastel-painting of " Two Dogs " has been highly praised. Almost every branch of the imitative art has been at different periods cultivated by Miss Stebbins, and her success proves the scope and versatility of her talent. Besides painting WOMEN AKTIST8. 309 in oil and water colors, she has practised drawing on wood and carving wood, modelling in clay, and working in marble. It is probably in the dilBficult art of sculp- ture that she will leave to America the works by which she will be most widely known. She profited, like Miss Hosmer, by the counsels and supervision of Gibson, and the careful instruction of Akers. Several works from her chisel command high praise, especially her statues of " Industry " and " Commerce," her statue of " Sandalphon," and the exquisite fountain now in Central Park, representing an angel, with other figures and carvings above and beneath the basin. Chief among her busts is one in marble of her cher- ished friend Charlotte Cushman, whose place is the Boston Athenaeum, but which is on exhibition at the Centennial Exposition. Mary B. Mellbn ; born in Sterling, Mass. ; her parents, Reuben and Sally Blood, still residing there in a green old age. This artist can hardly remember when she began using the brush, so early did she manifest an interest in painting. She was taught to use water-colors in her native place, at a boarding- school conducted by a Miss Thayer. She attended afterward the Fryville Seminary in Bolton, Mass., which was then under the auspices of the Quakers. Her parents fearing that her love of art would bar her progress in other directions as a student, if indulged, designed to have her paint-box remain at home. She was not informed of their wishes, consequently it was the first thing packed ; for to her it was of the highest importance. In a leisure time at the seminary she sketched the buildings and grounds, which so pleased Mr. Fry that lie desired to purchase the picture, and engaged the young artist to impart to one of her tea/' hers a knowledge of this beautiful art. ^10 WOMEN OF THE CENTUEl. This lady married Rev. C. W. Mellen, whose taste and culture enabled him to take a lively interest in her efforts at oil-painting. She was instructed by the late Fitz-Henry Lane of Gloucester, Mass. ; and, as he was unquestionably one of the best marine painters in the country, it is no wonder that in after years the pupil received a large meed of praise for her originals and copies. Her copy of Lane's " On the Lee Shore " has elicited the warm encomiums of the press. One editor remarked, " An old ' sea dog,' in looking at it yesterday » exclaimed, ' Them anchors yer only hope 1 ' " and added, " Mrs. Mellen is so faithful in the copies of her master, that even an expert might take them for originals. Indeed, an anecdote is related of her, which will exem- plify her power in this direction. She had just com- pleted a copy of one of Mr. Lane's pictures when he called at her residence to see it. The copy and the original were brought down from the studio together, and the master, much to the amusement of those pres- ent, was unable to tell which was his own, and which was the pupil's." Mrs. Mellen now resides in Taunton, Mass., and is. still actively engaged in her studio with good success. May Alcott should not be forgotten among artists, since her sketches have so enlivened the pages of her sister's stories. Born in Concord, Mass., of patriotic and philosophic stock, and one of the originals of •' Little Women," she has been dihgent at home and abroad, and will take high place among those whose etchings speak to the eye and the heart, and finely illus- trate life and sentiment, the grave and the gay. Elizabeth K. De Nobmandie, the third of nine children, was born in Bucks County, Penn. Her father was one who deserved the title of " beloved physician.' WOMEN ARTISTS. 311 On the paternal side she has Huguenot blood in her veins, and Quaker on that of her mother, who was Sarah B. Yardley. Owing to ill health the father ceased the practice of his profession, and moved to the West. The mother was a rare spirit, a womaa worthy of her three clergymen sons, and her artist daughter. " She was eier the bright spirit of the household, ever speak- ing the fitting word, ever counselling her children with wisdom and love. Through changes of place and for- tune, through loss and disappointment, ev er her bright spirit looked up and onward. Amid many other duties that were conscientiously discharged, she daily taught her young family, saying she did not think it right to send young children to school until they could read, write, and understand something of arithmetic and geography. So then and always, while her children were at home, were they drawn around her through the day and by lamplight, while she superintended their studies as only an intelligent, judicious mother can." At her mother's death Miss De Normandie continued to keep the little store in which the writer of this vol- ume first saw her, at Yellow Springs, O., to which place her parents removed for the education of their sons under Horace Mann, and where Miss De Normandie was then studying the modern languages, when Antioch College was presided over by the genial Dr. Hosmer. She painted admirably in oils for years. In 1874 she crossed the Atlantic and made the tour of Europe alone. Far below the average stature of woman, yet Her courage and strength were sufficient for all her need ; and she spent about sixteen months visiting nearly every country of Europe, and in her own experience proved that "a lady can travel alone and on limited means through every interesting spot of Europe, gain- 312 WOMEN OP THE OBNTUBY. Lag information and experience that may henceforth enrich her life." She is "quite certain that many ladies, if they are willing to be economical, can save from unnecessary expenses of dress and table and amusement, in a few years, enough to make such a tour." Miss De Normandie spent several months in the Louvre, painting, and since her return has contrib- uted articles concerning her journey to a religious jour- nal, showing that the American woman artist or the literary woman can easily and profitably see Europe if she will. Miss Emily Saetain. " This talented lady is a native of Philadelphia, where she still resides ; but her repu- tation was long since spread wide over the country as an eminent engraver on steel, to which difficult art she has added that of painter in oil colors of figure subjects. " The mechanical skill to be acquired before successful work is produced in mezzotinto engraving is much less than in the Une manner, or even in the style called stippling ; but it demands much more artistic ability, and that self-reliance, the result of a mastery in the art of drawing from the model, which enables the engraver to proceed in a painter-like manner, with free and con- fident intelligence of touch. Hence, the best education is first to learn to paint in oils, which necessarily in- cludes a knowledge and practice of drawing. " Such was the course of study pursued by Miss Sar- tain, the pioneer among American women in the art of engraving on steel ; and this doubtless contributed, not only to the striking excellence of her productions, but also to the facility and rapidity which are marked char- acteristics of her execution. She has been an earnest and laborious student in the Art School of the Pennsylvania WOMEN ARTISTS. 313 Academy of the Fine Arts at Philadelphia from the time that Mr. Christian Schussele received the appoint- ment of professor in that institution ; an instructor unequalled in his faculty of imparting knowledge of an art of which he is one of the brightest ornaments. Under the intelligent and judicious guidance of the professor, she labored diligently in drawing from thc- casts of antique statuary, of which the academy pro- vides the student with such an ample collection, and also in painting in oil colors from the living models furnished in the same school. The lectures on artistic anatomy, which form part of the art course of instruc- tion, had also its share in the advancement of the pupil. With this thorough groundwork she was well prepared to profit by the instruction and many years' experience of her father, the veteran artist, John Sartain, in the art of engraving. " Besides the advantages enumerated, possessed by Miss Sartain in common with the rest of the pupils, male and female, in the Pennsylvania Academy, must not be forgotten the important one of more than a year's observation of the finest examples of art in Europe. Making several visits to the Old World, travelling through Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, and Great Britain, and studying on the way, with interest and care, the many collections of pictures, from Naples in the extreme south to Edinburgh in the north, could not but result in greatly maturing the judgment, and elevating the taste and aspirations, of one so ob- servant, and so eager after improvement, and ever ready to transmute opportunity into the gold of reali- zation. She appears to be endowed with a remarkable natural aptitude; for the usual school training, which preceded her art studies, was gone through with the 314 WOMEN OF THE CENTUBY. same quiet determination, and rapid as well as solid achievement, that has distinguished her in after pur- suits. The testimony borne by all her instructors — French, German, Italian — is of her calm persistency and swift mastery of whatever she applied herself to. Prof. Bishop is extravagant in his praises of the way in which she overcame the diificulties of musical science under his instruction ; not of the practice — she had no time for that — but of the principles. We may add, that her acquirements in the regions of literature are at least equal to her art knowledge and experience, and are not confined to the boundaries of her native language. *' In addition to numerous portraits. Miss Sartaiu haa engraved several compositions of larger size for framing as parlor-wall decorations, well-known pictures after Richter, Jalabert, Von Hoslt, and others. But at last her love of color induced her to turn her attention to oil-painting as an end instead of a means, and she became the private pupil of Prof. Schussele on the temporary closing of the Pennsylvania Academy during the building of its present superb edifice. On leaving Prof. Schussele to pursue her studies in Europe, she spent a winter in Parma, Italy, a city rich in the productions of Correggio, and thence went to Paris, where, during four years, she matured her knowledge and technical skill in the atelier of the eminent artist, Monsieur Evariste Luminals, at the same time profiting by the advantages afforded in the rich galleries of the Louvre, and the constantly recurring exhibitions of the finest works of modern art in that centre of European civihzation. "In 1875 two of Miss Sartain's paintings, a. genre pic- arrels ; and I have heard her often tell, that, as she would roU out a well-made barrel, her father would pat her on the head, and say, ' Ah, Fanny, you should have been a boy I ' ... At the age of twenty-one she married James L. Gage, a lawyer of McConnells- vUle, O." She became the mother of eight children ; and yet, with all her domestic labors, she found time to read, write for leading journals, and often to speak also, on temperance, slavery, and woman's rights. She shared the persecutions which reformers know. " In 1853 she removed to St. Louis. Those who fought the anti- slavery battle in Massachusetts cannot realize the danger of such a warfare in a slave-holding State. With her usual trunk utterances of opinions, she was Boon branded as an abolitionist, her articles excluded WOMEN REFORMERS. 361 from the journals, and she from ' good society,' with daily threats of violence to her person, and the destruc- tion of her property. Owing to her husband's ill health and failure in business, she took the part of assistant editor of an agricultural paper in Columbus, O. ; but as the breaking out of the war soon destroyed the circulation of the paper, and four of her sons had gone into the army, her thoughts turned to the scenes of conflict in the Southern States. The ' suffermg freedmen ' and the ' boys in blue ' appealed alike to her loving heart for kindness and help ; and, without appointment or salary, she went to Port Royal in 1862. She remained in Beaufort, Paris, and Fernandina, thirteen months, ministering alike to the soldiers and freedmen, as opportunity offered. Pages might be written on the heroism of Mrs. Gage and her daughter Mary during this period. Oppressed with the magni- tude of the work to be accomplished there, she re- turned North to give her experiences acquired among the freedmen, hoping to rouse others, younger and stronger than herself, to go down and teach those neglected people the A B C of learning and social life. During this year she travelled through many of the Northern States, speaking nearly every evening to soldiers' aid societies. She worked without pay, only asking enough to defray her expenses. When the summer days made lecturing impossible, she went as an unsalaried agent of the Sanitary Commission down the Mississippi to Memphis, Vicksburg, and Natchez. In the month of September she was overturned in a carriage at Galesburg, DL, which crippled her for that year. As soon as she recovered she was employed and well paid by various temperance organizations to lec- ture for that cause ; and she was thus occupied, when 362 WOMEN OF THE CENTUET. her plans for future activity and usefulness were sud- denly terminated by a stroke of paralysis, in August, 1867." From this illness she has largely recovered, but will probably enter no more into public life as a speaker. " Under the nom de plume of ' Aunt Fanny,' Mrs. Gage has written many beautiful stories for children, stanzas, and sketches of social life. She was an early contributor to the ' Saturday Visitor,' edited by Jane G. Swisshelm, and has lately written for ' The New York Independent.' A volume of poems and a temperance tale, ' Elsie Magoon,' are the last of her published works. By her own efforts, Mrs. Gage has accumu- lated enough to secure to herself and her children a pleasant home for her old age." ^ Abby Hutchinson Patton. — *' Among the repre- sentative women of the nineteenth century," says Mrs. Stanton, " Abby Hutchinson deserves a passing notice. She was born in Milford, N.H., one of a large family of children. Early in the anti-slavery cause, she with four brothers began to sing- in the conventions. In all those stormy days of mob violence, the Hutchinson family was the one harmonizing element. Like oil on the troubled waters, their sweet songs would soothe to silence those savages whom neither appeal nor defiance could kwe. Abby made her first appearance in public at an early age. Anti-slavery, woman's rights, temper- ance, peace, and democracy have been her themes ; singing alike in the Old World and the New. To farmers on New England's granite hills, to pioneers on the far-off prairies, to merchant princes in crowded cities, and to kings, queens, and nobles in palaces and courts, have those girlish lips sung the republican 1 Eminent "Women of the Age, p. 385. WOMEN REFORMERS. 363 anthem, ' All men are created equal.' She was a girl of strong character, and nice sense of propriety in all things. Although until her marriage her life was wholly a public one, yet she never lost the modesty, delicacy, and refinement so peculiarly her own. . . . All admit that ' the Hutchinson family ' have acted well their part in the cause of reform ; and a second generation is singing still." Elizabeth Chase Hutchinson, the wife of Asa B. Hutchinson, ought not to be unmentioned in this volume, by the friend of her school-days. She was born on Nantucket, was a fine singer, and sang the songs of reform for many years in public. Of lovely spirit and person, she attracted many hearts. Later in life she removed with her family to the West, where she died suddenly, while laboring earnestly in the' Sunday-school work and the great temperance reform. She was about forty-six years of age, and left a son and daughter ; her oldest son, who used to sing with her, having gone before her to the better land. The memory of such a woman is blessed. Antoinettf, Brown and Lucy Stone were reform- ers from their early days. They were students in Oberlin, and there became fast fiiends : they have since become sisters by marrying Samuel and Henry B. Blackwell. Antoinette is elsewhere honorably men- tioned. Of Lucy Stone Mrs. Stanton says, " She was the first speaker who really stirred the nation's heart on the subject of woman's wrongs. Young, magnetic eloquent, her soul filled with the new idea, she drew immence audiences, and was eulogized everywhere by the press. She spoke extemporaneously." Her birth- place was West Brookfield, Mass. Having obtained a liberal education at Oberlin College, and discovered 864 WOMEN OF THE CENTUEY her ability as a speaker, she returned to New England, and became an agent for the Anti-slavery Society, and went forth to speak alternately for woman and the slave. She spoke in all the large cities of the West, and in some of the Southern cities. In 1855 she was married to Henry B. Blackwell ; T. W. Higginson, then a Unitarian pastor, performing the ceremony. " She accepted the usual marriage under protest ; her hua- bdud renouncing all those rights of authority and ownership which were his in law, and she retaining her own name. Although this has been to her a source of great annoyance and persecution, from friends as well as enemies ; yet, feeling that the principle of woman's individualism was involved in a lifelong name, she has steadily adhered to her decision. . . She has one daughter ; and since her marriage her life has been spent in retirement, until the news that Kansas was to submit the proposition to strike the words ' whi*^e male ' from her constitution, to a vote of the people, roused her again to public duty. She spent two months in the spring of 1867, travelling through that State, speaking to large audiences." Since then she has labored untiringly for woman suffrage ; and is one of the able and active editors of " The Woman's Journal." Grateful generations of women will yet speak with loving reverence the spotless name of the brave reformer and consistent woman-suffragist, Lucy Stone. The following is an eloquent appeal from her faithful, fearless pen, in " The Woman's Journal," during the presidential canvass of centennial year : — " Women of the United States, never forget that you are excluded by law from participation in the great question which at this moment agitates the whole WOMEN REFORMERS. 335 country, — a question which is not only who the next candidate for president shall be, but what shall be the policy of the government for the next four years. " So great is the interest felt in it, that men of all grades, from all parts of the Union, have left, the scholar his books, the clergyman his pulpit, the mer- chant his counter, the lawyer his office, and the busiest man his business, to cast his vote, or to be heard and felt at Cincinnati. " The interest transcends every merely personal thing. When the selection is made, and the kind of govern- ment we are to have during the next four years is indicated, every man holds his vote ready to help settle the question. He may be learned or ignorant, wise or foolish, drunken or sober : the beggar at the gate, and the thief out of jail, every man of them has his vote. But for you, every woman of you, the dog on your rug, or the cat in your corner, has as much political power as you have. Never forget it. And when the country is shaken, as it will be for months to come, over the issue, never forget that this law-making power settles every interest of yours. It settles, from the crown of your head to the sole of your feet, every personal right. It settles your relation to and right in your child. You earn or inherit a dollar ; and this same power decides how much of it shall be yours, and how much it will itself take or dispose of for its own use. Oh, women, the one subjugated class in this great country, the only adult people who are ruled over ! pray for a baptism of fire to reveal to you the depth of the humil- iation, the degradation, and the unspeakable loss which comes of your unequal position." CABOrJtNE H. Dall of Boston has done brave service 366 WOMEN OP THE CENTCTBY. as a reformer, by her voice and pen. She is a Boston woman, highly educated, and an able writer. Mrs. Stanton calls her " a close student," and " an encyclo- {isedia of historical facts and statistics." She has published several books on woman in various relations ; and her book " The College, the Market, and the Court," dedicated to Lucretia Mott, is a most valuable work for reference, and was called by a New York reviewer " the most eloquent and forcible state- ment of the woman's question which has been made." She may be mentioned again, as a good worker in other directions. C. I. H. Nichols, a native of Vermont, resided "in Kansas though all the troubles in that State; and to her influence, in a measure, is due its liberal laws for woman. She was in the first constitutional convention, and pressed woman's claims on its consideration. Mrs. Nichols is an able writer and speaker, and is as thor- oughly conversant with the laws of her State as any judge or lawyer in it ; and she has taken a i)rorainent part in all reforms for the last twenty years." ^ Susan B. Anthony, according to Mrs. Stanton, " was born at the foot of the Green Mountains, South Adams, Mass., Feb. 15, 1820. Her father, Daniel Anthony, was a stern Quaker; her mother, Lucy Read, a Baptist ; but, being liberal and progressive in their tendencies, they were soon one in their religion. Her father was a cotton-manufacturer, and the first dollar she ever earned was in his factory. Though a man of wealth, the idea of self-support was early impressed on all the daughters of the family. In 1826 they moved into Washington County, N.Y., and in 1846 to Roches- ter. She was educated in a small select school in her 1 Eminent "Women of the Age WOMEN REFORMERS. 367 father's house, until the age of seventeen, when she went to a boarding-school in Philadelphia. Fifteen years of her life were passed in teaching school in different parts of the State of New York. Although superintendents gave her credit for the best-disciplined school, and the most thoroughly taught scholars, in the county, yet they paid her but eight dollars a mouth, while men received from twenty-four to thirty dollars. After fifteen years of faithful labor, and the closest economy, she had saved but three hundred dollars. This experience taught her the lesson of woman's rights ; and, when she read the reports of the first con- ventions, her whole soul responded to the new demand. Her earliest public work was in the temperance move- ment. . . . From 1852 she has been one of the leading spirits in every woman's right's convention, and has been the acting secretary and general agent through all these years ; and when in 1866 we re-organized under the name of the ' American Equal Rights Association,' she was re-appointed to both these offices. From 1857 to 1866, Miss Anthony was also an agent and faithful worker in the anti-slavery cause until the emancipation edict proclaimed freedom throughout the land. She has been untiring in her labors in securing the liberal legislation we now have for women in the State of New York." ^ Miss Anthony deserves the fame she has won as a reformer ; and her pure life and earnest words for temperance and human rights will command the respect of future generations, when all strife and controversy concerning woman's rights shall have passed away. Olympia Brown deserves mention among earnest reformers, but will be mentioned more fully elsewhere. She deserves all the commendation that is given by 1 Eminent Women of the Age. 368 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Mrs. Stanton, to the workers in the reform known as that of woman suffrage. She says, " It is no exaggera- tion to state, that the women identified with this ques- tion are distinguished for intellectual power, moral probity, and religious earnestness. Most of them are able speakers and writers, as their published speeches, letters, novels, and poems fully show. Those who have seen them in social life can testify that they are good housekeepers, true mothers, and faithful wives. I have known women in many countries and classes of society ; and I know none more noble, deHcate, and refined, in word and action, than those I have met on the woman's rights platform. True, they do not possess the volup- tuous grace and soft manners of the petted children of luxury ; they are not clothed in purple and fine linen, faring sumptuously every day ; for most of them are self-made women, who through hardships and sacrifice have smoothed the rugged paths for multitudes about them, and earned a virtuous independence for them- selves. All praise to those who, through ridicule and scorn, have changed the barbarous laws for woman in many of the States, and brought them into harmony with the higher civilization in which we live ! " The lady whose vigorous pen has helped to the men- tion of others in this chapter must not be overlooked herself; for few women have done more to open paths of usefulness and success to other women lecturers and reformers. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the daughter of Judge Daniel Cady and Margaret Livingston, and was born Nov. 12, 1816, in Johnstown, N.Y., not far from Albany. " A Yankee said that his chief ambition was to become more noted than his native town. Mrs. Stanton has lived to see her historic birthplace shrink WOMEN REFORMERS. 369 ito a mere local repute, while she herself has been V, acted, ridiculed, and abused into a national fame." Li the office of her father, the judge, Mrs. Stanton bvcame first acquainted with the legal disabilities of women under the old common law. The graphic and inlsresting sketch of Mrs. Stanton, in the " Eminent Wtanen of the Age," is commended to the reader of this volume, for incidents concerning her, for which spact* cannot be found here, and which prove her to have been early an advocate of human rights. " In 1837, in her twenty-fourth year, while on a visit to her distinguished cousin Gerrit Smith, at Peterboro', in the central part of New York State, she made the acquaintance of Mr. Henry B. Stanton, then a young and fervid orator, who had won distinction in the anti- slavery movement. The acquaintances speedily became friends ; the friends grew into lovers ; and the lovers, after a short courtship, married, and immediately set sail for Europe. This voyage was undertaken not mert ly for pleasiu'e and sight-seeing, but that Mr Stan- ton might fulfil the mission of a delegate to the Wo] d's Anti-Slavery Convention, to be held in Lon- don, m 1810. " There Mrs. Stanton met Lucretia Mott, and learned that there were others who felt the yoke women were bearing as well as herself. She was once asked, "What most impressed you in Europe?" and repUed, " Lucretia Mott." Their friendship has never waned ; and they have worked together for reforms, all the long years since that meeting. " The practice of going before a legislature, to pre- sent the claims of an unpopular cause, has been more common in many other States than in New York ; most common, perhaps, in Massachusetts. With the single exception of Mrs. Lucy Stone, — a noble and 370 WOMEIS OF THE CENTURY. gifted woman, to whom her sisterhood owe an affec- tionate gratitude not merely for an eloquence that has charmed thousands of ears, but for practical efforts in aboUshing laws oppressive to their sex, — I believe that Mrs. Stanton has appeared oftener before a State legis- lature than caa be said of any of her co-laborers.. She has repeatedly addressed the Legislature of New York, at Albany, and, on these occasions, has always been honored by the presence of a brilliant audience, and has always spoken with dignity and ability. Her chief topics have been the needful changes in the laws relat- ing to intemperance, education, divorce, slavery, and suffrage. ' Yes, gentlemen,' said she, in her address of 1854, ' we, the daughters of the revolutionary heroes of '76, demand at your hands the redress of our grievances, a revision of your State constitution, a new code of laws.' At the close of that grand and glowing argument, a lawyer who had hstened to it, and who knew and revered Mrs. Stanton's father, shook hands with the orator, and said, ' Madam, it was as fine a production as if it had been made and pronounced by Judge Cady himself.' This, t< the daughter's ears, was sufficiently high praise." Mrs. Stanton has lectured extensively, and written much on reformatory themes. " The sacred lore of motherhood is to her a familiar study. Five sons and two daughters sit around her table, all as proud of their mother as if she were a queen of fairy-land, and they her pages in waiting. Drinking not seldom at the fountain of sorrow, she has found, in its bitter waters, strength for her soul. Religious and worshipful by constitution, she has cast off, in her later life, the super- stitions of her earlier, but has never lost her child- hood's faith in God. Society being (as she looks at it) WOMEN REFORMEKS. 371 full of hollowness and falsity, she sometimes yearns for its reformation as if her heart would break, — the cause of woman's elevation being with her not merely a passion, but a religion. She would willingly give her body to be burned, for the sake of seeing her sex enfranchised." When the desire of her heart is gratified, her name will be gratefully remembered. Charlotte B. Wilbour has also a claim to a high place among reformers, and could also have been men- tioned among lecturers, as she has spoken widely and acceptably on various themes ; and also among " liter- ary women," as her charming volume " Soul to Soul " would bear witness. As a reformer, she has spoken before legislatures and in conventions. She was the efficient and beloved president of the New York woman's club, called Sorosis, for five years (though for eleven months of the last year she was in Europe, and Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford was acting president of Sorosis in her stead) ; and she was among the first to issue a call for the Woman's Congress. Her maiden name was Beebe ; and she is the daughter of a clergy- man, and was finely educated. She is now in Europe superintending the education of her children, and add- ing to the culture of her superior mind. Connecticut is believed to be her native State ; but she has been long a resident of New York City, and, as a woman suffragist, has several times appeared before the legisla- ture of New York, in behalf of measures calculated to benefit women. She has also engaged in the peace movement, and has not been unsympathetic in other reforms. Charlotte Austin Joy, of Nantucket Island, should be mentioned amid reformers ; for she was one of the early anti-slavery, temperance, and dress-reform 372 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. advocates, and her zeal has never abated. For manj' years she wore the reform costume, and was numbered among the vegetarians and hydropathists. Several late years have been spent on the Isle of Wight (minister- ing to an invalid husband, Hon. David Joy of Nan- tucket, who was in sympathy with all reforms), where she presided over temperance gatherings, and with her pen and in other ways aided more active reformers. At her husband's death she returned to America, visited California, and is now at home in Hopedale, near Milford, Mass., among many noble and earnest reformers who once formed there a semi-religious com- munity ready for every good word and work. Abby and Julia Saqth of Glastonbury, Conn., well desei-ve to be mentioned with reformers, since they have been willing to suffer in defence of woman's rights, and to prove that they believe " taxation with- out representation " is wrong. They have been perse- cuted by their neighbors, and their cattle sold for taxes they beheved ought not to be paid. One of these sisters has translated the entire Bible, and it is pub- lished by a Hartford firm. They are aged, highly respectable women, and their labors will prove " not in vain in the Lord." In days to come their sacrifices will be appreciated and their firmness honored, as we now honor the boldness of resistance to tyranny in Samuel Adams and other Revolutionary patriots. Catherinb a. F. Stebbins, of Detroit, has been a reformer for many long years, and by voice and pen assisted in anti-slavery and temperance work. She is now carrying vigorously forward the woman movement in every possible way, in which she is nobly seconded by her husband, Giles B. Stebbins, Esq., whose work, " Chapters from the Bible of the Ages," has won much attention. WOMEN REFORMERS. 373 Sabah M. Stuart of Hyde Park, Mass., was one of those fifty-two women who called a public meeting, made out a ticket for town officers, and proceeded in a body to the town-hall, in the fiercest snowstorm of the year, to vote. Of Mrs. Stuart it is said, " The cause of woman and the cause of the slave were her first love, the twin passions alike of her early girlhood and mature womanhood. For eight years she had been slowly dying of an incurable disease. . . . Upon that memorable voting-day, at the hour appointed, the wind and snow, a blinding hurricane, swept the streets ; but go she must : so, wrapped in furs and comfortables, the strong arms of her husband bore her from her bed to the carriage, and at the polls took her thence to the ballot-box, whence, after her own hand had deposited her vote, she was in the same way conveyed to her chamber." She has gone to the land " where the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick ; " and her memory will be precious among reformers forever. Josephine S. Griffinq has gone up higher. Let Prof. Wilcox tell her story : — " The noble band of women who since 1847 have labored for the enfranchisement of their sex is now broken. Josephine S. Griffing died last week, quit- ting us before many whom it was thought she would outlive. Till lately, her name was little known in the nation ; but the poor and the outcast, the lame, the blind, and the bedridden, whose guardian angel she was, will long water her grave with their tears. " She was born near Hartford fifty years ago. Her maiden name was White ; and she was a niece of Mr. Waldo the artist, who painted all our grandparents' portraits, and lived to paint those of the grandchildren 374 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. during a hale, genial old age. She married young, and went to Salem to struggle with the forest and the soil, when Ohio was half woods. From Salem an influence went out all over the State, that lifted public opinion to a higher level in many things. Side by side with Parker Pillsbury, she fought the devil of slavery ; and, beside her domestic duties, she did yeoman's service in the cause of freedom. The war brought her to Wash- ington, where for a time she kept a boarding-house in which George W. Julian and other leading Republi- cans lived more as friends than as boarders. But the time needed her in a larger sphere. The exigencies of war drove into the District of Columbia, after the abolition of slavery there, thousands on thousands of untutored and starving freed people. As agent of the Freedman's Relief Association, she undertook the care of these, and labored for them while her strength lasted, with scarce a day's vacation but such as sick- ness compelled. The strong were sent where they could find employment ; the feeble were fed and clothed. . . . She carried appropriation after appropriation through Congress ; winning support from the best sen- ators and representatives, overcoming the worst, and cutting the knots of red-tape that army jealousy tied. The best men of the nation were her friends and help- ers. . . . All over the land, hearts of every station in life will thrill with sorrow at the news of her decease. " In 1867 she took a leading part in forming the Universal Franchise Association, and from that time forth added to her other tasks the active advocacy of woman suffrage, of which she had long been a sup- porter. In this she took the leading part, being, from the first, president of the managers and members of the executive committee. In presenting this subject WOMEN REP0KMER8. 375 to Cougress aud the puhlic, she showed the rare tact and judgment that marked her every act. In noisy, turbulent meetings, her gentle, simple dignity com- manded a hearing ; and when she began to speak in her low, sympathetic tones, the rudest listened with respect; while she carried her hearers with her so easily that they hardly suspected they were giving ear to any thing uncommon, till her ceasing startled them first into thrilled silence, and then into rapturous applause. Laboring harder and harder, she failed in health stead- ily ; till, at last May's meeting in New York, a great screen was placed behind her on the platform, that her weakened voice might reach the audience. She died of sheer overwork, faithful and earnest to the last." Mr. Garrison writes in memoriam of his wife, Helen E. Garrison, this sonnet : — ♦' The grave, dear sufferer, had for thee no gloom, And Death no terrors when his summons came. Unto the dust retujus the mortal frame : The vital spirit, under no such doom, Waa never yet imprisoned in the tomb ; But rising heavenward, an ethereal flame, Shines on unquenched, in essence still the same As is the light that doth all worlds illume. Thou art translated to a higher sphere. To gain companionshij^ among the blest, Released from all that made life painful here. And so prepared to enter into rest : If stricken hearts bend weeping o'er thy bier, Still, still, for them, for thee, all's for the best I " Her name we gladly place among the reformers, as also the name of one thus mentioned by the Boston " Commonwealth ; " — " We lately mentioned the death of Hannah Cox dlG WOMEN OF THE CENTUBY. at Longwood, Penn., one of the original abolitionists. She joined the first movement in favor of emancipation With a zeal which no opposition could shake, and no discouragement quench. The early heroes and hero- ines of the cause — Lundy, Garrison, Lucre tia Mott, Whittier, and others — were cheered and welcomed by her and her steadfast husband, at a time when theii names were outlawed from public respect. When Thomas Garrett established the starting-point of the ' underground railroad ' in Wilmington, Del., the house of the Coxes at Longwood became the first station on the way to the Canadian terminus. For years the quiet farmer and his wife received the fugitive slave, and carried him by night on his way northward. When in September, 1873, they celebrated their golden wedding, Whittier sent them his poem (which will be found in his last volume) on ' The Golden Wedding of Longwood,' in which are the lines : — ' Blessings upon you ! what did you for that sad, suffering one, So homeless, faint, and naked, unto our Lord was done.' Bayard Taylor, whose native place is but three milea from Longwood, was at that time in Germany ; but he also sent a poem containing the following mention of the former guests of John and Hannah Cox : — ' Here Lowell came, iu radiant youth, A soul of fixed endeavor j Here Parker spake with lipa of truth That soon were closed forever ; Here noblest Whittier, scorned and spumed, Found love and recognition ; Here Garrison's high faith returned. And Thompson's pure ambition.' " The names of Hannah Darlington and Deborah WOMEN KBFORMERS. 377 Feknook, and many others of the Longwood Progress- ive Friends, belong with those of reformers ; for they shared in the spirit and work of those who would lift the world from evil to good. Lellee Devebeux Blake has done much impor- tant work for the suffrage cause, having carried on many large meetings and conventions, and delivered many lectures and speeches on the subject. She addressed the Constitutional Convention in 1873, and the New York Legislature in 1873, 1874, and 1876, on that theme. She should have been mentioned also among lecturers, having given many lectures on literary themes in various parts of the country. Mrs. Blake is a writer also, having published several novels and sketches, and is still using her pen vigorous- ly for various periodicals. She has been twice married, first to a lawyer who died in 1859, and second to a merchant in New York City where she now resides. " Her father was Mr. George Devereux, descendant of Sir Thomas PoUok, one of the first governors of North Carolina. Her mother was Miss Sarah E. Johnson, daughter of Judge Johnson of Stratford, Conn., and grand-daughter of Hon. W. L. Johnson, one of the first two senators from Connecticut. Both mother and father were descended from Jonathan Edwards ; her father's grandmother, and her mother's grandfather, being his two youngest children. She was born in Raleigh, N.C., and passed her infancy on her father's plantation on the Roanoke River. After his death her mother sold her Southern property, and fixed her resi- dence in New Haven, Conn., where she was educated." Mrs. Blake is yet a young woman, and will doubtless do still more valuable service as a reformer. The temperance reform has received a new and S78 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. marvellous impetus from what is known as the woman's crusade. By fervent prayer women have consecrated themselves to the effort of saving humani- ty from the curse of intemperance. Some of the most cultured women, unused to public work, and shrink- ing from any undue publicity in Christian efforts, yet felt it a duty to join the ranks of the crusaders, visit the liquor-saloons, and pray with those who were deal- ing out the draught that destroyed thousands, and desolated many homes. Women suffer from the intem- perance of the men. It was well for women to rise in their spiritual might, and do all in their power to ban- ish the intoxicating cup. Many women thus became reformers, and wrote their names among the immortal ones " that were not born to die ; " but of these blessed women, many thousands in numbei, little comparative- ly can here be said. Their names are in the Lamb's book of life, and the noble work they have done will be long remembered to their highest praise. Though the kindness of Miss Willard, Mrs. Bolton, and others, a few sketches of some of the Western workers have been obtained for this volume ; but, it must be con- fessed, this is hardly enough to do justice to the work- ers in that grand army of the Lord. A volume called '"• A History of the Crusade '' wiU tell the story better than it can be told here ; and every reader of this book, who reveres woman and hei Christian work, is advised to obtain a copy of that book. This woman's crusade has attained much historic prominence, and is a marked feature in the closing years of our first century. The following essay, read on an anniversary occasion, will be read with great interest : — WOMEN REFORMERS. 379 " On the evening of the 23d of December, 1873, might have been seen in the streets of Hillsboro', per- sons singly or in groups, wending their way to Music Hall, where Dr. Dio Lewis of Boston, Mass., was to deliver a lecture on temperance. " Little did they dream that a flame would be kindled that night, which ' many waters should not quench,' and whose light should shine into the dark places of the earth, bringing terror to the evil-doer, and beaming as a ' star of hope ' on those sad hearts in whom the last ray of hope had well-nigh perished. " It is not necessary to give more than a brief men- tion of Dr. Lewis's address. He believed and argued that the work of temperance reform might be carried on successfully by women, if they would set about it in the right manner, — going to the saloon-keeper in a spirit of Christian love, and persuading him, for the sake of humanity and his own eternal welfare, to quit the hateful, soul-destroying business. " It will be proper to state here, that Hillsboro' was at this time by no means exempt from the universal scourge of intemperance. Its victims were from all ranks of society, name, profession, fortune, influence. The hopes and ambitions of a lifetime were as noth- ing : all were sacrificed to the love of strong drink. Mothers were broken-hearted, wives worse than wid- owed, and little children were crying for bread. " What was to be done ? The Sons of Temperance and the Good Templars had made vain efforts to arrest the evil. At times there had been an awakening to the danger ; and men good and true banded themselves together in the endeavor to reclaim the inebriate, and punish the dramseller. But these efforts seemed to fad of permanent effect ; and the prospect was a cheer- less one, in view of any fresh undertaking. 380 WOMEN OF THE CENTUBY. " The plan laid down by Dr. Levels challenged atten- tion by its novelty, at least ; and, seeing him so full of faith, the hearts of the women seized the hope, — a ■ forlorn ' one, 'tis true, but still a hope ; and, when Dr. < ewis asked if they were willing to undertake the task, scores of women rose to their feet. The men were not a whit behind. They pledged themselves to uphold and encourage the women by counsel, co-operation, and money. " A meeting for the further development of the plan and organization of the League was agreed upon, to be held in the Presbyterian Church at ten o'olock next morning, — Wednesday, Dec. 24 ; and at the appointed hour there was gathered a solemn assembly. A strange :vork was to be done, and by unaccustomed hands. On bended knee, and with uplifted hearts, they invoked the blessing and guidance of Him who ' knoweth the end from the beginning,' and then proceeded to the business of the hour. " A compiittee was appointed, who should prepare a.71 appeal which was to be presented to the liquor- seller ; also a druggist's pledge and a dealer's pledge. OflP-jers werft elected, and the morning's work planned out. " A psalm was then read by the president of the League, Mrs. E. J. Thompson ; and, after a hymn and prayer, seventy-five women passed in procession into the street. The crusade had begun. " It had been decided that every place in the town, where intoxicating liquors were sold, should be visited. " First the drug-stores, as being most likely to assist by their sympathy and co-operation ; then the hotels ; and lastly the saloons. " These visits were made on the 24tb and 26th of December, with the following results • - WOMEN REFORMERS. 381 " Two of the druggists signed the pledge uuhesitat- ingly and without reservation ; the third reserved the right to prescribe as a physician, and sell on his own prescription ; the fourth postponed his answer (the an- swer was received by the League a few days after, declining to sign the pledge presented, but offering one of his own, which, after careful consideration by the women, was not accepted). " The hotel-keepers tried to justify themselves by saying that a bar was necessary for the comfort of travellers, that they could not keep up their houses without it, that their customers would go away to other places, &c. ; but agreed that, if all the rest of the liquor-sellers would close, they would, thus trying to shift the responsibility upon other shoulders than their own. " The saloonists admitted the fact that it was a bad business, but were full of excuses and reasons why they could not give it up. " At this time there were in Hillsboro' four hotel- bars constantly ojien, and five saloons, or dramshops ; these, with the four drug-stores, making thirteen places where strong drink could be obtained. " The efforts of the women were directed to the closing of all the saloons, and inducing the druggists to pledge themselves to sell only on a physician's prescription, or for mechanical, scientific, or sacramental purposes ; and they agreed to stand by each other in this work until the end was accomplished. '' ' The end is not yet ; ' but the labors of the crusa- ders — for they have accepted the name given in derision — have not been in vain. Let us glance briefly over the history of the past two years. " The street work, which was the prominent feature 382 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. of this movement, was continued almost daily from Dec. 24, 1873, to the middle of the following June. A band or committee of women visited some or all of the drinking-places — including the drug-store whose proprietor refused to accede to the wishes of the women — every morning after the prayer-meeting. A leader was chosen, whose duty it was to make the appeal, and present the pledge to the liquor-seller, and try by every kind and persuasive argument to induce him to sign it. " At first the men seemed wilHng to discuss the question, to bring forward their excuses, and listen civilly to the persuasions of the women; but after awhile, finding that it was not a transient, spasmodic effort, but was assuming a permanent form, and being determined not to yield, they closed their doors each day at the hour when the women were in the habit of visiting them. Thus failing to gain admittance, the women kneeled in the street, and prayed before the closed doors. " About this time (February) it began to be whis- pered around that the Adair Law was in danger. Immediately the telegraph flashed messages back and forth between the leagues throughout the State. Dele- gates were elected to be ready to start at a moment's notice for Columbus. A petition against the repeal was sent from H , with three hundred and four names, all signed at an evening meeting. There was not time to canvass the town, and friends at Columbus were ready to send word of the first attack on the law. " Whether or not this note of preparation intimidated its enemies, the law was not repealed. " Mr. W. H. H. Dunn, druggist, becoming much incensed at the repeated v-isits of the women in their efforts to induce him to sign the pledge, and particu- WOMEN REFORMEBS. 383 larly when they had a shelter erected in the street in front of his store, where they might sing and pray without exposure to the winter's blasts, got out an injunction restraining the women from visiting him ir that way. " Application was immediately made for a dissolution of the injunction, and the case came on at the February term of court. The injunction was dissolved on the finding of a legal flaw in the application of the plaintiff. " Mr. Dunn also brought suit against the crusaders for alleged trespass, and asked ten thousand dollars damages. This suit was not to come on for some months, owing to the fact that the parties were not ready for trial. " Meantime the women decided not to go on with the street work while this suit was pending, having no wish to defy the law, even in appearance. But there was plenty to do. " T^he Constitutional Convention had at last finished its labors, and sent forth, for the consideration of the people of Ohio, a new constitution. In this constitu- tion, provision had to be made for the management of the traffic in, and manufacture of, ardent spirits. " So strong had become the influence of the temper- ance movement, that the members of the convention, men of sound judgment and discrimination, saw that, to meet the question fairly, they must submit to the people a choice as to which of two clauses should he inserted into the constiiution ; one favoring the system of license to sell intoxicating liquors, the other opposed to license. "But what had the women to do with this? They were not voters. No, they were not voters, but they would be sufferers if the State licensed this terrible 384 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. traffic. They could not hesitate, they dared not hold back. " Meetings were appointed in the churches and schoolhouses of the rural districts ; and to these meet- ings the crusaders went in little parties of three or four or half a dozen, and tried to infuse the spirit of the crusade into the hearts of the people. Their utterances were from the fulness of their own hearts only. No labored arguments, no long winded-speeches : just talk- ing the matter over as friend with friend, or as one neighbor might speak with another. How kindly their words were received, and how heartily their efforts were seconded by the men of Ohio, let the fate of the license clause tell. " At the close of the summer of 1874, four saloons had been closed ; one hotel had changed hands, and become a temperance house ; auxiliary leagues had been established in most of the townships in Highland County ; and the women had done their share in defeat- ing the license clause. " In October of 1874, the Children's League was organized, and between two and three hundred names were enrolled as members. The interest manifested by the children has been wonderful and most encouraging ; and they still turn out bravely, every two weeks, ready with their songs and speeches to ' help the cause along,' putting to shame some of the grown-up folks, who, knowing their duty, do it not. " The Young People's League was organized Dec. 1, 1874, and for some months was very prosperous ; but for some perplexities arose, and the meetings were dis- continued. They have not been resumed. " The work of the crusaders during the winter of 1874-75 consisted principally in the organization and superintendence of these leagues. WOMEN RBFORMBBS. 385 " The daily morning prayer-meetiugs were continued until Jan. 4, 1875, as also the weekly evening meetings, by one or another of the leagues ; but, the pastors of the churches having decided to hold a series of reli gious meetings, it was thought best to discontinue the temperance meetings, and they were not resumed till the 8th of March, when a meeting was called to deter- mine whether the ladies would work for the temper- ance fair to be held in Cincinnati the second week in April. Committees were appointed to take charge of the matter ; and the result was more than one hundred dollars' worth of articles to send to the fair, including donations from the younger leagues. " The suit of Mr. Dunn against the crusaders, for alleged trespass, was heard at the May term of court, before Judge Gray. " The jury felt obliged, by the rulings of the court, to decide in favor of Mr. Dunn, and awarded him five dollars damages. The counsel for the defence made a bill of exceptions to the rulings of Judge Gray, and appealed to the District Court. The case was not decided there, and was passed on to the Supreme Court, where it is now pending, and probably will not be decided for two or three years. " After several futile efforts to secure a place they could call their own, the crusaders were unexpectedly notified of a room that was vacant, and which they found would answer for the present. It was rented, cleaned, repaired, and furnished ; and the ladies took possession on the 8th of November. A prayer-meeting is held there every Wednesday afternoon, at half-past two o'clock, presided over by ladies in town ; and at the same place are held the monthly evening meetings, open to all. Want of time forbids the telling of much 386 WOMEN OP THE CENTUIiT. that is interesting. The memorials, the petitions, the picnics, the boxes of clothing packed and sent to the need}', the conventions, and the great enthusiastic mass meetings, — all these, like fair white stones, have marked the toilsome way. " And if ever we are perplexed and hindered in the prosecution of our work, if our way is hedged up about us, and we know not which way to turn, we have but to stand still and listen ; and there shall come to us, floating down from the starry heights, the cheering words, ' Fear not, little flock : it is my Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.' " Proud of ray relationship to two of the most earnest workers, each prominent in their respective districts, I mention first Mrs. Susan Ann Gefford and Mrs. Mary Ann Woodbridge. They are cousins, and of Nantucket Quaker stock, the granddaughters of Peleg Mitchell, the grandfather of Maria : so that, while one cousin is helping young women to see the stars through the telescope, the other two are seeking to save young men from seeing them through the wine-cup. Mrs. Gifford labors in the East, and Mrs. Woodbridge in the West. Mrs. Gifford was born in Fall River, March 2, 1826, and now resides in Worcester. Mrs. Wood- bridge resides in Ravenna, O. The maiden name of Mrs. Gifford was Mitchell : that of Mrs. Woodbridge was Brayton. Mrs. Gifford has been a vice-president of the Christian Woman's National Temperance Con- vention ever since it was organized. She called the first Woman's Temjterance Convention in Massachu- setts, and was its first president, and was followed by Mary A. Livermore. She has been president of the local society in Worcester ever since its establishment. Her personal work by speech and pen is immense ; WOMEN REFORMERS. 387 and the same may be said of her cousin Mrs. Wood- bridge, — both of whom are often heard in yarioiis churches, preaching the gospel of temperance; the one being a Quaker, and the other a Congregationalist. Home duties as wife and mother are not neglected, the little ones being grown to helpers ; and yet public duties are faithfully performed. No temperance effort has been so powerful since the days of the Washingtonian movement, when John Hawkins went through the land, portraying the misery of the drunkard, and telling the touching story of his little daughter Hannah persuading him to let strong drink alone. As in the days of the war, many women become prominent who had until then been quietly serving God in their homes, so, by this sudden temper- ance awakening, many women were brought forward into places of notoriety who had never dreamed of fame before. Among these was the fearless, conse- crated orator whose record is thus sketched by a sym- pathizing friend : — "Frances E. Willard. — It has become a truism that men of genius have been endowed with their Fortu- natus' purse by a gifted mother ; it is gratifying to know that talent on the maternal side sometimes sur- vives in the daughter. " Miss Willard is a happy illustration of hereditary laws, having had a long line of ancestors who were intellectual athletes : to her mother, however, are dis- tinctly traceable the combined strength and grace of her iutellectunl and moral natures. " Mrs. Willard sprung from the traditional line of ministers and school-teachers that has given birth to the finest type of New England brain. She had the 388 WOMEN OP THE CENTtTBY. hardy constitution and the common -school education of the Green Mountain girl ; better gift than either, an eager thirst for higher culture, that prompted her, after marriage with its added care of three little children, to take a course of study at Oberlin College. The old college town must have presented rare attractions to both parents, with their fine literary tastes and need of intellectual comradeship ; but both wants were sac- rificed to the household penates, and a country life resolved upon during the impressible years of the young family. " At Janesville, Wis., on a farm lonely, but lovely as blossoming nature and beautifying art could make it, Miss Willard passed the years from seven to sixteen. The secluded life, with schools and playmates shut out, threw her upon the boundless but so rarely tested resources of nature, supplemented always by the mother's unstinted store. To this early and intimate companionship with the dear mother of us all, who reveals the secret of her enduring cheerfulness and repose to the heart that beats in tune, we like to attrib- ute somewhat of the serenity, the hope, the courage, that characterize this child of hers. " The great out-door world, with its rocks and vines, taught the impressible girl morals and aesthetics ; while from books, the family talk, and the thousand devices of a wise and winning mother, the young feet learned the initial steps up the steep hill of knowledge. The rudiments of reading, and the immortal principles of Uberty, were learned together from ' The Slave's Friend.' The newspapers were devoured with the zest that country life gives to news from the great beat- ing world of humanity beyond its ken ; and very early the little literary coterie^ mother and children, made MISS FRANCES E. WILLARD, FIRST CORRESPONDING SECRETARY WOMAN'S NATIONAL CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION. Elected President in 1S79. "WOMEN RBFOBMBRS. 391 their contributions to the press, — a genuine family newspaper, with its editor and entire corps of con- tributors from the household band. Indeed, tliis wise mother cultivated in every way the talent of her child, and shared fully in her joy when her first published article danced before her childish eyes from the col- umns of the Chicago press. At sixteen the young girl made her second literary venture, by competing suc- cessfully for the prize offered by the Illinois Agri- cultural Society for the best essay upon 'Country Homes.' " Soon after, the removal of the family to Evanston opened the way for an entrance into the new life of the schools. Graduated from the Woman's College at Evanston, Miss Willard opened her career as an educator by teaching a district school at Harlem, a Chicago suburb. Following this, she became precep- tress at Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, at the same time filling the post of secretary of the ' Woman's Centen- nial Association of the Methodist Church.' The next year she was elected professor of natural science in the Evanston College for Women, and rehnquished that chair for a position in the college at Pittsburg. Mean- while she wrote the story of her sister's life, published by the Harper Brothers, under the title of ' Nineteen Beautiful Years.' " In 1868 a benignant fortune, in the person of her friend Miss Kate M. Jackson, enabled Miss Willard to take a tour abroad. For two years and a half she travelled with her friend, visiting nearly every European country, making the tour of the Holy Land, treading with reverent feet the sacred soil of Palestine, iind propounding riddles to the Egyptian sphinx. This period was one of unremitting activity to her eager 392 WOMEN OF TBDE CENTUBY. mind. Much of the time she studied nine hoars a day, mastering the French and Italian languages, and mak- ing great progress in the history of the fine arts. At Paris one solid year was devoted to study, — half that time at the College de France, where lectures were heard from the celebrated Laboulaye, Chasle, Legoure, and others. ' Harper's Magazine,' ' The Independent,' and the Chicago papers received articles from her pen ; but the choicest fruits of those sunny years, her journals, are yet to be culled. " In 1871 Miss Willard was elected president of Evanston College, the first institution of high grade under a woman's board of trustees, and with every department, including the financial, — genus vir I — successfully administered by women. " In 1873, when the Woman's College became an incorporated part of the North-western University, Miss Willard was elected dean of the college, and professor of aesthetics in the university. " In 1874, when it became impossible to carry out her cherished plan of government in the college, — a plan pursued with the best results during its separate exist- ence, — Miss Willard resigned both positions. " In October of the same year, the great temperance wave that swept over the land reached the prairies of the West, and found Miss Willard studying aesthetics in her quiet country home. She who had ' never given one hour of thought to the liquor-traffic,' who had ' never seen the inside of a saloon,' and even drank wine freely when abroad, was so stirred by the simple Btory of women who cared for the tragedy in other women's lives enough to reach out a helping hand, that the whole current of her life was changed. Under a steady fire of opposition from friendly ranks, WOMEN REF0RMERi3. 393 — the blows that tell most, — she enlisted in the tem- perance work. Since that time she has been an enthu- siastic and successful leader in the noble cause. As president of the Chicago Woman's Temperance Union, and corresponding secretary of the National Woman's Temperance Union, she has found a wide field for the exercise of her best gifts. Besides performing the duties of these positions, and doing much occasional work, chiefly in the line of temperance literature, she has been one of the ablest champions of the cause upon the lecture-platform. " Miss Willard seems to have been endowed with that sometimes fatal gift, a most varied talent. As an edu- cator, she had the rare power of arousing the enthu- siasm of her pupils, not only in intellectual pursuits, but in the attainment of noble character. Her con- stant aim was to secure an endogenous growth of mind and soul. Like Arnold of Rugby, she never lost faith in her pupils, and she won from them the love and the loyalty with which Harry East exclaims, ' He believes in a fellow I ' As writer and speaker, Miss Willard possesses a dangerous facihty, that alone prevents her achieving the highest results. Nature meant her for a journalist, but thwarted her own design by giving her the heart of a philanthropist. Ably as she writes, however, Miss Willard's rarest intellectual gift is a genius for conversation which stands unrivalled. Like Margaret Fuller's, her nature, peculiarly electrical, demands the receptive and responsive touch of otlier minds. " These intellectual gifts have been sujyplemented by rare graces of character. The brilliant mental endow- ments and the delicate moral traits blend, like the pris- matic hues, into a broad ray of white light radiant with the name of Frances E. Willard.'" 394 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. As no order but that of convenience to the writer has been followed in respect to any names in this and many other chapters, there is nothing irvidious in causing the record of the President of the National Christian Woman's Temperance Union to appear after that of the Corresponding Secretary. Mrs. Annie Wittenmeyer is that president. She is a native of Ohio, but was reared in Kentucky. Her grandfather was a graduate of Princeton College, and an oflficer in the war of 1812. She was instructed by her mother, and in a young ladies' seminary, receiving more than ordinary advantages. All tkrough the Rebellion, Mrs. Wittenmeyer was a zealous and faith- ful sanitary agent, having been appointed by the Legis- lature of Iowa, or as a worker with the Christian Commission, where she had the oversight of two hun- dred women, and where she developed her plan of special diet-kitchens to the great benefit of the soldiers- Miss C. A. Blodgett, herself an earnest laborer with an able pen as a reporter, and contributoi to peri- odicals, says further of Mrs. Wittenmeyer's labors : - " By invitation of the surgeon-general, she met the medical commission appointed to revise the speci.tl diet cooking of the army. The work of this commis- sion led to a thorough change in the hospital cookerj of the army, which was lifted to a grade of hygienio perfection above any thing ever before practised, and from which it will probably never again fall to the old standard. It is simple justice to add, what is a matter of record in the history of the United States Christian Commission, that these improvements in the diet- kitchens of the army were the means of saving thou- sands of valuable lives, and restoring noble men tr home and usefulness. MRS. ANNIE WITTENMEVER, FIRST PRESIDENT WOMAN'S NATIONAL CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION WOMEN REFORMERS. 397 " About the close of the war, Mrs. Wittenmeyer set in motion the idea of a home for soldiers' orphans, and became the founder of the institution bearing this name in Iowa. It is not generally known that this movement originated with the brave woman who had cared for the husbands and fathers, amid the dangers and Buffering of camp and hospital life. When the fact that such an institution was to be opened in Iowa became known, hundreds of soldiers and orphans be- came the wards of the State. By request of the Board of Managers of the Iowa Home, she went to Washing- ton City, and obtained from Secretary Stanton and other departments co-operating the beautiful barracks at Davenport, which cost the Government forty-six thou- sand dollars, and hospital supplies amounting to five or six thousand more, subject, however, to the approval of Congress, which was afterward secured through the efforts of Hon. Hiram Price of Iowa. That institution accommodated over five hundred children at one time. Branches were afterward organized, and the institution still maintains a flourishing existence. Mrs. Witten- meyer's active mind next conceived the idea that the vast amount of female talent and energy brought into activity by the philanthropy of war should be main- tained in Christian work in the churches. Bishop Simpson, always ready to co-operate in every move- ment promising greater usefulness for women, entered heartily into this plan ; and the Methodist Church estabKshed a Home Missionary Society of women, organized for the express purpose of ministering to the temporal and spiritual needs of the strangers and the poor. It was made a General Conference Society at the last session, and Mrs. Wittenmeyer was elected its corresponding secretary. In the last year over fifty 398 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. thousand families have been visited under the auspices of this society. At the commencement of this new work, Mrs. Wittenmeyer removed from Iowa to Phila- delphia, and founded her paper, ' The Christian Woman,' an individual enterprise, wliich has proved exceptionally successful. She has more recently estab- lished a paper called ' The Christian Child,' which is rapidly winning its way to public favor. In addition to this heavy publishing work, Mrs. Wittenmeyer has carried the large society above described through all the difficulties incident to our general financial embar- rassment, travelling thousands of miles in its interest, and speaking before conferences in every State from Maine to California. " When, as an outgrowth of the crusade, the temper- ance women of America met in the first national con- vention, it was but natural that they should choose as a leader one whose name was already fragrant with the blessings of a thousand homes, and whose achievements in the past were not only a strength but a guaranty for the future. The record of the last year illustrates fully the wisdom of their choice. Twenty new States have been organized as auxiliary to the National Union. ' The Woman's Temperance Union ' was founded with Mrs. Wittenmeyer as publisher, and a general impetus was given to the work all along the line. Mrs. Witten- meyer has labored without cessation, speaking, writ- ing, attending State conventions, of which forty-six have been held in the past year. She has always pre- sented the new society with an abihty of thought and a Christian earnestness of manner which have won hosts of friends for the cause. At the recent annual meeting at Cincinnati, she presided with characteristic ability, and was re-elected president for the centennial year by a unanimous vote." WOMEN REFOBMERS. 399 "When the annual meeting was held in Newark, Oct. 27, 1876, she was again unanimously elected president ; and the audience broke out in singing, 'Hallelujah, praise the Lord I ' The elections of that afternoon will long be pleasantly remembered as orderly, unani- mous, and accompanied with the singing of some hymn as a seal to the work. That day, for the first time, I saw and heard a Quaker commence the singing of a hymn, as Mrs. Gifford started the verse, — ' We share our mutual woes, Our mutual burdens bear,' &c." Faknie W. Lbiter is another of those temperance- reformers. She was born in 1844, in Portsmouth, O., and was the third child in a family of seven : hence her youth was no stranger to care and labor, which she nobly exercised. She studied successfully in the public schools, the Hon. E. E. White being her teacher in the high-school course, and soon began to teach. She then studied at an academy in Granville, O., where she also taught geometry and algebra, thus meeting ex- penses. She graduated in the summer of 1864, and at once assumed the charge of the Xenia High School, and afterward of that in Dayton. Here she became acquainted with a Mrs. Bates, who proved a " mother in Israel," and helped her to greater consecration of Boul. She had been converted, she thought, at the early age of nine. In 1869 she married S. Brainard Leiter of Mansfield, O., where she has since resided. She gives this account of her work as a reformer : — " When the atmosphere of the crusade in its unac- countable and irresistible manner began to trespass upon so conservative a corj^oration as Mansfield, I was 400 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. immediately trying to persuade myself that this work had no possible connection with a promise I had solemnly made. After some eight or ten days of con- flict, and earnest prayer that unmistakable evidence might be granted me as to duty in this matter, the answer came. " The 10th of March, 1874, inaugurated our street work. At two o'clock, p.m., four hundred women, four abreast, led by our president, Mrs. Catherine S. Reed, and myself, marched down Main Street, visiting several saloons, when we were compelled to hold ser- vices upon the sidewalk, under circumstances where even the winds seemingly conspired with the Evil One in scoflfing at this effort. " At the fifth place, some twenty only of our number were permitted to enter an underground apartment, as it was thronged with men and boys who had collected there in order to ' see the ^sights.* " The great solemnity pervading the ranks of the crusaders, over against the dark, damp underground retreat, redolent with the fumes of whiskey and beer, made doubly hideous by the jeers and shrieks of those who had rallied around the proprietors, was, to one who had never before entered such a place, the very embodi- ment of all that was evil. Immediately the full import of the surroundings seized upon my soul ; and the ft-ar that this might be the last opportunity impelled me to step upon a chair, and attempt to address them. " So long as reason remains, I shall never lose the impression made by that multitude of upturned faces, bearing unmistakable evidences of the hold of the tempter upon them, " The intensity of my soul, which was stirred to its uttermost, could only find utterance in prayer. "WOMEN BBFORMBRS. 401 *' That hour brought answer to my prayer, since which time I have never for one moment questioned my duty in this great matter. " The past two years have meant more to my spirit- ual growth than all of the preceding, since I took upon myself the name of Christ's follower. I shall never cease to be grateful to my mother, whose unquestion- able purpose in life so early rooted my belief in the word of Q^od ; for a nature so characteristically positive in its demand might have led to a Christian experience clouded with doubts and perplexities, had my conver- sion been deferred until maturer years. " The temperance cause is a work that I dare not resist. The force of an intense interest^ with which nature has kindly endowed me, I lay at the feet of my Master, believing that even this qualification can be consecrated in the great effort of saving perishing souls." Mrs. McCabe bears the following testimony : — " When Ohio was threatened with a license clause in her new constitution, and her alarmed Christian citi- zens, men and women, poured down upon the Con- stitutional Convention then sitting in Cincinnati, to protest, one of the most noticeable women in that grand temperance convention was Mrs. Fannie W. Leiter of Mansfield. " Entering a vacated committee-room, the writer saw standing alone, a small lady, delicate, graceful, and blonde, her intellectual headend light hazel eyes bend- ing intently over a convention manuscript which her critical pen was fitting for the public ear. At the close of that marvellous convention, in which the piety, the 402 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. zeal, and the energy, as well as the refinement, of Ohio's women, were concentrated on the subject of intemper- ance, she made a speech from the platform, which for elevation of thought, gentle enthusiasm. Christian trust, beauty and chastity of diction, had not been ex- celled. The power of a strong will and trained intel- lect in a fragile form rose on the convention, a star of promise, in this new and wonderful era of woman, as related to a great reform. *'At the Convention which followed soon after in Springfield, she served with distinguished eflficiency as secretary, and was then elected permanent secretary of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Ohio. In this capacity, her counsels and suggestions, her appropriate and prompt action, have largely contrib- uted to the strength, efficiency, and permanency of our organization. In addition to this she has borne a very large share of the temperance and missionary work in her own city, at the same time meeting all the duties devolving upon her as wife, mother, and friend. " Mrs. Leiter has a carefully and exactly trained in- tellect, a finely cultivated taste, with manners at once simple and dignified. Her mind is awake and alive to the varied interests of the time ; and, though cautious, she holds regarding them positive opinions, and acts decidedly. As a Christian woman she moves on the higher planes, loving and living in the noblest things. Her culture, her activity, her fine Christian spirit, redeemed from all narrowness, render this still youth- ful lady one of the most promising of the noble Chris- tian women that Ohio igonsecrates to her people's reform." Harriet Calista McCabe kindly assists the writer by the following autobiographical sketch : — MRS. DR. McCABE. WOMEN EEFORMEKS. 405 "I was born in the year 1827 at Sidney Plains, Dela- ware County, N.Y. Arvine and Eliza Clarke were my parents. My home was located on a grassy upland ; the southern horizon bounded by a lofty mountain wall dividing the valleys of the Delaware and Susquehan- na. The eastern and western outlook, blue mountain distances ; the northern, a gap in the ranges, where the Chenango makes confluence with the Susquehanna; and between were the little village, wide plain, tortu- ous river, and groves of intermingled chestnut and evergreen. " Sometimes in the village school, oftener under a private teacher at home, instructed in the ordinary lessons of childhood, to which drawing and French were added, almost a hermit with the wild azaleas, arbutus, ericas, ferns, and evergreens, under the vigi- lant eye of a Connecticut mother whose steps were all ordered by systems, I reached my twelfth year, and, according to the expressed views of a family friend, was ' as practical as a Yankee, and dreamy as a Hindoo.' " The somewhat stern and thoughtful character of the Presbyterian Church tempered the exuberance of my spirits ; but, upon my father's conversion, the influ- ence which the. memory of Whitefield, a frequent guest when in America of his mother's family, had upon him, moved him to invite the Methodist itinerant to our home. Our acquaintance in that direction became extensive ; and seldom a day passed, without the hands of these earnest men, either arriving or departing, being laid in benediction on my head. '* When I was twelve years of age, my father changed his residence to Elmira, N.Y., where I continued my studies ; and, at the age of sixteen, became a member 406 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. of the Methodist Church. Not long after, serious reverses came upon my father, which so roused my sympathies, and impressed me with the instability of earthly things, that I resolved to seek earnestly some surer ground for hope and rest, and be more than a mere nominal Christian. At this crisis a devoted Presby- terian clergyman, with a introductory letter, paid my father a brief visit. When leaving, he sent for me, and addressing me with great solemnity said, ' The world is dying ; thy Saviour hath need of thee : wilt thou give thyself to him ? ' I have neither seen noi heard of that humble servant of God since, but shall ever believe he was sent with a message to aid me in making at once a complete decision to be altogether a Christian. Then I accepted the world as a place of labor and discipline, and true life, a ministration of love through sacrifice, even as the Lord Jesus has set forth. *' There was a little remnant of fortune among the lofty Alleghanies, in mills and mountains of pine. Here for a time we established our home. I was twen- ty years of age, my spirit full of exceeding peace, and, with my new views of life, never lonely. I gave time to sketching and botany, favorite studies, and went among the people of the valley. I found a Christian man who gathered the children into a Sunday school, and let me help him. They were not poor, but stupid and ignorant. My father twice a week gathered, in our dining-room, the men from the mills for prayer ; and many became truly pious. On a green island where little and big pine creeks mingle their crystal tides, a meeting was held : the people were converted far and near; and the gambling, drinking, and the sabbath desecration ended, a little church was built, and the valleys generally reformed. WOMEN REFORMERS. 407 '' Soon after, I was solicited to take the position of preceptress at Dickinson Seminary, Williamsport, Penn. . Never having contemplated teaching, and inexperienced, I declined, but accepted on being solicited again some months after. The young ladies' department was now almost wholly under my care ; and the desire to inspire them to love and seek the noblest things quite ab- sorbed me. I also taught drawing and French chiefly, which made my life a very busy one. Associated with Dr. (now Bishop) Bowman, I spent seven years at the seminary, at the end of which, in 1867, I was married to Rev. Dr. McCabe, professor of philosophy in O. W. University, Delevan, O., at which place I have since resided. " The rising of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, Hke a star above woman's horizon, seemed to me, as I considered, to be full of meaning and promise, and engaged my active interest at once. In the redemp- tion of the surplus energy of Christian women for the advancement of the world, and in the new life it has given to mission work abroad, it transcends all my early auguries of its power and necessity, as a new factor in the arena of redemptive effort. It was a preparatory step to the wider and more general home work inaugurated by and for women, known as the crusade or temperance work. " Every revival and reform has, if genuine, its life first in individual souls. My own experience before the approach of the temperance crusade was similar to that of others. There came to me much sorrow in the depth of my spirit, for the lost condition, spiritual- ly, of the thronging men I met as I passed along the streets. The Church seemed powerless to arrest or arouse theii consciences. God seemed Hke an ever- 408 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. brooding presence, desiring, pleading for help, for instru- ments, ' against the mighty.' The Forty-sixth Psalm was given to me, with the illumination, that the storms and floods there mentioned indicate the strivings and outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the effect of which ia to make glad with abounding righteousness the living Church. This experience and promise I claim for that phase of the temperance reform which began in '74, which is resulting in so much and varied good. I paid little attention to the coming ' crusade,' being other- wise much absorbed. I did not attend the first meet ing held in our city by Dr. Lewis. On going the next day, I was amazed to find our largest church crowded with citizens. Peculiar solemnity rested upon the assembly. A minister rose, and, saying God seemed specially to be calling women, requested me to pray. Greatly surprised, and timid at the presence of the crowd, as I knelt, no words were given me, but those of the Psalm above mentioned. That day the crusade was inaugurated in Delevan, a thing I supposed to be impossible. Immediately after the morning meeting, I was sent with others to the first convention of * cru- saders ' assembled at Columbus. Here I first heard, as the hymn of the crusade, ' Nearer, my God, to thee,' and saw the first time Mrs. Thompson of Hillsboro', and ' Mother Stewart,' with Dr. Dio Lewis, and those women who had been praying in saloons the last two months. I heard many of those women speak in the City Hall, — women who had never before spoken in public. They spoke with great modesty and without fear, of God's help in the saloons ; and some of them, of the inner life and peace which had come to them through this wonderful work. ^' At that convention a bureau of correspondence WOMEN REFORMERS. 409 was made for the extension of work, in which I was appointed to share. From that time a large portion of my time has been devoted to this solemn and interest- ing work for men. Next to the care of my household and the education of my children, it is my work. With some regret I renounced for this, my favorite pursuits, and find I have gained a hundred-fold above what I have given. Without intellectual dwarfing, it has en- larged my spiritual nature. God has given me to see that there is no material in the universe so rich, and capable of being moulded into forms so glorious, as humanity. Work on this material yields returns im- measurably grander and far more enduring than work on marble or canvas. Thus to be enlightened, thus to be convinced, I count a new accession of mental riches and of spirit joy and rest, than which nothing better could now be given me, and to which is added the assur- ance that a dispensation equally rich and restful shall be given me when there is no more for me to do, and may be something still to suffer. " I believe the most controlling element of my life has been a singular trust in a Divine Being. Early in my childhood I believed, that, in answer to my request, I was extricated from my childish difficulties. This con- fidence has grown with my growth, and strengthened with my strength. It has been sunshine to my life, and has touched all, even the smallest matters, as sun- liglit touches all below, small and great. It has been the one bird which has attracted thousands more, and fiUed the house of my pilgrimage with their songs. It has been my strength in the annoyances of a day, and the scenes which revolutionize destiny , and still makes the path of Ufe glow with ever-increasing brightness. '* With a gratitude I have no words l-> express, and 410 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. with unutterable desire, that all whom God hath made may hear and understand, I here record how perfectly God does for his creature whatever, temporal or spirit- ual, that creature commits to his trust. He may take time ; but any thing you give to him to do for you, he •will perfectly do^ and never fails. " I could give no true sketch of my hfe without nam- ing the element which has controlled and given it shape. What is it, that I, as to my person, have lived here or there, or done this or that ? It is the journeys the soul has made, the altars it has built, and the inscriptions it has written thereon, which constitute a life." Mrs. Leiter thus bears testimony to her friend's worth : — " At the Columbus Convention to which Mrs. Mc- Cabe has referred, held in the earlier days of the crusade work, she was appointed chairman of the committee to whom was intrusted the work of State organization. Previous labors in the missionary field had developed unusual abiUty on her part as an organizer. " The mass convention held in Cincinnati in April, 1874, for the purpose of bringing anti-licence interest to bear upon the Constitutional Convention then in session in that city, added to the number of the original committee, authorizing the same to call a convention at the earliest convenience, in order to carry out plans proposed by the committee. In pursuance of this, the delegated assembly which met in Springfield the follow- ing June completed the State organization by adopting the constitution and by-laws as presented by her, under which were elected a president, secretary, treasurer, and twenty Wee-presidents representing the various congressionfi districts of the State. WOMEN BEFORMEES. 411 " Although circumstances compelled her absence on this occasion, by the unanimous and hearty vote of the convention she was elected president, which office she to-day fills, closing the second year. " Since the work began, her untiring energy has promptly and faithfully met the suggestions of the hour. " Whether at her secretary, meeting the multitude of demands through correspondence incumbent on this office, writing memorials, issuing calls for days of fast- ing and prayer, or presiding in convention requiring and testing the ability, nerve, and endurance of more masculine temperaments, she has proved herself equal to the most trying emergency, without exhausting her resources, or seriously trespassing upon the interests of a family blest with a devoted wife and mother. " After these months of trial, under the depressing circumstances of reaction in the cause, the united voice of temperance workers proclaims her the ' fittest of the fit ' for the post she has occupied, and the duties she has met, '* A Christian character above reproach, whose name is a synonyme for purity and truth, and wnose presence is a token of the spirit that dwells in and through her being, she claims the love and esteem of all co-laborers. " Possessed of a ' charity that is tried and suffereth long,' the many annoyances that naturally arise through human agencies, under her influence and direction have dwindled into a ' creation of the brain.' " When this temperance work has become a completed historic record, first in the ranks of those who stepped forward at the call of the Master, will be found the name of one whose single-hearted trust, and faith sub- lime in its simplicity, aided in anchoring the cause in 412 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. the hearts of the people, and directing the hopes of Christian women to the God of the universe, who con- trols the affairs of men." A friend in the West kindly furnishes the follow- ing : — " Eliza Jane Thoaepson is the only daughter of the late Ex-Gov. Trimble of Ohio, and was born in Hillsboro', Highland County, of the same State, Aug. 24, 1816. " Her father was a man of strict integrity of char- acter, both in private and political life. His personal reminiscences, even at the advanced age of eighty, when the writer knew him best, indicated a very vig- orous intellect, and were treasured by all, not only on account of their individual interest, but as relating to the pioneer history of Ohio. " Her mother was exceedingly lovely and amiable, and, through a long life of usefulness and unostentatious piety, comforted and cheered those around her. She was a ' Friend ' by education ; and the soothing influ- ence of that belief told upon her whole life, saving her from the fretfulness of declining years ; and with quiet, patient step, she drew near to the * land of rest.' Prom her parents, Mrs. Thompson received a thor- oughly practical, useful, and religious education ; a rigid but loving discipline was exercised ; and the lesson of life was combined with the recreations of childhood. " She early imbibed from her father a sympathy for ' total abstinence,' and attended with him the first National Temperance Convention held in New York to which he was a State delegate. MRS. ELTZA J. THOMPSON, LEADER OF THE FIRST CRUSADE BAND, WOMEN REFORMERS. 415 **Mr8. Thompson was deeply impressed in early childhood with the earnest piety of her grandmother, Mrs. Jane Trimble ; and, at the age of eleven years, connected herself with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and, through many vicissitudes, has clung with great tenacity and affection to the simple faith of the Wes- leys ; and, in all the sorrows and disappointments of life, her heart has found refuge in the ' Rock of Ages.' " In 1837 she was married to Mr. J. H. Thompson, of Harrodsburg, Ky. They lived, for several years, in Cincinnati, O., where Mr. Thompson practised law ; but, in the spring of 1842, found it to their interest to remove to Hillsboro', her chUdhood's home, where she has since resided. " A family of eight children claimed a large place in Mrs. Thompson's heart and life ; and for many years she lived alone for the domestic and social circles, ever heartily responding to religious and benevolent calls. " Maternal happiness, alas I is blended with maternal cares and afflictions ; and, as years passed away, the shadows of many graves lay behind her. A lovely daughter of nineteen was called to the enjoyment of the ' pure in heart,' in the summer of 1859 ; and five years later her eldest born and gifted son closed a life of touching vicissitudes upon the quiet banks of the Susquehanna. The shock was doubly great to the mother heart. The mountains separated her from the death-scene ; but loving ones were present to treasure and carry back his dying words, — *' ' In the cross of Christ I glory, Towering o'er the wrecks of time; All the light of sacred story Gathers round its head sublime. * 416 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. " Mrs. Thompson's parents, to whom she gave many years of devoted attention in their declining days, passed away about six years ago ; since which time her surviving children, having arrived at years of maturity, have sought their own interests in life. "In December of 1873, the memorable crusade against intemperance commenced in Ohio, in which Mrs. Thompson took an active part, as will be seen from the report. In the cause of temperance she still zealously works, and feels the deepest interest. When the crusade began, her surrounding circumstances aflforded leisure and opportunity for devoting herself more exclusively to a cause in which her heart had always been deeply interested ; and she entered it as a work for God, relying solely upon his strength for success. " The press naturally commented, in various ways, upon the unusual temperance movement of 1873 ; and, with the unlimited freedom of this powerful engine, attributed various motives to the workers in it. A wise writer, however, says, ' Men cannot print tones, glances, sighs, or tears ; the heart always suffers by being translated into speech." Shakspeare tells us, through Wolsey, — " ♦ If we shall stand still In fear our motion will be mocked, or carped at, We should take root here where we sit.' " Although the excessive enthusiasm at first mani- fested in this temperance work has abated, yet Mrs. Thompson, with her co-workers, believes that the in- terest is more profound, the work more thorough, and good results more certain, than at i»ny time before. The highest authority declares, ' When the enemy WOMEN REFORMERS. 417 shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.' " Mrs. Rouse. — Mrs. Bolton of Cleveland, O., kindly furnishes the following : — " Great emergencies develop great characters. This was strikingly true in our late civil war. Through a baptism of blood, the nation learned a self-sacrificing generosity and heroism, the memory of which is blessed. Men gave life. Women gave what was dearer than life, — their husbands, brothers, and sons. And this was not enough. When the realities of war were upon us, woman's hand and heart and voice and strength were all needed and devotedly given. " Among the many who were ready when the hour came, was Mrs. Benjamin Rouse of Cleveland, O. She was born in Salem, Mass., Oct. 30, 1800 ; a New Eng- land girl, with all their energy and spirit ; a descendant of Oliver Cromwell, with much of his invincible will, combined with a manner retiring and gentle ; with wonderful executive ability, enabling her to preside at meetings, speak before audiences if need be, and carry forward any plans her conscience approved. She was converted at the early age of ten ; was a Presby- terian till her marriage with Mr. Rouse in 1821, when she adopted her liusband's form of belief, and, moving to Cleveland, they were the first Baptists in the city. She is the mother of eight children, four of whom are now living. One was the founder of a mission school, for years its superintendent, its life and strength ; now it is a flourishing church. Another, an only daughter, has been for years identified with the orphan asylum and the ' Bethel,' to whose husband, Loren Prentis, 418 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. this latter excellent institution owes its founding and growth. " Her family cares never kept her from the deepest interest in every thing that lifted humanity. A great worker in her church, the friend of strangers, president of the orphan asylimi from its incipiency, still holding that office at seventy-six years of age, she is a living refutation of the idea that being the mother of a family absolves one from all duties to the world outside. " She is remarkably well read, intelligent upon every subject, and a charming conversationalist. She is small and rather delicate in organization. " The secretary of the Northern Ohio Aid Society, Mary Clark Brayton, a young lady of the highest social position and culture, who gave unceasing service for over five years to the soldiers in hospitals and at the front ; who wrote weekly for the press of the city all the needs and results of the work, and thousands of letters to anxious wives and mothers ; who ministered often till midnight to the destitute, maimed, and dying soldiers ; whose name, with that of Ellen Terry the tieasurer, Ohio will never forget, — says in her book, ' Our Acre and its Harvest,' ' Mrs. Rouse, the presi- dent of our society, stepped from her life of unobtru- sive charities, visited families and villages, and, by personal explanation and appeal, secured the hearty and enthusiastic support of all who listened to her arguments.' " Those days of making bandages, picking lint, cutting and making clothing, packing supplies for the sick and wounded, all done so rapidly with eager hands and ach- ing hearts, are fresh in the memory of all. Mrs. Rouse, at the request of Gen. Rosecraus, accompanied the first shipment of articles to Wheeling, Va., and helped in WOMEN REFORMERS. 419 fitting up the hospitals for five hundred sick meu who had just passed through Cleveland. Shortly after the battle at Fort Donelson, with two hundred and sixty boxes furnished by the patriotic women of Northern Ohio, she started for Louisville, there gained access to the crowded hospitals, and gave her personal attention to the sufferers. "After the battle of Perryville, Ky., when, for some unknown reason, stores needed were not at hand, and great suffering thereby ensued, the aid society at once sent eight hundred sets of hospital clothing, four hun- dred bed-sacks, &c. Mrs. Rouse, with the secretary, took a trunk stored with oysters and other needed things, and went immediately to the scene of hard- ship. " When the Chicago Fair was in progress, both has- tened thither, and returning with enthusiastic hearts undertook a like enterprise, the Sanitary Fair of North- ern Ohio, — work to which many women in this coun- try owed premature deaths, — and made it a com- plete success, clearing nearly $100,000 for the soldiers. For a territory so small as this society covered, prob- ably not one in the whole country was so efficient. In five years it had collected and disbursed through its officers 1130,400 in cash, and $1,003,000 in stores. " A soldiers' home was opened in Cleveland, first in the depot for some two years, which afforded relief to over 56,000 registered inmates ; and here Mrs. Rouse with others gave daily personal attention, directing its management minutely. In connection with this was an employment office which did grand service, and a pension office where the secretary and treasurer acted daily as unpaid clerks. Here often and often hundreds of hungry soldiers were fed, as they passed through the 420 WOMKN OF THE CENTURY. city. Now there were 700 Wisconsin boys, now 1,040 from Michigan, and as many more from various sec- tions. At one time, weary and faint, with good Mrs. Rouse at the head, and she was always present, they prepared repast for 1,350 on a hot July night, the train coming in at two o'clock in the morning. * Her energy and activity,' says Miss Brayton, ' notwithstanding her years and feeble health (she was now over sixty years old), put to the blush many who were younger and more robust.' Sitting now in the home of her daugh- ter, where love and commendable pride of the noble mother have furnished delightful apartments, with her books about her, welcoming with cordial smiles old friends and new, rich in the memories of a full, blessed life, she waits her summons to join her husband, recently gone from her. In the great future, not only her children, but a host of orphans and soldiers, and the poor in this world's goods, will rise up and call her blessed.'' Says Mrs. Wittenmeyer, in her History, after giving an account of the temperance work in Brooklyn, N. Y., under the leadership of Mrs. Mary Coffin Johnson : " In the year 1876, Mrs. Mary C. Johnson, the efficient and talented President of the Brooklyn Union, visited Great Britain and Ireland, and spent six months in successful work in drawing-room and public meetings. Her efforts to help forward the cause of gospel temperance were richly blessed. She addressed during her absence one hundred and twenty-one audiences, and conducted forty- one prayer meetings. Her work was chiefly among the upper classes, and her drawing-room and lawn meetings were attended largely by the nobility. Mrs. Johnson, who is a cultured Christian lady, was received every where with great attention, and the American women MR^. MARY C. JOHNSON, FIRST RECORDING SECRETARY WOMAN'S NATIONAL CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION WOMEN REFORMERS. 423 have reason to be proud of her record abroad, and th** National Union that one of her ofl&cera so ably repre- sented her in the higher circles of Great Britain." Sarah K. Bolton, who has so kindly aided in securing sketches of some of the prominent crusaders for this book, is herself a literary woman, and earnestly engaged in reforms. She has given voice and pen to the temperance work, has addressed many audiences with great success, and has published one of the most interesting volumes of the day, " The Present Prob- lem," in which the crusade is faithfully portrayed, and high moral ground is taken in reference to purity of life in man as well as woman. Mrs. Bolton resides in Cleveland, O. Catherine S. Reed is one of the brave women of the century in respect to temperance work. She has recently removed from Mansfield, O., to Columbus, Neb. She was formerly a high-school teacher, and with her fine culture was able to exert a wide and beneficent influence. When she left for the farthei West, a band of ladies belonging to the Temperance League gave the family a pleasant surprise. After a bounteous repast, a hymn, and prayer, a resolution of regret was read, and very appropriately answered by Mrs. Reed. In that written testimonial, signed by twenty-six women, was expressed " our appreciation of her faithful labors for the good of mankind, her abiding hope, and her strong faith which has so often strength- ened ours, and her very efiicient leadership in the work of temperance. . . . One who has been so thor- oughly identified with all our educational, social, and religious interests cannot but be widely missed." HuLDAH EsTES is thus mentioned in the " Advance 424 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Guard," the temperance sheet ably edited by Mrs. Emma MoUoy : — " It is with the sincerest regret that we record the death of Mrs. Huldah Estes, one of our noblest tem- perance workers, who passed from earth to her better home, Aug. 6, 1875. Mrs. Estes was born in Vermont, being the daughter of Nathan C. Hoag, a distinguished minister of the Society of Friends, and a grand-daugh- ter of Joseph Hoag, an eloquent divine, considerably known outside of his church by his ' Vision,' which was extensively circulated at the beginning of the late war, and so remarkably fulfilled in the event thereof. " Mrs. Estes early manifested a strong literary taste ; and while yet a mere girl she entered upon her voca- tion as a teacher, which she so admirably filled until within a few years of her death. Next to the mother, a loving, wise teacher fills the warmest place in one's heart ; and scattered over the world is many a loving pupil who never thinks of Mother Estes excejt with a quickened heart-throb, and a pulsation of pain will follow this announcement of her death. In 1847 she came to Indiana to take the position of principal of the female department of the ' Friends' Boarding-School ' at Richmond, now known as Earlham College, and then just opened ; Lewis A. Estes, afterward her husband, being the male principal. All active, philanthropic, and Christian enterprises met with her sympathy and encouragement, and, as far as her health would permit, her hearty co-operation. An earnest abolitionist when the curse of slavery seemed as immovable as the eternal hills, her faith was no less strong in the ultimate tri- amph of the cause of temperance. " When the crusade movement burst upon Ohio, she MRS. SARAH KNOWLES BOLTON, FIRST ASSISTANT CORRESPONDING SECRETARY WOMAN'S NATIONAL CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION. WOMEN REF0RMBB8. 427 was living at Wilmington, and was among the first of the noble band of crusaders to march upon the enemy's forces. " We all remember her brave, strong, and earnest words that so thrilled the late State Convention at Indianapolis. Sister Ejstes was a tower of strength unto the weak, a noble wife and mother, and that rarest thing on earth, — a pure, unselfish Christian. Her life was a beautiful poem, which can only be read by the pure light of eternity. While our hearts are rent with sorrow at our loss, let us remember that she ' Has passed through glory's morning gate, And walks in Paradise. ' ' ' Mrs. Mary T. Burt was President of the Women's Christian Temperance Union in Auburn, N. Y., in 1875, and subsequently removing from Auburn to Brooklyn, she became publisher of the temperance organ " Our Union," now in charge of Miss Esther Pfgh, and issued from the Bible House, New York city. Emma Mollot must surely be remembered. The brave little woman has been a faithful and successful temperance worker, and is still in the field as lecturer and writer. As an editor she will be mentioned again. Caroline A. Soule has lectured upon temperance. And Phbbe A. Hanaford has been identified with the temperance cause for many years. She signed the pfedge when eight years of age, was chaplain and treas- urer of the Daughters of Temperance when eighteen ; was Worthy Chief several times in subordinate Lodges of Good Templars, Chaplain of the Grand Worthy Lodge of Massachusetts one year, and a member of the Right Worthy Lodge in 1867. She assisted in prepar- 428 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. ing the Degree Ritual, and wrote all but one of the hymns in the ritual now used among Good Templars" for the dedication of a hall, or the burial of a member. But the woman of the East who is most noted in tem- perance work among the Good Templars is Amanda Lane. " The Temperance Album " of Boston thus refers to her : — " For many years Sister Lane has been prominently identified with the temperance reform ; and the elo- quent earnestness of her appeals in the lodge-room and on the public platform have been more widely recognized, and have brought her into more promi- nence, than any woman publicly identified with the cause in New England. More than fifteen years ago she occupied a prominent position in a division of the Sons of Temperance, then existing at her home in Gloucester. In 1862, when Good Templary, with its broad basis of the perfect equality of the sexes, began to assume some prominence in this State, her self- reliance and independence led her to unite with sev- eral friends in the formation of Fraternity Lodge of Gloucester, which has always held rank with the first lodges in the State. She was initiated into the Order as a charter member of that lodge, at its institution on the 22d of May, 1862, and was its first Worthy Vice- Templar. In recognition of her dignity, fidelity, and administrative ability in that position, she was called to the chair of the Worthy Chief Templar for the second quarter ; and she has subsequently again filled the chair of Worthy Vice-Templar, Secretary, and other offices. She was not made a member of the Grand Lodge, although eligible three years previous, until the seventh annual session, held in this city in February, 1865. The tiext day after she had assumed the obligation of MRS. MARY T. BURT, Corresponding secretary woman's national christian temperance union. WOMEN EEF0EMBR8. 431 the Grand Lodge Degree, she was chosen to the posi- tion of Grand Worthy Councillor, receiving seventy- six out of one hundred and four votes. In 1866 and L874 she was a member of the committee appointed to receive the Right Worthy Grand Lodge, in behalf of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts ; and at both these sessions she was a delegate to that supreme body. She was made a member of the Right Worthy Grand Lodge at the session of 1866, and at that session she was chosen Right Worthy Grand Vice-Templar, receiving forty-nine out of the fifty-one votes cast. At this ses- sion she also served on the Committee on Constitu- tions, and at the next session at Detroit, in 1867,. on the Committee on the State of the Order, two of the most important committees of that body. At the last-men- tioned session she was unanimously re-elected to the position of Right Worthy Grand Vice-Templar. She was also present at the sessions of 1868, 1869, and 1874 ; and of her efficient aid at the latter session it is not necessary to speak. At Bloomington, 111., at the session of 1875, she was again elected to the office of Right Worthy Grand Vice-Templar, and was chosen by the New England delegation to speak for New England at the receptive meeting. No member of the Right Worthy Grana Lodge receives a more cordial greeting from the prominent members of the Order, representing all sections of the country, and none com- mands higher respect, than Sister Lane. Space forbids a detail of tlie many ways she has served the Good Templars of Massachusetts. " At the Worcester session in 1873, she was elected Grand Worthy Secretary, and performed its duties with such promptness, fidelity, and executive ability, that the Good Templars of Massachusetts honored 432 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. themselves by the indorsement of a faithful officer with her unanimous re-election in 1874 and 1875. " Sister Lane has been for many years a prominent member of the Universalist denomination, and has rep- resented her Church and State in its local and national conventions. When the Woman's Centenary Asso- ciation was organized at Philadelphia in 1871, she was chosen Recording Secretary, and subsequently was made Vice-President in charge of the work in Massa- chusetts, a position she held until the pressure of othei duties compelled her to resign. " She has avoided rather than courted public life ; but her graceful eloquence, purity of thought, and earnest devotion to any moral or Christian service, secure her constant invitations to the platform. The Order of Good Templars, however, should congratulate itself that she has wisely decided to give her public efforts almost exclusively in its interest." Miss Lane was married in 1876 to Solomon F. Root, and resides in Hinsdale, Mass. Having devoted so much space to the workers in the anti-slavery, temperance, and suffrage reforms, there is little room to tell of the peace reform, with JuUA Ward Howe crossing the ocean to preach the gospe) of peace in England, and inaugurating Mothers' Day, on each June 2, for the world, whereon mothers will specially pray that war may not come to slay any mother's sons. Many of the workers for other reforms are enlisted in this, — Elizabeth H. Underbill, Amanda Deyo, Helen M. Slocum, Rachel Town- send, Lydia a. Scofield, Antoinette Doolittle, and others do valiant service in this cause. Then there is the moral reform movement, looking WOMEN REFORMERS. 433 toward the establishment of purity and chastity in the land. LucmDA M. Chandler, Roxana Howe, M. V. Ball, and other ladies, have edited the periodicals or written the tracts used in this reform ; and Car- oline Talbot, Elizabeth Comstock, Phebb A. Hanaeord, and Narcissa Coffin, have not feared to go to the haunts of vice as the bearers of a gospel that cleanses the soul from sin, and makes the life pure and holy. Very possibly many names are omitted that ought to have been mentioned ; but it could not be helped. 1 should have said more of Louisa A. Swain, than that she was a Gardner of Nantucket, and was the first woman to cast a vote in Wyoming, when the suffrage reform reached its height there. There was Mary Y. C. Greeley, who should have been mentioned as a stern reformer of the T ^- .^er type. " The New York Commercial Advert'oer " in speaking of her said, " Religion, with her, was not the cant of creeds, but in the grander acts of such great philan- thropists as Wilberforce and Howard, in the sublime stoopings of the Christ-child when he bends to lift a struggling orphan from the gutter, or grandly and bravely breaks the shackles of the slave." The list of reformers might be extended to cover all those women who have pursued any vocation not open to women a century ago ; and their name is legion. And all their sisters in private life, who add their prayers and sympathy, are reformers, though they do not say, but live out the words, — " I live for those who love me, For those who know me true, For the heaven that smiles above me, And the good that I can do." 434 WOMEN OP THE CENTURY. As the years go by the Reformers depart, leaving the work to other and younger hands. Lydia Maria Child, Lucretia Mott, The Grimke Sisters, Abby Smith, Helen M. Slocum, and Rachel Townsend, all have passed be- yond. But the workers come as well as go, and God has his champions for every reform. The Bands of Hope are preparing warriors for the coming conflicts, who shall secure the victories of total abstinence, arbitration, and purity of heart and life. CHAPTER XIII. WOMEN PREACHERS. Quaker Preacliers — Mrs. Van Cott and her Metliodist Sisters — An- toinette Brown Blackwell — Olyrapia Brown — Phebe A. Hanaford — Ada C. Bowles, &c. " Before this altar crowned with peace, This centre of our spirit home, Let every strife and question cease, And fruitful faith and concord come. For here thy last deliverance stands, To loose the palsied spell of fear ; And woman with unfettered hands Keeps thine accepted priesthood here. Julia "Ward Howe. " And the angel answered and said unto the women, ... Go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen. . . . Then said Jesus unto them, ... Go tell my brethren."— Matt, xxviii. 5-10. aO preach my gospel," was addressed to woman as much as to man; and the first to proclaim the risen Saviour was a woman. If it be true, as " The Spectator" says, that " what the pulpit wants is more 436 WOiyTEN OF THE CENTURr. freshness and less convention, more character and less formula, more freedom and less fear," then the entrance of educated women into the ministry will secure the desired result, and the assumption of the pastoral office cannot be an act of presumption. The thing has been done, and done well. Success has set the seal of ap- proval upon the fact of woman as a preacher. Said the Rev. Brooke Herford at the Unitarian Fes tival of centennial year, held in Boston, June 1, 1876, " I don't think the day for a true ministry has gone by, and I doubt whether it ever will. The soul of the present generation is as restless for light, as earnestly asking who will show us any good, as at any time that has preceded it ; and he who feels that he has any light, and he who has any deep thought and strong conviction upon those great subjects which are, after all, not mere matters of creed, but which lie at the heart of human life, and are the faith which works in and out, and makes all works worthy, — he who has any thing of that faith will always find people who will help him with his livehhood, in order that he may give his whole heart and life to that work. Yes, the world will always find a livehhood for him who wishes to do this. And not only for him : I was at a meeting of women min- isters this morning, and I may include the word ' her,' and say that the world will always find a hearing and all help for the woman, as much as for the man, who really has any living word to speak, and feels called upoD to speak it, and has the power of speaking it so that it shall be heard. That I believe to be the solution of the question of the woman ministry that has been coming to the front gradually of late years. It is of no use to ply our old arguments about woman's right to preach, proving it with texts, and having a laugh at Paul WOMEN PRBA0HEE8. 437 because he said this, or did not say tkis. We have a little proverb on our side, — I don't know that you have it here, but you have the thing at any rate, — and the proverb is, that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. And so, if the preaching be good, it will be heard." It has been reserved for the present age, and for the New World, — yes, for America, for the United States in her first century, — to show that all are one in Christ Jesus, by consenting to the fact that ecclesi- astical functions are the heritage of the daughters as well as of the sons of the Lord Almighty, when the Divine Voice says to any soul, — pointing to the pulpit and the pastorate, — " Go work to-day in my vineyard." The Society of Friends, or Quakers (as they were at first called in derision), have always had women among their preachers. Not a few women of Nantucket Island were approved ministers among Friends, during our first century as a nation, — Mary Alijsn Far- NiiM, Mary Macy, and others. Narcissa B. Coffin, of another New England State, but dwelling on that island, has labored successfully as a preacher. She is a granddaughter of Joseph Hoag, the celebrated Quaker preacher of New England, the father of a large family, whose daughters were all preachers, his sons also, and some of his sons' wives. Lucretia MoTT, the world-known woman preacher, is a native of the same island, where many have often been led to say, as they listened to hsr in the Unitarian church or Hicksite meeting-house or Siasconset school house, — " She spoke of justice, truth, and love; How soft her words distilled ! She spoke of (lod ; and all the place Was with his presence filled." ^ 1 John W. Chadwick. 438 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. She entered upon the work of the ministry when twenty-five years old (she was bom in 1793), and re- mained with the Orthodox Quakers till the separation in 1827, when, as she says, " My convictions led me to adhere to the sufficiency of the light within us, resting on truth as authority, rather than ' taking authority for truth.' The popular doctrine of total depravity never commended itself to my reason or conscience. I ' searched the Scriptures daily,' finding a construction of the text wholly different from that which was pressed upon our acceptance. The highest evidence of a sound faith being the practical life of the Chris- tian, I have felt a far greater interest in the moral movements of our age, than in any theological discus- sion." Lucretia Mott still preaches in Philadelphia; and, though eighty-three years of age, her words of wisdom are listened to with great delight. Sybil Jones, one of the best women preachers among the Orthodox Friends in America, was born in 1813, was the wife of Eli Jones, and died at her resi- dence in South China, Me., Dec. 4, 1873; thus fin- ishing an earthly life of sixty beautiful years, filled with love and good-will. A writer in the " Woman's Journal " says, " For forty years she was a favorite preacher of the Society of Friends, her husband being also a distinguished preacher. They visited and ad- dressed a large portion of the society in the United States and Canada. In 1851 they went together to the new Republic of Liberia, to preach the Word. From 1853 to 1855 they travelled in the same service through England, Ireland, Scotland, Norway, Sweden, the South of France, and Switzerland, being every- where well received. In 1866 they again visited England and Ireland, and from thence made two mii*- ELIZABETH COMSTOCK. WOMEN PKEACHERS. 441 siouary tours to Egypt and the Holy Land. There she presented Christianity to Mohammedan women, from the Quaker standpoint of Christian equality of the sexes in social life, in religion, and the ministry of the Word. The heathen women listened to her with marked attention ; and schools in which her views are being taught are now in successful operation in those countries." Ann Kbnworthy, Rachel Townsend, Caroline Talbot, and Elizabeth Comstock, Susan How- land, Elizabeth Coggeshall, Rachel Howland, Mary H. Rogers, and others, should be numbered with the preaching women who have listened to the call from above, and faithfully obeyed, to the help of many souls. Sarah Smiley was formerly a Quaker ; but, choos- ing to be baptized, she passed fr-om among them, yet is not connected fully with any branch of Zion. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps refers to Miss Smiley as " a woman who has a voice as sweet as a robin's, a face as berene as a Madonna's, a courage as resolute as an apos- tle's, and a purpose as fixed as a Quaker's, and who wears her bonnet into the pulpit beside." But she lays aside the bonnet when she preaches ; and her expounding of the Old Testament symbols is very in- structive and interesting. She is said to be now writ- ing a commentary on the life of Joshua. Miss Smiley is between forty and fifty, and was educated at the Quaker school in Providence, R.I. She has spoken in many pulpits where no woman ever before spoke, and has thus familiarized many to a woman's voice in the ministry. She is proving also that biblical scholarship and the good work of an expounder is not confined to one sex. 442 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell is tlie first woman regularly ordained by public services in Amer- ica, perhaps in the world. She was born May 20, 1825, at Henrietta, Monroe County, N.Y. At twenty years of age she went to Oberlin College, and joined an advanced class in the ladies' course, and was graduated in the class of 1847. She then studied theology three years, taking full part in every study And every class exercise of the entire course, elocution included ; but was not counted as a theological gradu- ate because she was a woman. Her first public address was made nearly thirty years ago, when she was about twenty ; and she has spoken more or less ever since. She began to preach sermons with texts, and regular Sunday services, in 1848. She took part in the first National Woman's Convention in 1850 at Worcester, and preached on Sundays there several times soon after. That was just at the close of her theological studies, and was the initiation into the life of active, steady public work. In " Glances and Glimpses," by Dr. Harriot K. Hunt, is a description of Miss Brown's ordination. She went to South Butler, N.Y., to attend it in the midst of a raging storm. The Baptist Society opened their church for the occasion. Hymns were sung as usual. Remarks were made by Hon. Gerrit Smith ; and then the sermon was preached b" Rev. Luther Lee, from the text, '* There is neither male nor female ; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." The ser- mon was published at Syracuse in 1853. (The ordina- tion occurred Sept. 15, 1853.) The theme of the discourse was " Woman's Right to preach the Gospel." The arguments were forcible ; and at the close Mr. Lee said, — " We are here assembled on a very interesting and WOMEN PREACHEKS. 443 solemn occasion, and it is proper to advert to the real object for which we have come together. There are in the world, and there may be among us, false views of the nature and object of ordination. I do not believe that any special or specific form of ordination is necessary to constitute a gospel minister. We are not here to make a minister. It is not to confer on this our sister a right to preach the gospel. If she has not that right already, we have no power to com- municate it to her. Nor have we met to qualify her for the work of the ministry. If God, and mental and moral culture, have not already qualified her, we can not by any thing we may do by way of ordaining or setting her apart. Nor can we, by imposition of our hands, confer on her any special grace for the work of the ministry ; nor will our hands, if imposed upon her head, serve as any special medium for the communica- tion of the Holy Ghost, as conductors serve to convey electricity. Such ideas belong not to our theory, but are related to other systems and darker ages. All we are here to do, and aU we expect to do, is in due form, and by a solemn and impressive service, to subscribe our testimony to the fact, that, in our belief, our sister in Christ, Antoinette L. Brown, is one of the ministers of the new covenant, authorized, qualified, and called of God, to preach the gospel of his Son Jesus Christ. This is all ; but even this renders the occasion interest- ing and solemn. As she is recognized as the pastor of this flock it is solemn and interesting to both pastor and flock to have the relation formally recognized." At the age of thirty this ordained woman became the wife of Samuel C Blackwell, and since that time has retired from pastoral laliors, and given her attention to the training of their five daughters. Her home at 444 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. present is in Somerville, N.J., where she is often busy with her books and pen. Her first, or nearly the first printed paper, was published in the Oberlin Quarterly in 1849, but was written some time before. Pres. Mahan heard of the article, which was prepared as a student's essay, asked for it, and generously proposed to pubUsh it, as he indorsed its positions. It was the first, pel haps, of its class of expositions, and lias philo- logical value, as well as furnishing a powerful argument in favor of woman's preaching. It closes with these forcible and truthful words : " But in what portion of the inspired volume do we find any commandment for- bidding woman to act as a public teacher, provided she had a message worth communicating, and will deliver it in a manner worthy of her high vocation ? Surely nowhere if not in the passages we have just been considering. Where have any of the inspired writers said, I suffer not a woman to teach in public, and to stand up in the name of her Redeemer, administering the cup of salvation to the lips of dying immortals, even though her spirit is yearning to break unto them the bread of eternal life ? This was too sacred a sub- ject to be coldly decided by the voice of law ; and they have left it, where it must ever remain, at the portal of the individual conscience of eveiy moral agent." ^ At the time Mrs. Blackwell was at the Woman's Convention, in 1853, she was sent as a delegate from her church and from a Rochester society to a temper- ance convention. Wendell Phillips and Mrs. C. A. Severance went with her, though not delegates. Her credentials were accepted ; and she rose merely to thank them for that, intending to retire at once. They re- fused her, though a delegate, the right of speech, simply 1 Oberlin Quarterly Review, July, 1849. WOMEN PREACHERS. 445 because she was a woman. Of course she could not then withdraw till the right was vindicated. Rev. Wilham H. Channing went with her the next day ; for, after a packed house in the great hall had taken a whole day to discuss the matter, they ended by shutting out Mr. Phillips and others, as non-delegates. Another half-day, and they shut the whole party out, by a curious action, which in effect put every delegate in leading-strings. But the result, as far as she was con- cerned, was to give her an opportunity to preach in the same hall the next Sunday, to a vast audience, all so attentive that her voice reached every part easily. Thus she shared with Lucretia Mott in that species of injustice and persecution on account of sex which the second century will be sure to rebuke in every possible way. Rev. Olympia Brown (now married to John H. Willis, but preferring not to change her name) was born in Kalamazoo, Mich. She is of New England parentage, and has the blood of Gen. Putnam, of Revo- lutionary prowess, in her veins. She studied at Mount Holyoke Seminary, was graduated at Antioch College, and has since received the degree of A.M. from her Alma Mater. She studied theology at St. Lawrence University, and is a graduate of Canton Theological School. She was the first woman ordained among the Universalists, though Maria Cook and Lydla. A. Jenkins had preached acceptably long years before. Neither of these was ever settled as pastor. Olympia Brown was ordained in Canton, N.Y., in 1863, and preached first in Vermont ; buA her first pastorate was that of Weymouth, Mass., wheie she labored six years very successfully. She then removed to the larger field of Bridgeport, Conu., where she still resides. She took 446 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. her place in the ranks of the ministry as well furnished intellectually as any man ever was, at least so far as study could insure preparation ; and in logical acumen and forcible speech she has few equals. She seldom or never speaks upon a theme with which she is not thoroughly conversant ; and, when she has finished her remarks, little more remains to be said. She has won- derful power of concentration, and hangs on to an opponent with a tenacity which forbids escape till she has shaken the error out of his arguments, and left him and them powerless and overcome. She is the champion disputant among women preachers ; and to her, as she once remarked, the word " conflict " is the best loved in the English language. Years of successful service as preacher and pastor have enabled her to prove that woman has capacity for ecclesiastical functions and labors. She delivered the occasional sermon before the Connecticut State Convention of Universahsts in 1872. In 1874 her son Henry Parker Wilhs was born, the mother still continuing her pastorate. She has been already mentioned as lecturer and reformer. It is in the ranks of the latter that she is most at home, dealing vaHant blows for the right. She has had pub- lished several sermons, and has often contributed to the pubHc press earnest words in reference to church work and reform. Her name will live as the synonyme for bravery and persistency in reformatory efforts. Rev. Augusta J. Chapin was ordained the same year with Olympia Brown, and has successfully labored in the West. During the year 1874 she was noticea- bly engaged in reconciling adverse societies in San Francisco, and was the means of placing that flourish- ing church now in California upon a solid basis. She was afterward pastor of the Universalist church in WOMEN PEEACHEES. 447 Pittsburg, Penn., but is now in the West again. She was a member of the first congress of women held in New York, and contributed a paper on " Woman in the Ministry." She has occasionally furnished sermons to the press. Rev. Phebe a. Hanaford was born on Nantucket Island, May 6, 1829. Her maiden name was CoflBn, as was also Lucretia Mott's. Her father, Capt. George W. Coffin, was a descendant of Tristram Coffin, the earliest known of the family in this country, whose genealogy can be traced in England to the time of William the Conqueror. Her mother, Phebe Ann Barnard, was thrice descended from Peter Folger, the grandfather of Benjamin Franklin, who was of Hugue- not origin. The Coffin and Folger families are largely represented on Nantucket, and, being descendants of the early settlers, possess the influence and honor accorded to " first families." Every noted person from that island (and they are numerous) has had the blood of one or both these families in their veins. As long as *' the glory of children are their fathers," a pure and noble ancestry must be prized. Mrs. Hanaford studied in the private and public schools of Nantucket, was never a graduate of any; studied Latin and the higher mathematics with an Episcopal clergyman. Has always been a student, and always will be. Began teaching when sixteen, was married at twenty, and has a son and daughter. Mrs. Hanaford's literary record is in the chapter on " Literary Women ; " her poems and lectures are mentioned in other chapters. She was ordained as pastor of the Universalist Church in Hingham, Mass., in 1868, having preached more than a year there previously. In 1869 she had charge also of the parish at Waltham. In 1870, resigning 448 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. both parishes, she was installed in New Haven, Conn. In 1874 she removed to Jersey City, aLd was installed [)astor of the Church of the Good Shepherd, on the Heights. Rev. John G. Adams preached her ordination sermon. Rev. Olympia Brown, Rev. Edwin H. Chapin, D.D., and Rev. Benjamin F. Bowles, her subsequent installation sermons. Her hymns on every occasion were written by women, only one of whom (Mrs. Soule) read her own production. The following were the writers, each worthy to be mentioned often among the women of the century : Cakoline A. Mason, Hannah Farmer, ^ Nancy T. Munroe, Almiba Seymour, Martha A. Adams, Eunice Hale Cobb, Julia Ward Howe, Ellen E. Miles, Lucie F. Johnson, Lucy M. Creemer, Caroline A. Soule. Up to the present time Mrs. Hanaford has officiated at nearly a hundred funerals, and over thirty mar- riages. She was the first woman who ever offered the ordaining prayer and afterward exchanged pulpits with her own son, both being settled pastors. She was the first woman who ever officiated at the marriage of her own daughter. She was the first woman regularly ordained in Massachusetts or New England. She was the first woman who ever, as a regularly appointed chaplain, officiated in the Legislature of Connecticut, which she did in 1870 and 1872 several times in Senate and in House of Representatives. She was the first woman in the world who ever officiated in such capacity in a legislative body of men. She was a mem- ber of the Universalist Committee on Fellowship, Or- dination, and Discipline in Connecticut, and has sei'ved for three years as chau-man of such a committee in New Jersey. She has preached the occasional sermons 1 " Mabelle," w ife of Moses G. Fanner WOMEN PREACHERS. 449 at Association and Convention, and has been two years secretary of the New Jersey State Convention of Uni- versalists, which gives her ex-offido membership in the General Convention. She was one of the vice-presi- dents of the association for the advancement of women (Women's Congress) at its formation, and has since been on its executive board, and has furnished papers for two congresses. She offered the dedicatory prayer in the new Universalist Church in Waterbury, Conn., in 1872, being the first who was ever called to such service. And she was the first woman minister who ever .gave the charge at the ordination of a man minister, — the occasion being the ordination of Rev. W. G. Has- kell, in Marblehead, Mass. She officiated at the funer- al of the oldest Free Mason of Connecticut in 1874,^ and the same year at that of the oldest Free Mason in America ; ^ and was the first woman who ever attended a Masonic festival, and responded with an address to a toast by regular appointment. These things are men- tioned, not alone to mark her as a pioneer, but to show what woman can do hereafter. She is seeking to open the way for other women, as Olympia Brown, Lucy Stone, Lucretia Mott, and others have opened the way for her. She disclaims credit for having walked in a God-appointed path ; but only claims to be a busy, hopeful, loving woman, whose highest joy will be at- tained when right shall triumph over might, and every soul shall be saved from sin. Among those whom Olympia Brown helped toward the ministry was a young girl, Ruth Augusta Da- mon, who has since studied at Canton Theological School in New York, then married one of our men min- isters, Rev. James B. Tabor; has recently been licensed 1 Samuel Wire. " Daniel Bostwiok. 450 WOMEN OP THE CENTURY. by the Vermont State Convention. Rev. Mrs. MABiANii Thompson Folsom, the wife also of a minister of our faith, Rev. Allen P. Folsom, studied at Canton, was or- dained in the West in 1870, and is still actively en- gaged in ministerial service. She is the mother of one child. She was at one time the successor of Olympia Brown at Weymouth, Mass. ; and while she was there Mrs. Caroline I. James preached her first sermon in that pulpit, — a lady who has not yet been ordained, but is at work on a book called " Primitive Religions." In 1869 Rev. Prudy Le Clero was ordained. She now preaches in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. In 1871 Rev. Eliza Topper, who afterwards married, and is now known as Rev. Eliza Tupper Wilkes, was ordained, and labored with success, in Rochester, Minn., till her removal to Black Hawk, Col., where she still engages in missionary labors when her health will allow, and opportunity is afforded. Rev. LoRENZA Haynes, born in Waltham, Mass., April 14, 1820, was ordained in 1874, at Hallowell, Me., where she has been a successful preacher. She was the oldest woman who ever studied in Canton Theological School, or was ever ordained ; but her more than fifty years of earnest study and faithful teaching in Lowell, Mass., and Rochester, N.Y., and efficient labors as librarian for six years in the public library of her native town, furnished her intellectually with great thoroughness for her work. She had long .been a writer for various periodicals ; and her graceful pen could not be better used than in the service of the pulpit as well as the press. She has recently accepted a call to Marlboro', Mass. She has lectured on various themes, and has acted as chaplain in the Maine Legis- lature. 1 Ordaiued in 187b. * Since deceased WOMEN PRBACHERS. 451 Rev. Ada C. Bowles was ordained at the meeting of the State Convention in Bradford, Penn., in 1875, and is the successful pastor of the church in Easton, Penn., though she still resides in Philadelphia, where her husband, Rev. B. F. Bowles, is pastor of a flourish- ing church. She was born in Gloucester, Mass., Aug. 2, 1836, and has been a welcomed lecturer on suffrage and temperance for many years. She married Mr. Bowles in 1858, and studied theology with him. She had previously been a teacher. She preached her first sermon in Webster, Mass., June 27, 1869. She is a woman of superior ability, and a good preacher. Besides these ordained and settled women ministers, there are others who often preach : among them, Mrs. Elizabeth M. Bruce of Melrose, Mass., who is the author of several excellent works for children, and is the present editor of the Sunday-school paper published In Boston, called " The Myrtle ; " Mrs. Fidelia Wool- ley GUiLETT of Rochester, Mich., who is the daughter of Rev. Edward Mott Woolley, and appears to inherit her father's ability as a preacher ; Miss Florence Ellen Kollock of Bellville, Wis., who has just fin- ished her studies in Canton Theological School. Miss Ella Elizabeth Bartlett and Miss An- nette Shaw are now studying for the ministry in Canton. Miss Bartlett, who was baptized by Mrs. Hanaford at New Haven, in 1872, preached her first eermon in Nyack, on Sept. 26, 1875, to great accept- ance. Mrs. Abbee Ellsworth Da^forth is studjdng for the ministry at Canton Theological School. She is from Peru, O., and gives promise of usefulness. Besides these ordained and licensed preachers and theological students, there are women in the Universal- ist denomijoation who serve as lay-preachers, with or 452 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. without license, as they choose. Mrs. Caroline A. Soule is one of these. The widow of a minister, thor- oughly educated, and with the varied experience of a wife and mother, an author and editor, a brilliant writer in prose and verse, the present editor of the best Sunday-school paper of the denomination, she has done yeoman's service in the behalf of woman and woman- hood, of truth and freedom, of enlightened motherhood, and the higher education of our sex. In 1875 she was in Scotland seeking health, but, even in her feeble state, preached and lectured to large and enthusiastic audi- ences, and taught our sisters abroad something of what a woman can do ; and pronounced the sentence of con- secration of the first Universalist church in Scotland. Mrs. Mary C. Webster, wife of Rev. Charles H. Webster of Hartford, Conn., preached her first sermon in Mrs. Hanaford's pulpit, in 1872, and has often since proclaimed the gospel acceptably. She also is an excellent writer for our papers, in prose and verse. Mrs. Jane C. Patterson, wife of Rev. Dr. Patter- son, of Boston Highlands, Mass., who is also a fine writer, has often preached for her husband acceptably. Last, but not least, one whose y&cj name will be sufficient to show that even unlicensed women speakers are acceptable in the pulpit, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore — whose husband. Rev. Daniel P. Livermore, one of nature's noblemen, is successor of Mrs. Hanaford in the Hingham pulpit — preached her first sermon there in 1869, as a labor of love for Mrs. Hanaford. None need be told how pastor and people hung upon her eloquent words, as " apples of gold in pictures of silver." Her sabbaths are seldom idle ones ; and her preaching is everywhere acceptable. Sarah M. C. Perkins " was born in Otsego, N.Y. WOMEN PREACHERS. 453 April 23, 1824. She was the seventh child of her parents, and one of a family of nine children. Her father belonged to a branch of the Clinton family that were distinguished in the early histoi y of the country. They came from England, and dearly loved the mother country, but loved freedom and right better, and took an active part in the early struggle for the independ- ence of the colonies. " The name of the mother was Mathewson. This family was of Scotch origin ; some members of it settled in Connecticut, others in Rhode Island, and nearly all of them became wealthy and prosperous. They were Puritans, who braved the dangers and the hardships of the New World, rather than submit to the religious intolerance of the Old. " Mrs. Perkins always speaks of her mother as a woman of remarkable native talent, strong and efficient, yet possessing a heart full of kindness and generosity to every living being. She was particularly kind to the unfortunate. Her children were so accustomed to run on errands of mercy to the poorer ones around them, canying milk, or a piece of meat, or a loaf of bread, that, when old enough to think of it at all, they were surprised that other children were not out on similar errands. It seemed such a right and proper thing to do, that they were surprised that others did not enjoy the same pleasure. " When the subject of this notice was ten years of age, the father died very suddenly ; and it was found neces- sary that all the children who were old enough should earn their own support. At that early age even, she was the best scholar in the district school ; and she shed many bitter tears when she found that the precious school privileges must all be relinquished. Yet no out- 454 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. ward niuimur was heard. To the members of the family she was as cheerful as ever, as she went to her daily tasks. With a quivering lip, but with a brave, childish heart, she put away the schoolbooks that she loved so well, and went to the work that she did not love in a cotton-mill. " Yet amid these uncongenial surroundings she kept along with her studies. Books were strictly forbidden ; but a few leaves of the book would be smuggled into the pocket, and, when a spare moment came, the eyes and the memory were busy, and the lesson learned. Or, in the early morning before she went to her task, a sum in the arithmetic would be carefully copied upon a piece of paper ; another piece of paper and pencil were ready ; and, when the spare moment came, that sum would be carefully worked out. Those around her called her a queer child, and often wondered what she was ' digging at.' Sometimes the paper would give out, and then the figures would be placed upon the smoky walls ; and there they remained long after the studious child stood at a teacher's desk in another State. " Her allotted tasks were never neglected ; indeed, she became a proficient in her employment, and was rapidly promoted from one room to another, even when so small that a little platform was erected to increase her height as she stood before the noisy machines. When she was fifteen years of age she lost a dear sister by death, a beautiful girl twenty-two years of age. She had almost idolized this sister, and was inconsolable in her grief. Life was loathsome to her ; and she craved, she madly prayed for, the rest of the grave. During this severe grief, she wondered how the birds coiild sing, or the sun shine, in such a miserable world, where WOMEN PREACHERS. 455 the fondest ties were so suddenly broken. It was in this time of darkness that she began earnestly to in- quire about the immortal life brought to light in the gospel. She eagerly studied the Bible, and strove ear- nestly for the newness of heart that brings reconcilia- tion to God, even in severe afflictions. The peace came at length, not with the sudden brightness that blinded Saul of Tarsus, but with the cry, ' Lord, I be- believe : help thou mine unbelief.' " Unreservedly she consecrated herself to God and to his cause in the world. Then the desire came to her to be a missionary in for<;ign lands. Her own heart was full of zeal ; and she wanted to tell others of this inner life, the ' life hid with Christ in God.' But the way seemed hedged up ; and she soon learned that she could do missionary work just there where a kind Providence had placed her. She united with the church, became a teacher in the sabbath school, and in every way possible became a helper of those less fortunate than herself. " Thus the years passed till she was eighteen years of age. Like ' Jane Eyre ' by Miss Bronte, she had long sighed for a ' change of servitude' if nothing more. When her eighteenth birthday came, she said to her mother, pointing to the large stone mill, ' That is a very large building, but not large enough to hold me any longer.' " Accordingly she went before the examining com- mittee, readily procured the required certificate, appHed for the school in her own district, obtained it, and went to her work of teaching. . . . " The next summer found her teaching a large school in Savoy. Before going there she went before the school board for the requisite certificate. Upon this 456 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. board was a young student of divinity, who waa then pursuing his Greek studies with a distinguished lawyer of Adams. During the summer it was said that this clergyman visited the school rather oftener than was necessary for the duties of his official position. " However that may be, two years later the papers chronicled the marriage of Rev. Orren Perkins with Sarah M. Clinton. The ceremony was performed by Rev. E. H. Chapin, who was then settled at Charles- town. " Their first home was in a quiet parsonage in Ber- nardston, Mass., in the beautiful valley of the Connecticut, in the midst of kind friends who min- istered to their temporal wants, and made them very happy by their warm friendship. When once comfort- ably settled, a course of study for each day was care- fuDy marked out, and steadily pursued from year to year. They were united in their Hterary tastes and pursuits ; and the young wife received the most kindly sympathy and encouragement from her husband in her intellectual researches. At his suggestion she began to write for the papers and periodicals ; her articles were published, and many kindly letters were received from those who appreciated those fugitive pieces. "• A few years later, when their home was in Shirley, Mrs. Perkins wrote her first book. It was a little sab- bath-school volume published by the Congrega/^ional Jlouse in Boston, entitled 'Clouds and Sunbeams.' " The book came out during the holidays, the same week of the birth of the second child. The father brought the book into the nursery, laid it beside the little bundle of flannel upon the pillow, and exclaimed, ' Rather smart woman to give the world a book and a baby during the same week 1 ' WOMEN PREACHERS. 457 " Several other books were written in the following years ; one of them, ' Alice and her Friends,' receiving a prize offered by a Boston pubhshing company. "Next their home was in Winchester, N.H., where they remained twelve years. In addition to his labors as a clergyman, Mr. Perkins served three years in the State Legislature, and two years in the Senate. Mrs. Perkins accompanied him each year to Concord, and saw much to interest her during these visits. She lis- tened to stirring debates in the State House, heard elo- quent sermons from the pulpits, and attended brilliant parties given by the first families of the city. She here formed the acquaintance of Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel White, whom she is still proud to number among her personal friends." Mrs. Armenia Wbute is a woman of the century who could have been honorably mentioned among the women philanthropists or reformers, or women of the civil war. She has labored faithfully in every reform. She has spoken in and presided over public meetings in the interests of temperance and woman suffrage, and has used the wealth God has given her for his cause in every possible way. The writer of this book can use the apostle's words, " She hath been a succorer of many and of myself also." She has been nobly seconded in all her efforts by a benevolent and generous husband. To return to Mrs. Perkins : " The failure of Mr. Perkins's health induced them to dispose of their home in New Hampshire ; and they gave an entire winter to rest among friends at Coopers town, N.Y. " The next spring they took charge of the Coopers- town Seminary, and remained there till the school was sold, two years later. These years passed very plea- santly ; Mrs. Perkins teaching the advanced English 458 WOMEN OP THE CENTURY. classes, and heartily enjoying the society of the young gentlemen and lady pupils. A family of more than one hundred was under her supervision ; and in addition to this she took home four little motherless children with- out compensation, and provided for them till good piacea were secured in other homes. No student who applied for admission was ever sent away for lack of money. A little work would be given them, — sewing for the girls ; the ringing of the bell, and preparing the fuel, by the boys. " A story is told of one boy who walked nine miles, and came to the seminary, and asked to see the prin- cipal. " ' Mr. Perkins,' said he a little bashfully, ' I have no money, but I want to go to school. Can you give me some work, and let me study ? ' " ' Have you ever worked out ? ' " ' Yes ; I was hired to Mr. Jarvis last summer.' " ' Did you bring a recommendation from him ? ' '' ' No, sir ; but I can tell you what he said of me. He said that I was not worth a penny for work, but was good at a hook.'' Mr. Perkins smiled at this, and went and consulted his wife. " ' Take him,' she replied. ' There is truth in the boy to tell that about himself.' " He was admitted to the school, became a diligent student, and was so much attached to the family that he remained with them more than a year after they left the seminary, always serving them faithfully ; and he continued his studies, with Mrs. Perkins for his teacher. That lad is now a medical student, and is a good and useful man. IMany other students will always gratefully remember this seminary, for the aid they there received in obtaining a higher education. WOMEN PREACHERS. 459 " Four years ago Mrs. Perkins went upon the plat- form as a lecturer. Her first lecture was given at Mrs. Hanaford's church in New Haven, Conn., and received the approbation of that lady, and of the people to whom she ministered in spiritual things. The next year, following the inward promptings of the Spirit, encouraged also by her best friends, she occasionally entered the pulpit as a Christian teacher. The same Master who told Mary to go and tell that he had risen has blessed her work ; and with this approval she is satisfied. " The name of Mrs. Perkins was upon the first call for a Woman's Congress in 1873. Her paper upon the ' Higher Education of Woman ' was very well received, and was published with the other papers in a pamphlet form. In 1875, at Syracuse, she read a paper upon the ' Uses of Money,' which elicited much applause for its terse sentences, and bold original thought. In that paper was an earnest plea for the education of poor girls who are bright and ambitious, but who cannot pay their expenses at any school. " She is a real friend to such girls, many of whom she has assisted to gain the knowledge which is power, and the higher knowledge that endureth to eternal life. She is still a student, every day reading French and German and the best Enghsh authors, and every day endeavoring to discharge properly her whole duty in the position where she is placed by an overruling Prov- idence. Among the lowly ones does she especially love to labor. In mission sabbath schools, in unpopular temperance work, in prison reform, she is ever ready with voice and pen and purse ; and, with a heart full of love and faith and peace, she toils on, remember- ing the words of the Great Teacher, — 460 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. ♦' * Inasmuch as ye have dorip it unto the least of these, ye have done it unto me.' " " Jennie Fowler Willing was born in Burford, Canada West, Jan. 22, 1834. Removed with her father's family to Illinois in 1842. Owing to ill health :»he was in the main self-educated. She became the wife of a Methodist minister, Rev. W. C. Willing, in 1853. She began writing for the press in her early girlhood ; and in 1862 she decided to make literature a profession. She carried out this purpose to the best of her ability, burdened as she was with domestic and churchly cares, receiving in 1867 the honorary degree of M. E. L. from Jennings Seminary, Aurora, 111., and in 1871 that of A. M. from the Evanston College for Ladies. In 1873 she was elected Professor of English Language and Literature in the Illinois Wesleyan Uni- versity of Bloomington — an institution of first grade. In 1874 she was nominated by a very respectable con- vention of Prohibitionists, Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State. She declined the nomination, however, as the position she occupied was much more to her mind. " She writes for many of the leading periodicals East and West. She has written one book of religious fic- tion, that received many kind notices from the press, and a serial that was published in a New York paper. In 1875 she was elected editor of the ' Woman's Tem- perance Union,' published by the National ChristiaD Woman Temperance Union as its organ. " She presided in the preliminary meeting held at Chautauqua Lake S.S. Assembly in 1874, in which the first arrangements were made for calling a convention to organize the N. C. W. T. U. ; issued the call for p ^ JENNIE F. WILLING. WOMEN PREACHERS. 463 the Cleveland Convention, and presided over it in No- vember of the same year. She is also president of the South Side Temperance Union, Chicago, and of the Illinois State Temperance Union. " Largely through her influence, the Woman's Edu- cational Association of Bloomington was organized, and has provided a home where cheap board is given young ladies who are struggling to secure higher education, " In 1869 she was elected one of the corresponding secretaries of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which position she has filled ever since, having care of the four States lying about Chicago. In 1873 she was licensed as a local- preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is usually occupied upon sabbaths, preaching in the pul- pits in and near Chicago. " She has delivered sermons and anniversary ad- dresses in most of the principal pulpits of her denomi- nation in all the large cities East and West." A. M. O'Daniels was born in Hubbardston, Mass., March 14, 1828. She was of long-lived ancestry on her father's side ; but her mother died at the age of forty-three, of consumption. At that time she went to live with an aunt in Westminster, Mass. Of this period, when she was ten years old, she says : — " We lived on a farm in a retired way, so that 1 seldom saw any one but the family except on Sunday, and during the session of the district school, which was then held but two terms of nine weeks each, iii the year. " Having no one of my own age to talk with, or who sympathized with me, I learned to like solitude and to 464 WOMEN OF THE CENTUBY. give myself up to wild fancies. My time was spent in assisting about the housework, and braiding palm-leaf hats ; and, as the latter required but little thought, T would let my mind go roaming in the fields of imagina- tion while my fingers were employed. I had a most intense longing for my mother's presence, that I could make known my thoughts to her, and receive her coun- sel and sympathy. I early learned to feel that her spirit was often with me, and that she would watch over and protect, as much as possible, her children left on earth. " My life was passed in this uneventful way till I was eighteen, at which time I was entitled to my own earn- ings, and could be my own mistress. Wishing to get an education better than the common school had af- forded me (I had attended at the academy one terra only), I began to devise ways by which T could do it. Working out, doing housework at one dollar and sometimes a dollar and a half per week, I earned suffi- cient to provide myself with clothes, and then worked for my board three terms in the family of Mr. Hudson, and one term boarded at home, while I attended the academy. I taught school the summer I was seven- teen, and again when nineteen. Afterwards, thinking I should attain my object sooner because I could earn money faster, I went into a factory, where I remained eight or nine months. At twenty-two I had saved forty-two dollars, and, with a cousin, started to board ourselves at Westfield Normal School. I remained two terms at that time, not returning home during the summer vacation, because I could not afford the expense, but spent it with a friend, working for my board. The terms were then fourteen weeks in length. I returned to Westminster at the end of the second WOMEN PBEACHER8. 465 term, with two dollars left, after paying all my ex- penses and providing necessary clothing. Our hoard, room-rent, fuel, and lights for those two terms, cost us just forty-seven cents per week each, for my cousin and myself. " In the winter and following summer I taught school in Westminster, and returned to Westfield again in the fall to complete the required three terms of the course, which was then the rule. Before the close of that term, application was made for a teacher to go to Gloucester. I went in obedience to the call, and re- mained till a year from the following spring, when, wishing to pursue my studies still further, I 'returned again to Westfield, and remained nearly two terms more, and afterwards taught two terms in the model school connected with the normal, being principal of that department. " The winter of 1853 and 1854 I taught in Hopkinton, and the following summer in Westminster. I taught also in IVIitteneaque, and six terms in Westminster at different times. During that summer T resolved to enter Antioch College at Yellow Springs, O., and spent the winter in a factory at Lawrence to get the means. Before spring I received an application to go as teacher to the House of Refuge, Cincinnati. I went in March, 1855, remained till the opening of the school year at Antioch in 1856, when I entered that institu- tion, and took an elective course, being a member of all the four college classes, and the two higher preparatory during the year, as I took studies that led me into those classes. " I may here mention that soon after entering the school, T joined the Alethezeteon Society, which was one of four different literary societies connected with 466 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. the school. This one was composed entirely of ladies. The others were either of gentlemen or both sexes com- bined, although the two sexes did not ordinarily hold meetings together. A short time before the close of my third term, the Star and Crescent, which contained both sexes, held a public meeting in the chapel. The Adelphian, which was a gentleman's society, also held one ; and we thought our society (which contained some scholars as good as any to be found in the school, among them a niece of Pies. Mann), were entitled to the use of the chapel for a public meeting, and ac- cordingly began to make preparations for holding it, and then sent a request to the faculty for permission , when, to our surprise, we were refused, and wholly on the ground that we were women, and had no gentlemen connected with us to go with us upon the platform. This seemed so weak and puerile, as they assigned no other motive for their refusal, that we naturally felt somewhat indignant, and felt that the sympathies of most of the school, as well as the people of the village, were with us. We met, drew up a series of resolutions condemning the course of the faculty, and setting forth our claims, which we sent to them, then disbanded ; and two of us, a Mrs. Gushing and myself, left the school two weeks before the close of the term. We remained in the place, however ; and, as Dr. Bellows had previously been invited to give an address before all the literary societies the day before commencement, we attended that meeting in a body, all of us except the president's niece, numbering seventeen, dressed in black, in mourning that prejudice was still so strong as to deny what seemed so reasonable and just a demand. " Prolonged applause greeted our entrance into the crowded chapel, as the idea was caught by those who WOMEN PREACHERS. 467 saw us pass to the seats which had been held in reserve. This was welcomed as a token of sympathy with the idea which we represented. " This occurred in July, 1857. The next day I lefl Yellow Springs, to take charge of a school in Sylvania, in the northern part of Ohio. I remained there three months, when I returned to Westminster, Mass., where I was married, Nov. 26, 1857, to De Witt Chnton O 'Daniels, who was then preaching for the Unitarian society in Athol, Mass., in which place we remained tiU a year from the following spring." Four boys were born to them, making glad a home that was continually changed as the father's health failed, and he was obliged to alternate between can- vassing and preaching. He died on the 6th February, 1867 ; and the bereaved mother set about the work of supporting the children, with a trusting and brave spirit. Having made arrangements for her children's comfort in good homes with kind friends, she took up the business of canvassing for books, to support them. She writes of this period to the author of this book : — '* In obtaining my orders I walked all the time, often ten miles per day ; and when the days were very warm, and the ground dry and parched, as was sometimes the case, my feet were blistered when night came. ••' I usually had some stopping-place for the night with some friend or old acquaintance ; but it sometimes happened that I could not return at night to the place from which I started in the morning ; and several times I would start Monday morning, not to return till Satur- day night, with my satchel and book, and would find a night's lodging among strangers wherever darkness overtook me. 468 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. " At such times I would look almost with envy upon the dogs in the street, that knew where they could lay their heads to rest, while I did not, " Yet here let me say, that though the world is called cold and heartless, I have found, as I have thus gone from house to house, among entire strangers, more kind treatment and heartfelt sympathy then I had expected, — enough to strengthen my faith in the native goodness of the human heart, and to teach me there is some of the divine nature in every hiunan soul. " Often, instead of being obliged to ask for a night's lodging, it has been proffered by those who were en- tire strangers ; and more frequently I was asked to par- take with the family when I called at meal-time. The cordiality that was so frequently manifested, and the pleasant chats I often had with many whom I met, gave me many a heart-thrill of joy, and did much to lighten my somewhat weary pilgrimage. T feel that I owe a debt of gratitude to very many whose faces I may never meet again on earth ; and the only way I can repay it is by passing their gifts of kind words and pleasant deeds to those whom I may meet that stand in need of sympathy and such help as I am able to give. So many kind words and tokens of remem- brance or thoughtful kindness have come to me, even from those I have never met, but who have chanced to learn my needs, that I feel I owe the world a debt that calls for the best efforts I am able to put forth in help- ing the unfortunate, strengthening the weak, giving courage to the faint-hearted, or whispering hope to the doubting soul. Linked together as we all are by the common tie of brotherhood, children of one common Father who is continually casting his gifts upon us with an unsparing hand, if we cannot show our grati- WOMEN PREACHERS. 469 tude directly to those through whom his gifts come to us, we can by bestowing all we are able to give upon those who stand in need of our help. Sometimes I think we are so placed that we seem compelled to re- ceive benefactions from sources that we cannot reach to repay them there, that we may feel so strongly our Indebtedness to some one that we shall be compelled by force of circumstances to pass the gift along to some one else, in order that we may realize more fully that we are brothers and sisters, and heirs together of the same great inheritance. " But I am wandering in thought away from the facts I have undertaken to relate. '* I remained in New York till late in October, before returning to my family that I had left in Westminster. None but those who have been called to endure a like separation can tell with what joy I once more greeted them, and found they had been kept and watched over by loving friends during my absence ; for the friends with whom my boys were left not only took them to their homes, but to their hearts also, as, in the case of each, a mother's place had been well and faithfully supplied. " After canvassing a few weeks more near home, I sent to New York for my goods, and commenced house- keeping again with my children on the 30th of Decem- ber. I kept them with me the remainder of the winter ; but, when warm weather again returned, they each went to the places they had lived at the previous summer, while I again went canvassing ; but this time I kept my home, and returned to it every two or three weeks through the season, not at any time going more than twenty miles away. " During this season, besides the books I sold, J 470 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. obtained subscribers enough to ' The Independent ' to get me a sewing-machine, with the help of which J have been able to do much toward my family's support. 1 went out canvassing, however, for a few weeks the third summer, but soon gave it up, and took up sewing, which I have continued more or less ever since. " During the fourth year and fifth summer my eldest boy was away from home all the time on a farm ; and as the two younger boys went to school, and I sat alone day after day employed with my needle, I felt that I was not doing enough. Something was continu- ally whispering, I ought to do more than this ; and yet I could see no way open in which to work other than the one I was then pursuing, because I felt that I wanted to be with my family, and keep them together as much as I could. During this period in May, 1871, I was employed by .the Universalist Publishing House to travel for them for four weeks, trying to enlarge the subscription-list of ' The Myrtle ' when it was made a weekly paper. In the course of those four weeks I visited fifty-four different places, comprising the larger towns and cities in all the New England States except Vermont, and called upon the pastor of the society in those places, or the one most interested in the Sunday school, to urge the claims of ' The Myrtle.' It was, you recollect, while employed in this capacity, that I was sent to New Haven, and called upon you ; and, though your personal acquaintance with me was slight, yet you began to urge me to take up the ministry for my calling. The night pre\dous I had passed with my old schoolmate at Antioch, Olympia Brown, and she had urged me to take up this work with every argument she could bring forward ; and when you, without know- ing what she had said, and knowing me so little, again WOMEN PREACHERS. 471 m urged me to it, and as I left took my hand at parting, and thrice repeated ' preach ' to me, I could not help thinking, ' Can I do it ? Am I fitted for it ? Is it my duty ? Is that the way God calls me to work ? ' " The thought continually recurred to me, and so filled my mind as to keep me awake, and led me to arise early the Sunday morning following, and pen some reasons why I ought to take up the ministry. " After closing my labors for the publishing house, I returned home early in June with this thought waiting for an answer. I consulted with the minister filling the Universalist pulpit, asking his opinion, I felt so distrust- ful of my ability to perform the work. He assured me I need not doubt that, and I set myself about the task of writing a sermon ; but, seeing no opening to use it, did not finish it till the following winter, when I re- ceived a letter from Brother Closson, then preaching in Gardner, asking me to fill his pulpit for a Sunday, either by reading a sermon, or with one of my own; adding I was able to write one if inclined. This, then, is the opening, I thought, by which I am to enter the field. I finished the sermon I had commenced, wrote another, and preached them on Sunday, Jan. 28, 1872. This effort producing a favorable impression, Brother Closson wrote me, that, now I had put my hand to the plough, I must not look back, and asked me to supply again for him, which I did March 17. " The next summer I preached in West Acton and Waterbury, Conn., three times, and Richmond, N.H. ; in the winter at South Acton and Marlboro' twice ; and in the spring of 1873 at South Ashburnham once a fort- night for three months. I obtained a license in October of 1872, at the meeting of the State Convention in South Adams. Since then I have been at South Orange three 472 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. times, at Fitchburg three, at Provincetown, South Ver- non, Vt., and Westfield, Mass. ; and the first day of last August, one year ago, I occupied the Unitarian pu'pit in Athol, to which place I had removed in May previ- ous. It was the desk my husband filled at the time of our marriage, and from it he had preached a sermon just seventeen years previous, from the same text which I chose for that day's thought. " Though I have been in the pulpit but twice since then, I still think the way will open for me to occupy it more constantly. Certain I am, if that is the course marked out for me, it will : if not, then I shall content myself in doing what my hands find to do ; and thus far, I have not lacked employment. " It is necessary for me to do something to help sup- port my family ; and I have been ready to do any thing that came to hand, that I was able to do, — have taken in washing, sewing, taught school, and during the month of June I was at the House of Correction on the State Farm at Oak Lawn, R.I., taking the place of a friend who was absent on a vacation. " In the spring of 1872 I was chosen a member of the School Committee of Westminster for three years ; but after serving one year, there were several reasons why I thought it best to resign. I acted as secretary during that year, and wrote the report. " Here let me say, in refutation of Dr. Clarke's theory, that there were two young men on the board with me ; and, during the days when our work was the same, they would manifest fatigue much sooner than I did. I walked more in visiting schools, and did not succumb to stormy weather so soon as they did. " While I was in the business of canvassing, too, I continued to walk day after day, for months, at the WOMEN PREACHERS. 473 rate of eight or ten miles each day, without apparent injury to health, — during the iBrst year working as steadily, and walking as many miles, as any man I have known engaged in the business ; as those at whose houses I stopped, and who were well aware of my rambles, will bear me witness. The second summer, my strength seemed to fail ; but, during the days I spent at home, I was busy caring for my family, instead of resting as a man would, which may have been the reason. " While canvassing, I received the same compensa- tion that a man would ; but I have performed many kinds of labor where I was not paid more than two- thirds as much, and sometimes not half. " Had I spent my whole time in canvassing, 1 might possibly have supported my family wholly in that way ; but I felt that it was necessary that they should be together as much as possible ; and I have been assisted in their support by receiving aid from the Hanson Fund every year but the second since my husband passed away. That year, the one after I made my home in Westminster, I did not apply for it, and hoped I might be able to sustain myself without it, but found I could not, and keep my family together. Friends were very kind, and helped so much that I did not lack for the necessaries of life ; and at one of the meetings held in Boston by the ladies, to devise methods by which to raise the Murray Fund during the year 1870, a subscrip- tion was taken up in my behalf by kind and thoughtful friends, — prominent among them, Mrs. F. J. M. Whit- COMB, M.D., one who lets not her right hand know what her left doeth, and who seems never tiring in her efforts to bless humanity. Others gave too, whose names are held in grateful remembrance ; and many 474 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. whose names I have never known lent their aid in fill- ing the purse which came so unexpectedly and yet so opportunely to gladden my heart, and set my mini at rest in regard to the problem, ' Wherewithal shall my children be fed and clothed ? ' " Once since then, two years ago, have the ladies of the Centenary Aid Association come to my aid. Through their kind assistance, and the thoughtful help of many friends, my path has been strewn with bless- ings, and we have never lacked the ordinary comforts of life." Mrs. O'Daniels received a Hcense to preach from the Massachusetts State Convention of Universalists, in October, 1872. She is an acceptable speaker ; and, it is hoped, will be ordained, and permanently engaged in the glorious work of preaching the everlasting gos- pel. The following paragraph from a Western paper men- tions another woman of the century, who preaches : — " Elgin Association have replied to a recent appli- cation from Miss E. E. Newman for approbation to preach, by the following commendation : — " ' Without in any way indorsing the idea of women becoming pastors, in the usual sense of that term, yet, from what we know of Miss Newman's qualifications, we do, as an association, commend her to those desir- ing *such help as she can give ; and, in Paul's words concerning Phebe of Cenchrpa, commend Miss E. E. Newman, as a servant of the Church, to the confidence of the churches, as one fitted to preach Christ.' " WOMEN PREACHERS. 475 A New York paper thus refers to another woman preacher among the Methodists : — " Port Jervis, Nov. 22. — Mrs. LoWRiE, a converted actress, is conducting a series of revival meetings in the Drew Methodist Episcopal Church in this village. The meetings are attended by thousands of people, and over five hundred converts have been made. The number includes many wealthy and prominent residents. Mrs. Lowrie is an eloquent speaker, and an excellent vocalist. Her discourses are delivered while she walks about the house. They are full of extravagant and im- passioned passages, interspersed with weird hymns and wild gestures. She wields a powerful influence over the large congregation that assemble to hear her, and her voice is frequently drowned by their shouts. Two avowed infidels, one a contributor to the Boston ' In- vestigator,' are among her converts. A leading atheist asked for prayers on Saturday night, amid a scene of wild excitement. The church will not hold all that apply for admittance. People come twenty miles to hear her ; and so many train-hands from tlie Erie Rail- way attend the service that new men have been em- ployed to fill their places. " Mrs. Lowrie is a lady about thirty-five years of age, and shows the effect of the hard work she is doing." AMA.NDA M. Way was born near Winchester, Ind., July 10, 1829. Mrs. Burleigh in speaking of her,' says of her, " The stanch advocate of progress, the friend of the slave, the champion of woman's rights, priestess of temperance, indefatigable worker for the Sanitary Commission, and tireless nurse in the hospital, > Woman's Journal, vol. i No. 42 476 "WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. and on the field. It was good to look into her face, to listen to the tones of her deep, rich voice ; for in the face was written the record of that noble life, — written as only deeds can write, so plainly that not even the most untaught could fail to read it aright, — while her voice told unmistakably, not only of sym- pathy and tenderness, but of strength and courage. . . . In the organization of the Good Templars, — the first, by the way, that recognized the equality of woman in carrying forward the great reform, — she held one office after another, till she had filled all, when she was elected to the highest office in the National Lodge, the first woman who ever held it. . . . Her beneficent life is the most eloquent argument in favor of the enfran- chisement of woman, her varied activity and extended usefulness, the illustration of woman's sphere." She is now a preacher among the Methodists. Elizabeth M. Powell was the acceptable preacher for the Free Congregational Society in Florence, Mass., in 1871. She has since married, and is not now a pastor. Rev. Fannie U. Roberts was a successful preacher. The " Gospel Banner " of Maine thus refers to her : — " Last week we mentioned the passing away of this excellent Christian woman. Rev. S. S. Fletcher had promised that he would furnish an account of the par- ticulars of her death. The following has been received from her sister, which Brother Fletcher desires pub- lished rather than words from his own pen. The letter was written in Winona, Minn., the place where Sister Roberts died. Winona, Sept. 3, 1875. « Rev. G. W. Quinby. Dear Sir, — My sister, Rev. WOMEN PREACHERS. 477 P'annie U. Roberts, formerly pastor of the First Uni- versalist church, Kittery, Me., whose ordination ser- mon you preached Feb. 5, 1874, departed this life Aug. 26, 1875, of bronchial consumption, aged forty one years and six months. " She preached to her parish until she lost her voice, then she had her pulpit supplied to the end of the year. When she sent in her resignation the society generous- ly voted not to accept it, but gave her three months vacation. She came to Minnesota for her health, and arrived at my home in Winona, May 15. But the climate failed to benefit her, and she gradually declined until death came to her relief. " She was born at South Berwick, Me. ; was the daughter of Frederick and Hannah R. Cogswell, both preachers of the Christian church ; was married in early life, and was a devoted wife and mother. At the age of twenty-eight she experienced religion, and joined the Congregational church at Northwood, N.H.,, where she then resided, and was superintendent for some time of the Baptist Sunday school. "From a child she was imbued with the spirit of Universalism, and entertained more or less of the Uni- versalist views. There was something grand and noble in the idea that God, in his infinite goodness and his boundless love, was to raise man from his degradation, and by a process of purification elevate him to be joint heir with Christ, and that this fatherly love embraced the whole human race. *' In 1870 she commenced lecturing on moral and intellectual subjects, after which she accepted the invi- tations extended by the Kensington and Wells Univer- salist societies, and began supplying for them in the spring of 1871, and continuing unti' she accepted the 478 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. call from Kittery, Me., where she remained until April, 1875. " During all her weakness and pain she was never heard to murmur or complain, but was always more thoughtful for others than herself. She was beloved by every one that knew her. She has left one son, three step-daughters, and brothers and sisters, to mourn their irreparable loss ; but we hope for a bright reunion in a fairer world. " Sister was well aware of her approaching dissolu- tion, and made all necessary preparations ; said she was not afraid to die, and, if she could not get well so as to lead a life of usefulness, she would rather go now ; said she felt her heavenly Father near her. By her desire we sent for Rev. Mr. Tuttle of Minneapolis, to attend the funeral ; but he could not come. Rev. Mr. McKin- ley (Methodist) of Winona preached a sermon from 2 Cor. V. 1. We buried her remains in Woodlawn , Cemetery. " Sister Fannie wished me to request you to write her obituary, and said, ' Tell him I die in the faith,' and it was what she had upheld ever since she came here. I have now given you the outlines that you may know the facts, and to direct you in what you wish to say. " Truly yours, " Mrs. Lizzie Waite.'' We would say that Sister Roberts in mental vigor and Christian goodness was no ordinary woman. But few clergymen in any denomination could write a better sermon, or offer a more effectual impromptu speech ; while she had the ability to win not only the respect, but the warm friendship, of every member of her parish. Rev. S. S. Fletcher of Yarmouth, who WOMEN PREACHERS. 479 knew her well, testifies as follows, relative to her abil- ity and Christian goodness : — " You cannot overstate the love and esteem in which our dear Sister Roberts was held by all the societies to which she had ever ministered. She was eloquent and instructive as a preacher, and most efficient in all the pastoral relations, whether in the Sunday school as leader of the Bible class, at the bedside of the sick, or in the homes of the afflicted. " She had the power, as only few ministers have, of attaching her people to her by winning their affection. She gave to them the love of a consecrated minister, and received in ratio as she gave. Mrs. Roberts never preached to any society whose preference would not have retained her services. She was ever modest, and the sweet dignity of her womanly nature shone out in all her acts ; and, whatever may be said or thought of a woman ministry, with Mrs. Roberts it proved an entire success. . . . " My own heart beats responsive to the grief of those who knew her best ; and I sorrow that we shall see her face and listen to the sweet sound of her voice no more on earth." MEMORIAL SERVICES. " Beother QumBY, — On Sunday afternoon the 12th inst., services were held at the Universalist church in Kittery, in memory of the former and well-beloved pastor, Rev. Mrs. F. U. Roberts. " The church was beautifully decorated with flowers, and crowded to its utmost limits. Every inch of space, even to the steps of the platform, was occupied by the friends who gathered there to testify their love and re- 480 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. spect for the faithful pastor and noble woman who had labored with them for several years, and until a few months before her death. " The services, which were conducted by Miss Cabo- ^>INB E. Angell, assisted by Rev. S. S. Hebberd of Portsmouth, were appropriate and impressive. " Miss Angell is a recent graduate of Canton Theo- logical School, and for a few months past has occupied the pulpit rendered vacant by the illness of Mrs. Rob- erts. Her excellent sermon was a fitting tribute to the departed pastor, whom she had never met, but whose worth she readily comprehended from the hearts of the people. " One of the most beautiful features of the interest- ing service was that the memorial tribute to one who had manifested a deep interest in the welfare of her sex, and honored it by her work in the ministry, should be spoken by woman's lips. Nothing could have been more pleasing to the spirit of our departed sister, who has left warm friends to treasure a beautiful memory of her work in the Master's service." Rev. Mrs. Roberts was made a justice of the peace by the Governor of Maine, and as such officiated at the marriage of her son. Miss Angell has since been ordained. Maggie N. Van Cott has achieved a wide reputa- tion as a successful preacher among the Methodists. She has been licensed, but not as yet ordaine^i ; but she has done a marvellous work in winning the atten- tion of men and women to religious themes. A sketch of her life and labors has been published in Cincin- nati,^ the introduction to which has been ably written 1 By Hitchcock and Walden. MKS. MAGGIE N. VANCUTT. WOMEN PREACHERS. 483 by Bishop Gilbert Haven and Rev. David Sherman. The book is graphic, and full of statements and inci- dents, interesting especially to the sect to which Mrs. Van Cott belongs. The closing chapter, on the right of women to preach, is valuable for all. Mrs. Van Cott is a native of New York City, born March 25, 1830. Her maiden name was Newton. She is of Enghsh and Scotch descent. Since there is a volume concerning her and her labors, it is less needful that much be told here concerning her. A New York illus- trated paper in 1875 spoke thus of her : — " An interesting revival is now in progress at the Clinton-street Methodist Church, Newark, N.J. It is presided over by the Widow Van Cott, whose portrait, together with a number of scenes occurring during one of the meetings, are given in our present number. She has entered upon this new field of missionary labor under the prestige of decided revival triumphs in Newburg, N.Y., and elsewhere; and, judging from the true religious zeal manifested by her in the conduct of these meetings, is destined to accomplish a great amount of good in the community at large. Many touching incidents are continually occurring, that tend to give a great and overawing solemnity to the scene. Old men whose locks have been whitened by the frosts of many winters, as also the young man just starting upon a solution of this great life-problem, the matron and the maid, all join in one commoTi supplication for that ' peace which passeth all underptanding.' " Our artist has given striking illustrations of some of the incidents that occurred during a recent visit to the above-named place of worship. One old lady, be- coming convinced of the errors of her sinful ways, 484 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. rises from her seat in the body of the chuich, and approaches the altar, where, upon her knees, she asserts her thorough conversion. Another is a young girl, who, though fully aware of her depraved and sin- ful condition, requires to be led to the altar, that she may receive divine pardon. There is also presented the case of a young man who stands upon the brink of salvation, ' almost persuaded,' and by whose side kneels this spirited evangelist, who is invoking the divine blessing upon so worthy a determination. The portrait of IVIrs. Van Cott exhibits an exceedingly plain but scrupulously neat woman : a wealth of shin- ing brown hair, tastefully arranged in wavy crimps of the old-time style, over her temples, gives a highly spiritual cast to her features. Her voice is powerful and firm, kept well under control ; and, when she rises in the pulpit to deliver the opening exhortation, the influence exerted over the crowded audience is simply wonderful. Her views upon religious subjects are broad and expansive, and she possesses a well-defined sense of human obligation. So straightforward, plain, but forcible, are her arguments in support of the ' new life,' that even the most case-hardened sinner is forced to admit the truthfulness of her tenets. Undoubtedly her power for the accomplishment of much good lies in her magnetism, and the speedy establishment of a sym- pathetic current between herself and the worshippers. The meetings over which she presides — and is of a consequence the central point of attraction — are char- acterized by a deep religious feeling, a quiet but per- sistent searching after hidden truths ; and numerous are the self-confessed transgressors of the moral laws, who have espoused the cause of the ' meek and lowly Nazarene,' and been divested of the robes of dark oess and sin, under her exhortations. WOMEN PREACHEES. 485 " She was, until late years, herself a weak and sinful woman : consequently she has a full appreciation of the many diflBculties which sinners must experience in their attempts to get out of the old ruts. After the death of her husband, who was a prominent merchant in New York, she for a time conducted his business, and exhibited considerable executive ability. To use her own language : ' It was right under the shadow of old John-street Church that the sudden conviction came upon me, and I gave myself up completely to the power of God.' " Her greatest successes thus far have been confined to conversions among the working classes, and have had the effect of encouraging her to renewed exertions in the provinces. Her efforts may be properly considered as being supplemental to the more extensive work of her co-laborers in the field of religion. Moody and San- key." From the book above mentioned the following is given as illustrative of the old prejudice against women speaking in public prayer-meetings, which is still too prevalent. One cold, snowy day, Mrs. Van Cott passed through Fulton Street. " So terrible was the storm, that she saw no other lady on the street, when presently her eye caught the sign of the noonday prayer-meeting. Looking at her watch, she knew she had time to drop in, get a blessing from heaven, and reach her desired place of business. About forty gentlemen were present, and she the only lady. The prayers were glorious, the testimonies grand, and her heart began to feel the glow of Jesus' love. Five minutes before one o'clock she arose, and occupied three minutes testifying of the power of Christ to save. She was sweetly blessed. The meeting closed ; 486 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. and, as thej descended the stairs, she was met by one who, after considerable clearing of his throat, and a polite bow, said, 'Ah, madam, ah — we — do not — ahem 1 ' " Quick as thought the truth flashed through her mind that she was a woman, and had dared to speak of her precious Saviour in the presence of men. She caught his words, and continued them : ' You do not permit ladies to speak in your meetings.' " ' I won't say permit^' was the reply ; ' but it is strictly a men's meeting; and there are plenty of places elsewhere where women can speak.' — 'I am aware of it, sir, thank God I but I thought I felt the Sph'it of the Lord; and I am taught that, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Please excuse me, sir : I will never intrude again.' " ' Oh ! no intrusion, madam ; come again.' — 'Thank you ; I will when I can go nowhere else.' " As she passed on, choked with deep emotion, a gen- tleman stepped to her side, and said, ' Don't weep, lady. I know what you have passed through ; but they have dealt gently with you, I have known them to tell ladies of great refinement and talent to stop and sit down, when the room has been full of people ; but, as true as you live, I feel that that is just what the Fulton- street meeting wants to make it a power greater than it ever has been." Happily ]\Irs. Van Cott belonged to that large and fervent body of Christians which does permit women to speak, and which has licensed Anna Oliver, Harriet D. Walker, and others ; but as yet ordination has been conferred on none. It is said that the Bishop of California refused to ordain Mrs. Van Cott, simply because she was a woman, though, aa stated, she had brought 1,735 persons into the church ; travelled 7,208 miles in the Master's service : written in WOMEN PREACHERS. 487 jDe year 650 letters, attended 829 religious meetings, and preached 399 sermons. During one year she had spent 1,779 hpurs in religious meetings. Though all this evidence of zeal and success fails to gain her an ordination at the hands of man, God shows through her how a woman, even without ordination, can do the work of an evangelist. Other women are following in her footsteps ; and the time is not far distant when they will find all doors open for them, and such men as Bishops Haven and Simpson ready to ordain them. The Episcopalians of England and America have had noble women workers in their churches, and a class of devoted women like sisters of charity among them ; but it would be deemed sacrilege by many in those churches for a woman to perform sacerdotal duties. " The Woman's Journal " (vol. v. p. 85) says, " Mrs. Stanton throws down a trump card in the proposition that no woman should attend a church where they refuse to admit a woman preacher to the pulpit on account of her sex. If this were carried out, every church would have to succumb, as women compose the majority of the audiences." " The Congregationalist " said in 1872, " If any woman has a call to the pulpit, and can get people to hear her preach, we would bid her God speed." That possibly was the ground Harriet Beecher Stowe took when asking a man who said he had a call to preach, " whether he noticed that people had a call to hear him." Even the Swedenborgians have been appealed to on the subject of a woman ministry. As Mrs. M. A. K. Benchley appealed by printed circular to the Episco- palians of New York in 1874, so Dr. Harriet Clisby previously addressed the " New Jerusalem Conven- 488 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. tion " held in Boston in June, 1872, saying among other forcible words, " The world needs women, neeils their thought, their ministry, their active co-operation in the performance of uses. Beneath the calm of their pure lives is an indwelling fire, though sleeping. Touch it, light it with the hopes of your own aspirations, and have them as co-workers in the work of God before you." 1 The Christians — or Ohrist-'ians as they are popularly but incorrectly termed — have among them several woman ministers, ordained with public services within the last few years. In 1868 or 1869, the lamented Richard F. Fuller, Esq. (brother of Margaret Fuller d'Ossoli and Chaplain Arthur B. Fuller), then a lawyer in Boston, informed me of this lady, as a speaker in repute in that religious body, with which he was him- self connected, and spoke earnestly in favor of a regu- larly ordained woman ministry. He did not live to be present in the flesh at her ordination ; but she is now a successful laborer, duly commissioned, in or near New Bedford, Mass. I refer to Rev. Ellen G. Gustin, who was ordained at the annual meeting of the Miami Chris tian Conference held in Newton, O., in October, 1873. Mrs. Emi B. Frank of Indianapolis was ordained ; Elder Limington offered the ordaining prayer, and Prof. Weston of Autioch College gave the charge, while Elder McCuDock, President of the Conference, gave the right hand of fellowship. A correspondent of the " Woman's Journal " said, " Her ordination had been decided on without a dissenting voice ; and many of the ministers present gave public expression of approval of women in the ministry. One of the oldest and most influential said. * God has given to many women an I Woman's Journal, vol. iL p. 202. WOMEN PREACHERS. 489 eloquence that should be used for Christ's cause on earth : let us rejoice to welcome then as co-laborers with us.' Another said, ' The world groaned with error and sin. One of its most eminent errors was that it had attempted to run all the interests of life on a purely masculine basis; excluding from public recog- nition the heart and intellect of wife, mother, and sister.' A resolution was passed pledging the Confer- ence to use its utmost efforts to open the way for young men and women to enter the ministry." ^ The Unitarians have had thus far but two regularly ordained and settled women ministers, though there are several who frequeDtly officiate in Unitarian pulpits, who would be licensed preachers, doubtless, if that denomination made provision for such laborers, and who ought to be outwardly set apart by " the laying-on of hands," since they are evidently already ordained by the Spirit. Among these occasional preachers may be mentioned Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, Mrs. Caroline H. Dall, Mrs. Ednah D. Cheney, Miss Mary F. East- man, and Miss Harriet M. Lunt. The two ordained women ministers mentioned above were also settled pastors, the one in Brooklyn, Conn., the other in Mans- field, Mass. Both are freed from pastoral duties now ; the one. Rev. Mary H. Graves, remaining in her Massachusetts home after recent missionary efforts at the West, supplying parishes occasionally, and seeking to establish health, never very firm. I can speak per- sonally of her commendable progress, from a writer in Sunday-school and other periodicals, to the studies and labors of the gospel ministry, against the tide of early prejudices in which she shared, and the discour- agement cf weak f^ame and needful arduous prepara- 1 M. F. T. uj Woman's Journal, vol. v., p. 362. 490 WOMEN OP THE CENTURY. tion. A lover of literature, a bibliopolist without being a bookworm, with her untiring industiy and ready pen she has done good service in arraying facta on various occasions. She was ordained in the Uni- tarian church at Mansfield, Mass., Dec. 14, 1871, on which occasion the services were as follows: Invoca- don by Rev. S. W. Bush, reading of Scriptures by Rev. Wilham Brown, sermon by Rev. W. H. Cudworth, occasional hymn by Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford, ordain- ing prayer by Rev. Fielder Israel, charge by Rev. J. 11. Wiggin, hand of fellowship by Rev. Celia Burleigh, address to the people by Rev. Olympia Brown, closing prayer by Rev. J. D. Pierce. Clara Maria Babcock, herself the daughter of a Unitarian clerg3^man, Rev. WiUiam Babcock, studied at the Unitarian Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., and afterward at Heidelberg, Germany, where she was mar- ried to Rev. Herman Bisbee, and both were afterward preachers in a Unitarian church in Stepney Green, London. After the death of her husband, who was a preacher in South Boston, she was ordained, and is now preaching acceptably. The first ordained woman minister among the Uni- tarians, Rev. Cetja Burleigh, has recently passed on from the city of Syracuse to the long and welcome and blessed rest of the great hereafter. Her graceful form and soul-lit countenance will be long remembered ; and the beauty of her spirit, as well shown in her words of wisdom and love, will not soon be forgotten. Her memory is precious wherever she was known, as the faithful teacher, the admirable writer, tlie eloquent preacher. It was the privilege of the writer to read the Scriptures and offer the opening prayer on the occasion of her ordination in the quiet, lovt v village of Brook- WOMEN PREACHERS. 491 lyn, Conn. I said at the Woman's Congress in 1875, " Amid ' the golden glory of October days ' some of us who are here to-day saw her, in the beauty of her ripe womanhood, and the maturity of her mental powers, assume the important oflBce of the Christian minister ; and now once more, ' amid the golden glory of October days,' we are together, thinking of her, and wishing for her again a field of usefulness commensurate with her poT\er8. God has granted the prayer, even before it was uttered ; and her parish is composed of those who, like herself, have entered the realms of immortality. Her patience and her Christian trust are before us in the lustre of a bright example. May her mantle fall upon another woman worthy to wear it, and the pulpit once consecrated by the presence of a Samuel J. May, and further honored by woman ministers of marvellous grace of manner, and winning melody of speech, and wondrous profundity of thought, be again worthily filled ! " On the memorable day of her ordination, her former pastor, Rev. John W. Chad wick, preached the sermon. Rev. William P. Tilden oiBFered the ordaining prayer, the charge to the pastor was given by Rev. William Potter, the welcome to the ministry by Rev. Oscar Clute, and the address to the people by Mrs. Julia Ward Howe. The ordination hymn was from the pen of Mr. Chadwick, whose own ordination hymn had been from the pen of Mrs. Burleigh's husband, whose expressed wish was the cause in part of her engaging in the work of the ministry. This mention of her may fitly be closed with her own words, spoken when delivering a memorial discourse on the anniver- sary of the death of the saintly and sainted Samuel J May. " Is it not to him," she said, " that I, a woman, owe the privilege of standing here to-day as your 492 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. pastor, aud offering this tribute to his memoiy ? Let us show our love and reverence for him by living such lives as he would wish us to live, by promoting the interests which he held dear ; by doing our utmost to secure to every human being the right to think his own thoughts, live his own life, to own no master but the truth, whose mission it is not to enslave, but to make free. So living we shall be one with him and with all the brave and true spirits of the past ; our souls will be open to their influence ; we shall be their co-workers and God's strong helpers, carrying forward that for which the worlds were made, — the uplifting and en- nobling of humanity." " The Jewish Messenger " states that " as yet, the woman's rights movement has not reached the syna- gogue. No Jewess is, to our knowledge, emulous of Miss Smiley the fair Quakeress, or Mrs. Hanaford the Universalist, and desires to preach to her brethren. The preaching propensity may exist among Jewesses ; but it is confined to the family circle, or to some of our ladies' societies. . . . This may be an evidence of their degeneracy, or of their common-sense." Whereupon the " Christian Register " remarks, " But we advise the ' Messenger ' to beware of premature exultation. When human nature has had its perfect work among the daughters of Israel, some of the kinswomen of Miriam and Deborah may entirely eclipse the Univer- salist and Presbyterian prophetesses." The latter title was probably given to Miss Smiley because she made her first notable appearance in Rev. Dr. Cuyler's pulpit in Brooklyn, N.Y. She still weara her Quaker garb, but she is certainly not to be num- bered with that people, since she has submitted to water baptism from Rev. Mr. Pentecost, and that is in WOMEN PREACHERS. 493 direct opposition to the views and practices of Quakers But she is doing a good work in the pulpits of the churches usually closed to women. The writer had great pleasure in hearing her as she stood in the Con- gregational and Baptist pulpits of New Haven, Conn., and trusts that niiore women of her biblical scholarship, and personal ability in voice and manner, will stand in those pulpits otherwise practically closed to women, till in time they will be as fully open as others to the true successors of the clergywomau of Cenclu-ea. Reference has not been made to the fact that women preach or speak in public on sabbath days among the Spiritualists. Such women as Mrs. Augusta Cooper Bristol and Mrs. Mary F. Davis, and many others of noble life and Christian sympathies, speaking thus,, cannot fail to exert a mighty influence for good. But» as neither men nor women seem to be set apart for preaching or pastoral service among this people, their public workers are not here enumerated. Among the Baptists, — the Calvinistic sort, — no women ministers are known ; but women speak upon missionary topics, conduct missionary and educational meetings, and are working grandly so far as opportu- nity is given. Among them I may mention Mrs. Au- gusta M. HovEY of Newton, INIass., the accomplished wife of a professor in Newton Theological Institution, whose eloquent words stirred a large audience to inter- est in missions, one afternoon in New Haven, Conn., as she spoke from the same pulpit in which Miss Smiley afterward stood. Jessie, a Scotch peasant, whom Mrs. Carolinb A. SoULB recently met at Dundee, when she was told by Mrs. Margaret E. Parker that her guest Mrs. Soule waa a preacher sometimes, made answer, " The woman of 494 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Samaria was the first missionary;" thus giving, though a stanch Presbyterian of the John Knox stamp, the assent of her soul to the right of woman to preach Christ. And to whom was the message given, " Go tell my disciples and Peter that the Lord has risen," but to those women who were — " Last at the cross aud earliest at the grave " of our Saviour ? Who more fitted, more worthy, more ready, than woman, to preach " Jesus and the resurrec- tion " ? The coming preacher who is to gain the ear of the churches is a woman, — not one woman of any church, but the consecrated, God-gifted women preach- ers of all the churches. Rev. S. P. Putnam in " The Liberal Christian " once said truly, " Sure I am that the voice of woman will be heard in the pulpit of the future; for she has many things to say out of the heart of God that man does not know, aud of which he cannot tell us [men ministers]. She will speak things hidden from the foundation of the world. Eve has been too long silent. She must now tell us of her passionate experiences, her hopes, her aspirations, her dreams, her longings, her failures, and her triumphs, in the long, long history of the world. She has labored through many a generation with an unspoken heroism ; but now the music of her utterance must be heard, laden with the riches of a wondrous growth that has yet been but faintly comprehended. Vast and beauti- ful are the visions that God has revealed to her self- sacrificing spirit ; and the world, by means of their expression, will be lifted up to a diviner life, to a more tender comprehension of the universe, and a finer feel- ing of its immanent glory. The pulpit will never reach its sublimest power until woman takes her place WOMEN PREACHERS. 495 in it as the free and equal interpreter of God. The priest must give way to the tender soul, as well as manly intellect. The desk must reverberate the full heart of humanity, or its eloquence will become a van- ishing sound." This chapter may be finished with " the sure word of prophecy." The on-rolling years will bring the triumph of truth. The kingdoms of this world must become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ, for " the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it ; " and, in the great redemptive and uplifting work of the future, woman shall have her due proportion, and afterward the righteous recompense of reward that must follow as she beholds humanity purified and blest. The call of the age is to action, — to grand, concert- ed, consecrated action. Women are called to labor both by themselves and with each other, for the elevation of the race, for the enfranchisement of every soul, for the breaking of every fetter, till all the children of our God are rejoicing in " the liberty wherewith Christ maketh free." This is an age of progress ; and, in the light of its centennial glory, our country has the great- est of all reason to be glad in the advance which its women have made. The mighty tide of human progress is sweeping on with resistless force, and no man shall ever see its ebb. Like that river of eternal love that floweth from beneath the throne of God, this sweep of human advancement must be continuous and perpetual. And the grandest movement of our age is the move- ment in behalf of woman. It is the grandest of all the ages. By the larger part of the Christian world woman is reverenced in the Virgin Mother ; and by the rest is she revered in the feminine characteristics of the immaculate Son. Shall any true woman, any Chris- 496 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. tian woman, be idly a spectator, and not grandly a worker, in the movement of to-day ? " We are liviug, we are dwelling In a grand and awful time ; ' ' and " In an age on agea telling To be living is sublime. " How much more sublime to be an actor in the moral drama which attracts the absorbed attention of the good and true, that sitting above all conflicts, in the realms of peace and blessedness, behold the coming triumph of the Right ! Our dear ones are there. And by all the love they had for Christ and for his cause, for God and for humanity, the appeal is here made to every reader, that you not only bid the work of redemp- tion " God speed," but that you lend to all efforts for woman's advancement your heartiest effort and your earnest prayer. To every earnest woman, with loving heart and active brain, comes this appeal : — " Up! it is the Almighty's rally : God's own arm hath need of thine." CHAPTER XIV. WOMEN MISSIONARIES. Ann H. Judson — Harriet Newell — Sarah B. Judson — Henrietta Shuck — Women connected with the various Church Boards of Foreign and Home Missions — Woman's Centenary Association — Mrs. Howe's Peace Mission to England, &c. " What if to heathen lauds afar the word of life he bear? In that high work of sacrifice still woman hath her share." Mary M. Chase. " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." — Mark xvi. 15. EVER since the Christian era began, women have been missionaries, even in the special sense of that word, as much as men. They have been propa- gandists of the Christian faith ; they have been bene- factors to the race in the work of disseminating the truth that maketh wise unto salvation, by labors as teachers among the heathen, and, by their pens and voices in nominally Christian lands, stimulating those 498 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. who were in the foreign field. Of all the many Christian sects, none have so fully acknowledged the equality of woman, and her consequent right to engage in all church work and missionary service, as that branch of Zion known as the Society of Friends. A writer in " Macmillan's Magazine " thus truthfully refers to this fact : — " With regard to the vexed question of the rights of women, the position of women is undoubtedly higher among the Friends than in any other society. From George Fox's time an equal place has been assigned them in the family of God as in the human family, in the church as well as in human society. Their divine commission, ' Go tell my brethren that I ascend to my Father and their Father, to my God and their God,' has been recognized and narrowed down by no human limitation. Without committing ourselves to the bold rationalizing exegesis of the Quakeress, who, when hard pressed by certain Pauline texts relative to women keeping silence in the church, replied, ' Thee knows Paul was not partial to females,' we may say that the Friends alone have proved themselves free from the old tendency to stick to the letter of Scripture, and sin against its di\ane progressive spirit, binding women, after nineteen centuries of freedom, with precisely the old worn-out bandages and restrictions which were necessary to preserve social order whon first Christian- ity enfranchised women, and proclaimed the equality of the sexes. And perhaps that laborious Society for the Protection of Providence, which exists in our midst, might study the result with advantage, and might e^en learn in time, that, as we do not make laws to prevent weak-armed men from being blacksmiths (to quote from WOMEN MISSIONARIES. 499 John Stuart Mill), so we need not in the long-run make restrictions to keep women from spheres for which Providence has unfitted them ; nature being abundantlj* strong enough to preserve the order of the sexes with- out the help of our crutches. Free to exercise any ex- ceptional gift in public, and taking their regular share in the business of the church, the Quaker women are profoundly domestic, though with a certain largeness of mind, and absence of feminine littleness, which doubtless springs from their wider training." It has been found by those men who have been mis- sionaries in foreign lands, that, accompanied by women, their cause is more prosperous, for the wives of the men missionaries can often gain access to women as they cannot ; and if the character of the women marks the standard of society in every place, as it does, then it is vastly important that the women be reached. The women who have, with rare self-sacrifice, left home and native land for a home in heathendom, with mis- sionary husbands, are as much missionaries as the men, though the latter have been ordained and are salaried. The women have been ordained by the providence of God, and in their spirits ; and their reward is in heaven. It is almost needless to affirm that Mohammedan women need the help of their Christian sisters as much as the women of idolatrous nations. A writer in " Fraser's Magazine" tells the story of the need of women missionaries in the following statement con- cerning Mohammedan women : — " In any serious question of reform among Mohamme- dans, the position of women must occupy a prominent place. We are not now speaking of polygamy, but of 500 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. the seclusion of women, the abnegation of their influ- ence, and, as a corollary of this, the rearing of the entire population in frivolity, ignorance, and vice. The Koran bids men 'respect women of whom they are born ; ' but a few isolated precepts like this are powerless against its general tenor. The Turkish women shuffle unnoticed through the streets in their yellow slippers, or sit for hours in the meadows of the ' sweet waters,' their bright ferejehs gleaming like a party-colored bed of tulips. If their owner is a man of mark, they are taken for an airing in a gilded coach, or they are huddled like sheep by their black wardens into a separate pen on the little steamers which pant busily across the Golden Horn. The life of a Turkish woman is vapid and meaningless ; she is as ignorant as a child : yet even the grand vizierat is often at the disposal of harem intrigue. And, if we would discover the canker which lies at the root of Turkish society, we must seek it in the practice which condemns the chil- dren of both sexes to the vicious atmosphere of the harem during the most plastic years of hfe. The origin of this treatment of women we shall find not in the dictates of Oriental jealousy, but in the teaching of the Koran. The divine book by no means ignores the existence of woman. It lays down most careful and minute rules for her walk in hfe. But it treats her rather as an adjunct to man than as an independent, responsible being. Obedience is the corner-stone, — obedience to him who rules over her. Home is her proper place ; but if she goes abroad she must veil her face and breast, — nay, some say, even her hands. ' Speak unto thy wives and thy daughters, and the wives of the true believers,' says the Koran, ' that they cast their outer garments over them when they walk WOMEN MISSIONARIES. 501 abroad. Believing women must not discover their orna- ments ; . . . and let them thi-ow their veils over theii bosoms.' It is in such light matters as these that we see the difficulty of a change in the current of Eastern thought. It is not merely the inveterate habit of centuries, though this is stronger than law, but also a matter of religion. The Spanish lady may exchange her mantiUa for a Paris bonnet, with a sigh perhaps at the despotism of fashion ; but, if her Turkish sister lays aside her yashmak, she infringes solemn ordinances of her rehgion, and degrades herself in the sight of all. If, however, as we have seen, the Koran awards a very modest place in the scheme of society to women, it does not, as many have supposed, absolve her from responsi- bilities here, or exclude her from participation in the life to come. This would be manifest, even though no other duty had been enjoined than performing the pil- grimage to Mecca, which is of such paramount impor- tance that it is declared that a man might as well die a Jew or a Christian as neglect it. It has been errone- ously supposed that the Koran allows women no souls. But it expressly states that the devout Mussulman, in addition to his seventy-two celestial brides, shaU be allowed the company of any of his wives in paradise, of whom he may not have grown tired on earth. The Prophet too, finding that his interrogator, on one occa- sion, was not satisfied with the declaration that there would be no old women in heaven, hastened to add that he only meant by this that all would be restored to youth ; though, to be sure, when he was permitted to take a bird's-eye view of heaven and hell, he saw that most of the inhabitants of the latter place were women. The absence of women from mosques has probably led hasty observers to the above conclusion ; 502 WOMEN OF THE CENTUKY. but this is only due to the desire that they should not distract the attention of the male worshippers." Even, then, in the lauds of the Crescent the woman disciples of the cross can be abundantly useful. The same is undeniably true in regard to all other lands where the light of the truth is dawning, or yet to dawn. It would be simply impossible to give even a para- graph to each of the women missionaries who have gone forth to foreign lands for Jesus' sake. A few only can be mentioned here. American missions began in the present century ; and every woman mis- sionary who has gone from our shores has been a woman of our national century. The three women who successively became the companions of Adoniram Judson are known and honored in all the churches. Their memoirs have been written, and are easy of access, and as thrilling as any work of fiction to the Christian heart. Says Mrs. Hale, "Mrs. Ann H. Judson was the first American woman who resolved to leave her friends and countiy to bear the gospel to the heathen in foreign cHmes. Well does she merit the reverence and love of all Christians ; nor can the nineteenth century furnish the record of a woman who so truly deserves the title, a missionary heroine.'' The brief sketch of the pioneer woman missionary, as given by Mrs. Hale, is as follows : " Ann Hasseltine Judson was born in 1789, in Bradford, Mass. She was carefully educated, and became early distinguished for her deep and earnest religious character. In February, 1812, she married Adoniram Judson ; and in the same month sailed for Calcutta, her husband being appointed missionary to India. Soon after they reached Calcutta^ WOMEN MISSIONARIES. 503 they were ordered by the East India Company, who were opposed to all missionary labors among the natives, to quit the country. While waiting for an opportunity of leaving, Mr. and Mrs. Judson employed their time in investigating the subject of baptism ; and, being convinced that their previous opinions had been erroneous, they joined the Baptist church at Calcutta. Ill July, 1813, Mr. and Mrs. Judson arrived at Rangoon in Burmah, where for many years they labored successfully and diligently in the cause of religion. In 1821, in consequence of protracted ill health, Mrs. Judson returned alone to America, where she remained till 1823, when she rejoined her husband in Rangoon. DiflBculties arising between the govern- ment of Bengal and the Burman empire, and the taking of Rangoon by the British in 1824, caused the imprisonment of Mr. Judson and several other for- eigners who were at Ava, the capital of the Burmau empire. For two years the inexpressible sufferings endured by these prisoners were alleviated by the con- stant care and exertions of Mrs. Judson ; and it was owing in a great measure to her efforts that they were at last released. In 1826 the missionary establishment was removed from Rangoon to Amherst ; and in October of that year Mrs. Judson died of a fever dur- ing her husband's absence. The physician attributed the fatal termination of the disease to the injury her constitution had received from her long-protracted suf- ferings and severe privations at Ava. In about six months after her death her only child, an infant daugh- ter, was laid by her side." Dr. Judson married, for his second wife, the widow of the missionary Board- man. Sarah B. Judson was born in Alstead, N.H., Nov 504 WOMEN OF THE CBNTDHT. 4, 1803 ; was " married to George D. Boardman in 1825, and soon after accompanied her husband and other missionaries to Calcutta. The first destination of Mr. and Mrs. Boardman was Tavoy ; and there, after encountering great dangers and sufferings, and overcoming appalling diflBculties and discouragements, in all of which Mrs. Boardman shared, Mr. Boardman died in 1831. She had previously lost two children ; one only, a son, was left her, and they were alone in a strange land. But she did not desert her missionary duties. Four years she remained a widow, and then was united in marriage with Rev. Dr. Judson. Their union was a happy one ; but after the birth of her fourth child her health failed, and a voyage to America was recommended as the only hope of restoration. Dr. Judson, with his wife and children, took passage for their own country ; but, on reaching the Isle of France, Mrs. Judson's health was so greatly improved, that Dr. Judson, whose duties in Burmah were urgent, deter- mined to return, while his wife and children should visit America. The arrangements were accordingly made ; and, in expectation of the parting," Mrs. Jud son wrote a sweet poem commencing, — " We part oa this green islet, love, — Thou for the eastern main ; I for the setting sun, love, Oh I when to meet again? " ^^nd closing with this stanza : — " Then gird thine armor on, love, Nor faint then by the way, Till Boodh shall fall, and Burmah's sons Shall own Messiah's sway." WOMEN MISSIONARIES. 505 One verse in the poem has been often quoted, for ita sweetness and truth : — " Yet my spirit clings to thine, love, Thy soul remains with me; And oft we'll hold communion sweet O'er the dark and distant sea." But they did not part then ; for on putting out to sea Mrs. Judson grew worse, and died in sight of the rocky island of St. Helena ; and there her form is resting. The island has become noted as the place where Napo- leon died, but it is dearer to Christian hearts the world over as the place where Sarah B. Judson's body rests. The warrior is eclipsed by the woman missionary. Emily C. Judson, the third wife of Adoniram Jud- son, has been mentioned among literary women. She was a faithful laborer in the Master's cause, and won a pure renown, both as a writer and a missionary. Harriet Newell, " the first American heroine of the missionary enterprise, was born at Haverhill, Mass., Oct. 10, 1793. Her maiden name was Atwood. In 1806, while at school at Bradford, she became deeply impressed with the importance of religion ; and at the age of sixteen she joined the church. On the 9th of February, 1812, she married the Rev. Samuel Newell, missionary to the Burman empire ; and in the same month Mr. and Mrs. Newell embarked with their friends Mr. and Mrs. Judson for India. On the arri- val of the missionaries at Calcutta, they were ordered to leave by the East India Company; and accordingly Mr. and Mrs. Newell embarked for the Isle of France. Three weeks before reaching the island she became the mother of a child which died in five days. On the SOth of November, at the age of twenty, she expired, 506 WOMEN OF THE CENT UK r. far from home and friends. . . . Iler most earnest wish was to do good for the cause of Christ, and be of service in teaching his gospel to the heathen. . . . * Her work was short, her toil soon ended ; but she fell, cheering by her dying words and her high example the missionaries of all coming time. She was the first, but not the only martyr. Heathen lands are dotted over with the graves of fallen Christians ; missionary wom- en sleep on almost every shore ; and the bones of some are whitening in the fathomless depths of the ocean. Never will the influence of this devoted wo- man be estimated properly, until the light of an eternal day shall shine on all the actions of men. We are to measure her glory, not by what she suffered, for others have suffered more than she did. But we must remem- ber that she went out when the missionary enterjirise was in its infancy, when even the best of men looked upon it with suspicion. The tide of opposition she dared to stem ; and with no example, no predecessor from American shores, she went out to rend the veil of darkness which gathered over all the nations of the East. Things have changed since then. Our mission- aries go forth with the approval of all the good ; and the odium which once attended such a hfe is swept away. It is to some extent a popular thing to be a mis- sionary, although the work is still one of hardship and suffering. It is this fact which gathers such a splendor around the name of- Harriet Newell, and invests her short, eventful life with such a charm. She went when no foot had trodden out the path, and was the first American missionary ever called to an eternal re- ward.' " ^ Harriet Newell left a journal and a few letters, the ^ Haroines of the Missionary Enterprise, quoted by Mrs. Hale. WOMEN MISSIONARIES. 507 record of her religious feelings, and the events of her short missionary life. Those fragments have been published, making a little book. " Such is her con- tribution to literature. Yet this small work has been, and is now, of more importance to the intellectual progress of the world than all the works of Mme. de Stael. The writings of Harriet Newell, translated into several tongues, and published in many editions, have reached the heart of society, and assisted to build up the throne of woman's power, even the moral influence of her sex over men. Their intellect can never reach its highest elevation but through the medium of moral cultivation." ^ Elizabeth Bakes D wight was born in Andover, Mass., in 1808 ; in 1820 married Rev. H. G. O. Dwight, and sailed with him to Malta, where she resided two years, her husband being a missionary to that place. She was actively and very usefully engaged while there, and when her husband removed to Constantinople. . . . The missionary family resided at San Stefano, near the Bosphorus. Scenes of beauty and of storied interest were around Mrs. Dwight ; still she had few opportuni- ties of visiting the remarkable places in this region of the world. Once she made an excursion with Lady Franklin and an American friend to the Black Sea, and found her health renovated ; still she was drooping and delicate, like a transplanted flower which pines for its own mountain home, and the fresh breezes and pure sunshine of its first blossoming. In the spring of 1837 the plague appeared at Constantinople ; and Mrs. Dwight felt she was one of its doomed victims. The presentiment proved true. She died on July 8, 1837 ; her devoted husband being the only person who re- 1 Mrs. Hale's Woman's Reoonl 508 WOMEN OP THE CENTURY. mained to watch over, comfort her, and receive hei last breath. She was only twenty-nine years of age, and had hardly become habituated to the missionary cross, when she was called to wear its crown." Sabah Lanman Smith, bom in Norwich, Conn., Tune 18, 1802. Her biography has been written by Rev. E. W. Hooker, and is commended to the reader. She commenced teaching in Sunday school when only fourteen. In 1833 she married Rev. Eli Smith of the American mission at Beyroot, Syria ; and " she went to that remote region as the ' helpmeet ' for a humble missionary. She was singularly fitted for this impor- tant station, having been a voluntary missionary to the miserable remnant of a tribe of Mohegan Indians. She had thus tested her powers, and strengthened her love for this arduous work, in the cause of doing good. Her letters to her father and friends, while reflecting on this important step of a foreign mission, will be intensely interesting to those who regard this consecration of woman to her oflQce of moral teacher as among the most efl&cient causes of the success of the gospel. The literary merits of her writings are of a high order. We venture to say, ttiat, compared with the ' journals ' and ' letters ' of the most eminent men in the missionary station, those of Mrs. Smith will not be found inferior in merits of any kind. . . . Such are the helpers Chris- tian men may summon to their aid, whenever they will provide for the education of woman, and give her the office of teacher, for which God designed her. Mrs Smith accompanied her husband to Beyroot, and was indeed his ' help,' and good angel. She studied Arabic, established a school for girls, exerted her moral and Christian influence with gieat effect on the mixed population of Moslems, Syrians, Jews, visiting and in- WOMEN MISSIONARIES. 509 struoting the mothers as well as the children, working with all her heart and soul, mind and might ; and the time of her service soon expired. She died Sept. 30, 1836, aged thirty-four, a little over three years from the time she left her own dear land. She died at Boojah, near Smyrna ; and in the burial-ground of the" latter her precious dust reposes beneath a monument which does honor to America by showing the heroic" and holy character of her missionary daughters." ^ Frances M. Hill is, as Mrs. Hale says, " deservedly honored for her long and beneficial exertions in the" cause of female education in Greece." She was born in New York City, and married Rev. John H. Hill. In 1831 an attempt was made by the Protestant Epis- copal Church in America to assist the most ancient Eastern Church of Christ, that of the Greek. In pur- suance of this plan, the Rev. John H. Hill and hie" wife were sent to Athens, to found and superintencJ such seminaries of learning and Christian morals as they might find practicable and useful. Athens, on* their arrival, presented to them when entering within' its crumbling walls, a scene of desolation such as inevit- ably follows in the bloody train of war. The city was one mass of ruins, over and among which these mis- sionary teachers had then to pick their almost pathless way. In the course of a few weeks, they began to gather around them the destitute, half-clad, ignorant daughters of Greece ; although many of these were among the well-born, who had been reduced to poverty by the war which had for a time levelled all classes. Upon Mr. and Mrs. Hill was devolved the momentous task of moulding the new social features of the Greek people, just escaped from Turkish bondage, and soop 1 Mrs Ha]ft 510 WOMEN OF IBM OKNTUBT. to take their position among the civilized nations of Europe." This great missionary work, which has now been continued many long years, " is acknowledged to be the means of incalculable and unqualified good to the land of Pericles and Aspasia." Sarah Davis Comstock of Brookline, Mass., sailed in June, 1834, to Burmah, with her husband, as a missionary. " In his labors between Anacan and Bur- mah Mr. Comstock found his wife of great assistance. Whenever women came near the house, she would instantly leave her occupation, if possible, to tell them of the Saviour. She collected a school, translated the Scripture catechism, and administered both medicine and advice to the sick, besides teaching her own chil- dren, and attending to household duties. In the even- ing, whenever she could be out, she might often be found with several native women collected around her, to whom she was imparting religious knowledge. Mrs. Comstock's faith was strong that ere long Arra- can would, as a country, acknowledge God as its ruler ; and in this expectation she labored until death came to lead her away to her infinite reward. She died of a disease peculiar to the climate, on the 28th April, 1843, leaving four children, two of whom had previously been sent to America for instruction ; the other two soon followed her to the grave. Nothing could exceed the sorrow expressed by the natives for her loss. More chan two thousand came on the day after her death to share their grief with her afflicted husband, who sur- vived her loss but a few months. Annie P. James, born in Salem, Mass., Dec. 22, 1825, was the daughter of Joshua Safford of that city, vt^as married to Dr. Sexton James of Philadelphia, and they sailed ^or China as missionaries. When neai WOMEN MISSION ABIES. 511 Hong-Kong, on April 15, 1848, the vessel in which they were was upset, and the sacrifice upon the altar of missions was accepted. Both were drowned before their noble work had commenced. '* The flower, though offered in the bud, Is no vain sacrifice." Eleanor Macomber, born in 1801, at Lake Pleas- ant, Hamilton County, N.Y., was sent out by the Baptists in 1830, to labor among the Ojibwas in Michigan. In 1836 she went to Maulmain, Burmah, as a missionary. " Here she lived and labored almost alone, doing the great work which was assigned her. In the midst of discouragements she fainted not, but performed labors and endured afflictions almost incred- ible. When she arrived at the scene of her future labors, she found vice and sin reigning triumphant. On every hand intemperance and sensuality were ob- servable. She immediately commenced in their midst the worship of God. On the sabbath the people were drawn together to hear the story of the cross; and during the week her house was thrown open for morn- ing and evening prayers. By her perseverance she soon collected a small school ; and in less than a year a church of natives, numbering more than twenty persons, was formed, and placed under the care of the Rev. Mr. Stephens. Intemperance, sensuality, and other vices gradually disappeared, and the Christian virtues took their place. The idea of a weak, friendless, and lone woman trusting herself among a drunken and sensual people, and there with no husband, father, or brother, establishing public worship, opening her house for prayer and praise, and gathering schools in the midst of wild and unlettered natives, i« one full of moral 512 WOMEN OF THE CENTUBY. grandeur. Intelligent, active, and laborious. Miss Ma- comber was not content with teaching all who came to her : she went out to the surrounding tribes, attended only by one or two converts ; and fording rivers, cross- ing ravines, climbing high hills and mountains, she everywhere carried the doctrines of salvation. Even the heathen heart was touched by this spectacle ; and this estimable woman was respected and loved by those who hated the gospel she taught. Miss Macom- ber died April 16, 1840, of the jungle fever, at Maul- main, where she had been carried for the purpose of obtaining medical aid. Her death was deeply lamented by the natives ; and those who did not love the Saviour mourned the loss of his servant, whose kind- ness and hospitality they had experienced, and followed her to the grave with wails of sorrow." ^ Henrietta Shuck was born in Kilmarnock, Va., Oct. 28, 1817. She was the daughter of a Baptist clergyman, Rev. Addison Hall. She was baptized when about twelve years of age, " but her extreme youth did not prevent her from keeping faithfully the vows she so early took upon herself. On Sept. 8, 1835, she was married to Rev. J. Lewis Shuck, and went as a missionary to China. Eight years she labored there successfully, having learned the Chinese language. She died Nov. 27, 1847, soon after the birth of her fifth child. During the last year of her life, a new schoolhouse had been erected, and a school gathered under her care, of twenty Chinese boys and six girls, besides her own four children. An interesting memoir has been published. She was the first American woman missionary to China. Maey Elizabeth Van Lennep, bom in Hartford, Conn., April 16, 1821, was the daugh- ' Mra. Hale's Woman's Record. WOMEN MISSION ABIES. olS ter of Rev. Dr. Hawes of that city. She became » Christian when very young ; and in 1843 she married Rev. Henry J. Van Lennep, a missionary to Turkey, whither she accompanied him, and labored in the mis- sion school, but died Sept. 27, 1844 ; and her body was placed in the Protestant graveyard near Constantinople. " She hath done what she could." In Mrs. Hale's " Woman's Record " is a long list, comprising some hundreds of names, of women who have been or are missionaries in foreign lands, sent by the American Board of the Congregational Church, by the Baptists, Episcopalians, and Presbyterians, and others. Nobler women than those connected with these foreign missions were never known. Their " praise is in all the churches;" and their heroic sacrifices and successful labors prove them to have had as divine a call to their Christian work as ever their husbands had to the ministering of the word. Fidelia Fiske toihng so faithfully among the Nestorians, Mrs. Benton so long and well at Mount Lebanon mission, are but types of hundreds of other women worthy of reverence and fame. Of many women missionaries, biographical sketches have been printed in various periodicals, and in volumes numerous enough for a small library, and valuable beyond computation to the Christian cause. The value of this chapter would be greatly enhanced by a complete list of these good books ; but the writer must content herself with earnestly advising other women to read all the records of women missionaries within their reach. Creeds may differ, but the spirii of self-sacrifice and earnest toil for humanity is every- where commendable. Such memoirs as those of Mrs. Sarah Emily York, Mrs. Helen M. Mason, Luoy 514: WOMEN OF THE CENTUBT- T. Lord, and others, will bless their readers. In the memoir of Rev. David T. Stoddard is the record of his noble wife, Habriet B. Stoddard, who was a sister of Mrs. Caroline A. Mason, previously mentioned. Mrs. Stoddard died at Trebizond, in August, 1848. She was the daughter of Dr. Calvin Briggs of Marble- head, Mass., and a teacher at one time in Bradford Academy, so hallowed by the memory of Harriet Newell and Ann H. Judsou, who were students there. Many other noble women are mentioned in the memoirs of their missionary husbands in such wise as to show that they are worthy women of the century, who are sowing the seed of the kingdom in the spirit of their Master. Among the missionary efforts of women should be mentioned that of the Woman's Centenary Association of the Universalists in America. During the centen- nial year of the existence of their denomination, that body of women raised 135,974.73 ; and since that date this sum has been increased so that more than one hundred thousand dollars has been raised, some of which has been expended in establishing a mission in Scotland. The president, Mrs. C. A. Soule, has herself performed missionary service in the land of Knox, as well as much similar work for Christ in our own land. Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford is one of the State Missionary Committee in New Jersey, and has done a little home missionary work. The same is true of other women ministers who are missionaries ex officio^ their commission from on high leaving them at liberty to sow the good seed beside all waters. Mrs. Julia Ward Howe's mission to England, in behalf of the cause of peace, may properly be men- tioned under this head ; for the animus of all true mis- sionary work, home or foreign, is in harmony with the WOMEN y. angel anthem, " Peace on eai courage war is an eJBFort to sj. Prince of Peace. Salvation, oh salvation! ,' "^^ The joyful sound proclaim, Till earth's remotest nation Has learned Messiah's name." [ -t CHAPTER XV. WOMEN EDUCATORS. Catherine E. Beecher— Mary Lyon — Elizabeth P. Peabody — Martha Whiting — Wages of Women as Teachers — Women on School Committees, and as Trustees and Professors of Educational In- stitutions. " But turning from the sacred page, alike in the profane, We need not look for evidence of woman's wortb in vain.' Maky M. Chase. " Teachers of good things." — Tit. ii. 3. EDUCATION is a magical word in some regions. It means more than most persons imagine. Its derivation implies the idea of a leader ; and such wise and faithful leaders to draw forth the ideas, and help the intellectual growth of the pupil, our country has happily known, among her women as among her men. President Eliot of Harvard College has presented the idea that high education is hereditary. If so, it is true in regard to mothers and daughters as well as to fathers and sons. He says that the triennial cata- logues of the older American colleges prove beyond a WOMEN EDUCATORS. 517 doubt, that it is chiefly the people who themselves have trained minds who desire thorough training ioj their children, and are able to procure it for them. Culture is much surer to descend to children than wealth, because the natural forces of hereditary trans- mission are on its side. And the college catalogues would show this to be true in regard to women stu- dents, if only those colleges had for long years been open to the daughters as well as to the sons of tliose who have so liberally supported and endowed them. "The Boston Journal," reporting Ex-Gov. Bullock s address at the Mount Holyoke Seminary says, — •' But the chief motive cause in the elevation of the sex during the last part of the century has been the quickening power of education. The Reformation be- gan this agency, cliivalry did something towards it, and the Church to a certain degree lent its aid ; but it was only under a combination of modern influences that the work rapidly ripened. The present American system of female education is the result of a long conflict with unenlightened public sentiment, a triumph over prejudices which have had no analogy in the other ways of our life. The first dawn of this moral revo- lution was in Massachusetts ; and the civilized world concedes the fact by adopting the example. When free education for both sexes, as a municipal duty to be enforced by law, became here the public interpretation of State obligation, the finger of transfiguration touched the destiny of woman ; nor can any reaction ever set it back. Gov. Bullock cited some interesting facts from his own experience in the gubernatorial office, as to the bestowment of State aid to the cause of female educa- tioa. 518 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. " The work has been reciprocal. If the State has done something for the education of woman, she has already more than repaid the favor by what she has done towards educating the State. Women now constitute nine-tenths of the whole corps of public instructors in the State ; they fill the same oflQce in the normal schools, in all the high schools, in all the higher seminaries ; in short, they are supreme every- where in our education, save in the technical and classical schools and the colleges. No change so broad and radical as this has been witnessed in any other field of social science in modern time. ' For the future,' says Gov. Bullock, ' our citizenship, our magis- tracy, our history, is under their hands.' And he thinks that, in view of the corrupt tendencies of our politics, which can only be thoroughly eradicated in the coming generation, this work could not be in better hands. " A cheering result of this progress is, that woman is esteemed and reverenced more highly than ever, be- cause she is reverenced, not for any idealized or ima- gined qualities, but exactly for what she is, — for her- self." The press everywhere is acknowledging the value of education for woman. The " Gospel Banner " of Maine has the following sympathetic reference to the great facts of the age, concerning woman. The editor Dr. Quinby, says : — " Within the last twenty years great advancement has been made in the thorough education of women ; and, though there are many pei-sons in society who frown upon the prominence this question is assuming, WOMEN EDUCATORS. 519 no person of intelligence would consent that society should fall back to the views and customs of former times. Under the prevaiUng facts and opinions, the following, which we cut from a New York exchange, is every word true : — " There is special need at present for highly educated women to be the professional teachers of their sex. Accomplished women, cultivated in the schools by wide reading and earnest thought and by travel, are wanted now in the colleges established for their sex. These institutions are needed in addition to the ordinary colleges ; for woman requires not simply as broad a curriculum of study as the other sex, but a richer one. We do not believe in submitting every woman to the same bare round of studies. The sesthetic side of her nature must be fully developed and trained. So, in addition to the fullest opportuni- ties, she must have special privileges.' " America's first century has not been without able and distinguished women educators worthy of their fame. A few of the chief among these may be men- tioned. Maby Lyon. — This famous teacher has been ably portrayed for these pages by Julia May Dakbow, herself worthy of a high place among the educators of the century. " In these days of advanced civilization, women of extensive literary attainments, and sound culture of mind and grace, are many ; but rarely is there a charac- ter who 80 perfectly unites unusual mental acquire- ments with a sense of duty so strong, and love of right 80 controlling, as the subject of this sketch 520 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Maey Lyon was born in Buckland, Franklin County, Mass., Feb. 28, 1797. From parents of exemplary piety she inherited a love for religious instruction and active Christian work. While quite young she was remarkable for maturity of character : yet her sense of the ludicrous, and power of humorous description, rendered her always an agreeable companion. At the death of her father the family were left dependent upon their own exertions. " Mary's opportunities for early education were lim- ited; but an unusual aptitude for learning was soon noticed by her teachers. She committed with facility, and recited with verbal accuracy. Not depending, how- ever, on genius, as minds less gifted are prone to do, she mastered her lessons by hard study, and appUed herself to them with great assiduity and perseverance. After the second marriage of her mother, Mary and her only brother remained at the homestead, she taking charge of the house, although at this time hardly more than fifteen years of age. A year afterwards hei brother married. Mary continued to reside with him, however, until 1819, when he removed to Chautauqua,, N.Y. " Previous to this time she had occasionally attended school, and had also commenced her career as teacher at Shelburue Falls. In the fall of 1817 she entered the academy at Ashfield. Here she received encourage- ment and assistance from friends who recognized in her a gem of uncommon brilliancy, which only needed polish to shine with unusual lustre. " Her slender funds were soon expended. She was about to return to the employment of teaching, when the trustees of the academy offered her the free use of ell its advantages. This offer she gladly accepted, and WOMEN EDUCATORS. 52 1 prosecuted her studies with so much eagerness that she hardly allowed lierself needful rest. Her services as a teacher were soon much sought. These invitations she at dUBFerent times accepted. The money obtained in this way was devoted to procuring instruction on sub- jects in which she was especially deficient. In 1821 she attended Rev. Joseph Emerson's school in Byfield. At this time her mind was active and powerful, but undisciplined. Previous to enjoying the instruction of Mr. Emerson, the intellect rather than the heart had engaged Miss Lyon's attention : from him she learned that each should receive its due proportion of cultiva- tion. " In 1822 she was invited to assist Miss Z. P. Grant in the Adams Academy at Derry, N.H. As the school year did not include the winter, Miss Lyon returned late in the fall to Buckland, and there opened a small school. She had at this time gained such a reputation that many of the teachers in the common schools embraced the opportunity to profit by her instruction. About 1830 she began to consider the plan of founding a permanent female seminary ; and from this time the ways and means to the accomplishment of this object occupied the chief place in her heart. This institution, as stated by Miss Lyon, was ' designed exclusively for older young ladies preparing to teach, and soon to go forth, and exert an influence in a variety of ways on the cause of education and religion.' It was first pro- posed to locate the school at Amherst, where suitable buildings had just been vacated, and could be obtained at a reasonable price ; but those to whom the matter was intrusted could see no way of raising the sum necessary for the purchase. In the face of adverse cir- cumstances. Miss Lyon still continued to plan and arrange. 522 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. " In the fall of 1834 she gave up her connectioD with Miss Grant at Ipswich, and set herself apart to the fulfilment of her great purpose. " At this time she was thirty-seven, in good health, and with faith, courage, and enthusiasm unbounded. Not a man of wealth had as yet given her countenance and aid. Even the religious press had on several occasions refused to publish articles setting forth the plan and principles of the proposed institution. But she was not wholly alone. A few who had known her long and well, relying on her understanding, energy, and benevolence, gave her their influence. Sept. 6, 1834, a few gentlemen met at Ipswich to consider the plan of founding a seminary upon a basis embracing her favorite views. After much consideration, the committee decided to depend for funds upon the free- will offerings of an enlightened Christian public. The question of location was settled that winter. Several towns had offered generous subscriptions if the seminary should be located within their limits. The final de- cision was in favor of South Hadley. The act of incorporation passed the Legislature Feb. 10, 1836. " The corner-stone was laid Oct. 3 of the same year. The cost of the first edifice was estimated at fifteen thousand dollars ; and it was to furnish home accom- modations for about eighty students with their teachers. Miss Lyon undertook the business of obtaining the funds for furnishing the building. Nov. 8, 1837, was advertised as the day for the opening of the school ; and, soon after that date, more than the prescribed number came together. " The domestic arrangements were pecuhar in two respects. All the pupils were obliged to board in the seminary, even though their homes might be in the WOMEN EDUCATORS. 523 Immediate vicinity. Again, the work of the family was performed by the young ladies. This lessened their expenses, and also gave the institution a greater degree of independence. The first year was not with- out its trials ; but the success of the new idea was fully established and demonstrated when, the next August, the anniversary exercises occurred, and the first gradu- ates received their diplomas. The school gained in numbers and advantages ; and, while a high standard of scholarship was especially sought, yet a true religious culture was acknowledged to be the only firm founda- tion for womanly character. " For twelve years Mary Lyon lived to enjoy the fruits of her enterprise, and see, each year, her pupils leave the seminary prepared for active, influential lives. March 6, 1849, she died of congestion of the brain ; and her remains rest within the shadow of the building that stands a monument to her life of ceaseless activity and consecration to the advancement of Christ's kingdom. The words graven on the stone which marks her rest- ing-place reveal the ambition that led her by a way so perplexing to a success so complete : ' There is nothing in the universe that I fear, but that I shall not know all my duty, or shall fail to do it.' The fundamental ideas of the founder have since her death been cherished principles of the school. Its advantages have kept pace with the progress of the times. Many, obeying a divine impulse, have devoted their hves to spreading the gospel in pagan lands. Branch institutions have sprung from the parent vine at Kalamazoo, Mich., Oxford and Painesville, 0., South Africa, Persia, and Turkey. " New colleges and institutions yearly add to woman's opportunities for advanced education ; and, in kindly 524 WOMEN OF THE CENTUET. feeling with them all, Mount Holyoke Seminary will maintain its past reputation, and, with constantly in- creasing facilities for scientific and classical study, aim at endowing each graduate with the broad culture, and elevated principles essential to perfect womanhood." Catherine E. Beeoheb, daughter of Rev. Lyman Beecher, D.D., was born Sept. 6, 1800, at East Hamp- ton, L.I., where she resided till about ten years of age. Mrs. Hale gives nearly five pages to a sketch of her life and some extracts from her writings. She opened her somewhat celebrated school in Hartford, Conn., in 1822 ; and, for the sake of her own pupils, she pre- pared her first printed work on Arithmetic. Her second work was on the more diiBficult points of Theology ; and her third, an octavo, on Mental and Moral Philoso- phy. This has been printed, and introduced into one of our colleges for young men, as a text-book, but has not been published. In 1832 she accompanied her father to Ohio, and in Cincinnati for two years super- intended a school for young women. " Since then Miss Beecher has been engaged in maturing and carry- ing into effect a great plan for the education of all the children in our country. For this end she has written and journeyed, pleaded and labored." A reference to Mrs. Hale's book will show her plan. Miss Beecher is known as a writer of books designed to benefit her sex. " Domestic Economy, for the use of Young Ladies at Home and Abroad," is one of these. Emma Willard is among the educators who should be mentioned here. Her memoir has been written by Dr. Lord. She was born in Berlin, Conn., February, 1787. Her maiden name was Hart. Mrs. Hale says, *' The love of teaching appears to have been a ruling WOMEN EDTJCATOSS. 525 passion in her mind. At the age of sixteen, she took charge of a district school in her native town. The following year she opened a select school, and in the summer of the next year was placed at the head of the Berlin Academy. During this period, being engaged at home throughout the summer and winter in the capacity of instructress, she managed in the spring and autumn to attend one or other of the two boarding- schools at Hartford." In 1807 she took charge of the academy in Westfield, Mass., but upon pressing invita- tion went to Middlebury, Vt., where she taught a girl's academy for two years. In 1809 she married. In 1814 she opened a boarding-school at Middlebury, introducing new studies, and inventing new methods of teaching. She was invited by Gov. Clinton to remove her school to New York ; and the governor recommended her " Plan " for schools to the legislature in his message. " The result was the passage of an act to incorporate the proposed institute at Waterford, and another to give to female academies a share of the literary fund ; being, it is believed, the first law ever passed by any legislature with the direct object of improving female education." This fact which Mrs. Hale mentions is of interest, despite her objectionable use of the word " female." The first young lady who was examined in geometry publicly in Mrs. Willard's Waterford acad- emy, and perhaps the first in the country, was Miss Cramer, afterward Mrs. Curtis. In 1821 Mrs. Willard removed her school to Troy, and was abundantly suc- cessful. This seminary is now always associated with her name and fame. In 1830 Mrs. Willard visited Europe, and on her return published a volume of travels, the avails of which, amounting to twelve hundred dollars, were 626 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. devoted to the cause of educating girls in Greece. She gave the avails of several other publications tc the same object. " In 1838 Mrs. Willard resigned hei charge of the Troy Seminary, and returned to Hart- ford, where she revised her celebrated Manual of American History for the use of schools. The merits of this work, her smaller United States History, and Universal History, have been attested by their very general use in seminaries of education. Since 1843 she completed the revision of her historical works, revised her Ancient Geography, and, in compliance with invitations, wrote numerous addresses for different occasions, being mostly on educational subjects. Two of these were written by request of the Western Lit- erary Institute and College of Teachers, and were read at annual meetings of the society at Cincinnati, one in 1842, and the other in 1843. In 1845, by special invi- tation, she attended the convention of county and town superintendents, held at Syracuse. She was invited to take part in the public debate : declining that honor, the gentlemen of the convention, to the number of about sixty, called on her at her lodgings, where she read to them a prepared address. The principal topic of it was, ' that women, now suflS- ciently educated, should be employed and furnished by the men as committees, charged with the minute cares and supervision of the common schools ; ' reasoning from the premises that to man it belongs to provide for the children, while upon woman it is incumbent to take the provision, and apply it economically and judi- ciously. These sentiments were received with decided approbation. "In the fall of the same year, 1845, Mrs. Willard made, with great satisfaction, an educational tour WOMEN EDUCATORS. 527 chrough some of the southern coyunties of New York ; having been specially invited to attend the institutions for the improvement of teachers of the common schools. At Monticello, Binghamton, Owego, Cairo, and Rome, she aided in instructing no less than five hundred teachers of these schools ; and in many cases her part- ings with the young female teachers were not without tears. " The inhabitants of the places where she went to instruct teachers, desiring to have a share in her visits, at their request she attended public meetings of both sexes, where she introduced resolutions which were unanimously passed in the several counties, and aided in the debates. The object was, to forward her scheme of giving to the best-educated and most able women of the country, the charge and supervision of the village schools for little children, especially of those things appertaining to the conveniences of such schools. That the teachers of these schools should be mostly females, is now universally agreed ; but, argued she, while the young women can be the teachers, it needs the matrons to aid in the supervision. . . . Dur- ing the spring and summer of 1846, Mrs. Willard made the tour of the Southern and Western States, visiting every 'one of them except Texas. In every city she met her former pupils, who gave her a filial welcome. She was received by the principals of schools, and those employed in education, as an ' educationalist -, ' and as Buch was invited to visit and to address schools, where, in many instances, she received public testimonials of consideration. " In addition to the compends of history which she has written, she has invented, for the purpose of teach- ing and impressing chronology on the mind by the eye, 528 WOMEN OF THE CENTTTBY. two charts of an entirely original character ; one called ' The American Chronographic for American History,' and the other for universal history, called the ' Temple of Time.' In 1849 she published ' Last Leaves from American History ; ' containing an interesting account of our Mexican war, and of California. Mrs. Willard wrote one small volume of poetry, but is best known by her admirable hymn ' Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep.' Mrs. Willard died April 15, 1876, universally respected and widely beloved." Her sister, Almtra H. Lincoln Phelps, was her pupil once, and afterward became celebrated as an educator and author. " At the age of thirty, Mrs. Lincoln was left a widow, with two children, and with two perplexed estates, those of her husband and his father, to settle, which she successfully accomplished. At that time she began the study of the Latin and Greek languages and the natural sciences, and also applied herself to improving her talent for drawing and painting, in order to prepare herself for assisting her sister Mrs. Willard in the Troy Seminary, where she passed seven years engaged in alternate study and instruction. A fine sketch of Mrs. Phelps and her labors is given in Mrs. Hale's book. She, as well as Mrs. Willard, is mentioned in the chapter on ' Women Scientists.' Among her published works are courses of lectures on education, a ' Geology for Beginners,' and a translation of Mme. Necker de Saussure's ' Progressive Education.' " Catherine Fiskb was a teacher born in Worcester, Mass., July 30, 1784. She commenced her life profes- sion when but fifteen, and continued it till her death. May 20, 1837, a period of thirty-eight years. For a number of years she was instructor in the public or WOMEN BDUCATOBS. 529 district schools; but in 1814 she opened her Female Seminary at Keene, N.H., where she presided during the remainder of her life, exerting a wide and salutary influence. Berenice Mat and Bathsheba Whitman labored over half a century, as teachers, in Massachusetts. May not the writer here place the names of her earliest teachers, Mary Russell (since the wife of Peleg Mitchell of Nantucket) and Sarah C. Easton, now deceased? To the latter lady, who was longest my teacher, I owe a debt of gratitude for thorough instruc- tion, which can never be repaid. Alice Mitchell, Susan (Burdick) Channing, and Maria L. Owen were also at various periods my teachers ; the first in her own Quaker private school, the two latter in the high school of Nantucket. In the grammar school, for a short time, I was taught by Avis Gardner, Lucy Starbuck, Elizabeth (Watson) Crane, Elizabeth Easton, Martha Mitchell, all of whose names I take pleasure in placing here, as they were educators of uncommon ability and fidelity. To other instructors I owe much ; but they cannot be mentioned here, because this is a record of some noticeable women of the century, and they were of the other — usually more favored — sex. Martha Whiting was born in Hingham, Mass., Feb. 27, 1795. She commenced teaching in her native town when about seventeen. She became the founder of the Charlestown Female Seminary, a Baptist school where many noted persons have been finely educated, among them Mary A. Livermorb, Abbie R. Ivnight, and others who have since been successful teachers. Miss Whiting died at Hingham, Aug. 22, 1853. Her remains rest in Mount Auburn. 530 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Elizabeth Palmer Peabody has already been mentioned in the chapter on " Literary Women." Some of her educational views are expressed in A. Bronson Alcott's book " Records of a School." The records were really kept by Miss Peabody, who was a teacher in Mr. Alcott's school. In the preface to the third edition, she mentions a change in some of her educational plans or ideas. She is a devoted lover of the kindergarten system, and has done much toward introducing it into the infant-schools of our country. Nancy B. Seaver. — A correspondent of " The Bos- ton Journal" says of this lady, "I think it only a tribute due the memory of a long and faithful servant of Boston (Miss Nancy B. Seaver, who died the 8th inst., aged seventy-nine years), that public notice be given in the press. Many will remember her with re- spect as one who, for over thirty years, was a public- school teacher at the North End. In all this time she was absent but two weeks from her duties by sickness. Truly she was a true and faithful servant of the public, having spent her best days and life in their service." Says " The Boston Journal " also of Anna Glover, " Many elderly people have recently died in Stoughton, among them Miss Anna Glover at the advanced age of seventy-five. She was the author of ' Glover Memo- rials and Genealogies,' having spent many years in research, and written more than one thousand letters for information concerning the book. It was a great undertaking for a person in her feeble health. She, with her sister Eleanor, whom she survived but a few months, formerly kept a private school for young ladies. They were highly respected by a large circle of friends." A friend furniahes the following sketch of Caboliitb '■'^iii ' ^^ y w^^ WOMEN EDUCATORS. 533 A. Cabpenter, lady principal of the well-known Laaell Seminary, Auburndale, Mass. : — Miss Carpenter has just claim to a place among the best women educators of our girls. It is not difficult to trace some of the influences which have made her such. To exceptional natural talent a wise mother gave op- portunity by placing her early in Mrs. Emma Willard's school at Troy, New York, which represented at the time the most advanced ideas in the higher education of women. Mrs. Willard inspired her pupils to do good work in school, and to take up life afterward with high purpose, courage, and patience. She was withal an elegant and accomplished lady, with fine feminine gifts of insight and foresight, who left some likeness to berself on many of her pupils. Miss Carpenter has these qualities in large measure : the intellectual integrity, executive abil- ity, and physical poise which give power. Until the death of her father, in 1871, Miss Carpenter conducted a private school at Saratoga Spa, her native place. Soon after she came with her lovely mother — whose gentle ways and silver hair add much to the home- air of the place — to her present position in Lasell Sem- inary. Through years of care and work, such as prove for most teachers " exhausting," she has kept perfect health, a steady, cheerful spirit, and the courage of youth. By study at home, and vacations well filled abroad, she has kept abreast with the improving methods of teaching and with the progress of knowledge in her own lines of work. In every emergency of a large girls' school she is a reserve of strength : in discipline firm ; in perplexity self-possessed ; in personal character and influence main- taining always the freshness of an ever-assimilating and deepening ]if«» 534 WOMJSN OF THIS CKNTUBY. Claiming for herself no personal recognition, the mem- ory of pupils clings gratefully about such a teacher as experience of life reveals the value of her work, and she seems to them unselfish, devoted, and very faithful. So Providence illumines and exalts the abiding work, and gives it a manifold reward in human character. The influence of a noble woman, an inspiring teacher repeats itself in every home. So is Miss Carpenter remembered and beloved. She is now in the tenth year of work at Lasell Semi- nary, which owes much to her fidelity and devotion ; and the cause of thorough womanly education also owes her much, and has in her a noble representative and helper. Alice C. Fletcher has been many years a teacher. As the secretary of the Association for the Advance- ment of Women, she has some prominence, and has done valuable work. Her response to a wi^h for data as is follows : — " Although I have labored by my pen, my voice, and my executive powers, for the elevation of woman, and the purification of the race from the sins of drunken- ness both of spirits and tobacco, yet I do not find the language of data. " Your request came to me with the suddenness of the vision to Abou Ben Adhem, and like him I can only say from my heart, ' Write me as one who loves ' her fellow- women." " The New York Tribune" thus refers to a veteran teacher : — " The death is announced at Cleveland of Miss Almeda Booth, who for thirty years has been a teacher WOMEN EDUCATORS. 535 In Northern Ohio, and who was for a long time the lady principal of Hiram College. There is something peculiarly honorable in such a career : it can hardly bring the enduring fame or even the material reward which most toilers seek for, but it is extremely labo- rious as well as responsible. If we consider how many pupils have been under the guidance of this lady at the critical period of their lives, how many characters she has been instrumental in forming and rounding, into how many homes she has sent good mothers, and into how many schools good teachers, how many lives she has made successful by guarding their early cul- ture, how much intellectual progress her training has made possible, of how many hundreds she has been — if we may say so — the real mother, we shall then begin to comprehend the nobility of her vocation. So many teach only for a time, — men until they can prepare themselves for something else, women until they can marry, — that instances of lifelong devotion to school- keeping, though by no means rare, are not so common as they should be. For, after all, teaching is a busi- ness to grow into, nor can it be well done unless it is loved by the doer. . . . " It is evident that the subject of education has very fast hold of the American mind ; but we are all better assured of its importance than of the methods by which it should be conducted. In the discussions to which the religious question has given rise, we are surprised that so little should be said of the teacher's position, and that apparently so little is left to the teacher's dis- cretion. . . . " Once for all, let it be understood that teaching is not like street-paving or house-building, or other mat- ter of contract ; that teachers are not hired just to give 536 WOMEN OF THE CENTUKY. lessous in g^Dgraphy and grammar according to sys- tems approved by those who hire them ; that teaching, if it be real, is a contact of mind, with mind and heart with heart ; or, to use Dr. Webster's explanation, that it is ' sending, passing, communicating, leading, draw- ing.' " Clearly, if more teachers were what they should be, and the confidence of the public in them what it should be, half our difficulties would at once vanish. The clever and accomplished head of a well-established pri- vate school does as he pleases : he reads the Bible to his scholars, or he omits the reading, as he thinks fit ; he varies the routiae of his establishment according to circumstances or to the special need of individuals : he keeps no Procrustean bed for stretching or shortening God's image. Being free to act, and in no danger of dismissal by a board, he imparts knowledge in a large and liberal way, and does not fear to try occasional experiments. The teachers of public schools should also have something of this honorable Kberty. Over- sight we well enough understand that they require ; strict responsibility is what we would constantly hold them to ; swift discharge be theirs should they prove incompetent or unfaithful in any way; but this need not prevent them from enjoying a certain degree of independence, nor from being permitted to put their own minds into their own work. It is a question whether this self-reliance is sufficiently encouraged; and yet without it no teacher can respect himself or his vocation. If he is what he should be, intelligent, conscientious, and well-informed, there is surely no danger in sujBFering him to have some personality of his own. He, at any rate, is personally responsible for the progress of those committed to his charge, — responsible WOMEN EDUCATORS. 537 to a liigher Power than the board ; and he should feel that he is at liberty to bring to the work something of his own individuality. Make him a mere drill-ser- geant, and he will always be neglecting his duties, and always thinking of the time when he can afford to be mustered out. But give his mind a field to work in, and freedom to work, and make his labor the means of his own intellectual progress, and he will cling to a profession which he finds to be truly liberal, and become an invaluable co-operator with the legislature in the business of public education. There would be no temptation then to fly away from school-keeping to law, physic, divinity, civil engineering, or shop- keeping. Well paid, trusted, respected, and in some instances even revered, the teacher would by his example and his suggestions help us to solve these problems which are becoming so troublesome, should they come to vex us at all. There would be no ques- tion then of abandoning the whole system of public education. The sheer force and character of those engaged in it would alone perpetuate it." The problem of employing women as principals of public schools, even of the high and grammar depart- ments, may be considered solved, so many women having proved themselves abundantly qualified to fill that station. Sarah J. Baker, a native of Nantucket, teaching in Roxbury ; Charlotte M. Gardner, and Minnie Austin, both natives of the same island, the one in Philadelphia and the other in San Francisco, — have helped to solve it. New York City has had such able service from Kath- KRiNB (White) Perry, Amy B. Butts, Agnes Bar- tram Washburn, and others, as faithful teachers, able 538 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. to govern and direct, as well as to teach from books, that the problem is no longer doubtful there. More women should occupy the place of principal, and find, as Jersey City has found, with Mary S. Beal in office, that women have ability in superintending as well as in teaching. And always they should receive the same salary as any male teacher who occupies a similar position. Work in quality and quantity, and not sex, should limit the compensation. Among teachers of private schools, Christiana Rounds of Maine, and Sarah R. Smith of Massachusetts (the one formerly a teacher in the Brooklyn Polytechnical Institute, the other in State Normal School at Salem, Mass.), should be mentioned. Their school is in Brooklyn, N.Y. Anna C. Brackett is among the educational torces m New York City, laboring in her private school and with voice and pen for the good cause. " Time would fail me to tell " of the sisters M. Jennie, Lizzie, and Ellen E. Miles, who have taught successfully, — the latter fourteen years, the first named over twenty, — and of thousands of others who are doing grand service to the youth of our land. The women teachers in our public schools are among the most faithful and useful, but are too often subject to the injustice of doing the same work a man teacher does, for only half or two- thirds the pay. An instance can be mentioned whore a male principal received eighteen hundred dollars, and the female assistant only six hundred dollars, and it could be proved that her work was double in quantity and better in quality than the man's ; and this is only one instance in a vast number everywhere occurring. The second century will show a different state of things ; for already women are being placed on school boards, and, when there is political equality between the sexes, justice will be insured. WOMEN EDU0ATOE8. 539 A Boston paper thus refers to one who has served on Bk school board : — "Miss Clabissa Butler, of Groton, died in this city last Wednesday after a long illness. She was a daughter of the late Caleb Butler, Esq., the historian of the town. She will be greatly missed by her neigh- bors and townsfolk, as she occupied a position of remarkable usefulness. For the last forty years she had been closely connected with the local charities and the questions of public education ; and she had been so capable in whatever duties she had undertaken that it will be difficult for any one to fill her place. She inherited her father's antiquarian taste, and was more famihar with the history of the town than any other person. At one time she was the preceptress of the Lawrence Academy at Groton ; and of late years she has served as a member of the school committee, where her opinions were always justly treated with great deference. She took an active part in the Groton Public Librar}% and made her influence felt in various directions for the benefit of her townspeople. Her loss will be felt in many different walks of life. Apart, however, from her cultivation and strength of mind, she will be remembered best for her conscientious and Christian life." SoPflLA. S. Cornell inaugurated the progressive sys- tem of teaching geography. Though her books have been superseded in our ])ublic schools, they have only been replaced by others based upon her plan, for which plan she is entitled to great credit, as every educator knows. Miss Cornell was born in New London, Conn. She died in Owego, N. Y., in 1875. She commenced teaching at the age of fifteen, and was for many years Drincipal of a public school, but gave up teaching to 540 V70MKN OF THE CENTURY. engage in the publication of her well-known series ol school geographies. Age does not seem to cause any diminution in zeal to the lovers of learning ; for we are told " One of the earliest applications for a place in the School of Zool- ogy, held this summer at Cornell University, was from a lady fifty years old, one who has been teaching nat- ural history in one of the largest cities for thirty years. One of the most active and enthusiastic pupils at the Anderson School was nearly sixty years of age." Mention should be made of the colleges in oui- land for women, but for lack of space. Vassar College, built and endowed by its noble founder at a cost of half a million, has been the only college where woman's education has been provided for as liberally as in colleges for men. The Smith College at Northampton, founded by Miss Sophia Smith, bids fair to rival Vassar in time, and be a worthy monument to a worthy woman. The following ladies form part of the faculty of Smith College : Miss Sarah W. Humphrey, daughter of the late Pres. Humphrey, is at the head of the department of history ; Miss Maria Whitney, sister of Prof. Whitney of Yale, takes French and German ; and Miss Mary A. Hastings, late principal of Hamil- ton Seminary, New York, mathematics. Mrs. E. E. Allen is matron. Many towns and cities, in New England especially, have elected women on the school-boards. Of one elected as a supervisor in Boston, " The Boston Jour- aaJl " says, — •' Miss LuoRETiA Crocker was first brought to the attention of the public three years ago, when, by the unanimous voice of the citizens of Ward 11 (now Ward ::^ WOMEN EDUCATOE8. 543 18), she was elected as a member of the old school committee ; and the excellent judgment and sound learning she displayed in all measures affecting the welfare of the schools made her a very acceptable candidate for the re-organized school-system. Her election to the position of supervisor was urged by many of the best citizens of Boston ; and it will give general satisfaction." WeUesley CoUege for women is justly entitled to mention, and its founder, Henry F. Durant, to great praise. The noble structure stands on the shore of Lake Waban, in Massachusetts (named for John Waban, a fellow-laborer with the apostle to the Indians, John Eliot), and is one of the most.elegant, and best arranged for comfort and study, in the world. This is believed to be the only college in the world whose faculty is composed wholly of women. " The Washington Chron- icle" of Nov. 14, 1875, contains a long and interesting article concerning this college, from which the follow- ing is taken : — " The coiirse of study is intended to be as complete and thorough as that at Harvard, including full courses in the higher mathematics, Latin, Greek, and the mod- ern languages ; and, although Greek is an optional study, a large class of young ladies have already entered upon its pursuit. German is to have the foremost place in the curriculum of the modern languages ; and thor- oughness of study is to be the aim of every department. Systematic study of the Scriptures will be included in the course ; and Christian influences will be made prominent in all departments. The resident teachers, from the president down, are women, though the special lecturers wiU be selected largely from the opposite sex. 544 WOMEN OP THE CENTURY. Paramount to every other qualification in a twacher is that of vital piety ; and she must be one who, having consecrated herself to Christ, will seek opportunities to win the students to a loving, trusting faith. " The total number of the faculty is twenty-eight, but several of the teachers have not yet reported. The names of those already on duty are as follows : — " Miss Ada L. Howard, president ; Miss Mary Horton, professor of Greek ; Miss Sarah Glazier, of astronomy and mathematics ; Misses Lucia F. Clark, Helen Stork, Catharine Worcester, and Esther E. Thompson, of Latin ; Jennie Nelson, of Latin and French ; Sarah Willard, of French, German, and Italian ; L. C. Hall, of French; Bessie T, Capen, of chemistry and mineral- ogy ; Susan B. Hallowell, of natural history ; Sophia B. Horr, of grammar, physical geography, and drawing ; Sarah P. Eastman, of history ; Frances Emerson, of history and algebra ; Ellen Gow, of mental and moral science, and composition ; Elizabeth M. Benson, of arithmetic and English literature; Mary M. Burnham, of English literature ; Gertrude E. Randall, of music ; Mary Currie, of elocution. There are, in addition, two non-resident professors of music, Messrs. Edward A. Paine and Charles E. Morse, of Boston ; and Prof. Walter Smith will give advice and lectures in the de- partment of art education. Miss Howard, the presi- dent, is a graduate of Holyoke Seminary, and has had much experience at the head of educational institutions. The administration of the domestic branches of the institution devolves upon Miss H. A. Hurd, the super- intendent, who was formerly in charge of the Boston Young Woman's Christian Association Home. She is assisted by Miss Walker. A chief baker, an engineer, and a porter constitute the entire force of the masculine WOMEK EDUCATORS. 545 sex in the college ; while eight laundresses and two or three servants in the kitchen make up the personnel of the college, independent of the pupils. This is believed to be the only college in the world, of which the entire faculty is composed of women. The students are from all parts of the North, West, and Middle States, Maryland, and Virginia, and some from Canada. The accommodations are for three hundred ; and fully two hundred applications for admission were rejected." By the kindness of a friend the following account is presented of the lady — Alice E. Freeman, Ph. D. — who is now (1882) president of WelFesley College : — " Miss Alice E. Freeman was born in Colesville, Broome County, N. Y., February 21, 1855, the eldest of the four children of James and Elizabeth (Higley) Free- man. Her parents were bravely at work tilling the soil and studying medicine together at every leisure moment. She is, therefore, by an active predestination, the daugh- ter of both zeal and culture. Dr. Freeman, who is now in the successful practice of his profession in the State of Michigan, originally removed his family to Pennsylvania while he completed his college course. From this point he took them to Windsor, N. Y., a charming spot on the Susquehanna, whose natural scenery and admirable acad- emy gave to Miss Freeman an excellent physique and a good education. She was already old enough to share the responsibilities of the household, and as she developed a love for the higher branches of study it was inevitable that she should think of and prepare for Vassar. " But at this time the University of Michigan opened its doors to co-education, and at once Miss Fieeman's resolution was taken. Although imperfectly prepared in one or two of their more rigid requirements, she resolved to be among the " pioneers," and was able then and after- wards to satisfy fully the severe demands of that curricu- 046 WOMEN OF THE CENT UK Y. lum. It is not too high praise to say that to her is due a very notable share of the great success of that somewhat hazardous experiment. Her simplicity and directness of character, her thorough and womanly self-respect, her earnest and faithful scholarship, and her large and un- sectarian Christian spirit, — all these exerted an influ- ence of which it is hard to estimate the value. That her Alma Mater, at its recent Commencement, bestowed upon her its highest honor — that of Doctor of Philoso- phy — by a unanimous vote of the Regents and Faculty, and without any examination, is enough to show the merit of her work. " Miss Freeman graduated with her class in 1876, and for a year was an instructor in the academy at Geneva Lake, Wis., teaching Greek, Latin, and the higher math- ematics. In 1877 she became preceptress of the high school at East Saginaw, Mich., and in 1879 she was in- vited to the chair of history in Wellesley College. In November, 1881, she became acting president, and in June, 1882, accepted the presidency of the institution. *' By those who know her best Miss Freeman is espe- cially esteemed for her quick sympathies, her sincere enthusiasm, her devotion to the cause of higher education among women, her capacity and courage in carrying out her convictions, and particularly for a most lovely and Christian charity, which creates an atmosphere of purity and earnestness throughout all her work. The only limit to her own self-sacrificing energy appears to be her physical strength. She is yet too young, however, to fail of that flexibility and adaptation of thought and force which should make her duties still easier to her in the years which are to come. The words of Lowell's poem are peculiarly descriptive of her : — " ' She doeth little kindnesses, Which most leave undone, or despise ; WOMEN EDUCATORS. 547 For naught that seth one heart at ease, And giveth happiness or peace, Is low-esteemed in her eyes.' " Thoiigh much is left unwritten that perhaps ought to find place here, this chapter must now close with an article from ' The Liberal Christian,' on " Woman and Education in the West: " — " A clever woman tells the readers of ' The New Century for Woman ' how her hitherto much-abused and restricted sisters are rapidly and successfully en- croaching upon the pedagogic territory until recently occupied almost exclusively by ' second-grade men.' Her letter, which we print nearlv in full, bristles with telling facts. " ' The West is bending all her energies toward the solution of the educational problem. Iowa took the lead five years ago in appointing a woman as superin- tendent of schools. To-day that State has ten counties superintended by women, while Illinois, swift to follow a wise departure, has eleven. One of these, Maby Allen West, was formerly an editorial writer in Phila- delphia. She is liberally endowed with common sense (a somewhat rare talent), and is an able member of the corps. All of these women are doing good work under a severe test ; for the duties of a superintendent, in a large county whose towns are scattered, are by no means light. A gentleman who canvasses the educa- tional field of the North-west, and is acquainted with the workers and their work, assures me that the women filling these positions are more earnest, more faithful, and more able, than the men in similar places. Of course only the strongest women secure these appoint- ments, 80 slow is prejudice in yielding to policy. Hith- erto an inferior grade of ability has been tolerated, if 548 WOMEN OF THE CENTTJEY. only it were clothed in the traditional broadcloth. But sentiment is rapidly changing. Square pegs are being put into square holes, and second-grade men are being quietly replaced by first-grade women. So large a town as Bloomington, in this State, has had the wis- dom to secure the best talent in the market by electing for its superintendent of schools Miss Sauah E. Ray- mond. One who knows assures me that the schools are in fine condition under the new rSgime. Daven port, lo., has also put her schools into the hands of a woman. These towns are clear-eyed enough to see that they are getting a better article for their money. With similar wise economy, Chicago has placed her twenty primary schools under the charge of women. These average five hundred pupils each, while several number over one thousand. Two of the large gram- mar schools have been finely conducted by women prin- cipals for several years ; and, to the credit of Chicago be it stated, the salaries paid were determined by the work, and not by the sex, of the workers. " ' Women have enjoyed a monopoly of the graces of humility and submission. They have been " impoged upon " until it has become unfeminine to challenge a decent foothold in the world of work. Co-education and liberal training are putting things upon a diflferent basis. The Chicago University has had a part both in the wrongs and the rightings that tread so closely upon each other's heels in this age. Until two years ago the institution restricted its privileges to young men. Among the instructors, however, were two ladies, the daughters of the eminent Greek scholar. Prof. James R. Boise. One of these, a graduate of Ann Arbor and a remarkably fine Greek scholar, was her father's chosen assistant. The other, as the result of long and special WOMEN EDUCATORS. 549 training both at home and abroad, excelled in German and French, and taught those branches in the Univer- sity. These two women, although they did excellent work for years, and helped in no slight degree to build up the reputation of the college for thorough linguistic training, were not only paid at starvation rates, but were also not named in the catalogue with the corps of instructors. '"These women were too genuine to push their way. they simply waited for slow-footed justice. The elder, when offered a degree by the Evanston University, said, " No, I will wait till my own college sees fit to confer it upon me." The tardy recognition came ; the degree was bestowed, and this year the name of the younger sister appears in the catalogue. It is but a courtesy ; but it is the index, let us hope, of a larger justice. Women, the sensible ones, care less for the titles than for what they represent in hard cash. Even at the top- most round of this profession, we need not fear that generous recognition of value received will blunt those delicate gra'^oR which spring from self-denial. The old catchword " demand and supply " leaps to the front the moment one ventures to open this vexed question. Pray reconstruct your political economies, if they will not meet such a case as the following. " * Two years ago, when the trustees of this Univer- sity levelled the barricades, and invited young women to enter, a lady was placed at the head of the new department. Miss Mary E. Chapin, M.A., is a remark- able woman, both in natural endowments and acquired knowledge. She has given a lifetime to teaching in schools of high grade, and is in every respect the peer of her associates in this new field. She is contented in her work, and hopeful of the better day for women, the 550 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. sign of which she chiefly finds in the growing willing- ness and even eagerness of girls to submit to the long and toilsome training which is the condition of success. Her services in this one direction — helping girls to the real whys and wherefores — are invaluable. One cannot see her making a rounded whole of her life work, and getting her meagre fractional equivalent at cash valuations, without longing for a new Adam — Smith — to appear. " ' The co-educational test in Chicago i^ meeting the warmest wishes of its friends. Thirty young women have this year availed themselves of the chances, and their scholarship is of high grade. As a rule, the but- terflies are too fond of summer weather to enter these gnm walls. They are fitted to bear neither the intel- lectual nor the moral strain, and in the eternal fitness of things they ought to stay away. A bright girl who has just entered upon the classical course of this uni- versity said to rae a week ago, " When we girls first went into the Greek class, the boys thought they must help us out at the board; but they have found that girls can learn Greek, and they are not so officious as they were." Several other persons are " finding out that girls can learn Greek," though the world has moved in a circle since Sir Roger Ascham's day. There are ups and downs in all sorts of progress, else what a climb there would be I and what a tremendous backward lurch if there were no valleys I ' " CHAPTER XVI. WOMEN PHYSICIANS. Harriot K. Hunt and sister — Mercy B. Jaclvson — The Influence of Marie Zakrzewska and the Blaclvwell sisters — Clemence Lozier — Mary Putnam Jacobi — Susan Dimock, and others. " Such gifts are woman's priceless dower: yet, sisters mine, how few Dare take the precious burden up, and woman's true work do! " Mary M. Chase. " The beloved physician." — Col. iv. 14. "TTTHEN speaking of Mrs. Hill's school for girls in W Athens, Greece, Mrs. Hale very sensibly says, " Only one branch — an important one — of instruction needs to be added to make the system of Mars Hill complete, — that of preserving health. Women are the natural guardians of infancy : they should be carefully instructed in medical science. Anatomy, physiology, hygiene, are studies more appropriate to their condi- tion and duties than to those of men. That the one sex has monopolized all the knov/ledge on this science is no ^52 WOMEN OF THE CENTUBY reason they should continue to hold it, any moie than, because the old Greek philosophers taught only by lec- tures, therefore books should be thrown aside. The .art of printing has opened the temple of learning to woman ; every year is giving new and unquestionable proofs that she is the heaven-appointed help of man in all that really improves the race. Health is one of the first earthly blessings : it is necessary to the best devel- opment of the soul, as well as the body ; let the art or science which teaches how to preserve it and to restore it be taught to those who are watchers by the cradle of infancy, and soothers by the couch of suffering. The whole East, Mohammedans as well as Christians, might be reached by the ministry of pious female physicians of their own sex. The important practice of midwifery has never passed into the hands of men in the land where the son of a midwife was the wisest heathen philosopher who has ever appeared. The greatest benefaction the mission at Athens could now confer on humanity would be to educate female physi- cians, into whose hands might be given the care of women and children." That benefaction the world is receiving from the various medical colleges in America now open to women ; and all over our laud there are now scattered educated women physicians who are doing successfully the work they have been appointed by God to do ; for it is in the ordering of a wise Providence that women should have physicians of their own sex, and that chil- dren should be cared for by the natural care-takers of the little ones, who with motherly aptness can pre- scribe according to their varied needs. The first woman who obtained the degree of M.D. in our country was ^Elizabeth Blackwkll. She was bom in England, WOMEN PHYSICIANS. 553 it is true, but came to this country when about eleveu years old, and, since her example has proved such a stimulus to so many women, is deserving high place in a record of the women of our first century. In 1843 she first resolved to be a physician; and after studying Greek, Latin, &c., in 1845 she went to North Carolina, where she taught French and music, and read medicine with Dr. John Dickson. She then went to Charleston, S.C., where she taught music, and read industriously under Dr. S. H. Dickson, since a professor of practice in the University of New York. In 1847 she came to Philadelphia, for the same study. That summer Dr. J. M. Allen, professor of anatomy, afforded her excel- lent opportunities for dissection in his private ana- tomical rooms. The winter following, she attended her first full course of lectures at Geneva, N.Y. The next summer she resided at the Blockley Hospital, Philadelphia, where she had the kindest attentions from Dr. Benedict, the principal physician, and the very large range for observation which its great variety and number of cases afford. The succeeding winter, she attended her second course at Geneva, and gradu- ated regularly at the close of the session. Her thesia was upon ship-fever, which she had ample opportuni- ties for observing at Blockley. It was so ably written that the faculty of Geneva determined to give it pub- lication. Mrs. Hale adds, " It is in keeping with my idea of this story to add that the proceeds of her own industry have been adequate to meet the entire ex- penses of her medical education, — about eight hundred dollars. My purpose in detailing these particulars is, to give the fullest notion of her enterprise and object. She gave the best summary of it that can be put into words, in her reply to the president of the Geneva Col- 554 WOMEN OP THE CENTURY. lege, when he presented her diploma. Departing from the usual form, he rose, and addressed her in a manner 80 emphatic and unusual, that she was surprised into a response. ' I thank you, sir,' said she. ' With the help of the Most High, it shall be the duty of my life to shed honor on this diploma.' " And this she has done, till her name is a synonyme for medical worth. In 1849 Dr. Blackwell went to Europe, where she visited hospitals, being received with courtesy, and continued the study and practice of her profession. She is now in England ; but her influ- ence is felt on this side of the Atlantic. Her sister, Dr. Emily Blackwell, has since entered the medical profession, and is now a successful practitioner, besides being at the head of a hospital and medical college for women in New York City. These two physicians, the Blackwell sisters, may be regarded as pioneers in that profession, whose names will be held in grateful and fadeless remembrance. Besides these, much credit be- longs to Dr. Marie Zakrzewska for opening the way for women into the medical profession. Dr. Zakr- zewska is a foreigner, but has been many years in this country, and has exerted a marked and beneficent influence among the younger women of the century. Her great skill and success have won renown for her- self, and encouraged many others. Mrs. Caroline H. Dall has written a sketch of this physician's life, which is worthy a place in every woman's library, and which shows how energy and perseverance can overcome obstacles. In her admirable book, " The College, the Market, and the Court," Mrs. Dall has several pages devoted to the subject of " Medical Education," and speaks of one college and one hospital in Boston where education is given, one also in Springfield, and one in WOMEN PHYSICIANS. 555 Philadelphia. There have been since at least two medical colleges for women in New York City ; and there are now hundreds of women doctors in our land, earning incomes of from ten to twenty thousand dollars. A few only of the women physicians can be specified here, and they, for obvious reasons, only those best known to the world, or well known to the writer. Drs. Helen Morton and Luoy E. Sewall are worthy physicians in Boston, at the New England Hos- pital, where they have been very successful. One of the most successful women surgeons in the land. Dr. Susan T. Dimock, after thorough preparation here and in European hospitals, was drowned in the steamship " Schiller " on her way to England. She studied in Zurich ; and her graduating thesis was considered a careful and scientific analysis of a diflBcult subject. It was published in German with this title : " Uber die Verschiedenen Formen des Puerperal Fieber. Inaug- ural Dissertation by Susan T. Dimock, aus Boston." ' The remains of Dr. Dimock were j-ecovered from the wreck of the " Schiller ; " and her funeral took place June 4, 1875, from the Church of the Disciples, Boston; the pastor, Kev. Dr. J. Freeman Clarke, offici- ating. Eight eminent male physicians of Boston were the pall-bearers. ''Dr. Clarke recalled with marked eloquence and tenderness the salient traits of Dr. Dimock's character, her gentleness and strength, her sweetness and cheerfulness. He also read extracts from a letter, narrating a few incidents of the wreck immediately connected with the death of Miss Dim- ock. " When last seen," the letter said, " she was kneeling on the deck, praying aloud; and, as she 1 On the Different Forma of Puerperal Fevei. 556 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. knelt, a sea broke over the vessel, and swept her with a group near her out of human sight or aid When she was taken from the water, her face wore a peaceful, even a happy expression. The inhabitants of the island were touched by its sweet repose ; and the body was presently strewn with flowers by compassionate men and women. Even the rude fishermen who bore the body to the steamer which brought her home felt the same influence ; one of them saymg, as they left the bier, ' We laid her down as softly as ever her own mother did.' " A free bed at the hospital in Boston, where she was the honored and beloved phy- sician, is established as a memorial. Among the first, if not the first, to practise medicine in this country, was Dr. Harriot K. Hunt. Her auto- biographical work called " Glances and Glimpses " is Ro complete a statement of her struggles, that the reader is advised to peruse it, and excuse the brevity of this notice. She was born Nov. 9, 1805 ; and her sister, Sarah Augusta Hunt, who was also a physi- oiati, was born Dec. 25, 1808. Dr. Harriot died at the age of sixty-three, Jan. 2, 1875, in Boston, where she had spent her useful life. Mrs. Lucy Stone says of her, " She acquired a medical education by private instruc- tion from Dr. Nott, and commenced a practice nearly forty years ago, which became so successful and remunerative that she acquired an independent for- tune. ... As soon as she had property to be taxed she felt so keenly the essential injustice of taxation without representation, that every year, Av^hen she paid her tax, she sent with it to the city treasurer a protest, setting forth the principle that taxation and represen- tation are inseparable, and protesting against the wrong done to ali women who were compelled to pay taxes, "WOMEN PHYSICIANS. 557 and were yet denied a vote. She continued this practice more than a quarter of a century, till the end of her life. Her practical example of a successful business life, always maintained with a cheerful spirit, is a good legacy and lesson to all young women. She will be missed by many, but especially by those who sought her advice as a physician, and who were helped to health, as well by her cheerful spirit as by her medi- cine." " The Woman's Journal " ^ says, " Dr. Anna E. Bbomax,l of Chester, Penn., a graduate of the Woman's Medical College of Philadelphia, has returned from Europe, where she has spent three years visiting the hospitals for women in Paris, Vienna, and Loudon, thus perfecting herself in her profession, in which she bids fair to excel. She delivered this week, in Phila- delphia, a very interesting and lucid description of the management and nursing in the various hospitals which she has visited." The same paper on the same date referred to the fact that Rebecca Hanna was graduated at the medical department of the Iowa State University with the highest honors ; and was awarded the first prize, a fine case of surgical instruments, for her specimens of sur- gical anatomy. She went to Burlington, lo., to prac- tise medicine, and applied for membership to the Des Moines County Medical Association, but was refused because she was a woman. Catherine Underwood Jewell, M.D., is men- tioned with warm commendation by Mrs. Sarah BuRGES Stearns (herself a faithful worker for women ever since the hour when, as a young student, she sought to open the doors of Michigan University 1 For Jan. 16, 1875. 558 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. to woman, as a lecturer, writer, and philanthropist). Dr. Jewell died in Minnesota, March 30, 1873. She was a graduate of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania. " She was the dear friend and almost constant companion of Dr. Ann Preston, who did so much for the college during the many years that she was connected with it as professor of physiology and hygiene. Miss Underwood was very thorough in her preparation for medical practice. For nearly five years she continued her studies at this institution and at the New York Infirmary for Women under the supervision of Drs. Ehzabeth and Emily Blackwell. She was a oirthright Quaker, and was liberal in her religious views. She practised for some time in Bloomington, 111., and was there married to Dr. P. A. Jewell of Ann Arbor, Mich., where she practised till, robbing herself of outer clothing for another's protection, she suffered from an attack of pneumonia ; and thence came con- sumption, to cure which she and her husband removed to Minnesota in 1867. But liealth only came to her in a fairer clime, ' the land which no mortal may know.' " Dr. Clemence J. LoziER has been very successful as a physician in New York City. She was born Dec. 11, 1813, at Plainfield, N.J. A sketch of her career may be found in " Eminent Women of the Age." " In 1849 she attended her first course of lectures at the Central New York College, and graduated at the Syra- cuse Eclectic College in 1853, having previously applied for admission to several other institutions, and been refused on the ground that no female student could be received. ... In 1867 she visited Europe, where every facility was afforded her for the inspection of hospitals ; and eminent men received her, and intro- duced her to their associates with most gratifying WOMEN PHYSICIANS. 559 courtesy." In 1863, by her untiring efforts, a woman's medical college was established in New York. Dr. Lozier acknowledges the great help of Dr. Lydia F. FowLlER, and her husband L. N. Fowler, with that of Mrs. Charlotte Fowler Wells ; but above all she speaks of being indebted " to an unwavering faith in a present Saviour, and his constant, inspiring love." Dr. Hannah E. Longshore was the first to put up her professional " sign " in Philadelphia. She was born May 30, 1819, in Maryland. Her parents were Quakers. She married when twenty-two ; and, when the youngest of her two children was four years old, she commenced the study of medicine with her hus- band's brother. Prof. I. S. Longshore, whose books and maps, skeletons, &c., were at her service. She was one of the ten members who composed the first graduating class of the Woman's Medical College in Pennsylvania. She was immediately elected " Demonstrator of Anat- omy," and served acceptably in that capacity. After- ward she debved lectures to women on medical themes. She afterward relinquished all but private practice, and in this was remarkably successful. Her sister, Jane V. Meyers, M.D., resided in her family, and had a large practice. An older half-sister, Mary F. Thomas, M.D., now residing in Indiana, has been active and successful for several ^^ears. *' For two years Dr. Thomas was editor, and for a longer time contributor, to a semi-monthly journal devoted mainly to the cause of woman, published in Richmond, lo. During the Rebellion she was occupied much in collect- ing and distributing supplies ; and a portion of the time her husband, O. Thomas, M.D., and herself, had charge of a hospital in Tennessee." Dr. Ann Preston was born in December, 1830, in 5G0 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. West Grove, Penn., of Quaker parentage. She was a professor in the Woman's Medical College of Penn- sylvania, and at one time the " dean." Rachel L. Bodley is now the dean of that insti- tution, and a fine lecturer on chemistry to the medical students, as the writer can testify from the evidence of a delighted ear. Dr. Mercy B. Jackson, of Boston, is deserving of high place among the physicians who have done pio- neer work, and helped to make the path easier for the women who come after them. She was the daughter of Constant Ruggles, Esq., and was born in Hardwick, Mass., Sept. 17, 1802. In 1823 she married Rev. John Bisbee, a Universalist pastor in Hartford, Conn., and afterward in Portland, Me. In the midst of his work, her husband died suddenly, leaving her with two chil- dren to support. She at once opened a school for young ladies in Portland. "Superintending her house, doing the sewing for herself and little ones, studying French and Spanish with a view to making herself more competent as a teacher, and giving lessons in drawing on Wednesdays and Saturdays, filled every hour with its special work ; and the unremitting toil soon began to tell upon her health." In 1833 she married Capt. Daniel Jackson, and assumed the place of mother to his four children. Her two made six in the family ; and to these eight more of their own were added, making her the mother and stepmother of four- teen in all. Mrs. Jackson is a remarkable woman, or she could never have accomplished so much in caring for the physical and intellectual needs of her large family. The time came after her husband's death, and the children were old enough to be left, that she felt herself at liberty to take a regular course of study' in WOMEN PHYSICIANS. 561 the New England Medical College, though she had prao tised already eighteen years in Plymouth, Mass. Since receiving her diploma, " she has been established in Boston, commanding a large and lucrative practice, and numbering among her patients some of the first fam- ilies in the city and the adjacent towns. Too fully occupied by her profession to devote much time to any other work, Dr. Jackson is an earnest sympathizer with the reforms of the day, and a judicious friend to her own sex. Every year of her successful and benefi- cent life has been an eloquent argument in favor of a more thorough education for woman, and her right to work in any field of labor to which she feels attracted." Long may her motherly presence be felt among the reformers of our times ! Dr. Sarah A. Colby was born in Sanbornton, N.H., May 31, 1824. Her parents were Ebenezer and Sally Colby, who had eight children, of whom only two sur- vived ; and both of these are women physicians. The intelligent father has " passed on : " the excellent moth- er still lives at the advanced age of eighty-four, her mind as active and her heart as kind as ever. Both their daughters were educated at the Sanbornton Acad- emy. Sarah devoted some time to teaching, mean- while cherishing a desire, early felt, for the study of medicine, which grew with each passing year. She was sometimes interrupted in her studies by ill health, which gave her during treatment an opportunity of observing that an absolute need exists for noble Chris- tian women with strong judgment and large scientific attainment to occupy the professional field as earnest co- laborers with their brothers for the benefit of suffering humanity, and especially for the help of their own sex. Dr. Colby studied in Philadelphia, and, after gradu- 562 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. ation, was at first an allopathisi, but eclectic in prac- tice ; yet within a few years she has j referred to practise as a homoeopathist. In a letter to the writer she says, " I am satisfied that the principle of material doses of medicine is not calculated to develop the higher spiritual nature as readily as a minimum or spir- itual dose. I really believe that the materialism of the present age does more to develop disease, and retain it, than every thing else combined. Understanding that the soul^ which is substance.^ should control the hody^ which is matter^ would do much toward recovering from bodily ills, and be in harmony with the teachings of Christ, and thus bring the soul into spiritual contact with the only fountain of life. ' The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up ' (Jas. v. 15). To one who comprehends the true philosophy of prayer, this will not seem unreasonable. The agitation of the woman question has given us, in many colleges of learning, co-education of the sexes, which has advanced other things. In the earlier years of my professional life, it was a hard matter to find a man physician who was willing to meet a woman physician on any terms for consultation ; while during the last five years it has not been an unfrequent occurrence for physicians to send their wives and daughters to me for treatment ; and, when the cases were discharged cured^ I was gen- erously awarded high praise. I have also been called to meet in consultation in Boston and other New Eng- land cities some of the most scientific men physicians of the ttge, from whom I received every courtesy that could be tendered to a professional associate. " I have devoted my Ufe since 1859 to this great cause of removing the sufi"erings of humanity, and therein have been a constant recipient of warm affection and WOMEN PHYSICIANS. 563 deep gratitude. The first ten years were given to family practice, and the remaining ones to office prac- tice, except in cases of special favor. I feel that my life-work is still largely in the future. *' My sister, Mrs. Esther W. Tayi^or, M.D., was born two years later than myself, in the same town ; educa- tion, &c., much the same. In early life she married N. F. Taylor, Esq., of Cambridgeport, Mass. They have one child, a daughter, now Mrs. George Ruston of Freeport, 111. When Mrs. Taylor decided to study medicine, she was nobly seconded in her efforts by her husband and daughter. She graduated from the Homoeopathic Medical College of Chicago, Feb. 22, 1872. In 1875 she became a member of the American Institute of Homoeopathy and the Homoeopathic State Meoical Society of Illinois. She has a large and suc- cessful practice in Freeport, 111." Dr. Colby's pleasant office,^ as the writer is well aware, is often thronged with patients ; and her success in cases that have come under my personal observation have merited the praise and gratitude expressed, as well as the pecuniary recompense which each has a right to desire. Her attention and skill have gained the lucrative practice which such a " beloved physician " deserves. Dr. Lydia a. Jenkins (who has already been men- tioned as a preacher) was a practising physician at the time of her death, and with her husband, E. S. Jenkins, M.D., was conducting the Hygienic Institute at Bing- hamton, N.Y. Dr. Sarah Hackett Stevenson is the first woman admitted to the American Medical Association. This admission was granted in June, 1876. " The Philadel- phia Evening Bulletin " of June 2 says, — 1 17 HaiiHOu Street, Boston. 564 WOMEN OF THE CENTUBY. " The doctors have combined millennial with centen- nial glories. The largest assemblage of the medical profession ever held in America yesterday honored itself by bursting the bonds of ancient prejudice, and admitting a woman to its membershij. by a vote that proved that the long-waged battle is won, and that henceforth professional qualification, and vot sex, is to be the test of standing in the medical world,. Looking back over the past fierce resistance by which every advance of woman into the field of medical life was met, yesterday's action seems like the opening of a scientific millennium. It was a most appropriate time and place for the beginning of this new era of medical righteousness and peace. Here, in the centennial year, in the city of brotherly love, where the first organised effort for the medical education of women was made, where the oldest and best appointed medical college for women in the world is located, and where the fight against women's entry into the medical profession began and was most hotly waged, was the place to take the manly new departures, which, so far as the national association is concerned, began yesterday in the elec- tion of Dr. Sarah Hackett Stevenson as a member in full standing from the State of Illinois. " We heartily congratulate the association on this manly abandonment of an old-time prejudice ; and the women, that, after patient endurance of much tribula- tion, they see of the travail of their soul, and are satisfied." Dr. Stevenson is a native of Illinois, and is proud that she is not only an American, but a Western woman. Illinois gave her a birthplace at Buffalo Grove, Ogle County, about thirty years ago. She graduated her WOMEN PHYSICIANS. 565 from her State University at Bloomington about ten years ago ; and gave her the degree of a doctor of medi- cine in her Woman's Medical College of Chicago, about one year ago. As she was educated for a teacher, she acted in that capacity from the time she graduated till five years ago, always as principal ; and for her services in dissection she has received the State certificate. Five years ago she went to Chicago with the purpose of adopting literature as a pursuit, and to that end began a course of scien- tific study, as the scientific was the style of writing she preferred. From the elementary studies of anatomy and physiology, she gradually became interested to know more of the " human form divine," and so was persuaded to take a full medical course. Two of these five years she spent in Europe, visiting hospitals, attend- ing clinics, and a course of lectures in biology by Prof. Huxley. The governor of our State gave her a com- mission to the Exposition in Vienna ; and she spent her vacations travelling through Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Great Britain, and Ireland. When she re- turned to graduate in the Woman's Hospital Medical College of this city, she was elected valedictorian of the class, and, after graduating, was appointed to the chair of physiology in the same college, and attending physician to the Hospital for Women and Children, which positions she now occupies. She characteristic- ally writes : — " Though in possession of two titles, professor, and doctor of medicine, I never use either, only when I'm obliged to. I'd so much rather be plain Sarah Hackett Stevenson, without prefix or suffix. " The path I have chosen, or rather that into which I have been pushed^ is not a path for the ambitious or 566 WOMEN OF THE CENTUKY. those desirous of fame. One can spend a lifetime in scientific work without being known outside of his immediate circle. If the amount of vitality which a surgeon puts into a single operation, or that a physician expends in ' carrying through ' a single case, or that a physiologist consumes in a single lecture and experi- ment before his class, — if the same amount of energy were coined into letters, and published as literature, the author's name would be heralded abroad by every tongue. The greatest lights in our profession are not known, even by name, outside of the profession ; and yet is not a scientific, conscientious physician one of the world's truest philanthropists ? " Very sweetly Dr. Stevenson adds : — "As to my religion, I was born and brought up in the Methodist Church, and expect to die in it. My parents were Episcopalians ; but the Methodist was the pioneer church, and my parents joined it rather than be without a home. I retain my membership in the same old place, preferring its little homely, humble altar to any thing I have found elsewhere. Though I hold liberal views of Christianity, and though the enemies of God have tried to class me as a materialist, probably because of my studies, I still cling to the sweet restful faith of my childhood. The best place I have ever found was at my sainted mother's feet, when I prayed ' Now I lay me down to sleep ; ' and the most beautiful vision of life I have ever known, is when 1 believed that four angels watched at the four posts of my trundle-bed. I look with great distrust upon every thing that tends to rob humanity of its trust in God." Dr. Stevenson has not been idle with her pen, — letters, essays, sketches, &c. Her book mentioned in " Women Scientists " is not the last, it is hoped, with which she will bless the world. WOMEN PHYSICIANS. 567 Dr. Sarah R. Adamson Dolley was born March 11, 1829, and was graduated in medicine Feb. 20, 1851. The following year was spent in Blockley Hospital, Philadelphia. She was married to Dr. L. C. Dolley June 4, 1852, and then removed to Rochester, N.Y. During the winter of 1869 and 1870 she attended the lectures of Roget, Bouchet, and Girvaldes, of the Ho- pital des Enfans Malades, also a special course at the Ecole Pratique of the Faculty of Medicine at Paris. This year in Europe was the first absence of any length after commencing practice. Her painful bereavement in the death of her husband the 6th of April, 1872, followed by increase of care and labor, seriously told upon her health ; and she again took a season for rest and travel. In both of her visits to Europe she has acquainted herself with the great anatomical and pathological collections, both in Great Britain and on the Continent, and has visited the noted hospitals, and has made the journeys something more than seasons of rest and sight-seeing. " The Woman's Journal " published a paragraph, probably from the pen of Grace Anna Lewis, concern- ing her able address before the Woman's Medical Col- lege of Philadelphia, where she had been supplying the place of a teacher for a season, as follows : — " The farewell address delivered recently by Mrs. S. R. A. DoUey, M.D., before the Woman's Medical Col- lege of Philadelphia, is marked by unusual intellectual ability. Its spirit is catholic, and will be ennobling to women in any vocation. Mrs. Dolley was one among the first of the women who studied and graduated in medicine in America. Since that time she has been engaged in an extensive and laborious practice, gaining experience, mental vigor, learning, breadth, and posi- 568 WOMEN OF THE CBNTUBY. tion, with each succeeding year. She has illustrated in her life every precept enforced in her lecture. Indeed, its value is enhanced by the fact that it is largely a reflex of her own character and experience." She is a member of the Monroe County Medical Society, and of the Medical Association of Central New York, and has had through the years kindly cour- tesies extended to her by physicians in consultation ; and patients are frequently sent to her by the medical brethren. Dr. DoUey modestly writes : — " It seems unbecoming to speak of professional suc- cess, when my ideal of what a praiseworthy success is continues so far in advance of the measure of my best attainment. That my advice is sought in obscure, grave, and serious cases, I may not deny, and not only by those of my friends and neighbors, but by persona from distant localities. " My highest satisfaction in my profession comes from the warding off of impending evil or disaster by judicious counsel, or the analyzing of obscure or com- plicated or difficult cases ; and to me the highest com- pliment is the rest, sense of security, and confidence, my patients manifest. It is pleasant to know that my services are sought by intelligent people, and to be wel- comed to delightful social circles ; for women who essay to do what has been supposed to have been question- able must necessarily demonstrate to communities by years of patient toil, that their innovation is desirable. " I never aspired to write or teach, because the ability of women in these regards had never seemed to me to be so generally questioned, nor the distrust so intense and deep-seated, as it has been of their compassing the ordinary requirements of the medical profession, and having the persistence and patience required to make WOMEN PHYSICIANS. 569 it a life-work. Whether they will extend its useful- ness, maintain its integrity, add to its resources, and exalt the morale of the profession, time alone can tell. "In my student days, and long before, my highest ambition was to help to open up to women a higher plane of thought and labor, and, for myself, to be a careful and skilful physician. More than a quarter of a century since, when I first opened a medical book, I Uttle dreamed of the possibilities of women of this centennial year, when university instruction can be had in America, Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy; and as little dreamed of their dangers. So much remains for women to do, that now I am iU content to have only done the duties that did lie nearest to me, and what ' even my enemies, being my judges,' say that I have done in this city, — made it respectable for a lady to practise medicine; but am almost appalled by what I now feel to be as urgently demanded of women. It becomes a question whether the women who write and speak, and who thus dispel prejudice and enlighten the public mind, are not alone the notable women of our time, of whom future read- ers may care to know ; and those who only translated in practice the idea upon which we staked our all, in the assumption of the need of women as physicians, have necessarily had time, thought, and hand so occu- pied in the prehminary study requisite, and in the daily round of professional service that followed, that we failed aforehand to ask if we were wanted, or to declare our convictions that we were needed in the profession, or even in any way to settle our sphere at all. "The first thing demanded seemed to be that we must demonstrate that we could practise medicine 570 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. before asking whether we might do so ; and the thought, time, and skill required to make this possible, seriously interfered with abstract study and literary acquirement. " I think it rather remarkable that the movement for the medical education of women was not preceded by any newspaper or platform agitation." Dr. Dolley's parents were Hicksite Friends, but Huguenot blood mingled with that of English Quakers ; and she, being disowned first for marrying one who was not " a mem- ber among Friends," afterwards united with the Con- gregational Church, and is at present worshipping in her home in Rochester, N.Y., with the Presbyterians. She says, " I never fail to be interested in the pros- perity of the Church evangelical, by whatever name called, seeing nothing hopeful for woman, and no true elevation, outside of Christian elevation." Dr. Josephine B. Mix is now practising in Chicago, having been graduated in New York City, and prac- tised with success in that city and vicinity for a few years. She was born March 16, 1837, in Wheeling, Va., whither her parents had removed from Western New York. She is the youngest of eight children. She began her work in life with teaching for a short time, acting as clerk in a store, and using the needle ; then was married, and was one among the army of widows whose husbands died for liberty. After various trials and struggles, she commenced the study of medicine in Philadelphia. She decided, however, to attend the Eclectic Medical College of New York City ; and holds the first matriculation ticket ever given by that insti- tution to a woman, and the fourth ever issued to any student. Dr. Mix's maiden name was Dexter; and on her father's side she is a descendant of Rev. Gregory WOMEN PHYSICIANS. 571 Dexter, who came to Rhode Island in 1640, and was the personal friend of Roger Williams. He was the first practical printer who came to this country, and was the fourth pastor of the Baptist Church in Provi- dence. Dr. Mix is a descendant of the eldest son, in the seventh generation. On her mother's side she was also of Baptist stock; for her mother's father was Rev. Asa Turner, a Baptist minister of Western New York. For many years she was connected with the same denomination ; but in 1875 united with the Uni- versalists, and is now connected with Rev. Dr. Ryder's church in Chicago, in which city she is busily engaged in a benevolent enterprise and in the work of her pro- fession. There must come a close to this incomplete chapter. The wish arises that some woman of the profession will yet prepare a large volume concerning women physicians, as the author hopes to do of the women in her own profession. " The Galaxy " of December, 1868, has an article on " Women as Physicians," from which the following paragraphs are taken. Speaking of the Philadelphia Woman's Medical College it is said, — "Subsequently a woman's hospital was founded in connection with the college. It went into operation in 1861. More than a thousand patients are treated annu- ally in the several departments of the hospital. The resident physician, Dr. Emeline Horton Cleveland, after graduating in the college, added to her experi- ences a year's residence in the MaternitS at Paris. Dr. Cleveland also fills the chair of obstetrics, and diseases of women and children in the college, and is eminently superior as a practitioner. As a lecturer, «he is lucid, eloquent, and earnest. In her social and 572 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. in her domestic relations as wife and mother, she is every way admirable. Her manner is so gentle and so purely womanly, that the coarsest and most hardened creatures are refined in her presence. She has an unus- ually commanding and graceful person ; and her dark eyes are of the ' almond shape ' one so often reads of, and so rarely sees. She is also most happily free from any professional mannerism ; and a stranger from conversing with her would hardly dream of her being a ' scientific ' woman, although ready to admit her very clever and cultivated, and endow her charms with that very excellent thing in woman, — a low, sweet voice." Among the notable graduates of the above college are Dr. Elizabeth C, Keller, whose success as a surgeon in difficult cases, often by novel and original instruments, is widely known in Pennsylvania and New England ; Dr. Helen M. Betts, who is her assistant now in Jamaica Plain, Mass., and who chiefly attends to diseases of the eye ; Dr. Emily White, who has been anatomical dem- onstrator, and has studied abroad ; Dr. Almira L. Fowler, now Dr. Fowler-Ormsby, who is practising in Orange, N, J., having already acquired a competency ; Drs. Gleason, of Elmira; Amelia Tompkins, Hamilton ; Hunt, Oneida ; Cook, Buffalo ; Nivison, Ithaca ; Jane Payne, of Mount Vernon, Ohio ; Laura E. Ross, Milwaukee ; Sarah Entricken, Westchester, Penn. ; C. A. Buckel, Boston ; Anita E. Tyng, Providence, R. I. ; and Lucy M. Abbott, of the New York Infirmary, who is remarkable for her energy, her straightforwardness, and quickness of percep- tion ; Miss Mary C. Putnam, who graduated in 1864, and studied afterward in Paris, and was the first woman admitted to visit the School of Medicine in that city, having passed a brilliant examination. She has since married Dr. Jacobi, and is still engaged in her profes- sion. WOMEN PHYSICIANS. 573 Further information enables the author to add of Dr. Elizabeth C. Keller that her maiden name was Rex, and she was born in 1837, near Gettysburg, Penn. Her first husband was Matthias McComsej', who died in 1859, leaving her with one son. She superintended an orphan asylum in Lancaster, Penn., from 1860 to 1867 ; then married George L. Keller, of that city. Was graduated by the above mentioned medical college in 1871 ; con- ducted a hospital and dispensary in Bedford Street, Phil- adelphia, successfully ; afterward accepted the position of resident physician at the New England Hospital for Women and Children, in Boston. In 1877 began her present successful practice in one of the beautiful sub- urbs of Boston, where with her family she resides. Her associate, Dr. Betts, was born in 1846, at Vienna, Ohio. Studied in select schools, and with her father, who was a clergyman, till in 1868 she began the study of medicine "from pure love of it," as she says. By teach- ing and through her own efforts she finished a full course of study in college, graduated in 1872, and went into pri- vate practice in Youngstown, Ohio. But being anxious for hospital practice, in three years accepted a position as assistant in the hospital of which Dr. Eliza C. Judson was resident physician, and from thence came to Jamaica Plain, in 1878, where she now practices with success. "In 1856 the New England Medical College waa chartered by the Massachusetts Legislature, to be lo- cated in Boston. So far back as 1844 the subject of employing female attendants for women had engaged the attention of George Gregory ; and in 1848 his brother, Samuel Gregory, opened a medical school for women. The college has steadily progressed. Over fifty thou- sand dollars have been ])equeathed to it from different sources. Some remarkably proficient students have received the degree of M.D., among whom may be men- 574 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. tioned Frances M. Cooke, professor of anatomy, and lecturer on physiology and hygiene, for the past nine } ears in the college ; also Anna Monroe, demonstra- tor of anatomy ; Dr. Haynes ; Dr. Morton, who spent four years in Paris, two in study and two in practice ; Dr. SewaIiL, now in London ; Dr. Avery, professor of physiology and hygiene in Vassar College ; Dr. Web- ster, of New Bedford ; and Mary H. Thompson, who graduated in 1863, and went to Chicago the same year, organized a woman's hospital, and displayed a deal of energy, tact, and good sense. " The New York Medical College for Women was chartered in 1863, since which time one hundred women have matriculated in it, and twenty-nine completed its course of study. Anna Inman, M.D., fills the chair of obstetrics; Mrs. C. S. Lozier, that of diseases of women and children, and is also dean of the college. " The Woman's Medical College of the New York Infirmary was chartered in 1865, and its first college session opened November, 1868. Having two such '^omen as Drs. Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell at its head, is sufficient prestige of its success. " Among other aids, it may be mentioned that the large Eclectic Medical College of Ohio was one of the first to welcome women as students. In Cleveland, the regular and homoeopathic have received them, as also the Chicago Medical School. In 1850 the Roch- ester Eclectic School opened its doors to women, and, when merged in the Syracuse school, continued to do so. In 1853 the Penn University was started in Phil- adelphia, with separate departments of instruction for men and women. It whs «liscontinued in 1864. " The New England Hospital for Women and Chil WOMEN PHYSICIANS. 575 dren, which was organized in 1861, furnishes essential help to medical students. Dr. Marie E. Zakrzew- SKA is attending physician, and Dr. Horatio R. Storer attending surgeon. Over five thousand patients are annually treated, without regard to nationality or color, furnishing an almost infinite variety of diseases. " The New York Infirmary, under charge of the Drs. Blackwell, has since 1856 given relief to over forty thousand women and children. Over six thousand were recipients of its charity during the past year. More than thirty students have enjoyed its advantages, and twenty nurses have been trained and established in the city." Two physicians whose success I have had opportunity to notice, are Dr. Madana F. DeHart, wife of a lawyer of Jersey City, and the sister of that lawyer. Dr. Sarah DeHart. These ladies have shared one office for many years, and won universal respect as practitioners. The " Phrenological Journal " says : " Dr, Alicb Bennett is chief physician in the female department of the Norristown Insane Asylum ; Dr. Agnes Johnson, of Zanesville, Ohio, is assistant physician in the Athens (Ohio) Insane Asylum ; Dr. Margaret Cleves is the chief physician at the State Hospital for the Insane at Harris- burg, where Drs. Jane Carver and Anna Kugler are as- sistants ; and Dr. Emma Boon has lately been appointed as assistant to Dr. Richardson in the insane department of the Philadelphia Almshouse. Let the list of women physicians grow until there are enough for every city, town, and hamlet in our land ; remembering that to the female man as well as to the male may Cicero's words apply: " ffomines ad Deo8 nulld re propius accedunt, quam salutem homini- hui dando^ 1 " M«n in no partxcular approach so nearly to the gods as by giviuji health »• sS'"^*'' <>iv-, -w^n." CHAPTER XVII. WOMEN AS EEADEKS, ACTORS, AND SINGERS. Charlotte Cusliman — Maggie Mitchell — Clara Louise Kellogg — Louise Woodworth Foss — Anna Cora Mowatt Ritchie — S. Emma Covell — Anna Randall Diehl. "Her words have rung tliroughout the world, and thrilled the coldest heart, And bidden from the sternest eye the sudden tear-drop start. Oh! every lovely, lavish thing, that may to life belong, Is like the free, o'erflowing wealth of woman's gift of song." Maky M. Chase. "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men." — Col. CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN, the singer, the actor, the reader! — for she was all these at different periods of her brilliant career, — admiration for the artist, and love for the woman, would place her name at the head of the chapter, even if it was not naturally the first suggested when one thinks of women on the stage ; for she ennobled the profession by her pure life and noble character and fine talent. She was born in Boston, July 23, 1816. She was of " Pilgrim " descent on both 576 WOMEN AS READERS, ACTORS, AND SINGERS. 577 sides ; her ancestor, Robert Cushman, being one of the band of non-conformists in Holland, a part of whom came in " The Mayflower " to old Plymouth Rock. Tier ancestor came over in the succeeding vessel in 1621, in time to preach the first sermon in America ever printed. He little thought his descendant would make his name illustrious on the stage. Her father was a manufacturer of ship-bread, and was quite successful for many years. But reverses came : he died, and the property all passed into the hands of his partner. Char- lotte was but about twelve years of age ; but she was greatly distressed by the fact that the widow and five children should be left wholly destitute, even the household furniture being taken by the partner. She vowed then in her young heart that she would gain a support for her mother, that she would become richer than the partner ; and, as she herself stated to the writ- er, she did live to see the day when that partner came to her, and begged for help to save himself from bank- ruptcy, and she had the satisfaction of heaping coals of fire on his head by furnishing the required sum of money. She was his financial superior at last ; and he was doubtless ashamed of the part he had played in her early days. She began her public Hfe by singing at little exhibitions and concerts, and when quite young was a member of tlie choir in the School-street Church, vv^here Rev. Hosea Ballon was then preaching. She was baptized in infancy by Rev. Dr. Peabody of the Unitarian church. She was always liberal in her reli- gious views, and retained to the last a cheerful hope in God's great love for all his children. Very early in life she felt it her duty to aid her mother, and this filial love was always manifested. She cared for her tender- ly many long years, and was the strength and support 578 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. of the whole family, aiding her brothers to profitable employment, and caring for her sister till there was no further need. Her sister, Susan Cushman, was an actress also, and played Juliet to Charlotte's Romeo. Her marriage with Dr. Muspratt of England led to her leaving the stage, as he was a chemist of wealth. By her first husband, Susan had one son, whom Charlotte adopted as her own, and to whom she left the bulk of her property, as a mother naturally would. Miss Cushman began first to sing in public ; but, her voice failing while in New Orleans, she was advised to go on the stage, and did so, appearing first in Lady Macbeth. " It was a bold first step, but it was successfully taken with a consciousness of her powers. From that first performance, doubtless greatly improved as she prose- cuted her art, she made the character her own ; and it has always remained one of her most distinctive parts." ^ On her return from New Orleans, Miss Cushman appeared at the Bowery Theatre in New York City.' But " her performances here, the proceeds of which were devoted to the support of her family, were inter- rupted by illness ; and, before her health was restored, the theatre was destroyed by fire, and with it all hei theatrical wardrobe was lost." Many were her discouragements. Dark hours came, when success almost seemed hopeless ; but she was undaunted. The force of her character was seen in her perseverance amid difficulties in those early days, as well as in her patient endurance of extreme suffer- ing in her last years. It was in 1837, while playing at the old National Theatre, that she appeared first as Meg Merrilies, a character which her impersonation has 1 Portrait-Gallery of Eminent Men and Women WOMEN AS READERS, ACTORS, AND SINGERS. 579 rendered immortal. She then played at the Park The- atre as leading actress ; and there it was in 1839 that she introduced her sister Susan to the stage. " In this first performance, in a play called ' The Genoese,' Char- lotte acted the lover Montaldo to her sister's Laura." She went to Philadelphia, and in 1844 appeared on the stage with Mr. Macready, who recognized her marvel- lous ability. Shortly after, having gained high position in her native land, she left with her sister for England, and was engaged at the Princess Theatre in February, 1845, in the character of Bianca in " Fazio." After this came " Lady Macbeth, to which the highest praise was given by the London critics. Its merits were uni- versally conceded. The stage, said an able writer in ' The Atheneum,' had long been waiting for a great actress, one capable of sustaining the gorgeous majesty of the Tragic Muse ; and the desideratum, he confessed, was supplied in the performance of Miss Cushman. Again, when a few weeks later she acted Beatrice, we are told by the same journal how she ' showed her usual decision and purpose in the assumption of the character-qualities in which at present she has not only no rival, but no competitor.' In Julia, in ' The Hunchback,' she won new laurels, especially in the more forcible passages, being pronounced ' the only actress who has at all approached the first represen- tative of the character. She also successfully acted Juliana, in ' The Honeymoon.' Her Portia was ad- mired, and her Meg Merrilies established as ' a perform- ance of fearful and picturesque energy, making a grand impression.' In the following season Miss Cushman played an engagement at Haymarket Theatre, in which she appeared as Romeo to her sister's Juliet. The lat- ter was admired for its beauty and delicacy ; and the 580 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. former, while regarded as a bold venture, and in some degree as an exceptional performance, was described as ' one of the most extraordinary pieces of acting, perhaps, ever exhibited by a woman, — masculine in deportment, artistic in conception, complete in execu- tion, positive in its merits, both in parts and as a whole, and successful in its immediate impression.' Miss Cushman also appeared in this engagement as Ton, in Talfourd's Greek tragedy ; and as Viola, in ' Twelfth Night,' to her sister's Olivia, — in which they were both much admired. Charlotte's Meg Merrilies, again re- peatedly acted, became her most popular performance ; and it was noticed how, out of the meagre materials of the drama, she had by her skill and effective addi- tions of by-play created an historic whole, — a triumph of art." These successes were continued abroad. In 1849 Miss Cushman again played in New York, and finally, after a brilliant series of performances at the principal theatres in America, closed with a farewell benefit at Broadway Theatre in New York, in May, 1852. She went back to England, but came again in 1857 to make another tour in the States, in the course of which she acted the part of Cardinal Wolsey, being probably the first woman who ever personated that character. Again she went to England, where she had a lovely home, and -where her sister and brother were estab- lished. But she came back to America, and played forty-eight consecutive nights in New York in 1860, reviving her powerful representation of Nancy Sykes after an interval of twenty years. She shortly after sailed for Europe, and her loyalty to the Union waa conspicuous there ; in 1863 she came back, and played in behalf of the Sanitary Commission, adding over WOMEN AS JBEADERS. ACTORS, AND SINaSRS. 581 eight thousand dollars to that charitable national fund^ In 1871 she returned to America to die. Slie knew that her time was short, but the same invincible energy was manifest. The assistance of the queen's surgeon, Sir James Simpson, was enlisted to perform for her a surgical operatic-n, in the hope that her life might be prolonged ; but in vain. She had four years given to her as her lease of life by the eminent physician, if sire returned to her native air. She came, and lived nearly five, so great was her strength of constitution, 80 powerful her indomitable will. She was not afraid to die ; but, like Alice Carey, she " longed so to live." They suffered similarly, the one with her pen in retire- ment, the other with her voice before the pubhc ; and the latter must have been the harder task, — a Spartan neroism, an heroic patience I Her farewell to the stage will not soon be forgotten ; and the picture of the great tragedienne receiving from the great and ven- erable poet a laurel crown, for her pure life and great genius, is a picture that will not soon fade from the memory of the thousands who beheld it, or the vast army of readers who delightedly perused the newspaper accounts of the deserved ovation. Then she gave herself mainly to reading ; and her motive was not purely mercenary, though she had the largest prices ever paid to any reader. She said to the writer that she hoped by herself reading she might bring up the profession of readers before the public, and thus help the large number of young girls who were desirous to read. She said also that she chose to read from the play of " Henry Eighth " because Queen Katherine was a reproof to all loose ideas concerning marriage ; and she wished to bear her testimony in favor of the sanctity of that relation, and the wicked 582 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY, ness of unscriptiiral divorces. In all this she showed her true nobility of soul, and closed a stainless life with an act of high morality. In a beautiful villa not far from the sounding sea, at Newport, R.I., she spent the last few summers of her earthly life, in the loved society of her friend Emma Stebbins, and the family of her adopted son, faithfully attended by the colored servant Sallie Mercer, who had become more friend than servant in her thirty years and more of companionship with the woman whose greatness was as conspicuous in the home circle as on the boards, since it was the greatness of character as well as genius ; and from that summer retreat she came to her native city, where she died at the Parker House, and was buried from King's Chapel. Her remains now rest in the spot she herself chose at Mount Auburn, saying, " It commands a view of beloved Boston." One of her many friends,^ recently visiting Mount Auburn, wrote a poem from which these stansas are taken : — ' ' I liuger long and lovingly Beside the spot where lies the form Of her who stood so grandly true Amid earth's sunshine or its storm. No granite pile or sculptured urn Speaks of her virtues or her fame ; But marble, stainless as her life, Bears nought save this — her honored name." Louise Woodworth Foss is justly regarded by the large majority of lyceum-committees and judges of good j-eadings as the best reader before the American public. She certainly has been the most successful in winning 1 Elleu E. Miles. LOUISE WOOD WORTH FOSS. WOMEN AS KEADEKS, ACTORS, AND SINGERS. 585 audiences again and again in the same cities ; and, for her rare combination of gifts which lead to success in her profession, is deservedly counted among the first woman elocutionists in the world. While Charlotte Cushman was before the public, all eyes turned to her, the well-deserved fame of the actress assisting in securing the fame of the reader ; but, now that she is gone, the public generally look to Mrs. Foss as the woman reader who satisfies both eye and ear in cultivated audiences, and evinces an intel- lectual comprehension of the author's meaning which is as rare as it is acceptable. Mrs. Foss is a native of Thetford, Vt. ; was educated at the somewhat celebrated Thetford Academy, and became a teacher. Subsequently she married, and, after a few years of home life, adopted the profession of an elocutionist, studying with Prof. Baxter of Har- vard College. She has now been before the pubKc for five successive seasons, her engagements extending through the prin- cipal cities of twenty-two States. Nothing better has ever been written of an elocution- ist than Mrs. Mary A. Livermore wrote of Mrs. Foss ; and place is given it here because it is a credit to its author's womanly sympathy and appreciation, as well as a deserved testimony to Mrs, Foss as a reader : — "'*Mrs. Foss will read in my parlors this evening, for the entertainment of a few friends : will you come and hear her ? ' "Such was the invitation of an old-time acquaint- ance, which I hastened to accept. For I had been one of Mrs. Foss's audience in Dorchester, two years before, %nd retained a pleasant memory of the evening's enter- 586 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. tainment. Moreover, I knew that she was better worth hearing now than then ; and that she had been a hard student during these two intervening years, was ambi- tious of the highest excellence in her art, as well as of the largest success on the platform ; and all through the winter, in New England, I had heard lyceum-com- mittees mention her in terms of praise. " Other circumstances had given me an interest in the lady. Scattered here and there, in New England towns, I had stumbled on her former pupils, who always manifested a tender eagerness to know of her success ; speaking of her in a manner that was compli- mentary to her girlish patience and ability as a teacher. In occasional visits to her husband's studio, I had seen that she was his helper in emergencies, quite at home in the details of his art, ready to favor him with valu- able suggestions as to the pose of a sitter or the expres- sion of a picture. I knew also that she was an accomplished housewife, deft with the needle, and proud of her ability to work marvels with the sewing- machine. I had seen, ' with my own eyes,' achieve- ments of hers in the dressmaking and millinery line, which might lead many a fashionable modiste to break the Tenth Commandment in envy of her untaught native skill. And one evening, in the country, I had sur- prised her at an out-door game of romps with her little seven-year-old Eddie, who, fleet as the winged Mercury, had challenged his mother to a brief foot-race, in wliich he had won. As I witnessed their merry frolic, and the motherly love-scene in which it ended, my heart went out to both, and I recognized, in the aspiring artist, the true woman and tender mother. " So I was glad to see more of Mrs. Foss, and at an early hour sought the house of my fi-iend, whose bril WOMEN AS READERS, ACTORS, AND SINGERS. 587 liantly lighted parlors I found well filled by a care- fully selected, but somewhat cold and critical audience. Four clergymen of different sects were of the party, the entire force of one of the lecture-bureaus, several prominent musical people, a teacher of elocution, and members of three lyceum-committees, who had accepted my friend's invitation, as she had given it, ' with an eye to business.' Mrs. Foss was a stranger to all, only three or four present having seen her. To read well to that calm, cold, prejudging assembly of less than a hundred people, was a more dijfficult thing than to read well to a miscellaneous assemblage filling Tremont Temple. " The decorous buzz of subdued conversation ceased as the lady reader entered, escorted by her handsome husband, who is as proud of as ambitious for his gifted wife. A young woman stood before us, fresh, winsome, bright, and cheery, showing perfect health in her bril- liant complexion and well-rounded figure, who bowed to us gracefully, and greeted us with so pleasant a smile as to bespeak immediately the good-will of everybody. Her figure was fine and commanding, her dress stylish and becoming, and her manner dignified, perfectly self- possessed, and free from superficiality. She began to read : her educated voice was music in its every tone. Clear as a silver bell, resonant and flexible, it is capable of expressing every grade of passion and emotion known to humanity. " She gave us Longfellow's ' Sandalphon, the Angel of Prayer;' and our hearts throbbed responsive to the beseeching, imploring petitions of those who, ' burdened with crosses,' pour out their plaints to heaven. She recited ' The Charcoal Man ; ' and we heard the oft- repeated echoes of the distant hills, as they gave back 588 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. the cry of the charcoal-vender, and the mimicries of mischievous urchins in far, far, away streets. She read ' La Cica ; ' and, lo 1 the voluptuous and wily Italian countess was before us, with her languid air, her co- quettish glances, her softly-spoken, Italianized English, while her companion, the Hoosier senator, lined out to her, with Western accent, a quotation from Isaac Watts, his ' favorite English poet.' Then followed ' Gone with a Handsomer Man ; ' and we wept over the desolation of the seemingly deserted young husband, who smothered the curses that leaped to his lips, and blessed his faithless but still beloved wife instead ; and when the joking wife returned, in company with her father, who proved to be her ' handsomer man,' we all caught the contagion of John's hearty laughter, as glad to have the joke end thus happily as was the benumbed but now beatified John. " How we all broke down over the death-scene of poor ' Jo,' as depicted in the ' Bleak House 1 ' the thin, husky voice begging piteously, in the darkness of coming death, for the ' light ' which was ' so slow in coming,' and then halting forever midway in prayer, as the light of the great hereafter burst on his aston- ished vision, dispelling for him the fogs and mists and chilling vapors of earth which had always enshrouded it. She recited ' CharHe Machree ; ' and by this time we had forgotten to criticise, and had yielded ourselves to the enjoyment of the occasion, expressing our satisfac- tion in a perfect abandon of applause. We held our breath at the artistic rendering of the dramatic little poem, which showed us the stalwart Charlie battling with the swift-flowing river, across which his vain Scotch sweet-heart had dared him to swim. He began to sink ; and our hearts stood still at her frozen horror. WOMEN AS READERS, ACTORS, AKD SINGERS. 589 She shrieked for ♦ help I ' and we rose half way from our seats in our desire to go to aid her. Leaning over the river's brink with widely extended arms, she en- couraged, and tenderly exhorted, and bravely assured him, till his hand grasped hers, and he was saved. And the little parlor audience went wild with acclama- tion as the fair reader gave us a picture of the Scotch laddie fainting on the bank, now held to the heart of his overjoyed lassie, who turned to weep aloud with penitence at the peril she had enticed him to run, and gladness for his salvation. " And then came a reading from the ' Midsummer Night's Dream,' with another from ' Macbeth,' sand- wiched between selections from Mark Twain's ' Inno- cents Abroad,' and Mrs. Stowe's ' Old town Stories.' " Our programme was long and varied. For the audience soon took that matter into their hands, calling out for what they wanted, Uke diners at a caf6; so that we were treated in generous measure to a perfect olla podrida of comedy, tragedy, narrative, dialogue, and parody. " Nobody seemed to remember that Mrs. Foss might be wearied, until it was well on to midnight. And then her audience crowded about her, the ice of the early evening all thawed away, to offer hearty con- gratulations and eloquent thanks, while the members of the three lyceum-committees lingered a little to engage ner for their next winter's course of entertainments. " Later in the season I was present at a public read- ing given by Mrs. Foss in Boston. It was for the benefit of some charity, and the hall was located in a densely peopled neighborhood. As the evening was warm, the windows of the hall were flung wide open, and whole famihes of the humble people in the immediate vicinity 590 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. swarmed into the back yards, or sought the coolness of the hour from open windows or outer doorsteps. The programme included ' Charlie Machree,' which Mrs. Foss gave with great dramatic effect. As she repeated the appealing cry, ' Help, help I or he'll die 1 ' uttered by the Scotch lassie who sees her lover sink in the black water, she put into it so much of real agony and mortal terror, that it startled the smoking, gossiping crowds below. Straightway there went up from their midst such shouts of, '■Murder! murder! that's a woman'' s voice ! help ! police ! ' that two of the watchful city guardians rushed up the stairway, three steps at a bound, and, clubs in hand, stood before us, ready to arrest the supposed violator of the law. " Mrs. Foss has youth, health, and talent ; and, with the laudable ambition which now moves her, the world will yet hear more of her. As it is, she is already well known to the public, which has accorded her no small meed of praise, and of more substantial recompense." Maggie Mitchell, by marriage named now Mrs. Paddock, is among the favorites of the theatre-going American people. She has a peculiar aptitude for the representation of childhood's ways, and in her inimitable personations of " Little Barefoot " and "Fanchon" has won deserved praise. Her "Pearl of Savoy " is also excellent, but her forte lies in her great ability to present childish ways. She is said to be a woman of great moral worth, and richly to deserve the pecuniary success she has achieved. FAMfY Davenport and Oijte Logan and Kate Field are well known as good actors. The two last mentioned have used their pens to some purpose. The last has just commenced a successful career in England WOMEN AS READERS, ACTORS, AND SINGERS. 591 and Olive Logan has forsaken the stage since hei marriage to Mr. Wirt Sikes, and advises young girls to keep clear of the stage. This was also Miss Cushman's advice. She said she had never encouraged any one to adopt the stage as a profession, and she never consciously had a pupil, though she was doubtless a teacher by bright example all her life. Fanny Foster is among the acceptable actresses of later days, and most recently Mrs. Pomeroy, whose stage name may be something different. A limited acquaintance with the stage, and a desire to make this chapter brief as possible, leads to a becoming brevity in regard to actresses. That purity of life and mod- esty of deportment may be consistent with stage life, Charlotte Cushman has shown us ; but her own words deter one from encouraging very greatly the young woman who can work in any other department from adopting this profession. Hence many regret that Anna Dickinson has stepped from the high place she occupied as a lecturer, to any place upon the boards. She may, however, ennoble the stage as Miss Cushman did, and help those who act with her to noble aims and true living. It is certainly an honest and honorable employment " to hold the mirror up to nature ; " and, if the actor's private character is above reproach, the player, no less than the writer or the beholder of the play, is entitled to respectful consideration. Among the singers of our century, and they are many, may be specially mentioned Clara Louise Kellogg, Emma Abbott, Miss Thursby, Annie GtJiLFORD, Annie Louise Gary, Julb De Ryther, and the Hutchinson ladies, Elizabeth, Viola, and Abby. The latter have already been mentioned among the reformers, for they have done admirable service 592 WOMEN OF THE CENTUBY. by singing the songs of freedom and reform at temper- perance meetings and the like. Among musical artists should be mentioned Prof. Charlotte V. Winteb- BURN, who has successfully taught music in the Nor- mal College of New York. Clara Louise Kellogg is of New England de- scent, but was bom during a temporary sojourn of her parents at the South. Her musical ear has always been of the finest. Her voice is a mezzo-soprano of great range and sweetness. " When but nine months old, and yet in arms, she essayed to sing a tune that pleased her baby fancy ; and accomplishing the first part, but failing to turn it correctly, she stopped, and was not heard to attempt it again tUl just before the completion of the year, when she broke out in a tri- umph, and sang the whole air through. . . . She comes of quite a peculiar family : her father is an inventor of no small merit, though sharing the ill fortune of most inventors, and seeing other people acquire wealth by the labors of his own brain ; one of her grandparents was famous for his mathematical attainments ; and a grandmother, still living, is an excellent violinist, and used formerly, in the beginning of the cotton manufac- ture, to superintend the erection in large mills of a very valuable invention of her own ; and thus may be seen another argument in favor of that idea that music is the subUmation and idealism of mathematics. Miss Kellogg's mother is certainly one of the most notable women in the country, still young, good, kind, and wise ; she sings a little, plays a little, paints a little, models a little, and does all well. She attended per- sonally to the education of Louise, was her instructor in much, has been her constant confidante, companion and manager, designs all her costumes, superintends WOMEN AS BEADERS, ACTORS, AND SINGERS. 593 her dressing, stands always ready behind the scenes with a wrap ready to fold around her as she leaves the stage, — having never yet seen her from the front, — and shielding her always as carefully as a daughter could be shielded in a mother's drawing-room ; a daughter, in this case, well repaying the care by affection, uprightness, and rare intelligence." Among the young elocutionists is named with pleas- ure S. Emma Cowell of New York City, who has read with great acceptance in several cities. She has also an aptness to teach, which has already been enjoyed by ladies of high social position. With rare dramatic powers, a fine, flexible voice, which she well knows how to modulate, and with an artist's comprehension of the pieces she reads, IVIiss Cowell bids fair to win many laurels. She is now studying the classics in a Maine seminary, and preparing herself for great use- fulness in the future. Anna Randall Diehl is a fine teacher of elocu- tion, and has prepared several volumes which may greatly assist students. She is editing also a quarterly for elocutionists, which has been found very useful. She resides in New York City, but has taught in various parts of the Union. Mrs. Foss should have been mentioned also as a teacher of her art, who has been very successful in instructing teachers in the public schools, as Mrs. Diehl has also done. MLartha E. Powers is a teacher of elocution in New York City, and Laura M. Bronson, and the wife of Prof. W. C Lyman also. The wife of Prof. George VandenhofF is likewise a teacher there ; and, if the rising generation do not learn to read and speak well, it will not be for lack of good teachers, among whom may surely be mentioned Ellen E. Miles, now in 594 WOMEN OF THE CBNTUBY. Jersey City. Miss Powers is indorsed by the great, sweet Quaker poet, in these words : — Ameseitrt, 11th Mo., 30th, 1874. I have had the pleasure of hearing readings by Martha E. Powers, and can freely recommend her to all who need the serviceB of a thoroughly trained and competent teacher of elocution. She possesses all the requisites of a good reader, in her voice, manner, and ability to render the most delicate shades of meaning. I have no doubt of her giving entire satisfaction to her pupils. John 6. Whittiek Helen Potteb has won a high place among public readers by her impersonations. Salue Joy White, a wide-awake reporter of this century, says of her in " The Boston Sunday Times," " A native of a little village in New York, taught in the district school, and fond of poetry, the first good reading she ever heard was at the age of twelve years, a few sentences only, from the county superintendent. While yet in her teens she went South as a teacher, and returned to spend some time with a cultivated family of relatives in Michigan. She went to New York, and studied with the Vandenhofifs ; but, not fully satisfied with their methods, she came to Boston, and studied with Prof. Leonard. After this she was a teacher of elocution four years in a seminary for young ladies, near Oswego, when she was elected to fill Mrs. Vandenhoffs place at Packer's Institute, Brooklyn. After two years she left that situation, and devoted herself partially to litera- ture and normal work ; being employed by the States of New York and Vermont as a teacher of teachers. Miss Potter, by invitation, read a paper before the First Woman's Congress, held in New York in 1873, on In- dustrial Art ; a subject on which she has since lectured to large audiences from Portland to San Francisco." WOMEN AS READERS, ACTORS, AND SINGERS. 595 Miss Potter read in Jersey City in 1875, and "The Evening Journal " thus referred to her and her readings: " Miss Potter's appearance upon the rostrum is impos- ing yet not obtrusive. She dresses with great taste, in dark colors, and in plain but elegant style. Her face is mobile, and capable of fashioning itself into a hundred varieties of expression ; but her voice is the grand fea- ture. Its tones are graduated between the highest note of contralto and the deeper tones of a baritone ; and Miss Potter is thus enabled to read any sort of selec- tion whatever, so far as voice is concerned. As to her ability to read correctly, there is no doubt whatever ; so that taking these three important elements, mobihty of feature, flexibility and range of voice, and the power to correctly employ both, we have an artist in the true sense 3f the term. ... A decided feature was Miss Potter's imitation of a reading-class of twenty-five persons. How she possessed herself of the styles of so many youngsters, their peculiar looks, actions, &c., and was enabled to delineate them so exquisitely, is to be won- dered at. It was as if one were looking at and Hstening to a class, for a complete difference was exhibited by Miss Potter in each personation. ' The Death of the Old Squire ' — a rare old piece — was very finely read. The entertainment closed with personations of Mrs. Scott Siddons, Miss Anna Dickinson, Miss Olive Logan, and John B. Gough. Each character was given with complete change of dress and ' make-up ; ' and, under Miss Potter's power, the people she represented ap- peared to live before the audience. Peculiar style of delivery, of dress, of motion, of manner, of voice, of pronunciation, of gesture, of walk, were all so faithfully portrayed that one absolutely lost sight at times of the tact that the thing was only an imitation. The audi- ence was deh'ghted, and showed it." 596 "WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. It should not be forgotten that the well-known Mother Goose's Melodies were first printed in Boston, Mass. They were collected by Thomas Fleet, from the lips of his mother-in-law, Elizabeth Foster, daughter of William and Ellen Foster, of Charlestown, Mass., who married Isaac Goose, of Boston, and sang these lullabies, partly learned from her mother and partly original, to her six children in the hearing, perhaps, of her ten step-children, and sang them to her gi-andson, till his father collected chem, in 1719, and long afterwards she sang them to other grandchildren, and their music has gone on to the present century, and will not cease while babies need to be amused or soothed. This chapter may close with a brief reference to two singers ; one — the half-niece of Charlotte Cushman — Ellen M. Caet weight, and the other Addie Ryan CooLLDGE. Both were women best enjoyed as they lifted their voices in the sanctuary, and really assisted the congregation to worship God. Mrs. Cartwright was the only daughter of James Weld and Eleanor Cushman, half-sister of the great tragedienne. She was bom in Boston, July 27, 1815, and was a student at the Charlestown Convent at the time it was destroyed by a mob. Her musical ability was very great. She sang at concerts, and was a mem- ber of the best musical clubs in Boston ; but an early maiTiage, and a family of twelve children (eleven of whom survive), prevented a public career, for which she had the genius and the taste. She spent the latter por- tion of her life, some twenty years or so, on the island of Nantucket, where she was organist and chorister of the Methodist church, and displayed the musical genius which belonged to the Cushman family. She had much of the dramatic ability also, which, being repressed by aer family cares and religious connections, was shown WOMEN AS READERS, ACTORS, AND SINGERS. 597 In aptitude for arranging tableaux and conducting ex- hibitions. Of a lovely person and character, she was attractive to a large circle. Her sudden death, of pneumonia, in Boston Highlands, April 26, 1873, was a grief to many far and near. Her funeral was attended from the Methodist Church, where she was an inde- fatigable worker, two clergymen conducting the im- pressive services, the pulpit, altar, and casket being beautifully decked with the flowers she so dearly loved, and the church crowded with sincere mourners. She still lives in the hearts of those who knew her worth ; and it is one of the sweet anticipations of the writer, that heaven will one day give back to her dear "Mother Ellen." The other gifted singer was the leading singer in the Church of the Unity, Boston, where she suddenly died. " Previous to the removal of the remains from the residence of Mr. Coolidge in Hotel Dearborn, Boston Highlands, the Episcopal service for the burial of the dead was read by Rev. J. T. Coolidge, father-in-law of the deceased. The casket of rosewood was placed in front of the altar, and surrounded with elegant floral offerings. The surviving members of the choir of the Church of the Unity, of which she was a member, be- stowed a large and elegant cross, which was placed in front of the pastor's desk. A splendid crown, a lyre, and several beautiful wreaths, were added to these t«>kens of love and esteem. The services commenced with the singing of the hymn beginning, ' I cannot always trace the way,' by Howard M. Dow. The Rev. Mr. v*^avage then read appropriate selections from Scrip- ture, at the close of which he read an original poem, composed by himself for the occasion. It is as fol- lows : — 598 WOMEN OP THE CENTUBY. *When falls the night upon the earth, \nd all in shadow lies, The sun's not dead : his radiance still Beams bright on other skies. /ind when the morning star fades out On the pale brow of dawn, Though lost a while to our eyes. It still keeps shining on. Some other world is glad to see Our light that's gone away ; The light woose going makes our night Makes somewhere else a day. The feet that cease their walking here, Grown weary of earth's road, With tireless strength go travelling The pathway up to God. The hands whose patient fingers now Have laid earth's labors by, With loving skill have taken up Some higher ministry. The eyes, that give no longer back The tender look of love. Now, with a deathless gleam, drink in God's beauteous world above. The lips whose sweet tones made us ask If angels sweeter sung, Though silent here, make heaven glad With their melodious tongue. And, though her body lies asleep, Our favorite is not dead : She rises from dark death's bright birth " With joy upon her head." WOMEN AS READERS, ACTORS, AND SINGERB. 599 And she is joBt our loved one stiil, And loves us now no less '. She goes away to come again, To watch us and to bless. And though we cannot clasp her hand Nor look upon her face, Nor listen to her voice again, Nor watch her ways of grace, — Still we can keep her memory bright, And walk the way she trod, And know she waits until we come Up to the house of God. Let us be thankful through our tears That she was ours so long, And try to lift our tones of grief To accord with her heaven-song.' " After reading these verses, Mr. Savage addressed the congregation ; in the course of his remarks saying he believed that this universal appointment of death was just as lovely and as sweet as this life, and that it was* but a birth into a higher happier and sphere of existence. What we call death is to this one a double immortality. They all knew that she had contributed of the finest and noblest qualities of her nature to make them what they are. Her life had entered into theirs. So she who had passed away would find an immortality of sweet- ness and tender memory in their hearts. She has risen and gone into a life as true, as high, as noble, as any we can conceive ; and she is to-day the same loving friend that she was the last time we looked into hsr Her remains were taken to Forest Hills Cemetery, where also the remains of the other dear and noble 600 WOMBJS OF TtLK CENTURY. singer repose ; but the spirits of both are with God, for did not Jesus say, " Where I am, there shall also my servant be " ? Let the name of Miss Ann Aubertine Woodward (Auber Forestier) close this chapter. She has trans- lated from the Norwegian admirable prose and verse, and with Professor Anderson, has helped greatly to intro- duce the music of the native land of Ole Bull, by her " Norway Music Album." She is the author of " Echoes from Mist-Land," and writes very acceptably for various periodicals. She resides at Wisconsin University in the 4u)me of Professor Anderson. CHAPTER XVIIL WOMEN IN BUSINESS. Rebecca Motte — Susanna Wright — Emily Ruggles — Susan King — Women as Retail Traders — Sewing- Women — Women in Post- OfRces — Women as Telegraphers — Women in Light-houses — Women Clerks — The Army of Workers in Homes, Stores, and Factories. " Not then will woman Idly rest, a pretty household dove, When fit to be the eagle's mate, and cleave the clouds above ; But strive with him in noblest work, and with him win at last, "When all the struggle, all the toil and weariness, are past." Mary M. Chase. " She perceiveth that her merchandise is good. She maketh fine linen, and selleth it." —Pro V. xxx. 18, 24. THAT woman has always been busy, no one can deny, and busy to good purpose also ; but that women have been and are " in business," according to the technical or mercantile sense of that phrase, many may not know. Yet it is true ; and the business capacity of woman is undeniable. From the days of 601 602 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Abigail, the wife of Naboth, there have been shrewdy sensible women, many of whom have known how to labor with industry, and secure a sufficient reward for their toil, even if they had not much tact or skill outside of their peculiar trade or employment. Oui foremothei-8 were not remiss in business capacity, if we may remember Rebecca Motte, who in the first of our century, after the struggle for independence was over, met all demands against her husband's estate by purchasing a large tract of rice-land on credit ; and by industry and economy paid all demands, and accumu- lated a handsome property. The question is pertinently asked nowadays by the press, " Do people remember that it was a woman — Priscilla Wakefield — who founded the first savings bank ? " Says the " Boston Journal : " — " The progress of the last hundred years, while necessarily including much that is common to both sexes, has been so marked in its relations to woman as to stand out distinctly. One feature of it, which may seem very prosaic, is that which comes under the head of political economy, — the vastly increased number of women who are earning their own living. The signifi- cant part of it is, that they have made this advance for themselves, and that men have not made it for them. The old accepted phrase that woman is main- tained by father, or husband, or brother, however agreeable, was never only partially true ; and even where it was so it was not always to the advantage of woman. The opening of facilities for self-support, caused by the progress of modern industry, has wrought a great change. Twenty years ago, of six millions of women above twenty years of age, in England and WOMEN IN BUSINESS. 603 Scotland, it was found that three millions, or one-half of the whole number, were special in the industries, and were independent supporters ; and some writers expressed the opinion that there were not fifty thousand in England who were not in some manner industrial and self-sustaining. There are no census returns in this country to give a similar class of facts ; but here in Massachusetts, at least, there is no doubt the i)rog- ress is greatly in advance of these English statistics. Woman is now seen and welcomed in nearly every department of labor and effort. The last fifty years have seen old barriers broken down which can never be restored, new avenues opened which can never be closed, over which her advancing step has not been so much the movement of her design, as it has been the fulfilment of her destiny. This hand of social reform has been gentle but resistless. " Nor has this great change in the social condition been effected without corresponding change in the civil rights of women. Here, too, Massachusetts may be accepted as a type of the general progress in the United States. By successive stages in the legislation, commencing almost immediately after the adoption of ;he State Constitution in 1780, followed up from inter- val to interval, and culminating in the sweeping law of 1874, the whole force of these inequalities has yielded before the paramount equities of the situation ; and to-day the personality, the independence, of woman, in civil rights under the law, stands out the crowning achievement of this Commonwealth. 'If,\say8 Gov. Bullock, ' the making of the laws had been in her own hands, I do not believe that they could be more benefi- cent.' Of like nature has been the change of woman's relation to marriage. The immunity of the sex as to 604 WOMEN OF THE OENTUBY. person and property, their right to release from oppres- sion practised under the certificate of a wedding, their opportunities of return to their own industry, their own affections, and their own religion, are advanced to a degree which suits their moral and social neces- sities ; which accords with a civilization built up on the overthrow of ecclesiastical dogmatism and super- stition, too long received under the name of conserva- tism." With these changes have come rare opportunities for entering upon business pursuits, and gaining enviable prosperity ; and women have gladly entered these open doors. A New York paper says, — "• Some curious facts relative to various businesses carried on in New York City by women are made known in the latest directory published at the me- tropolis. " The proportion of men to women in business where the women stand as their own representatives is 4,479 women to 37,203 men. " It is somewhat surprising to find a few women ia employments supposed to be entirely monopolized by and only fitted for men : as, for example, out of 79 bil- liard-saloons, two are kept by women ; and, out of 2,888 lager-beer saloons, the proprietors of 51 are women. There is one female blacksmith in a list of 118, and 20 'ady butchers in the whole number of 2013. " There is also in the list of 588 names one woman druggist ; which is particularly worthy of mention, because a druggist must have a diploma from a phar- maceutical college, which have only just (in rare instances) begun to admit them, and must also hava WOMEN EN BUSECfESS. 605 served practically in a drug-store three or four years. There is one woman stationer and bookseller, and 62 woman doctors among 1,633 physicians ; and, as apropos 'n this connection, it may be stated that out of 152 undertakers two are women. Only one woman wood- engraver is given among 79 males ; but there are two women who are down at the head of exchange-offices, three who are pawnbrokers, and five who are keepers of livery-stables." In the early days of our nation there was a woman, then aged, whose life was an example of industry. Susanna Wright was her honored name. We are told that " she never married, but, after the death of her father, became the head of her own family, who looked up to her for advice and direction as a parent ; for her heart was replete with every kind affection." And it is said also, "she was a remarkable economist of time ; for although she had the constant management of a large family, and at times of a profitable establish- ment, she mastered many of the sciences, was a good French, Latin, and Italian scholar, assisted neighbors in the settlement of estates, and was frequently con- sulted as a physician. She took great delight in domestic manufacture, and had constantly much of it produced in her family. For many years she attended ko the rearing of silkworms, and with the sUk, which she reeled and prepared herself, made many articles both of beauty and utility, dying the silk of various colors with indigenous materials. She had at one time upwards of sixty yards of excellent mantua returned to her from Great Britain, where she had sent the raw silk to be manufactured." She was a Quakeress, and lived more than fourscore vears. €06 WOMEN OF THE OBNTUBY. Women since her day have been engaged in busineaa 80 that Mrs. Dall could say, " At the close of the Revo- lution, there were in New England, and perhaps farther south, many women conducting large business estab- lishments, and few females employed as clerks, partly because we were still English, and had not lost English habits. Men went to the war or to general court ; and their wives soon learned to carry on the business upon which not only the family bread, but the fate of the nation, depended, while our common schools had not yet begun to fit women for book-keepers and clerks. The island of Nantucket was, at the close of the war, a good example of the whole country. Great destitu- tion existed on the establishment of peace. The men began the whale-fishery with redoubled energy ; some fitted out and others manned the ships, while the women laid aside distajBf and loom to attend to trade. A very interesting letter from Mrs. Eliza Barney to Mr. Hig- ginson gives me many particulars : " Fifty years ago," she says, " aU the dry goods and groceries were kept by women, who went to Boston semi-annually to renew their stock. The heroine of ' Miriam Ccffin ' ^ was one of the most influential of our commercial women. She not only traded in dry goods and provisions, but fitted vessels for the merchant service. Since that time I can recall near seventy women who have successfully en- gaged in commerce, brought up and educated large families, and retired with a competence. It was the influence of capitalists from the continent that drove Nantucket women out of the trade ; and they only resumed it a few years since, when the California emi- gration made it necessary. Five dry-goods and a few large groceries are now carried on by women, as also ' A novel of great lf>ca] luterest, ami recently republished WOMEN IN BUSINESS. 607 one druggist-shop." ^ The names of Bv)me of those early shopkeepers were once familiar to the writer, and their stores were very attractive. Rachel Easton, Abby Betts, Ltdia Hosier, Nanoy Hussey, those names chime with the memories of childhood very pleas- antly. Since then the dear old island has had many other women storekeepers, — Susan A. Rand (since physician), Hannah Fosdick (a faithful abolitionist), Lydia Elkins, Habbibt Macy, Sophia A. Ray (a mother in Israel), Eunice Paddock, Mary F. Cole- man, Sarah and Mary P. Swain, and others whose names do not readily present themselves, but all wor- thy business women of the century. Mrs. Dall says, " In Pennsylvania the Quaker view of the duties and rights of women contributed to throw many into trade. One lady in Philadelphia transferred a large wholesale business to two nephews, and died wealthy. I saw a letter the other day, which gave aD interesting account of two girls who got permissioD there to sell a little stock in their father's shop. One began with sixty-two cents, which she invested in a dozen tapes ; the other had three dollars. In a few years they bought their father out. The little tape seller married, and earned her husband eight thousand dollars ; while the single sister kept on until she had accumulated twenty thousand dollars, and took a poor boy into partnership. . . . Mrs. Barney tells us that failures were very uncommon in Nantucket while women managed the business ; and some of the largest and safest fortunes in Boston were furnished by women. ... It was one of the most distinguished of our female merchants — Martha Buckminster Curtis — who planted, in Framingham, the first potatoes ever set in 1 The College, the Market,, and the Coan, pabllshed ic i><67. 608 WOMEN OF THB CENTURY. New England. . . . Ann Bent entered on her businotiii career so long ago as 1784, at the age of sixteen. She first entered a crockery-ware and dry-goods firm." Mrs. Dall gives several very interesting pages of statistics concerning the various manufactures in which women are engaged. As, for want of leisure, the late census has not been examined, the latest statistics cannot here be given. It is hoped some other woman will take the hint, and give her readers a full account. Women can engage successfully in the dry-goods business. One example is here given as falling under the writer's personal observation : — Emily Ruggles of Reading, Mass., bom in Dor- chester, July 16, 1827, has been emphatically a woman of business. For twenty-one years she has conducted a dry-goods store, buying her goods as well as selling them, keeping her own books, directing her assistants, and winning the deserved respect of the community for her integrity and fair dealing, and without once suspending or becoming involved. On the contrary, she has proved herself a successful merchant, and has more recently engaged in the real estate business, pur- chasing land for individuals and corporations. She secured the land on which the Christian Union Church now stands, in a business-like manner which would have challenged the admiration of any honorable real- estate agent, and refused to take advantage of circum- stances in the transaction that might have put money in her pocket instead of saving the treasury of the church. She is now owner of a tract of land near Lake Quannapowitt, and has laid out streets, and arranged building-lots, showing that a woman's specu- lations in real estate, or rather a woman's foresight and business capacity, are equal to emergencies, and WOMEN IS BUSINESS. 609 worthy of success. Miss Ruggles is a descendant from Peregrine White (the first child bom among the Pil- grims) on her mother's side ; and on her father's is a relative of the family of Tafts, as well as Ruggles. Her father was a cabinet-manufactnrer for many years (he made the coffin in which Pres. John Adams was buried, and helped place the body in it) ; and the daughter inherits his mechanical ability to a large degree. During the war Miss Ruggles was actively engaged in the Sanitary Commission home work, and was the agent of the Commission in her town. She has always felt a deep interest in the reforms of the day, was one of the earliest women in Massachusetts elected to the office of school committee, and is a shining ex- ample of the fact that women who have business capa- city do not need to beg or starve, and can gain the approval of all intelligent lovers of humanity by the straightforward course which integrity and honesty prompt. Judge Alphonso Taft, her relative (late Secretary of War, and now Attorney- General), in writing to her concerning a genealogical record of their family, said, " I admire your perseverance in business. I think you must be one of those women who believe in women sharing in the responsibilities of business, and even in those of political life, and ia enlarging the sphere of woman's activity. If so, I agree with you. I am for the enlargement and exten- sion of women's legal and political power. I would have them share in the elective franchise. My wife and I concur in these gential views. It may be that you have not got so far along ; but your carrying on a mercantile business for so long a time looks favorable." Mention might be made of Columbia Lane and her three sisters, who have been successful in the millin- 610 'WOMEN OF THE CENTDBT. ery and fancy-goods business for many years in Maine and in Beverly, Mass. Other women in the same town where they have conducted business have also been thus engaged, some of them having been apprentices or helpers in their stores, learning from these women of integrty the methods of conducting business honorably and successfully. Charlotte L. Newton of Cambridgeport, Mass., was four years an official of the Boston Custom House, and was also a successful dry-goods clerk, and real- estate dealer for some time. Mrs. Peasely of Winona, Minn., is engaged in the Aovel work of cutting gravestones. " She works in a marble-shop, with a number of men ; takes the stone in the rough as they do, works as much as they, and earns '^hree doUars a day. Why does she do it? Because rt nen her husband died she was not able to buy a head- stone complete, but bought a marble slab in the rough, and finished it; and it can be seen standing at the head of his grave, near the village of Henderson, Minn. She then carved some work, and took it to a marble- worker in the city of Minneapolis, and told him she was a widow with a family of children, and wanted work. The dealer examined the work, said that it was good, and that he would give her work on two conditions: first, she should promise not to work for any other dealer in the city; and, second, she should promise not to open business on her own account in the city. She said she would agree to this if he would agree to keep her in work aU the time. But this ' lord of creation ' would agree to nothing of the kind. She went to St. Paul, and there got work without special agreements, and is now in Winona." So says *' The Woman's Journal." WOMEN IN BUSINESS. 611 In the " New Century " for Oct. 14, 1876, is a pleas ant reference to a new business for women, — the making of fern-leaf mottoes, — the idea of which enter- prise originated with Mrs. Anna K. Weavee, who is now laboring under the Woman's Foreign. Missiona/y Society in Bogota, South America. Hundreds of women are now assisting in the construction and sale of these lovely mottoes, Mrs. I. R. Nicholas of Phila delphia being at their head. It should have been mentioned earlier that women have had a hundred years of experience in retail trade, and also in horticulture, and in the relation of business copartnership, as Mr. Higginson showed by ancient advertisements, in " The Woman's Journal." In the business of raising bees, Mrs. Eliza Tupper was very successful until serious illness interfered with her labors ; but she toiled long enough to prove that bee-culture can be accomplished by women. " The Woman's Journal " says, " Two girls in a small town in Ohio run a blacksmith's shop all by themselves. They dress in bloomer costume, and shoe horses just as a man does." The name of Susan King must not be omitted, since she is the prime mover of the Woman's Tea Company in New York City, of which Mme. Demo- rest is the president. Miss King accumulated a large fortune by real-estate transactions, and then started her present business. She has been herself to China, and examined teas, and made the acquaintance of the merchants, and is now doing a successful business on Broadway, setting an example of industry and enter- prise. Among the intelligent and successful business women of the century may be numbered Mrs. Chablotte 612 WOMEN OF THE OKNTTTBY. FowiiEB Wells, the sister cf tLe plirenologists Fowler, and wife of S. R. Wells, the well-known writer and publisher of valuable hygienic works. Several times her foresight and business ability saved the firm of Fowler and Wells from failure ; and to her at first her famous brothers were indebted for their success. She was a teacher, then a lecturer on phrenology, then engaged as a working-partner in the business of the enterprising firm of Fowler and Wells, — the business which since the death of her husband she has con- ducted with marked ability. " The accumulation of property by the late Mrs. Mather Remington of Fall River was something re- markable. Although she was in business but a few years, and at that almost a girl, and without assist- ance, she left an estate which will reach nearly forty thousand doUars. Her investments were shrewdly made, and were often exceedingly remunerative. As a shrewd buyer of goods, she had no superior in the market." Among the women in business, surely are the renowned factory-girls, some of whom, like LuoT Lahcom, have become notable in other ways than at the loom. Mrs. Harriet H. Robinson wrote for " The Boston Journal " a fine sketch of Lowell, in which occurred these paragraphs : — THE FEEST FACTORY GIRLS. " Trocps of young girls came by stages and baggage- wagoiid ; and men were employed to go into other States and Canada, and collect them at so much a head, and deUver them at the factories. " A very curious siglit these country girls presented to young eyes accustomed to a more modern style WOMEN EN BUSINESS. 613 of things. When the large covered baggage-wagon Arrived in front of a block on the corporation, they fl^ould descend from it, dressed in various and outland- ish fashions (some of the dresses, perhaps, having served for best during two generations), with hair done up in (to us) almost impossible ways, and with their arma brimfull of bandboxes containing all their worldly goods. Here let me pay a passing tribute to that obso- lete appendage to a lady's baggage, — the bandbox- It has a New England history almost coeval -^izh. that of Lowell. It began to be made in perfectico about fifty years ago in Jaffrey, N.H., by a womar named Hannah Davis, who manufactured the first nailed band-boxes in the country, and made herself rich thereby. " Another Hannah — Hannah Moee — always trav- elled with the immortal bandbox, besides her ' great bag, little bag, basket, bundle.' The bandbox was made of all sizes, many of them being large enough to hold quite a wardrobe. Now the omnivorous ' Sara- toga ' has swallowed them all up, and it is my fate to chronicle the ' last of the bandbox.' " These country girls, as they were called, had queer names, which added to the singularity of their appear- ance. Samantha, Trifeny, Plumy, Elgardy, and FloriUa, were common among them. They soon learned the ways of tiie new place to which they had come ; and after paying for their transportation they used their earnings to re-dress themselves, and in a little while were as stylish as the rest ; for they had good New England blood in them, and blood tells even in factory people. In time most of them changed their names to Mrs. — something ; and later, when Andrew Jackson visited Lowell, no peculiarity of dress in the operatives was seen ; but walking four deep in priKcession to his 614 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. honor, clothed in white, these Lowell factory-girls looked, to use the words of a contemporaneous writer, * like liveried angels.' " Mrs. Robinson has given U3 a pleasant picture of herself in the following : — THE FIRST STRIKE, Or ' turn-out ' as it was called, was in 1836, and was caused, of course, by the reduction of wages. The op eratives were very indignant : they held meetings, and decided to stop their work, and turn out, and let the mills take care of themselves. Accordingly one day they went in as usual ; and when the machinery was well started up, they stopped their looms and frames, and left. In one room some indecision was shown among the girls. After stopping their work they dis- cussed the matter anew, and could not make up their minds what to do, when a little girl of eleven years old said, 'Jam going to turn out, whether any one else does or not,' and marched out, followed by all the others. The ' turn-outs ' all went in procession to the grove on ' Chapel Hill,' and were addressed by sym- pathizing speakers. Their dissatisfaction subsided or burned itself out in this way ; and, though the authori- ties did not accede to their demands, they returned to their work, and the corporations went on cutting down the wages. " The agents of the corporations, on whom the man- tle of Kirk Boott's arbitrary power rested, took some small revenges on the supposed ringleaders among the strikers ; and, on the principle of sending the weaker to the wall, the mother of this child, a widow, was turned away from the boarding-house she kept on one of the corporations, for not * controlling this leading spirit. WOMEN LN BUSINESS. 615 The poor mother was injured irreparably ; but the child will never be so triumphant again, unless it is given to her to lead the army of equal suffragists to victory." A Detroit woman named Ann Smalley has moved buUdings, and caused men in her employ to build half a mile of sidewalk. A woman in Dorchester, N.H., during the illness of her husband, tapped their sugar-orchard, cut her wood, gathered the sap, and made about four hundred pounds of sugar. An army of women have been engaged in Wash- ington, in the various kinds of business required in the Treasury Department, among them Rebecca Wright, married in 1871 to William Bensal. She was the Httle Quaker lady who told Sheridan about Early's move- ments in September, 1864, by means of which he sent Jubal whirling down the valley ; and for which he gave her a splendid watch and chain, and the Govern- ment gave her a profitable place in the Capitol.' " Miss Lillie Slocum is the owner and manager of an omnibus line in Quincy, Mass., upon whose neat and commodious vehicles the people look with much pride and satisfaction." " Mrs. Shelton, of Santa Clara County, was the first to introduce bees into California, bringing two hives in 1853. The swarms of bees that now fly about tlit Pa- cific Coast are said to be the product of these two hives. She sold one of them for $550." " Elizabeth Mary Gill, Cobbler. A white canvas sign with a red border, in a window at 278 Mulberry Street, New York, reads as follows : ' Mrs. Gill, Boot and Shoe Maker ; Repairing Neatly Done.' Mrs. Elizabeth Mary Gill was born in Northampton, England, and learned her 1 Interesting statistics concerning woman's labor In Massachusetts - WELL, the successful editor of the ' Legal News,' pub- lished at Chicago, had just been denied admission. Her case stated in brief is this : Mrs. Bradwell made apph- cation for a license to practise law. The Court refused her application on the ground of her being a married woman : she immediately brought a suit to test the legality of this decision. This interesting case was carried to the Supreme Court of the United States, which sustained the decisions of the lower courts. Miss Hulett had reason to expect, that, since she was unmarried, this decision would not prejudice the decision in her own case. Just on the threshold of her chosen profession, the rewards of youthful aspirations and earnest study apparently just within her grasp, her dismay can be imagined when no response what- ever was vouchsafed her petition. A fainter heart WOMEN LAWYERS. 665 would have accepted the situation. To battle success- fully with old prejudices, intrenched in the strong- holds of the law, required not only marked ability, but also a courage which could not surrender. Such was the situation in the fall of Miss Hulett's seven- teenth year. Grievously disappointed, but not dis- heartened, the pressing necessities of the family claimed her immediate attention : something must be done at once. She took a country school for four months, and bravely went to work again. While teaching, and ' boarding round,' she prepared a lec- ture, ' Justice vs. the Supreme Court,' in which she vigorously and eloquently stated her case. This lec- ture was delivered in Rockford, Freeport, and many other of the larger towns in Northern Illinois, enUsting everywhere sympathy and admiration in her behalf ; and what was besides, at this juncture, a matter of serious importance, the family purse was replenished thereby. After taking counsel with Lieut-Gov. Early, a friend of the family, and other prominent members of the Legislature, she drew up a bill, the provisions of which, as passed, are, — " ' Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, that no person shall be precluded or debarred from any occupation, profession, or employment (except military), on account of sex. Provided that this act shall not be construed to affect the eligibility of any person to an elective office. " ' Nothing in this act shall be construed as requiring any female to work on streets or roads, or serve on juries. " ' All laws inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed." 666 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. " Friends obtained for this bill a favorable intioduc- tion into the Legislature, which passed it, and the gov- ernor gave to it his signature. Miss Hulett was passing up the steps to her home one rainy day, when the tele- gram announcing that her bill had become a law was placed in her hands. Trembling in every limb, she read the despatch ; when her woman's nature asserted itself, and she sank upon the steps, regardless of the fast falling rain, and wept tears of joy. To use her own words in relating this incident, she said, ' I shall never again know a moment of such supreme happi- ness.' Immediately, upon the advice of trusted friends, she removed to Chicago, a city the peer of Boston in its supreme scorn for old-time prejudices. Here she passed another year in severe study, when she again presented herself for admission. After a most vigorous examination, she stood at the head of a class of twenty- eight ; all of the others being gentlemen, and her seniors. This time the Supreme Court made the amende honorable, and courteously and cordially wel- comed her into the ranks of the profession. At the age of nineteen Miss Hulett began the practice of law on an equal footing with her brother lawyers ; having been admitted not only into all of the State courts, but also into the Circuit Court of the United States. To say that Chicago is proud of its first lady lawyer is only a mild form of stating the case. Like its famous water-crib, grain elevators, &c., she is regarded as one of its distinctive institutions. " Miss Hulett is worthy of her position, and has earned all her honors. That she has ability, persever- ance, and courage, the lesson of her life thus far has fully demonstrated ; but, much as she has accompUshed, she impresses one as possessed of an immense amount WOMEN LAWYERS. 667 of reserved power, and it is felt that the future has ahnost unlimited possibilities in store for her. Miss Hulett has, in addition to her mental endowments, a fine physique ; her sympathies are broad, and her dispo- tion genial. She is one of those individuals who love to live.'''' Helena Barkalow died in 1870, about a year after her admission to the bar. She was from Brooklyn, N.Y., and died in St. Louis of typhoid fever. The members of the bar met in that city, and passed a series of resolutions expressive of respect and regret. Major Lucien Eaton, in whose law-office Miss Barkalow was established for further professional study, testified in glowing terms to her excellence as a woman and a lawyer. At the time Miss Couzins was admitted to the Utah bar, as a lawyer of St. Louis, Miss 0. Georgie Snow of Deseret was also admitted. She is the daughter of the attorney-general of that Territory, and had been studying in her father's office. The welcome to the bar was general and cordial. A New York paper states : " In executive session to-day the Senate con- firmed the first woman that has ever been appointed to a State office. The lady's name is Josephine Shaw Lowell. She was nominated by the governor for the office of State commisssioner of charities in the place of Commissioner Marshall, and was confirmed on mo- tion of Senator Robertson. Mrs. Lowell belongs to a distinguished New England family. Her husband — a nephew of the poet Lowell — and her only brother were killed in the late war. One of her sisters is mar- ried to George William Curtis, and another is the wife of Gen. Barlow. Mrs. Lowell resides in New York, and is a member of the Ladies' Local Board of Chari- ties in that city." €68 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Miss Maby E. Stevens (a granddaughter of Re>. Thomas C. Thatcher, and great-granddaughter of Rev. Peter Thatcher, who was pastor of the Brattle-square church in Boston at his death) was appointed hy Gov. Claflin of Massachusetts a justice of peace, and is one of the firm of conveyancers and copyists in Boston, Mass., known as E. G. Stevens and daughter ; her law- yer father being the other member of the firm. She had been previously very efficient in the office of the register of deeds. " The Woman's Journal " of June 17, 1871, says, " Miss Mary Wattle and Mrs. Helen Comb have entered into copartnership for the practice of law in Leavenworth. This is the first female attempt at law in Kansas." The same paper on July 29, 1871, says, " Miss Lydia S. Hall, a clerk in the Treasury Department at Wash- ington, is studying law, and intends to practise at the bar in Washington two years from now. Youth will not be urged against her admission, for she will then be seventy-four years old." The same Journal of Aug. 9, 1873, says, " Miss Emma Hubbard, daughter of Supt. Hubbard, who recently graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan, has been elected assistant teacher of the Fitchburg High School." Rev. Fanny W. Roberts, before her ordination at Kittery, Me., was appointed a justice of the peace by the governor and council, and was the first woman who had authority to solemnize marriages in the State. She afterward officiated at the marriage of her own son, being thus the first woman to officiate at the marriage of a child. ELiiA Chapin was appointed register of deeds in WOMEN LAWYERS. 669 Gratiot Co., Mich., and Frances Charles in Oxford Co., Maine. "The Woman's Journal" of May 26, 1872, says, " Miss Annette Contse of Tiffin, a graduate of the classical course in Heidelberg College, and who studied law one year, has made application to the governor of Ohio for a commission as notary public. Her apphca- tion was referred to the attorney-general, who ex- pressed the opinion that under the constitution and laws of the State such commission could not be issued to a female." Also, " In the city of Washington, where a few years ago colored women were bought and sold under sanc- tion of law, a woman of African descent has been ad- mitted to practise at the bar of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. Miss (.harlotte E. Ray, who has the honor of being the first lady lawyer in Wash- ington, is a graduate of the Law College of Howard University, and is said to be a dusky mulatto, possesses quite an intelligent countenance." She doubtless has also a fine mind, and deserves success. " The Woman's Journal " of Oct. 22, 1870, says, *' Miss Frances A. Rutherford, M.D., has filed her acceptance of the office of City Physician in Grand Rapids, Mich., and taken the obligation administered by a female notary public. Miss Julia Moffinbury, and entered upon the discharge of her duties. Grand Rapids is a city of sixteen thousand inhabitants." Also, under date of Feb. 19, 1870, " In Illinois, Mrs. Amella. Hobbs has been elected a justice of the peace for Jersey Landing Township, by a majority of twenty- six votes. This is the first woman elected to office in Illinois." Miss Lizzie Bubt was appointed register of deeds in Kansas. 670 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Mrs. Myra Bradwell of Chicago is the able editor of " The Legal News," and when burned out in the great fire was not discouraged, but issued it every week, though at first of abridged dimensions. She is the wife of a judge, and found her marriage vow, what it ought not to have been, a hindrance to her being admitted to the bar, though amply qualified. A daughter of Judge and Mrs. Bradwell has recently been admitted to the bar. Belva a. Lockwood, neS Bennett, was born at Royalton, N.Y., Oct. 24, 1830. She was a fine student^ and early became a teacher. At eighteen she married Mr. U. H. McNall, a young farmer. He died, lea\ing her with one daughter at the age of twenty-two. She began to teach again, and finally entered Genesee Wes- leyan College. " She appKed herself with so much assiduity, that at the end of the first year she had exceeded her own expectations, and found her name entered on the list of juniors. At the close of the following term she was again promoted to the senior class, from which she graduated with honor, June 27, 1857. Four days before her graduation, she was elected almost unani- mously, over fifteen competitors, preceptress of the Lockport Union School, the central high school of the city; and this without her solicitation. It was a com- pliment paid her by friends who had known the strug- gle of her youth, and her determined effort to rise above her position. " She accepted this situation reluctantly, at the ear- nest request of Pres. Cummings, who represented it to her as a duty. She had previously determined to make the West her field of labor, whither her parents had removed, taking with them her little daughter,. WOMEN LAWYERS. 671 whom she had not seen for two years. To stop short of this cost a severe struggle between maternal love and duty. At the close of the summer term, however, she was permitted to visit her family, and to clasp her child, now seven years of age, to her bosom. She remained in this school for four years, preparing in the meantime her daughter for the junior department, and taking her sister through the entire seminary course. " At the breaking out of the war in 1861, many of the older young men of the school volunteered in the service. A mass meeting of the women of the city was called, which was very largely attended, and a society of all the churches formed, of which Mrs. B. A. McNaE was made president. Accustomed to organize and arrange into classes hundreds of young women, she was not long in arranging into committoes this mass of earnest, generous womanhood ; and next day Ringue- berg Hall was like one vast beehive in cutting, basting, and stitching all the belongings and accoutrements of the soldier. It was not long before that gallant regi- ment, the Twenty-eighth New York, were clothed, fed, and sheltered by the women of Lockport. Many of them sleep in honored soldiers' graves ; some still live with honorable scars and a proud record. " Mrs. McNaU continued president of this Associa- tion until she lefj the city in September, having resigned her too arduous duties to accept the position of preceptress in the Gainesville Female Seminary, in Wyoming County, N.Y. The school building was soon afterward burned, and she remained in this quiet little puritanic town but one year ; but during her stay con- ducted two large Bible-classes, one of adults in the church and one of young women in the school, and conducted a weekly prayer-meeting, besides her routine 672 WOMEN OP THE CENTTJBY. of school duties. The monotony of her life here was varied by long walks in the woods with the girls of the school, in search of new specimens of plants ; and among her writings at this time we find ' Reminiscences of Silver Lake,' ' The Falls at Portage,' and ' Chestnutting on the Banks of the Genesee.' She afterward opened a school in Hornellsville, N.Y., assisted by other teach- ers ; but finding the society uncongenial, and the school, though large, paying but poorly, she, at the earnest solicitation of friends, was persuaded to remove to Owego, N.Y. She here purchased of Judge Parker the Pumpelley estate, situated on the banks of the Susque- hanna, where that beautiful river makes one of its most graceful curves, and opened a seminary for young ladies. Here, absorbed in educational and religious pursuits, she remained until after the assassination of Pres. Lincoln. She was elected lady superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Church sabbath school, and was sent as a delegate to the State sabbath school asso- ciation, which met in Syracuse in 1865. " Constantly impressed with the idea that it was her duty to teach, because she had qualified herself for that profession, she opened a school for young ladies in Union League Hall, Oct. 8, 1864, and with the assist- ance of her daughter and a competent music teacher, conducted a very flourishing school until her marriage with Dr. E. Lockwood in March, 1868. Previous to this she had conceived the idea of visiting Europe ; and without counting the cost of stemming public opinion and the conventionalities of society, appMed to the Department of State to be sent as consul to Ghent, thai ofl&ce being then vacant. She carefully prepared her- self for the examination, being familiar with the lan- guages, especially the French ; re-read international WOMEN LAWYERS. 673 law and the Constitution, and gave special attention to the Consular Manual. But it is not always brains or culture that fill offices, but the more special qualifica- tion of sex. Disappointed in her application, she turned her attention to the acquisition of the Spanish language. The year following her marriage, nearly twenty years from the birth of her first child, a daughter, Jessie, was born to her. This child was a wellspring of delight, — a living sunbeam in the house to both her and her hus- band. But alas for human hopes ! she died at the age of eighteen months, after having endeared herself to all who knew her. "After this severe blow, — finding consolation only in severe mental exertion, — she resolved to pursue the study of law, and regularly applied for admission to Columbia College, hardly dreaming that so reasonable an application would be denied. Dr. George W. Sam- son, then president, replied to her by letter that it was deemed by the faculty and College Board that 'her presence would distract the attention of the students,' and declined to admit her, after having invited her to the opening lectures. The next year the National University Law Class was formed ; and in connection with it a class for ladies was opened, fifteen entering their names." She was afterward graduated, and admitted to the bar. Mrs. M. M. Rickbr, who was admitted to the bar in the District of Columbia in May last, is said to have passed the best examination among seventeen applicants, all men but herself. She was especially well versed ii the law of real property, a branch usually deemed to be a little above the feminine practitioner. Mks. Judith Ellen Foster should be mentioned ae 674 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. among the lawyers who have shown woman's power to plead successfully. She was among those speakers in the temperance campaign who secured victory for prohi- bition in Iowa in 1882. Miss Frances E. Willard gives a fine sketch of the lawyer, Mrs. Judith Ellen Foster, in " Our Union," for September, 1881, from which the following facts are learned : — She is the daughter of Rev. Jotham Horton, a Metho- dist clergj^man, born in Boston in 1789, and of a Cape Cod mother, who was a descendant of the Revolutionary General Warren. Her father was a very Boanerges, but, says Miss Willard, " Mrs. Foster's mother was quite a dif- ferent type, the daughter of a sea-captain, reared in the quiet of a New England farm ; she never met the world till called to stand beside this fiery champion of the Cross. Beautiful in face and form, and graceful in man- ner, she was the ideal complement of her husband. When Judith (for I can but call her thus, believing that the Iowa liquor traffic shall yet turn out to be her Hol- ofernes) was not quite seven years old, she lost this lovely mother. Born at Lowell, Mass., November 3, 1840, motherless at seven, and an orphan at twelve years of age, Judith Ellen's short life had already compre- hended the most significant vicissitudes, when her eldest sister, Mrs. Pierce, wife of a wealthy business man of Boston, received the young girl into her home and di- rected her education, first in the public schools of Boston, then at Charlestown Female Seminary, and last at the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, Lima, N. Y. Her musical education was carried on in Boston, under the best teachers. After leaving school she taught briefly, but at twenty years of age (1860) she was married to a promis ing young merchant of that city. " Concerning this painful episode in her history, the fol- MKS. JUDITH ELLEN EUbTEK. WOMEN LAWYERS. 677 lowing facts are furnislied by a friend : ' This union, desired and approved by mutual friends, promist^d naught but joy and blessedness. But clouds soon gathered, and after years of poverty and toil and wanderings to and fro, and vain attempts to cover up and bear the shame that came because she bore his name, nothing was left of this sad marriage but two children for her to love and rear. In the home of a brother she put on widow's weeds, sadder far than those that come at death.' " Having secured a divorce, she was married to Hon. E. C. Foster, who is a prominent lavryer and politician of Iowa, a life-long temperance man and earnest, work- ing Christian. " She read law first for his entertainment, and after- wards by his suggestion and under his supervision she pursued a systematic course of legal study with, howevfer, no thought of admission to the bar. She read, with hev- babies about her, and instead of amusing herself with fashion plates or fiction, such learned tomes as Black- stone and Kent, Bishop and Story. She never had an ambition for public speaking or public life. Although reared in the Methodist Church she had never, until about the time of the crusade, heard a woman preach oi lecture, but when that trumpet blast resounded, she, in common with her sisters, responded to the call, and lifted up her voice in protest against the iniquity of the drink traffic. Her acceptance with the people just at the time when she had completed her legal studies seemed a providential indication, and her husband said, ' If you can talk before an audience you could before a court or jury,' and he insisted on her being examined for admission to the bar. Prior to this time she had prepared pleadings and written arguments for the courts, but without formal admission she could not personally appear. She was examined, admitted, and took the oath 678 WOALEN OF THE CENTLTRl. to ' support the Constitution and the laws. This tri- umph won the approval of friends and the increased hatred of the liquor party, who knew it meant not only warfare upon the temperance platform, but in the legal forum also. The night of the day on which she was admitted to practice, saw her home in Clinton, Iowa, in flames. There was little doubt that the fire was kindlf^d by two liquor sellers whom Mr. Foster had prosecuted, and who had juHt returned from the county jail. Mrs. Foster was the first woman admitted to practice in the State Supreme Court. She has recently defended a woman under sentence of death, and after a ten days' trial, in which our lady lawyer made the closing argu- ment, the verdict of the jury was modified to imprison- ment for life. Mrs. P^)ster enjoys the absolute confidence and support of her husband in her legal and temperance work. He was its instigator, and more than any other rejoices in it. " Mrs. Foster has lost two little girls. Two sons re- main, one of whom is a student in the Northwestern University at Evanston, 111., and another in the grammar school at Clinton, Iowa. In her own home Mrs. Fos- ter is universally honored, and for her beloved Iowa she has grandly wrought from the beginning until now, when, more by her exertions than those of any other individual, the Constitutional Amendment has been placed before the people. Mrs. Foster's life since the crusade of 1874 is part and parcel of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. She has never been absent from one of our national conventions ; and her quick brain, ready and pointed utterance, and rare knowledge of parliamentary forms have added incalculably to the success of these Qfreat meetings. There is not a State at the North in which our cause is not to-day more powerful than it would have been but for her logic and her eloquence. WOMEN LAWYERS. 679 Whether making her great two-hours' argument for the Constitutional Amendment, as she did night after night for successive months in the Northwest, or following the intricacies of debate in a convention, conducting a prayer meeting between the sessions, leading the music of an out-door meeting, answering Dr. Crosby at Tremont Temple, Boston, pleading for woman's ballot in Iowa, or for prohibition in Washington; whether playing with her boys at home, reading Plato in the cars, preaching the gospel from a dry-goods box on the street corner of her own town, or speaking in the great tabernacle at Chautauqua, Mi-s. Foster is always witty, wise, and kind, and thorough mistress of the situation. Her husband's heart doth safely trust in her, and her boys glory in a mother who cannot only say with Cornelia of Rome, ' these are my jewels,' but whose great heart reaches out to restore to the rifled casket of many another woman's home, whence strong drink has stolen them, these gems of priceless cost. Best of all, she loves the Lord Jesua Christ, and above her chief joy, desires and labors to build up His Kingdom on the earth." The mention of Rev. Dr. Samson's name affords an admirable opportunity of telling the wise and witty course of one brave anti-slavery Christian woman of the century, Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Herrick, a native of Beverly, Mass., and now in Amherst, N.H. The pro- slavery D.D., who was a slave-owner also it is believed, was occupying the pulpit of the Baptist church in Beverly, on exchange with the pastor. For a long time there had been an anti-slavery prayer-meeting observed by some of the members. Mrs. Herrick wi-ote the notice ; and the doctor was, after several attempts to dodge the matter, obliged to read the notice of a meet- ing to "pray for God's image in bonds." The ill grace 680 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. with which the tacit reproof was received may be imagined, and also the scarcely repressed mirth of the anti-slavery women of that ever faithful church. The list of lawyers may be incomplete, but probably it will never be less. As the years roll on, women law- yers will be as numerous as women physicians, and as successful. Many a girl is in our public schools to-day who will become, in her degree, a Portia. CHAPTER XXII. WOMEN JOURNALISTS. Caroline A. Soiile — Emma IMolloy — Pauline W. Davis — Jane G. Swisslielm — Amelia Bloomer, and others. " Words are things ; and a small drop of ink, Falling like dew upon a thought, produces That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think." Byron. *' They that handle the pen of the writer." — Judges v. 14. YERY many women are journalists and reporters in our land. Some have been exceedingly success- ful as editors ; and no more sprightly and acceptable writers have been connected with the newspapers of the day, since the days when Margaret Fuller wrote for " The Tribune," than the women who are or have been connected with our best papers. One of these toiling benefactors with the pen is known to children far and wide as " Aunt Carra." " Caeoline a. Soule (neS White) was born in 682 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Albauy, N.Y., Sept. 3, 1824. She was the third child in a family of six, three of whom died in infancy. On her father's side she is of English descent ; on her mother's of Holland and French, her maternal gr nd- mother being a pure Knickerbocker, and her maternal grandfather a pure Frenchman. At the time of her birth her father was a Universalist, her mother a mem ber of the Dutch Reformed Church ; and Caroline A. was christened in the latter church. Her mother, how- ever, becoming a Universalist very soon after, the little girl was brought up entirely in the Universalist faith. " The last six years of her school life were spent at the Albany Female Academy, then in its palmiest days, and admirably presided over by Alonzo Crittenton, and numbering among its professors E. N. Hosford, now of Cambridge University. She was graduated in July, 1841, with high honors, receiving one of the three gold medals given as prizes to the graduating class for the best English essays. Her subject was, ' The Benevo lence of God not fully demonstrated without the aid of revelation.' " In April, 1842, she became principal of the female department of the Clinton Liberal Institute, Clinton, Oneida Co., N.Y. ''In September of the same year, Rev. H. B. Soule, then pastor of the First Universalist Church in Troy, removed to Clinton, becoming principal of the male department of the institute. The acquaintance, begiu while they were residents of the neighboring cities, Albany and Troy, ripened into affection, the result of which was the ceremony of marriage on the 28th of August, 1843, at which time Mr. Soule was pastor of the First Universalist Church in Utica. In May, 1844, they removed to Boston, Mass., Mr. Soule becom- WOMEN JOURNALISTS. 683 Ing the colleague of the venerable Hosea Ballou. In June, 1845, they removed to Gloucester, Mass., assum- ing charge of the parish to which John Murray had formerly preached. The climate not agreeing with Mr. Soule, they removed in May, 1846, to Hartford, Conn., the birthplace of the father of Mrs. Soule. In April, 1861, the health of Mr. Soule requiring country life, they removed to Granby, Conn., where, although fulfill- ing the duties of pastor to the Universalist parish, he devoted hours formerly given to study to out-door exercise. In the autumn of the same year, with per- fectly restored health, he contemplated a wider field of usefidness, and on the 30th of December removed to Lyous, Wayne Co., N.Y., to become pastor of a newly organized parish, his family remaining in Granby. On the 29th of January, 1852, Mr. Soule died suddenly at Lyous, of small-pox. Mrs. Soule was thus left a widow, without a note of warning, her husband having been dead and buried five days ere the letter announcing his decease came to hand. She was a widow with five children, three sons and two daughters, — the eldest seven, the youngest one year of age. She was left with the customary pittance of ministers' widows, — a library of a few hundred volumes, and three hundred dollars in bank. " But she was not long idle. In her girlhood she had written a few articles for the newspapers ; and during her wedded life, at one time assisted her husband in editing the ' Connecticut Odd Fellow,' a weekly paper published in Hartford, Conn.; and had contributed several tales to the ' Hartford Times,' and a few -to Universalist papers. And she now looked to her pen for means to provide for her fatherless household. " Two months after her husband's death, she com- 684 WOMEN OP THE CENTURY. menoed writing the memoir of his life, which she put to press in July of the same year, 1852. It was favora- bly received by the denomination, and has become one of its standard biographies. The following winter she became a professional story-writer ; contributing to the few story-papers then published in the United States, and also being a regular contributor to ' The Ladies' Repository,' the oldest ladies' magazine in the country. She was also a regular correspondent of all the weekly Universalist papers. The second summer of her widow- hood she, in addition to the usual dem-ands made upon her by her hterary efforts, taught school, walking a mile and a half morning and night, and doing all the housework and sewing for her family ; and also editing, that year and the next, ' The Rose-Bud,' an annual for the young. " In July, 1853, she removed to Iowa, becoming one of the pioneers of Boone County. She remained here nearly ten years, enduring not only the ordinary hard- ships of an emigrant, but the extraordinary ones induced by the commercial crisis of 1857 and by the war. Her eldest son was given to her country's needs, and died in the army iu 1863, at the tender age of seventeen. Notwithstanding all the manual labor that devolved on her as a housekeeper, without servants, and living mostly in a log cabin, she never for a single week neglected her literary labors. She was soon made Western editor of ' The Ladies' Repository,' held the position during all the years of her residence in the West. She continued her story-writing for secular papers, and contributed largely to all the new literary undertakings of the State : at one time editing a country paper through an entire political campaign ; but this was done impersonally, and without pa}^ she WOMEN JOURNALISTS. 685 being prompted by her love of right, to do the hard, disagreeable work. She also wrote three books, ' Home Life, or a Peep across the Threshold,' ' The Pet of the Settlement,' and ' Wine, or Water ; ' the last a temperance story which has since been repub- lished in a Western paper as a serial. "An affection of the eyes, which threatened blindness, obliged her to return to the East'; and from 1864 to 1868 she accomplished but little literary labor. In July of the latter year she issued the first number of * The Guiding Star,' a Sunday-school paper, of which she was both proprietor and editor, and which paper, now in its seventh volume, she still retains as indi- vidual property. Since 1867 she has been a resident of New York City, spending her days in an office away down town, and finding rest at night at ' Content,' her unpretending little home in Fordham. Under several noms lie plume, she has been a correspondent of the different papers of the Universalist denomination, being also for several years the editor of the juvenile depart- ment of ' The Christian Leader,' and at one time editor-in-chief for several months. She has been presi- dent of the ' Woman's Centenary Association,' the only national organization of women in the Univer- salist Church, from its start in 1869 till now, during the year 1874 travelling nearly twenty thousand miles in its behalf. " Her health failing in the winter of 1875, she sailed for Europe in May, and remained till October, confin- ing her travels to England and Scotland ; and while in the latter country preaching several times to Universal- ist families, and lecturing on temperance and the higher education of woman." A Cincinnati paper thus refers to women in journal- 686 WOMEN OF THE CENTXTRY. " The number of women who figure on the metro- politan press may no longer be counted. Among the daily journals, at least, their name is legion ; and not a few of the most influential weeklies owe much of their interest to the sprightly characteristics of the feminine pen. In this department, if in no other, woman stands the acknowledged equal of her masculine contempora- ries ; and the only question which affects her advance- ment in any branch of the profession is her fitness for the duties of that branch. Hence we see Middy Morgan, in her coarse boots and short skirts, plod- ding through the mire of the city stock-yards as stock editor of ' The Times ; ' while the charming little widow of a ' Herald ' reporter takes up her husband's pen just where he lays it down, and carries out his unfinished programme with as much exactitude as if she had been all her life accustomed to the work. One of the strongest and most indefatigable writers on the ' Star ' is a Shepard-ess ; and it is said that the only redeeming quality in the columns of ' The Sun ' is what flows from the modifying quills of two women. " Miss Booth, of *• Harper's Bazar,' needs no intro- duction. Not only as an editor has her name become famihar to the literary world. Mary L. Booth first dis- tinguished herself as an historian and a translator, and for many years confined herself almost exclusively to those two departments ; but since 1867, when she was placed at the head of the ' Bazar,' she has contributed greatly by her rare taste and discrimination toward making that journal one of the most excellent of its class. Her yearly salary of four thousand dollars attests the high estimate of her services by Harper Brothers, though it by no means limits the annual income of this industrious woman. Her brain and pen WOMEN JOURNALISTS. 687 are ever busy ; and notwithstandiug her regular news- paper duties the work of the translator and chronicler still goes on. Another well-known name in the same department is that of Jennie June, wife of D. G. Croly, managing editor of ' The World,' and the controlling spirit in * Demorest's Monthly.' Mrs. Croly 's connection with the ' New York Press,' probably dates farther back than that of any other woman so engaged at present. She discovered her literary powers very early in life, and readily learned to put them to profitable use ; at a time, too, when men the most appreciative and kindly disposed were inclined to ridicule the idea of woman's fitness for any l)ranch of journalism. She was first engaged on ' The Times ; ' but, on the establishment of ' Demorest's Monthly,' the enterprising proprietors of that periodical offered her a larger salary, and enticed her away to the sanctum of fashion. There she has remained ever since ; and from there have gone forth the thousands of manifold letters which have made her nom de plume a household name throughout the land. This system of correspondence was originated by ' Jennie June,' and proved to be one of the happy hits of her literary career. Beginning, of course, on a small scale, she gradually won her way as an authority on questions of dress, till before many years nearly every prominent journal in the country was glad to boast of ' Jennie June ' as its fashion contributor ; and to-day that branch of her work alone realizes to its projector a handsome income. At one time she prepared and despatched every one of these letters herself ; but long since she delegated that unenviable task to a competent clerk, contenting herself with merely dictating the form, and afterward appropriating the greenback returns, minus a certain percentage. 688 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. " Scarcely less known than Mrs. C roly^ or less popu- lar, is Mary Olemmer Ames of ' The Independent.' Mrs. Ames is somewhat more versatile in her talents, and has alternately filled almost every department of journalism. Besides being an able prose writer, this lady is also a poetess ; and of late years some of her finest literary efforts have been in a poetic vein. While a mere schoolgirl, "M. C. A." began to use her pen as press correspondent, making ' The Springfield Repub- lican ' her first field of exploit. But at that time she wrote at rare intervals, and solely for the ' fun ' of seeing her name in print. It was not until a much later period that she took up the pen in earnest, and her regular connection with the New York press, began only in 1865. From that time probably dates her introduction to the literary world. As a Washing- ton correspondent she became suddenly very popular. Her style was tinctured with warmth, discrimination, pleasantry, and sound common sense. People learned to regard her as reliable as well as entertaining ; and 'A Woman's Letter from Washington,' was never without its complement of admiring readers. For the past two years Mrs. Ames has been attached to the editorial corps of ' The Independent,' having, in addi- tion, a certain amount of regular work on ' The Brook- lyn Union.' Her salary is now pwards of five thou- sand dollars a year. " The only woman employed on the staff of ' The New York Herald ' is Mrs. Butts, a brilliant and painstaking journalist. The husband of this lady was formerly connected with the same sheet ; and, after his death, she made application for piece-work, which was cheerfully furnished her. Her thoroughness, despatch, and unusual intellectuality were the subjects of con- WOMEN JOUKNALISTS. 689' Btant comment by those whose busmess it is to look out for talent ; and the result was an invitation to join the staff. In reviewing the past, she says of herself, — " ' I thank Heaven that I know how to work. Should any thing happen to my literary prospects, I could make my living as a dressmaker, milliner, seamstress, hoisekeeper, cook, or laundress. I have done my own housework, and gloried in it ; have made my husband's shirts, and washed and ironed them, not only because I could really do them better than a professional laun- dress, but in order to eke out a reporter's meagre salary.' " Mrs. Mary E. Dodge is one of our most successful literary workers, and shows what a woman can do in literature. She is the daughter of the well-known Prof. Mapes, inventor of the fertilizel^, and owns part of the latter's farm, two miles from Newark, which is under the management of P. T. Quinn, formerly agri- cultural editor of ' The Tribune,' and author of sev- eral books on farming. Mrs. Dodge has a salary of three thousand dollars from ' Hearth and Home,' for writing exclusively for that journal. She excels par- ticularly as a writer of children's stories, and combines accuracy of fact with beauty of style. Her story of ' Hans Brinker ' shows great care and study, and gives a vivid picture of Dutch life and adventure. Mrs. Dodge, though the mother of two boys, whom she supports at college, is young, handsome, and lively as a girl of twenty, and is excellent company." The Philadelphia correspondent of " The Wilming- ton (Del.) Commercial " says : — "' A paragraph in one of our city papers recently 690 WOMEN OF THE CENTTJEY. claimed my attention, referring to women workers on the press. I do not speak of literary women in the old sense, but of deliberate and genuine newspaper workers, who do just as much work as men do, in many cases better than men, and nearly always more con- scientiously. The account only mentioned ladies con- nected with New York papers ; but it will do no harm, when the list is revised, to add the name of a Philadel- phia writer. I refer to Miss Louise Stockton, the literary and musical editor of ' The Morning Post.' There is not a man connected with our newspapers who writes with more power and ease, who has a finer style, and (what is better than style even) who has more ideas, than Miss Stockton. On musical matters especially (we all have our ' forts,' as A. Ward used to say, or what our friends call our fortes, which comes to much the same thing) she is not to be approached hereabouts, neither do I find her equal among the New York critics." Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Miss Susan B. Anthony were editors and proprietors of the reform paper called " The Revolution." In the West " The Agitator " was started, and Mrs. Mary A. Liveemoeb was connected with it editorally, as she was also with her husband's paper " The New Covenant." She was afterwards, for two or three years, editor-in-chief of the excellent " Woman's Journal," of which Lucy Stone and Julia Waed Howe are still editorially connected. Mrs. Livermore has done a vast amount of editorial work, and Mrs. Howe was formerly connected with " The Boston Commonwealth " editorially. Rev. Phebe A. Hanafoed was editor for three years of the " Ladies' Repository, " a monthly magazine of the Universaliiits, WOMEN JOURNALISTS. 691 published in Boston, and at the same time edited " The Myrtle," a sabbath-school paper. She had charge also of the children's department in " The Universalist," of which paper, and also of " The Universalist Quarterly," she read the proof. For many years previous she had reported for various papers, and also written editorially, book notices, &c. ; and the routine of oflBce-work was very familiar to her before she became editor, though, doubtless, there was " room for improvement." Mrs. Henrietta A. Bingham followed Mrs. Hanaford on the " Repository " and " Myrtle," and proved herself an able editor. Mrs. Elizabeth M. Bruce is the pres- ent editor of the *' Myrtle." Frances Ellen Burr has been editorially connected with her brother's^ paper in Hartford, and displayed similar genius. Harriet N. Austin and Dr. M. Cora Bland have ably edited periodicals, literary and hygienic. Sarah L. Joy White and Nellie McKay Hutchlnson have shown themselves excellent reporters. Both write admirable poetry. Mrs. EinTLY Lee Sherwood was born in Madison, Ind., on March 28, 1829, and was daughter of Monroe Wells and Mary Lee. Madison is situated on the southern border of In- diana, and was once a very brisk business place. It is separated from Kentucky by la helle riviere Ohio, and surrounded by picturesque hills, and possesses sites for many fine views. Her love for nature is rooted in her native hills, over which she wandered in search of early spring flowers, or to enjoy a fine view of laud- scape or a magnificent sunset. Her father was an architect and a builder, a man of fine conversational powers, and much general intelli- 1 Hon. Alfred E. Burr. €92 WOMEN OF TELE CENTUKY. gence. Both parents were good singers, and the home atmosphere was always bookish and music ' 1 ; although their style of living was in other respects plain, and such as usually characterizes the well-to-do mechanic. There were always a plenty of flowers, peaches, cher- ries, and grapes, of their own raising. She lost her father when she was ten years of age, also her youngest brother at the same time, by cholera, leaving her the youngest of four children, two brothers and a sister. Up to that time her schooling had been conducted at a select school, quite celebrated for many years in that vicinity, — Mrs. Hunt's, who could boast of having helped to educate nearly all the children of Madison, at one time or another, and who still lives. When her father died, her mother, for economical considerations, removed her to the public grammar school, where she passed an examination, and entered the high school, where she remained until in her sixteenth year, then moved to Indianapolis, Ind., to be with her youngest brother, who was publishing a Univ^rsalist journal " The Herald and Era." Wishing to assist herself and family pecuniarily, she was examined for a teacher in the public schools, passed ; but, no vacancy occurring then, she went into the business office of " The Herald and Era," at a salary of eight dollars per month. Her duties were to keep books, read proof, write wrappers, and arrange copy for the " Family and Youth's Depart- ment " of the paper. Here she began to write for 3hildreu ; also stories. She continued in the oflBce for four years, when she left it to be married, Oct. 19, 1859, to Henry L. Sherwood, a young attorney just admitted to the bar. A part of the year 1860 she spent in Madison, Ind., with her sister, her husband being away from home in WOMEN JOURNALISTS. 693 pursuit of a settlement. When the war of Rebellion occurred, he went in as private, was promoted to colonel's staff duty, after which his wife joined him, and remained on rebellious territory for over a year ; while there, contributed some " war sketches " for In- dianapolis papers, also for " Ladies' Repository." After the war she spent the first winter in Marietta, Ohio, her husband going to Washington, D.C.,on busi- ness, formed a partnership, and there they now reside. She says of herself, " I was born into a Universalist home. Have contributed principally to denominational journals, 'Ladies' Repository,' 'Star in the West,' ' Leader,' and to ' Daily Commercial,' Indianapolis, Ind. ; also ' Daily Republican,' same place. Never saved any thing I published. Have no scrap-book. Have been a voracious reader and student all my life. My taste inclines toward ' biography,' or the essay style. " Music, painting, geometry, and French have all been pursued under private instruction, — don't con- aider myself good in either, — but they help to form one's taste, to teach one to reason geometrically cor- rect, and embellish one's hours of labor with elegant sources of relaxation. " My disposition is domestic, — my home and family the first objects in my regard, although I am not insen- sible to the pleasures of a literary life ; and, had I not been married, no doubt would have followed my tastes for authorship as a profession." Mrs. Sherwood is a woman of the century who will be heard from in the future, if health allows." Emma Molloy, the sprightly wife of an editor, and herself editorially connected with an Elkhart, Ind., paper, with " The Advance Guard," a temper- ance sheet, and with other papers as correspondent and 694 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. reporter, is one of the live women of the century, who through various trials and struggles, borne with Christian patience, trust, and fortitude, and overcome in the might of real religion, has won a high place among speakers for temperance, and workers for the press. She was born in South Bend, Ind., July 19, 1839 She was married to a printer when yoiang, and had two children, both of whom, with their father, died, but not till she had spent weary years in toiling for them. The brave little woman says in a letter to the writer, — " I returned to my native town broken in health and spirits, and again commenced teaching school. My own education was acquired in a common country school ; and an extensive reading and contact with the world have given me what little polish I have since acquired. Mr. Molloy becoming interested in me through numerous articles which I wrote at this time for the ' National Union,' of which he was editor, proved a valuable friend. Our friendship rapidly ripened into a warm affection, and in the fall of 1868 I entered into partnership with him in ' The Union' as his wife. Mr. M. was struggling with insufficient means to carry on his business, and we were hopelessly in debt; but we believed that energy and Industry would carry our little ship safely through. I took my place at the compositor's stand, and in a short time could ' set my galley ' as rapidly as any compositor in the office. We worked night and day, hand in hand and heart to heart, I doing the main part of the local- izing, and my husband the heavy editorials. Country editors have a world of little things to do, to which the city editor is a stranger ; but I naturally fell into the routine of collecting, soliciting, writing, and type-set- WOMEN JOURNALISTS. 695 ting, until I became indispensable to my husband. 1 think every true woman feels a pride in the thought that she is truly a helpmeet ; and I felt great pride in my business. We gradually worked out of debt, and, having a good opportunity to sell, moved to Cortland, N.Y., where we bought ' The Cortland Journal,' and 'Homer Herald,' both papers being printed in the ' Cortland ' office. My health not being good in the East, however, we again disposed of our office, and, at the earnest solicitation of business friends in Elkhart, started ' The Daily Observer,' a Republican paper. When the Crusade storm first broke upon the North- west, I learned for the first time my oratorical powers. At a large mass-meeting in my own native town, at which my honored friend Schuyler Colfax presided, I made my dShut. As I stood before the vast throng, all the waves of sorrow, that had gone over me during the weary years of my first marriage seemed beating upon the shores of feeling ; and living them over again enabled me to touch the tender chords of very many hearts in the audience. If I have any eloquence, it is that born of sorrow and a hard, bitter struggle with the world ; and my soul yearns over the vast army of helpless women who find the breakers too much for their frail little barks. Is it any wonder so many of them go down ? At present, added to my work on the ' Observer,' I am editing the Political Reform Depart- ment in ' The Advance Guard,' — the State temper- ance organ, published by Hon. J. J. Talbott, the Grand Worthy Chief Templar of our State. I have more calls to lecture in the temperance field West than I can fill ; but there is no money in it, and my literary lec- tures pay much better. Next season I expect to devote my time to literary lectures." i696 WOMEN OF THB CENTURY. Success to her in the future, far beyond that of th« past I Mrs. Hale mentions Mrs. Cabolinb A. Gilman as one who edited, in 1832, the first juvenile newspapei in the Union. It was called " The Rosebud." Mrs. Lydia Mabia Child edited the "Juvenile Miscel- lany," and was editorially connected with " The Anti- Slavery Standard." For lack of information, and space also, the names only of Mrs. Runkle, Sara A. Hubbard, Alice Huntley Payne, Margaret BUCHA.NAN Sullivan, Annie E. Kerr, Eliza Allen Starr, Miss Longstrbet, are here mentioned, with the assurance that they are able and industrious jour- nalists. " The Lowell Offering " was the first magazine in America, if not in the world, entirely sustained by working-women. " It was the first work written entirely by factory girls, and the first magazine or journal written exclusively by women in all the world," says Rev. Abel C. Thomas. " A volume entitled ' Mind Among the Spindles,' being a selection from ' The Offering,' was published in England under the auspices, I believe, of Harriet Martineau. She, at all events, was the prompter of a fine review in " The London Athenaeum.' This was early in 1843. The compliment was acknowledged by the present of an elegantly bound copy of the first and second volumes of the new series, with the inscription, ' Harriet Martineau, from Harriet Farley, Harriet Curtis, and Harriet Lees.' The distinguished authoress said in reply, ' It is welcome as a token of kindness and for its own value, and, above all, as a proof of sympathy between you and me in regard to that subject, the true honor and interests of our sex.' " WOMEN JOURNALISTS. 697 There is one editor who 'las passed from earth who shall not be foi^otten. From the biographical sketch published in the Toledo " Ballot-Box," of which Sarah R. L. WriiLiAMS is editor, the following is taken, almost as a whole. It was written by Mrs, E. C. Stanton : — MRS. PAULINA WRIGHT DAVIS. " Paulina Kellogg was born in Bloomfield, N.Y., Aug. 7, 1813, the very day Capt. Hall dehvered up the fort at Detroit. Her father was a volunteer in the army. " Her grandfather, Saxton, was a colonel in the Revo- lution, and belonged to Lafayette's staff. " Her parents were conservative in all their opin- ions, remarkably fine-looking, and sincerely attached to each other. Paulina, the third of five children, was always thoughtful, sensitive, and delicate. When she was about four years old her grandfather bought a large tract of land at Cambria, fifteen miles from Niagara Falls, where he established homes for all liia children. " When seven years old, she was adopted by an aunt, and moved to Le Roy, N.Y., where she was educate,!. " With such ancestry and early experiences, we can readily account for Paulina's love of freedom, and cour- age in attacking the evils and false customs of society. " At the early age of thiiteen Paulina joined the Presbyterian Church. . . . " She was a religious enthusiast, and in revival sea- sons was one of the bright and shining lights in exhor- tation and prayer. When she was about fifteen, a dis- cussion came up in the church, as to whether women should be permitted to speak and pray. Some of the 698 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. deacons protested against a practice in ordinary times that might be tolerated in revival seasons. But the women who had discovered their gifts m these periods of religious excitement were not easily remanded to silence. Thus was the church then as now distracted with the troublesome question of ' women's rights.' " Sometimes a liberal pastor would accord a latitude denied by the elders and deacons. Sometimes a whole church would be more liberal than neighboring ones ; hence individuals and congregations were continually persecuted and arraigned for violation of chiirob dis- cipline, and God's law as men interpreted it. " On Jan. 12, 1833, being then nineteen years old, she married Francis Wright, a merchant of wealth and position in Utica, N.Y. " They were the moving spirits in the first anti- slavery convention ever held in Utica, which was broken up by an organized mob, and adjourned to Peterboro, the home of Gerrit Smith. Mr. Wright's house was surrounded, piazzas and fences torn down, and piled up with wood and hay against the house, which they evidently intended to burn down. " But several ladies who had come to attend the con- vention were staying there ; and, as was their custom, they had family prayers at the usual hour, in the midst of the row. " The leaders, peeping through the bli.rt.ds, saw a number of women on their knees, in prayer : the sight seemed to soften their wrath, and change their pur- poses ; for they quietly withdrew, leaving the women in undisturbed possession of the house. The attitude of the church at this time being strongly pro-slavery, they withdrew, as most abolitionists did, from all church organizations, and devoted themselves with WOMEN JOURNALISTS. 699 renewed zeal to aiiti slavery, temperance, moral reform, and the education of women. " In this way they passed twelve happy years togeth- er in mutual improvement, and co-operation in every good work. " Mr. Wright, having a delicate organization and great executive ability, was constantly taxing his powers of mind and body to the utmost, until at last he fell a victim to dyspepsia, which, after a long, wast- ing illness of two years, terminated his life. " Having improved her leisure hours in the study of anatomy and physiology, Mrs. Wright commenced hex public work soon after the death of her husband ; he having been unfortunate in business, she was thrown on her own resources for support. " As early as 1844 she began her lectures to women. She imported from Paris the first femme modeU that was ever brought to this country, which she recently presented to ' The Homoeopathic College for Women,' in New York. "In 1849 she was again married, to Hon. Thomas Davis, a man of wealth, position, sound common sense, and great nobility of character. He was a member of Congress one term, and of the Rhode Island Legisla- ture for seven years. " For nearly three years Mrs. Davis published ' The Una,' almost at her own expense. " Though Mrs. Davis had no Living children of her own, yet the best elements of motherhood were devel- oped in her character. " She adopted several sons and daughters, some in early infancy, brought them up with tenderness and care. Hers is not the mere selfish animal instinct of loving its own, but a real love of the many pleasing 700 WOMEN OF Ti±B CENTURY. characteristics of childhood, having- an unusual sympa thy and attraction for young people, and great ten- derness for the help^less and innocent. Motherless children, disappointed youth, and unfortunate women have ever found a shelter in her hospitable home. " In 1859 Mrs. Davis, being in delicate health, vis- ited Europe for the first time, and spent a year travel- ling in France, Italy, Austria, and Germany, devoting her leisure hours to visiting picture galleries and the study of art. On her return home she entered with renewed zest into her lifelong work, the education and enfranchisement of woman. '' Having decided to celebrate the second decade of the suffrage movement in this country, Mrs. Davis took the entire charge of all the preliminary arrangements, the foreign as well as home correspondence, and pub- lished a complete report of all the proceedings of the convention at her own expense. " She gave at the opening session a comprehensive review of the individual work accomplished, and the many successive steps in progress during the twenty years, which makes a very valuable contribution to our history. " One of Mrs. Davis's favorite ideas, which she has often proposed, is a ' Woman's Congress,' to discuss all questions relating to our political and social life. " There have been two attempts made to realize this, both partially successful. " Her idea is to have a body of wise, mature women meet every year in Washington, at the same time Con- gress convenes, to consider the national questions that occupy popular thought, and demand prompt action ; especially to present them in their moral bearings and relations, while our representatives discuss them from WOMEN JOURNALISTS. 701" A material and statistical point of view, as men usually do. " Thus only, she thinks, can we ever have the com- plete humanitarian idea on these many important ques- tions. All legislation must necessarily be fragmentary, 80 long as one-half the race give it no thought whatso- ever. " In 1871 she again visited Europe, in company with her niece and adopted daughter. She spent two years abroad, making extensive travels and many pleasant acquaintances, and again devoted herself quite ear- nestly to art. " She took lessons of Carl Marks in Florence, and spent much of her time in Julian's life-school, the only one open to women. " In Paris she spent hours every day copying in the Louvre and Luxembourg. " Her house is decorated with many fine copies of old paintings and a few of her own creation. " Her enthusiasm in both art and reform may seem fco some a singular combination ; but, with her view of life, it is a natural one. " On the 29th of May she sailed for America, and reached her home in safety ; but the disease that had been threatening her for years (rheumatic gout) began to develop itself, until in the autumn she was confined to her room, unable at times even to walk. It was thus I found her in a large arm-chair, quietly making all her preparations for the sunny land, resigned to stay or to go, cheerfully to accept the inevitable, whatever that might be. She rests in the thought that she has done what she could to leave the world better than she found it. Sitting at the twilight hour, hand in hand, after a long silence, she said, ' How petty the ridicule 702 WOMEN OF THE OENTUBY. and persecution we have passed through, that seemed 80 grievous at the time, now appear, compared with the magnitude of the revolution we have inaugurated 1 ' " The distinguished editor of " The Lady's Book," Mrs. Sfjah Josepha Hale, is best known by her valuable book, " Woman's Record." The reader is referred to that for a sketch of the able author. Mrs. Abigail Whittlesey Goodbich was for years editor of the " Mother's Magazine ; " Mrs. Hiscox and Mrs. Clarke as editors of " The Mother's Journal." Mrs. Margaret L. Batley edited " The Youth's Monthly Visitor." Says the " Woman's Journal " for May 27, 1871 : — " Mrs. Annie A. E. MaoDowell, late editor of the woman's department of the Philadelphia ' Sunday De- spatch,' and who is now connected in the same capacity with ' The Sunday Republic,' we are informed, was the first woman in the United States who published and edited a newspaper devoted to the industrial rights of woman, the whole business of which was conducted by women, who were paid the full prices of the M'.i's Typographical Union." Mrs. C. M. KiRKLAND was editor of " The Union Magazine," afterwards " Sartain's." Mrs. Fowleb, (Lydia) and Mrs. Charlotte F. Wells have been editorially connected with the " Phrenological Journal," of which the latter has now special charge, with able assistants. Mrs. Wittenmeyer, Mrs. Johnson, and other women, are conducting an ?.ble temperance paper, " The Women's Temperance Union," pubhshed in Brook- lyn, N.Y., Mrs. Eleanor D. Rockwood has also done excellent editorial work. Emma L. Baldwin (now deceased) was an able reporter for her brother's pape? WOMEN JOURISALISTS. 703 In Peoria. She is held in loving remembrance by the writer. Amelia Bloomer and Jane G. Swisshelm have each labored editorially in a manner to deserve the gratitude of all women. Biographical sketches of them maybe found in the " Woman's Journal." " Mrs. Swisshelm started ' The Pittsburgh Saturday Visitor ' in January, 1848, using for the purpose the patrimony left her by her mother. It had but three subscribers when the first number was issued ; but the street was blocked for hours by a crowd waiting its appearance, and in a short time the circulation reached seven thou- sand." Mrs. Swisshelm's life has been one of shadow and struggle and triumph, so that she said to Mrs. Burleigh, " Oh 1 but it is good to have hved and suf- fered and worked, to know that the Lord is over all, and that nothing can go wrong with us if only we are right." Mrs. Bloomer's paper " ' The Lily,' was the first one owned and conducted in all its departments by a woman, and working in the interests of women." So she says herself, and adds, *' ' The Lily ' probably con- tains the fullest history extant of the rise and progress of the woman's movement for the first six years imme- diately succeeding its inauguration." Mrs. R. C. Hallowbll has made a grand success in editing " The New Century," the woman's paper pub- lished at the centennial. " The Woman's Advocate," published in Dayton, O., in 1870, was edited in part by MmLAM M. Cole and Margaret V. Longley, and was a valuable adjunct to the cause. Of course it is remembered that Margaret Fuller was one of the editors of " The Dial." Laura C. Holloway should be mentioned among able reporters and journalists. In 1870 Carrie Young commenced the publication of 704 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. a monthly magazine in San Francisco, which is called " The Pacific Journal." " The Balance " was started in Chicago in 1871 by Maria Hawley and Mary ToMLiN as proprietors and publishers, and a corps of editors, consisting of themselves and Mrs. E. Mackway and Dr. Odelia Blinn. This hst is incomplete, doubt- less, as other women, Emily Huntington Millee and others, have been connected with periodicals, and scarcely a juvenile one, especially, succeeds without the editorial aid of cultured women. Mrs. Beli.a French was on the editorial staff of " The St. Paul Pioneer " in 1871. Mrs. A. J. Duniway is the able editor of an Oregon paper, doing valiant service for woman's cause. The future will see more instead of fewer women journalists, and they will be acknowledged yet more widely as a power for good in the land. EMILY HUNTINGTON MILLER. CHAPTER XXIII. WOMEN PRINTERS. The Misses Franklin — Sarah Goddard — Mary Katherine Goddard — Penelope Russell — Augusta A. Miner — Anna E. Briggs — Harriet G. Miller — The Turner Sisters — The Bazin Sisters, and others. ' A blessing on the printer's art! Books are the mentors of the heart." Mks. Hale. " Oh that my words were now written ! oh that they were printed in a book ! ' Job xix. 23. IT is no wonder that " the art preservative of all arts " has been termed a " divine art," since it pre- serves for us so many high thoughts and blessed words, and is the means of spreading abroad so much light and joy. " Even the Christian religion, with its divine power unaided by the press, was but a light under a bushel ; and though ever guarded from extinction by the hand that placed it upon earth, it gave but a taper 708 WOMEN OF THE CENTUBY. flame to the world it was sent to illumine and bless." But, when the art of printing was discovered, the world began to be filled with light ; and woman has done her part bravely in the good work. Even among the early printers and editors in America, were women. " 'Anne Frajstklin.' — The first newspaper printed in Rhode Island was at Newport, in 1732. James Frank- fin, a brother of the doctor, was the publisher. He died soon after, and his widow continued the business several years. She was printer to the colony, supplied blanks to the public offices, published pamphlets, &c. ' The Newport Mercury,' which is now regularly issued, grew out of this printing office in 1768, and is the oldest paper in the country. In 1745 Mrs. Franklin printed for the government an edition of the laws, con- taining three hundred and forty pages. She was aided in her office by her two daughters. They were correct and quick compositors, and very sensible women. A servant of the house usually worked at the press. George Dexter, an early settler of Providence, usually worked for her when she had a large job, or an almanac to get out." Anne Franklin did most of her work before our first century began, but the influence she exerted was not lost. From the admirable address of James F. Bab- cock, formerly editor of " The New Haven Palladium," at the editorial convention held in Middletown on the centennial aniversary of the origin of the newspaper press in Connecticut, some interesting facts are culled. He says, " From the time of the first American news- paper, in 1704, to the appearance of the first in Con- necticut in 1788, there were seventy-eight newspapers In uhe colonies, one-half of which were suspended before 1775. Of the whole number printed, sixteen WOMEN PRLNTBRS. 709 were conducted by ladies^ fourteen of whom were the firm and undaunted champions of liberty and equal rights. . . . Mrs. Franklin was not only a printer of laws, newspapers, and almanacs, but of calicoes and linens, which she advertised she would stamp in figures in ' very lively and desirable colors, and without the offensive smell which commonly attends linen printed here.' The fashionable ladies of 1745, must have folt under very great obligations to Mrs. Franklin for giving them so choice an article for their wardrobe. Mrs. Sarah Goddard was a printer at Providence, in 1767, — a lady of good education, and managed her newspaper, "The Gazette," with ability. She after- wards connected herself in business with John Carter under the firm of Sarah Goddard «& Co. She died in Philadelphia in 1770. " The Boston News Letter," the first newspaper in America, was conducted during some part of the Revolutionary War by Mrs. Margaret Drar per. When Boston was besieged by the English, all the newspapers but her's were suspended. She left the country with her friends, and the British government settled a pension upon her. Mrs. Cornelia Brad- ford, widow of Andrew Bradford, who died in 1772, was for a number of years in business in Philadelphia, and, what is quite remarkable, retired with a com- petency. Mrs. Jane Aitken, also of Philadelphia, succeeded her father in 1802, and gained considerable reputation from the productions of her press. Mrs. Zerger carried on her husband's business after his death, and conducted " The New York Journal " with great ability until 1748. Her husband was a f^\&'^- tempered man, ana was frequently in prison for libel prosecutions. She is represented as having possessed a lamb-like docility. 710 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Mrs. Mary Holt lost her husband, and succeeded to his place as publisher of " The New York Journal," soon after which she was re-appointed State printer. That journal, it is remarked, did powerful service in the republican cause in the Revolution of 1776. Anne Catherine Greene, in 1767, succeeded her husband in publishing " The Maryland Gazette " at Annapolis, the first paper printed in that colony. She executed the Colony printing. Mrs. Mary Katherine GoDDARD was for a long period in charge of '' The Maryland Journal." That paper was established by her brother, William Goddard of Rhode Island. He was several times mobbed for his writings, and finally went back to Providence. His sister Mary took up his pen, and conducted the paper for eight years. She was also for a period, or until 1784, the postmaster of the city. She was as unsparing in her writings as her brother ; but the fact that she wore calico instead of broadcloth saved her from the violence to which her brother was subjected. She was the daughter-in-law of Sarah Goddard, heretofore spoken of as the firm of Sarah Goddard & Co. Clementine Bird succeeded her husband in " The Virginia Gazette," and died in 1775, Mrs. Elizabeth Timothee published " The Charles- ton Gazette, " in South Carolina, in 1773. Her daughter-in-law, a widow, carried on the paper after the war. She was appointed printer to the State, and held the ofiice until 1792. Mary Crouch, widow of Charles Crouch, born in Rhode Island, assisted her hus- band in the publication of a paper in Charleston, in opposition to the Stamp Act ; and after his death she contir ued it till 1780, when she took her printing ma- terials to Salem, Mass., and established a paper there, WOMEN PBINTEBS. 711 and couducted it with much success. PeneLiOpb Rus- sell, a very enterprising woman, succeeded her hus- band in publishing and editing " The Censor," at Berlin, in 1771. She used to set up her own type, and put together the editorial " leaders " from the type-case, without the previous aid of paper, pen, and ink. Ah, there were women in those days I " The Hartford Courant," long one of the best conducted papers in New England, was for two years published by Mrs. Watson. Her husband died in 1777. She was taken from her editorial chair in 1779 by a new husband. So much for the printer women of the olden time, according to Mr. Babcock. It is believed that women of later times are not in- ferior. A few examples will here be given. Mrs. A. J. DuNiwAY of Portland, Oregon, is not only an editor, but a practical printer, as is also Mrs. Emma Molloy of Elkhart, Ind. Mrs. Duniway first earned a sewing-machine, then, by sewing, earned press and type. " In the mean while she reared a house full of boys to print her paper, at the head of which she is now a power in Oregon. Lucy Stone says of her, ' Mrs. Duniway makes an excellent paper, which we always look for and value among our exchanges. The fresh- ness of the great North-west is in it, and it always respects itself.' It is entitled " The New North-West." " Battle Creek, Mich., can boast of two damsels, the Misses Elisabeth and Lydia Taylor, who have for five years been employed as compositors in the oflBce of the "Journal," of that place. They have made from eight to twenty dollars per week, have supported a widowed mother, have kept house handsomely, have bought a piano, have taken music-lessons, have given one hundred dollars to the Baptist Church, and have saved twelve hundred dollars." 712 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. " The Paterson (N.J.) Guardian " speaks thuF of " victorious female printers " : — " A Cincinnati press states, that, three years ago, a poor orphan girl applied, and was admitted to set type for that paper. She worked two years, during which time she earned, besides her board, about two hundred dollars ; and, availing herself of the facilities which the printing-office afforded, acquired a good education. She is now an associate editor of a popular paper, and is engaged to be married to one of the smartest lawyers in Ohio. Such a girl is bound to shine, and eclipse tens of thousands who are educated in the lap of luxury, and taught all the ' accomplishments ' of the boarding-school, Such a wife will be a jewel to her husband, an ornament to society, and an honor to her sex and her country. " We can tell a truthful tale of the sort which will beat that easily. ' The Paterson Guardian ' office is the first office in New Jersey where females were suc- cessfully employed at type-setting. One young lady, who was our forewoman for years, had entire charge of the paper, was paid during her stay with us over five thousand dollars, as nearly as we can get at the amount from our books. She also had entire charge of the columns, selections, &c., and was judge of all matter to be inserted during three years and six months at a time, when the regular editor was absent ; and we never knew her to err in any respect. We cannot say, with the above, that she is engaged to a promising young man : she is married to one of the finest young men in the city, and one doing a first-class business. Another young lady left our office to take a position in New York • and she is now what is called ' make-up WOMEN PBLNTBBS. 713 In an oflSce in New York, at twenty-five dollars per week. Some time ago two sisters left the oflBce to take positions on a New York paper, to whom we had paid nearly seven thousand dollars for type-setting. Of course such hands are the best ; but we have very good hands always in the office. We have very generally, however, found this to be the rule in regard to female compositors. They do not care to earn beyond a cer- tain amount ; and, when that figure is reached, they seem to have all the money they require, and are perfectly careless of any thing extra. They may not advance so far in rapid type-setting ; but it is a fact, that generally girls will get ahead in three weeks to where a boy will take six to attain. In an office they are more agreeable, less disposed to go from place to place, and, as a general thing, are more reliable than male compositors. To be sure, they must have their own ; but they seldom want more than is right. Our entire newspaper is the work of young ladies, and every type is set by them, advertisements and all ; and the ' make-up ' is a young girl ; and we have no fore- man in the newspaper rooms, a young lady acting in that capacity." While editor of the " Ladies' Repository," the writei had ample opportunity to make the acquaintance of the young women who were the compositors (one of whom, Mabgabet Wellenqton, was competent to act as foreman in emergency, and did so), and found them successful as printers, and amiable and high-toned as women. Some of them were well-educated, some even accomplished ; some had genius for writing ; and it is a well-known fact, that one of the first writers for that magazine, in years gone by (Mrs. Chaklottb Jabauld) was a compositor there when 714 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. she first wrote for the public. The Bazin sisters, "Tillib" and " Hattie," the Turner sisters, Eliza and Emily, Anna E. Bkiggs, Olive Allen, Mary Allen, and others who were printers in Boston, wiD always be regarded with the respect and affection they richly deserve. The number of women now engaged in type-setting is very large. Miss Callie White (in 1871) was elected by the Jackson (Mias.) Typographical Union as a delegate to represent their association in the International Union, held in Baltimore. " The Woman's Journal " of April 13, 1872, says, '* Mrs. Augusta A. Miller is a compositor at South Bend, Ind. She learned to set type in her father's office in Angola, when only thirteen years of age ; and a proof taken the other day of nine thousand ems, having but two typographical errors, proves that ' the coming woman ' may be a compositor without stepping out of her sphere.' " "Mrs. Harriet Granger Miller, job-printer in Springfield Mass., was awarded the only premium given in New England (so far as we know) for job- printing by the judges of the Centennial Exposition, where she exhibited specimens of her work. " Mrs. Miller is a native of Westminster, Ver., where she lived until her marriage with Mr. Joseph Miller, who, was a native of Springfield, and established a new job- printing office there in 1858, and successfully carried on the business some ten years, when he began to develop a nervous disease of the brain, that, after five years of untold horrors to himself and friends, resulted fatally and tragically in the death of a suicide. Up to this time Mrs. Miller had no more knowledge of job- printing than any one who has occasionally visited a printing-office ; being in exceedingly delicate health WOMEN PRINTERS. 715 from a serions and settled affection of the lungs and throat, and unable to speak aloud without great exer- tion. She had been ordered by her physician to leave Springfield immediately if she wished to save her life, and had with their only child been visiting friends in the country for three weeks, when, on the morning of the day she was expecting to see her husband, a tele- gram was brought her announcing his sudden death. *' Four days later found her in the printing-office, try- ing to solve the problem of how to keep the ' wolf ' outside the door, with an insolvent estate, a broken- down business, a heavily mortgaged house, and neither health nor capital to work with ; nothing better sug- gesting itself, she determined to take up the business her husband had left, assuming the indebtedness : so, keeping the boy already there to do the lesser work, she secured the services of an old printer who had long ago retired from a printer's life, but with true friendh- ness consenting to come to her aid until she could do better. In a little more than a year she succeeded in mastering every department of the work done in her office, and dispensing with the services of her kind friend and helper. She has continued to do the work ever since, with the aid of only one workman, who has not finished learning the business, occasionally hiring an extra hand for press-work when there has been sufficient business to make it advisable. The work is all done without steam, on two Gordon presses, an eighth, and half medium, and a Franklin hand -press. During the annual vacations of her workman, Mrs. Miller has performed not only her usual duties, but also the entire routine, from opening the office in the morn- ing, to washing the rollers and presses and closing the office at night. The Massasoit House daily ' BiU of 716 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Fare ' has been printed in this office every day (except Sundays, that being done Saturday) for eighteen years. *' For three years Mrs Miller has been struggling under the disadvantages of ill health, hard times, small capi- tal, and close competition ; but she has persevered in her endeavors to carry on the business, and earn an honorable livehhood, and is still cheerfully laboring on, hoping for better times and brighter prospects." The list might be extended, but must close here, with a benediction on all those who use the composing- stick as a sceptre of power. It may not be amiss to close with the statement that " it was a lady who orig-inated the use of printing in Japan. The Empress Shiyantoku, good soul, in pursu- ance of a vow, directed in the year 764 that a million of small wooden pagodas should be distributed among the Buddhist temples and monasteries of the empire, and that each should contain a dharani out of the Buddhist Vimala nirhhassa Sutra. The Sanskrit text of the dhor rani was to be printed in the Chinese character on slips of paper about eighteen inches loDg by two inches wide, 80 as to admit their being easily rolled up and inserted into the hollow interiors of the pagodas. Many of these slips are still preserved in the monastery of Hofu-riu-zhi, in Yamato, and fac-si miles of some of them are to be found in Japanese antiquarian works. Connoisseurs are divided in opinion as to whether the plates from which these impressions were taken were of metal or of wood bat the majority hold that they were of metal." CHAPTER XXIV. WOMEN LIBRARIANS. Lorenza Haynes — Elizabeth C. Todd — Maria Mitchell — Sarah J. Barnard, &c. ♦' Come let me make a sunny realm around thee Of thought and beauty ! Here are books and flowers, With spells to loose the fetters which hath bound thee, The ravelled evil of this world's feverish hours.'' Mrs. Heman». " Of making many books there is no end." — Eccles. xii. 12. HAVING read with great interest the newspaper accounts of the librarians' conference in Philadel- phia in October of the centennial year, the writer was pleased by the fact that some ladies were there, but regretted that no special mention was made of the capa- bility of some women for that position, which requires a love for books, some scholarship, a desire for order and executive capacity, with no little patience and dis- cernment of character. The Philadelphia paper, after 717 718 WOMEN OF THE CENTUBT. speaking of the men librarians gathered in the confer- ence, said, — " There was also a fair representation of the lady librarians from different sections of the country pres ent. The following registered their names : Miss S Louisa Rich, Hastings Library, Missouri ; Miss Eliz ABBTH E. Rule and Miss Louisa Matthews, Lynn Mass. ; Miss E. F. Whitney, Concord, Mass. ; Mrs Cornelia Olmsted, Wadsworth Library, Geneseo N.Y., and Miss Fanny J. McCulloch, of the Birchard Library, Fremont, Ohio. Mr. John William Wallace, in his excellent address of welcome, thus referred to the librarian as he or she should ever be, and as some librarians (Hke John L. Sibley, and Frederic Vinton and others, who have helped the writer when in search for information, are) : — " Gentlemen, a good librarian has ever been a valua- ble minister to letters. He has always stood between the world of authors and the world of readers, intro- ducing the habitants of one sphere to the habitants of the other ; interpreting often obscurities where the fault is with authors, imparting often intelligence where the fault is with readers. This, his ancient title, he still possesses. But in this day and for the future he is called to new offices and to higher distinctions. His profession belongs to the sciences. He requires some of the finest faculties of mind. He takes his rank with philosophers." All this may be said of some women librarians ; especially if they are in some special sense beside votaries of science, as was Mabia Mitchell, the astronomer who was librarian of the Nantucket Athe- naeum for twenty years. No one could be more faithful than she was. Her place has ever since been occupied WOMEN LIBRARIANS. 719 by a woman, Sarah J. Barnard, who has served so acceptably as to fill the place for many years. Mrs. Parola Haskell was appointed State Libra- rian in Tennessee in 1872. In the town of Waltham, Mass., Miss Lorenza Hatnes, now a preacher, was for many years in charge of the town library, and per- formed her duties with fidelity and success. She was one of the most efficient librarians, and performed an incredible amount of work, for which the salary was hardly a fitting recompense. In New Haven Eliza- beth C. Todd has for years served faithfully as libra- rian of the Young Men's Institute, now located in the old State House. In the town of Brewster, Mass., and in many other New England towns, women have served with entire success. Miss Mattie H. Apple- ton (now Mrs. Brown) was an efficient librarian in Reading, Mass., for several years. Having prepared catalogues for three sabbath schools and for several private libraries, the writer is ready to acknowledge effort required in the larger Ubraries of towns, and bespeaks for every librarian an adequate salary and sufficient help in the details of book-delivery. Libra- ries are great educators, and should be established in eveiy town and city ; and a fair share of them should be put into the hands of women librarians, to whom research is delightful, and with whom there is no such word as " fail." CHAPTER XXV. WOMEN AGRICULTURISTS. M. Louise Thomas — The Sisters of Dutchess Couiity — Lucilla Tracy — Miss Morgan — Mary Wilson, &c. " How blest the farmer's simple life ! How pure the joy it yields ! Far from the world's tempestuous strife, Free 'mid the sceuted fields ! " Plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them. C. W. Everest. ■ Jer. xxix. 5. "TTTHY should not women be farmers, or ship- V V captains, if they will ? That they can be both has been proved already. In 1872 mention was made by the press of two sisters, Laura and Electa Fuller, who Uve on the east shore of the Canandaigua Lake, who are now over sixty years old, own farms, and since early womanhood have cultivated them with their own hands. It is not always necessary that women should do this. They may work by proxy, as men who own farms WOMEN AGRICULTURISTS. 721 do, and still be regarded as agriculturists. Rev. Robert Collyer states the following : — A WOMAN FARMER. " Nine years ago there was an old man living in Dutchess County, N.Y., who owned a farm of aboui three hundred acres, and had three children, a son and two daughters. He was an old man then, and past work, and his son managed the farm. Then the old man made a proposition. He could not live long, and wanted to divide the property in this manner : he would divide it into two halves ; give the son one half, and the other half to the two daughters. Then the son made a proposition. The property was worth from eleven thousand to twelve thousand dollars ; and he said he would sell his share to his sisters for five thousand dollars, on condition that they would take care of the old man as long as he lived. One of these sisters, a small, delicate person, acts for the other, who is sometlung of an invalid. They agreed to the propo- sition ; and then the first thing this small person did when she got hold of the land, and found herself in debt five thousand doUars, was to run in debt four thousand dollai-8 more, with which she bought new stock and implements, put her buildings and fences into good repair, and got every thing as a woman Hkes to see it. That was nine years ago. Her father lived five years, and got to be so helpless that she had to wash his face for him and shave him, and wait on him hand and foot. She fell sick herself on the strain, and could attend to nothing for some months. But now that whole nine- thousand-dollar debt is paid; the farm is in better condition than it was when she took it ; and she has got BO forehanded that she is able to go round visiting hei 722 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. friends, and was sitting among you in this church the first Sunday after vacation ; and I suppose you would not know her if she were here to-night from the lady who seldom goes outside her own parlor. She has had the whole oversight of the place, sometimes hiring a foreman to work with the men when she needed one, but never giving up her own plan of ruLng and guiding the land. One day, when she was not far on with her work, her brother came to see how things were going, — not indifferent, I suppose, to his share of the property still invested. He saw some stone wall that was just done, and said, ' You must not build a wall like that ; the land will not afford it.' — ' What do you think that wall cost ? ' she said. The brother named the price it would have cost him. The sister brought out her book, showed him every item, and it was not quite half as much as he had said it cost. But then he found, that while the woman did not touch the wall with the tip of her finger, she inspired and directed the men, so that they built as they built at the walls of Jerusalem in the days of Ezra the scribe ; and so the wall was finished. All this she has done, and has raised a poor lad beside, taught him farming, started him on a farm of his own in Missouri, and is now looking out for another ' "Among the self-reliant women in Greeley, Col., is Mrs. WiLBEB, a slight person, and formerly a school- teacher, who this season (1873) has rigged up a gang- plough and sowed eighteen acres of wheat." Mrs. Ellen S. Tupper is well known as a successful bee-culturist. A newspaper account of this lady is as follows : — WOMEN AGRIOULTUitI»i«. 723 MBS. TUPPKB's HISTOBY. " No woman in Iowa has borne a higher reputation for probity of character than Mrs. Tupper. She was oom at Providence, R.I., in 1822, and was the daughter of Noah Smith, for fifteen years First Assistant Secretary of the United States Senate. Her mother was a sis- ter of Henry Wheaton, the well known author of a treatise on International Law. Mrs. Tupper was given all the educational advantages which wealth could pur- chase, and at an early age won local distinction as a magazine essayist. In 1843 she married Allen Tupper, a wealthy lumber merchant at Houlton, Me. Soon after his health failed, and his business and wealth passed away. In 1851 the family went West, and located in Washington County. Up to this time Mrs. Tupper did not know what it was to labor for even a day. Necessity stared them in the face. Several smaU children must be cared for as well as an invalid husband. She engaged to teach a school ; and taking her babe with her on horseback, daily she went to her school, and attended to her household affairs when out of school. She soon brought the school to her own house, and thus supported her family until 1857, when she turned her attention to bee-culture. In 1872 she removed to Des Moines, where she has since resided. In the mean time her business has extended to every State in the Union. Her labors have been severe and onerous. Her correspondence was suflficient to absorb most of her time ; yet she personally packed and at- tended to all her shipments, besides editing one or two oee-journals, and v/iiting for several others, and fre- quently going abroad to lecture. " She was also one of the regular lecturers at the 724 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. Agricultural College. She has reared three daughters to womanhood, one of whom is the wife of a lawyer, and is the able and eloquent pastor of a church in Colorado ; another is a teacher in Marshalltown ; while another, in Des Moines, is engaged in raising and breed- ing fancy poultry, and is well known throughout the State. She has one son, about fourteen years old, and a younger daughter. Her husband is now teaching school at State Centre. By her own hard labor she has kept hei family together, and educated her children, fitting them for any position in society. " Two years ago she broke down in both body and mind from overwork, and passed through a long time of sickness and nervous prostration.' ' After this sickness her mind appeared to be affected, leading to embarrassments In business, so that at present she is not active in her chosen sphere ; but the cloud will doubtless pass away, and in the clearer Ught of restored health she will resume her efforts, and be successful as before. All true women sympathite with her daughters in this aflfliction. " Mrs. Majby Wilson owns a farm of a hundred and eighty acres near Reed's Corner, Ontario County, N.Y. ; and, although seventy-two years old, has gathered all her grain (in 1871) without help. She was found by an interviewer pitching off a load of wheat, and a day or two ago had been mowing. She swings a scythe and handles a pitchfork with the ease of a man in his prime." Lastly, and chiefly, the name of M. Louise Thomab Is given as one who has demonstrated the fact that women can be successful ; and the writer ventures tc WOMJfiN AGRICULTURISTS. 725 insert extracts from a cheerful, characteristic letter from this noble woman : — " I'Acoirr, Philadelphia, Dec. 31, 1875. *' My dear Friend^ — ' The old year lies a dying,' and the guns are firing over it, and the bells are hanging all ready to ' ring out the old, ring in the new ; ' and all the world stands ready to cry, The king is dead, live the king,' as J write to you. Yours of the 29th is received ; and, without the least affectation, I should be glad to give you the particulars of my life if I could think of one worthy of a place in your book, or in any book. But I have never done any thing, nor been any thing, but what ought to have been and done much better by reason of my blessings and opportu- nities ; and I dare not myself write either, lest I should either underrate the one, or overrate the other. " I think my ruling traits are industry and a love of systematic arrangement in all work, study, or recrea- tion, and a close sympathy for all animal and vegetable nature, as well as for humanity. Botany was among my earliest studies ; and long before I could read I loved the honey-bees that have since become my most familiar friends : and yet I never lived a week at a time in the country, until a dozen years ago, when, by reason of the feeble health of my husband, we were obliged to leave the city, in the hope of prolonging hia Hfe. " We have a farm of twenty acres. All that is done upon it is altogether and entirely under my direction and my personal superintendence. There is no mystery and no hardship in it. I have never found any hin- drances that a man might not have found, and I think not quite so many ; for the whole round of farm-life is a pleasure to me. 726 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. " The are no sex prejudices in the natural forces of the universe. The earth yields her increase just the same to woman as to man if the conditions of cidtiva- tion are the same ; and the grain or produce raised by one commands just the same price in the market as that raised by another, according to quality. In any thing I have ever bought or sold or hired, I have never felt that my neighbors have any greater or any less advantage than I have had. " My little herd of pui-e-blooded Alderney cattle are equal to any in the country in beauty and milking qualities, and my butter brings the top price in the Philadelphia market. Last year I made over seven hundred pounds from four cows, besides using consid- erable cream for ice-cream. "I have over a hundred pure Brahma fowls, Guinea fowls, turkeys, ducks, &c. ; and in my garden all the choice small fruits. A young pear orchard, planted with my own hands, is now in full bearing, and must increase in profit for many years to come. " I have brought up thirteen children, — boys and girls, — and have tried to teach them habits of useful- ness and honesty. Among them were Germans, Scotch, Negroes, Indians, Americans. " Five of them I took from the Colored Orphan Asy- lum, 143 A Street, New York, at different times. It is one of the best institutions in the country. " I have been enabled to carry on the entire duties pertaining to the pubhcation of tracts, by the expe- rience gained in early life, my father, Hon. S. N. Palmer, having been editor and publisher of a paper ; 80 that types were among my earliest toys and play- things, and the reading of proof, and the details of a printing-office, familiar things to me at a very eariy WOMEN AGRICULTURISTS. 727 *ge. You know the amount of work in the tract pub- lication. I have attended to the stereotyping and the printing, bought the paper, read the proofs, packed, directed, and mailed them all, with occasional clerical assistance, and have kept the books. " I have never, in a single instance, been made to feel that my sex was either a hindrance or a help in this work. . . . " The lady I told you about in the sugar camp is the wife of Rev. L. F. Porter, Conneautville, Penn., one of our ministers. " I think l^er name is Charlotte, but I am not sure. I am sure she would be glad to receive a letter from you. For a number of years they lived near Brooklyn, Susquehanna Co., Penn. She has never been regularly ordained (by man) ; but she has preached with great power and acceptance for many years in the north- eastern part of the State. " The story of the sugar-camp was told to me by Obadiah Bailey, an intelligent and leading member of the church at Brooklyn. " The services of Mrs. Porter were desired at a funeral a few miles away, and Brother Bailey went to her house to carry the message. *' She was not at home ; and he was told, that, to find her, he would have to go out into the sugar-camp, where she was engaged in gathering the maple sap, and making it into sugar. "It was night then, but his errand admitted no delay. So he drove as far as he could follow the wagon-path ; then, as it was quite dark, he hitched his horse to a tree, and walked on as best he could by the starlight. *' Presently he heard, on the still, frosty air, a '"^S WOMEN OF THB CEa«fTURY. vroman'a voice singing a hymn ol praise to God ; and very soon the camp-fire came in sight. Standing still, he says he watched the scene for some minutes, listen- ing to the hymn in this strange and lonely place, the snow covering the ground, the stars over head, the fire burning, and Mrs. Porter singing as she passed from place to place, in the work in which she was engaged, with no human being near. " She and her husband had hired the camp, and they took turns in the duty of making the sugar, — the one generally sleeping in a leaf-covered hut close by, while the other kept watch of the kettles containing the sap and sugar. Upon this occasion Mr. Porter had not yet appeared, to take his midnight watch, and she was alone. " The handsome sum realized by the sale of theii sugar in the spring proved the success of their under- taking. " I have not done justice to the story, but I have given you the outline. I wish I could give you a better idea of her character. She is a strong, good woman, — often supplies her husband's pulpit, and is liked quite as well as he ; and he is above the average in point of eloquence. " And now about your book. When will it be ready ? Have you the name of Lydia R.. Bailey, the woman printer of whom I told at Syracuse ? She was for many years the city printer of Philadelphia. Her niece was my aunt by marriage. " Have you Harriet Livermore, — one of the singular women of the last century, and the early part of this ? " Yours truly, " M. L. Thomas.' WOMEN AGRICULTURISTS. 729 Mrs. Thomas has been requested by a letter in " The Woman's Journal," signed by Phebe A. Hana- ford, Ellen E. Miles, Ada C. Bowles, Caroline A. Soule, Elizabeth K. Churchill, and Lucretia Mott^, to prepare a volume in regard to farming, which may help other women to the peace and independence of a suc- cessful agriculturist ; and she has promised to do so if leisure is afforded. May the publication occur soon, that many women may thereby be blessed I I The iuitials of five namea make the word " Peace," and are rightly followed by the honored name of the preacher, Lucretia Mott. " A good omen for the book," says " The Woman's JoumaL" CHAPTER XXVI. WOMEN HISTOEIANS. Hannah Adams C. Alice Baker — Martha S. Lande — Clarissa Butler, and others. ' The classic days, those mothers of romance, That roused a nation for a woman's glance, The age of mystery with its hoarded power. That girt the tyrant in his storied tower. Have passed and faded like a dream of youth, And riper eras ask for history's truth." O. W. Holmes. " Bring the book of the record of the Chronicles." — Esther vi. 1. SINCE the days of Hannah Adams, it has never been denied, in this country, that women can be historians. Her " History of the Jews " proved that a woman can be interested in the details of historic events, and portray them Avell. Emma Willard and her sister Phelps also taught, to their pupils at least, the same lesson. Mrs. Martha J. Lamb is teaching it to this generation through her " History of New York. ' WOAIEN HISTOKIANS. 731 The press tells us that " Mrs. M. J. Lamb, an mtelli- gent lady, and a ready and practised writer, who has earned the distinction of being the first woman admitted to the active membership of the New York Historical Society, has been at work for the past sixteen years preparing a history of the Empire City, derived not only from the standard sources, but also from family archives of correspondence, memoranda, and papers of various kinds to which she has been granted access, among those whose fathers and mothers were closely identified with the early days of the city, particularly during the Revolutionary period, and the earlier part of this century. This book tells the whole story, from the time of Henry Hudson and the ' Half-Moon ' down to the present day." ' Mrs. Martha Joanna Lamb's birthplace was Plain- field, Mass. She was the daughter of Alvin and Lucinda Vinton NasH, and the granddaughter of Jacob and Jo- anna Reade Nash. Sae was named for her grandmother, Joanna Reade, who descended from the Reades of North- umberland and Marcia in England. Mrs. Lamb's early jtars were notable for her love of mathematics and of composition. She had written numerous articles and poems before she was ten years old ; her first published article appeared about the age of thirteen, in the " Hamp- shire Gazette." She wrote occasional fugitive articles and poems, but it was not until 1866 that she devoted herself exclusively to literary production. She has since that time written, not only her famous " History of the City of New York," in two imperial volumes of sixteen hundred pages, but "The Homes of America," two Qovels, — " Spicy " and the " Broken Pitcher," — ten 732 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. books for children, a small book of poems, numerous no- tabl*^ illustrated articles ; as, for instance, " The Coast Survey," "The State Department," "The Life-Saving Service," etc., for " Harper's Magazine," and has con- tributed articles and editorials to various publications on almost every topic under the sun. She is now engaged in preparing a supplementary vol- ume to her great history, to be entitled '"■ New York Biography," speaking of prominent people and events in that city during the past fifty years. Mrs. Lamb is also preparing a volume on the " Historic Manors of New York," which will be of great interest. These books are original and graphic in style, as charming as Prescott and Macaulay, and yet Mrs. Lamb imitates no one, but gives accurate history in glowing pictures, and shows that woman can be a successful historian. ■ Here is a paragraph of special interest to women, from Mrs. Lamb's article on Newark, N.J., published in " Harper's," alluding to. the fact of women voting in the state of New Jersey early in the century. She says : — " Widows and single women were entitled by the laws of New Jersey to vote in all elections. In 1807 the Legislature authorized an election to settle the location of the Essex County court-house. Newark was intensely excited, for Elizabeth had been for some time growing arrogant. Public meetings were he d in all parts of the county, and the air had a bitter taste. The children in the schools were emplo}'ed for days in writing tickets for the contest. Personal safety was in danger whenever a good word chanced to be spoken for Elizabeth. Two Newark gentlemen drove to Elizabeth in a gig on private business, and were received with a bucket of tar. The day of the election was fair. WOMEN HISTORIANS. 733 Every horse, carriage, and cart in the place was in requisition. Every man and every woman old enough and big enough (age was a minor consideration), or who expected to grow old enougJi and big enough, to vote was promptly at the polls. Vehicles were going constantly to and from the different polls, and every person voted at every poll. Married women voted as well as single women. Three sisters, the youngest aged fifteen, changed their dresses and their names, and voted six times each. Two of them are still living, and reside in Newark. Men and boys put on women's clothes, in order to duplicate their votes. Never was there more reckless proceeding. Newark won the court-house, and in the evening illuminated herself, even to the tops of her steeples ; cannons thimdered and bellowed, and all the tar and apple barrels which could be gathered in for miles around were consumed by fire." Mrs. Abby Sage Richardson, who has been a suc- cessful writer in various departments of literatuie, has recently turned her attention to history. She is the author of a volume entitled " The History of our Country," published by Hurd & Houghton, and has also delivered a series of lectures in Boston on histori- cal subjects, which were received with favor by critical audiences, and were highly commended by the press. For lack of further space, let it be only added here, that C. Alice Baker and Clarissa Butler should be numbered with historians. Phebe A. Hanaford has written several slight historical sketches of churches, one of which has been published in pamphlet form, the others in newspapers. There is no reason why women should not engage in historical research, and publish the result of their labors. Accuracy of statement and 734 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. attention to details, which may present graphic pictures, may be expected of them, as of their brothers, and America may yet have woman rivals for her Prescott, her Motley and her Bancroft. CHAPTER XXVII. WOMEN TRAVELLERS. Whalers' Wives- Mary D. Wallis — Lucinda H. Stone — Julia Ward Howe, &c. " And waiting, I \vill trust the love Tliat guards me tlirough the darkest hours ; And though my feet oft press the thorns That lie concealed 'neath sweetest flowers, I know His hand will surely guide My footsteps safe beyond the tide." Ellen E. Miles. " In journeyings often, in perils of waters, ... in perils by the heathen, m perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea." —2 Cor. xi. 26. MANY a woman as well as many a man has felt the force of the prophet Samuel's words when he said to Saul, " The Lord sent thee on a journey," as they have looked back upon their lives, and perceived how, sometimes by ways they could not have foreseen, they have been led to travel far from home into foreign lands, and how the hand of God sustained them in all their wanderings by sea and land. Among the women who have travelled far by sea and land, are the wives of those brave men who have gone forth from Nantucket and other seaports in search of 735 'ob WOMEN or THE CENTUBT. the mighty whale. One of them was brought to mind by a recent paragraph in " The Nantucket Mirror: " — " The late Mr. Henry Clark, whose remains were brought to this place last week for interment, was born at the island of Tahiti. His mother, who still survives, was we believe, the first Nantucket lady who accom- panied her husband on a whaUng voyage to the Pacific Ocean. The voyage was performed in the ship ' Envoy,' then belonging to Providence, R.I." Were the names of the women who have been brave enough to dare the arctic cold and the dangers of the deep, for the sake of the companionship of their hus- bands, and possibly with a desire to see foreign lands, to be given here, the list would be very long, and would present the names of some of the best women earth has ever known. Pitcairn's Island holds the dear re- mains of one such woman, Mrs. Eliza Palmer, whose memory is blessed. Women at the present day are travellers in our own and foreign lands almost aa much as men are ; but formerly only those women whose com- panions were seafaring men, or men whose official duties called them abroad, were wont to cross the ocean, or travel far from their native land. It is said that " Mrs. Jane A. Eames of Concord, N.H., has presented to the high school of that city a large and valuable collection of minerals and curiosities gath- ered by her in her various travels in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. Among these is a complete set of Austrian minerals as well as of Swiss, the first bought of the state geologist of Austria ; the second got in the neighborhood of Mont Blanc." " The New York Tri- bune " thus describes the victoiy of a woman over shipwreck and yellow fever combined. "The brig ' Abbie Clifford ' of Stockton, Me., from Pernambuco WOMEN TRAVELLERS. 737 March 27, 1872, with a cargo of sugar, is now at quarantine. On the second day out a seaman was taken sick with yellow fever, and died April 1. Another of the crew died April 9, and the steward had died before leaving port. Capt. Clifford, the officers, and the majority of the crew, were prostrated by the fever ; and, after the death of the first mate, Mrs. Clifford, the wife of the captain, took sole command, navigated the vessel, and brought her safely to New York. Above Cape Hatteras the brig encountered a N.E. gale of five days' duration, which split the sails into ribbons, and carried several spars overboard ; but the woman cap- tain was fully equal to the emergency. Mrs. Clifford has been at sea several years with her husband, and has made many of the calculations during that time. She has a thorough mathematical education, and be- Ueves herself competent to sail any craft afloat. She is of slender build, about twenty-five years old, and is unassuming and ladylike in manner." Maby D. Wallis accompanied her sea-captain hus- band to the Feegee Islands, and wrote an interesting narrative of her sojourn there, entitled " Life in Feegee." ^ Julla. Ward Howe has travelled exten- sively in the Old World ; and her books telling of classic scenes, or of unfamiliar, lovely spots in the tropic islands of the sea, are full of thrilling interest. Mrs. LucrNDA H. Stone has been travelling in Europe for several years, with pupils, and the world may yet hear from this true friend of woman. Our libraries are enriched with the writings of Mrs. Whit- ney, Mrs. Sowe, Mrs. Stowe, Miss Alcott, and other 1 She went afterward on another voyage, and visited New Caledonia, Her account of that voyage has been edited, since her death, by th« writer and Is now ready for the press. 738 WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. women who have travelled, and thus gamed the knowl- edge they impart to others. Song and stories come from the journeyings of these women ; and since they travel not in vain, but enrich our libraries on their return, we can but wish their travels may never be less. The writer closes this brief mention of these women who go abroad, with praise for their courage and enterprise, and the expression of her own longing desire to follow in the footsteps of some of them to the beauties and sublimities of Alpine scenery, and the glories of classic lands. " I cannot throw my staff aside, Or wholly quell the hope divine, That one delight awaits me yet, A pilgrimage to Palestine." Mention among artists should have been made of Miss LATHBTJRYof Orange, N.J., whose genius is shown in exquisite drawings, at once beautiful and sugges- tive ; and more should have been said of Margabet Foley. "A life-size medallion, comprising an admirable likeness of William CuUeu Bryant, carved by Miss Mar- garet Foley, an American sculptor now in Rome, and enclosed in a massive frame under glass, will hence- forth be one of the most striking ornaments of the walls of Prof. Tyler's recitation rooms at Amherst College." Miss Foley has achieved great success as a sculptor since she went abroad. In the chapter on Women Missionaries should have been mentioned Miss Maria A. West, whose " Ro- mance of Missions " has been published in New York. We desire to preserve here the testimony of two men whose opinions are of value. First, in regard to the co-education of the sexes. Prof. Hosmer of Anti- WOMEI^ TRAVELLERS. 739 och College, in " Old and New," sets forth his views upon the subject. He says, — " I am sure that young men and women study better for being brought together in recitation : there is an honorable emulation, a natural incentive in each to do the best. Neither would seem to the other dull or incapable ; the young women would show that they can do well, even in philosophy and mathematics ; and the young men must look to their laurels. Then in regard to the spirit and tone of life : I am sure it is better for the presence of both sexes ; roughness is repressed, and thought and feeling are purer, gentler, and more humane. No doubt there must be vigilant supervision, and limits to familiarity ; some indiscretion must be expected and provided for ; the sober maturi- ties of autumn are not to be looked for amidst the buds and flowers of spring ; but with a careful supervision we have had very few wilful departures from pro- priety. Through these results I have come to strong faith in the co-education of the sexes. Indeed, what infidelity to doubt it I God has placed sons and daugh- ters in the same homes to be brought up ; and men and women are made to live together in the world. Who may presume to say, that from sixteen to twenty-five years of age, the most formative period of human life, the young men and women must be separated, become monks and nuns in their school-time, and then revive as best they can their thwarted, smothered sympathies ? " Edward Everett Hale says of the education of women : " I have for many years seen the work of the young women at Antioch College, who are trained actually in the same classes with the young men who study there. I have little doubt that any of the gradu- ates of that college would pass, with distinction, the 'i-^0 WOMEN OF THE X)ENTURY. advanced Cambridge examination for women. This is not because Antioch College offers more studies, or a wider ' curriculum ' as they caU it, than our high schools. It is because it does what it pretends to do thoroughly. The young woman is turned back on her course at the end of a year if she cannot pass her annual examinations, just as a Cambridge sophomore or junior is. I do not believe, that, in practice, the well- educated woman needs to go through the same studies, precisely, with a well-educated man. But I do believe that what she learns she needs to know thoroughly. It is of no great consequence whether a girl has studied this thing or that thing, that thing or this thing. But, whether she study this thing or that thing, it is impor- tant that she should study to the bottom, and learn it thoroughly well, so far as she learns it at all. And, if 1 had a young friend who was preparing herself to be a teacher of boys, in the things boys learn in going to college, I should send her to Antioch College to pre- pare herself. The merit of the Cambridge plan will be that people will, sooner or later, find the advantage of thoroughness. It need not compel the women to study things they do not need or do not want to learn. But gradually it will train the schools to teach well what they teach at all." " The Boston Journal " says of women students, — " The understood but not always discussed question with respect to advances in female education has refer- ence to their influence upon the delicacy of the sex. It is felt that if women should become great scholars, able thinkers, and well-informed persons generally, and yet in the process should lose their crowning grace, — ' that delicacy which is to woman what color is to the flower, that nameless something which poets strive tc WOMEN TRAVELLERS. 741 describe but cannot, that something which attracts us to woman,' then the advantages would be attained at too great a cost. We are borrowing from the language of Pres. Angell of Michigan University, who gives his own conclusive experience of the last three years in the co-education of the sexes. " ' If we were to make masculine women or blue- stockings,' he says, ' then, for one, let me have the priv- ilege of resigning my position.' But he declares with the utmost plainness and emphasis, knowing the great concern on this point which is in many minds, and was once in his own, that he sees ' no possible tendency in this direction.' His testimony will be credited with the weight it deserves. And yet we find in our last foreign files a remarkable order emanating from the Russian Government, which seems to militate against Pres. Angell's conclusion. For some time it seems women students from Russia have been allowed to resort to the University of Zurich, the number at present being one hundred and eight. ' Very unfavora- ble reports have reached the Governiaent relative to the conduct of those young women,' says the docu- ment in question. They have become ardent politi- cians, belonging to secret societies and adopting the most advanced democratic sentiments. Some of them pass back and forth in Russia, taking with them incen- diary letters and proclamations. Others, says the offi- cial document, allow themselves to be deluded by communistic free-love theories, and act in utter forget fulness of the fundamental principles of morality and decorum ; and yet these women must sooner or later come back to Russia as wives, mothers, and teachers ; to prevent or to limit which evil, it is ordered that such Russian women as shall attend the University of 742 WOMEN OF THE OENTURY. Zurich, after the first of January, 1874, shall uot be admitted, on their return to Russia, to any examination, educational establishment, or appointment of any kind, under the control of the Government. " We think the American reader will have no diffi- culty in seeing what the Russian difficulty is in this case. These quick-minded girls get their eyes open to the enormities of Russian despotism, and their generous impulses are stirred in opposition. As to the charges of immoraUty, we do not believe a word of them. There never was an opponent of slavery or of tyranny who did not have to bear such odium ; and ever since the days of the early Christians, woman has had her full share of the injustice. The real fault in this matter is at the other end of the scale. So long as a repressive despotism hangs over Russia, all education will develop dangerous tendencies ; and it is to the honor of the female sex, that it is particularly responsive to the generous impulses of culture. Give the freedom of America, and the highest cultivation of woman will only add to her native refinement, delicacy, and pro- priety." To all which the writer adds a reverent " Amen ; " hoping great things for and from the women of the second century. INDEX. Abbott, Emma, 591. Abbott, Lucy M., 572. Adams, Abigail, 46, 73, 215. Adams, Hannah, 215. Adams, Louisa Catherine, 78. Adams, Martha A., 448. Agassiz, Elizabeth C, 289. Aguilar, Grace, 25. Aiken, Sarah I., 616. Aitken, Jane, 709. Alcott, Louisa M., 247, 737. Alcott, May, 310. Alford, Joanna, 647. Allen, Elizabeth Akers, 253. Allen, E. E., 510. Allen, Mary, 714. Allen, Olive, 714. Allen, Phebe, 205. AUerton, May, 34. Allison, Emma, 646. Ames, Mary Clemmer, 688. Ames, Sarah F., 320. An?eH. Caroline E., 480. Anthony, Susan B., 175, 350, 3 Appleton, Anna E., 243, 268. Appleton, Mattie H., 719. Arthur, EUa L., 107. Aspasia, 25. Austin, Harriet N., 691. Austin, .Minnie, 537. Avery, Dr., 574. Babcock, Clara Maria, 490. Bache, Sarah, 54, 141. Badger, Mrs., 295. Bailey, Margaret L., 26.5, 702. Baker. Betsey, 647. Baker, C. Alice, 733. Baker, Sarah J., 537. Baldwin, Emma L., 702. Ball, M. v., 433. Barlow, Arabella Griffith, 204. Barkalow, Helena, 667. Barker, .Mrs., 204. Barnard, Caroline, 635. Barnard, Caroline L., 180. Barnard, Sarah J., 719. Barney, Eliza, 263. Bartlett, EUa Elizabeth, 451. Bartlett, Jennie E., 306. Barton, Clara, 179, 184, 203. Barton, Kate, 652. Bazin, Hattie, 714. Bazin, Tillie, 714. Beal, Mary S., 538. Beecher, Catherine H., 524. Beekman, Cornelia, 142. Bennett, Alice, 575. Benson, Elizabeth M., 544. Benton, Mrs., 343, 455. Betts, Abby, 607. Betts, Helen M., .572, 573. Bickerdyke, "Mother," 204. Bingham, Anne, 140. Bingham, Henrietta A., 691. Bird, Clementine, 710. Blackmar, Miss, 205. Blackwell, Antoinette Brown, 247, 288, 441; Black^vell, Elizabeth, 552, 574. Blackwell, Emily, 554, 574. Blake, Lillie Uevereux, 377. Bland, .M. Cora, 691. Blinn, Odelia, 704. Blodgett, C. A., 394. Bloomer, Amelia, 703. Bodley, Rachel L., 560. Boise, Misses, 548. Bolton, Sarah K., 423. Bonney, Sarah E., 282. Boon, Emma, 575. Booth, Almida, 534 Booth, Mary L., 686. Borg, Selma, 247. Botta, Anna Charlotte, 265. Bowles, Ada C.,. 342, 451. Brackett, Anna C, 538. Bradford, Cornelia, 709. Bradley, Amy M., 204. Bradwell, Myra B., 663, 665, 670. Bratton, Martha, 61. Brayton, Mary Clark, 418. Breckenridge, Margaret Elizabeth, 204. Bridges, Fidelia, 299. Briggs, Anna E., 714. Bristol, Augusta Cooper, 493. Bromall, Aima E., 557. Bronson, Laura M., 593. Brown, Antoinette, 363. Brown, Deborah G., 63,5. Brown, Olympia, 349, 367, 445. Brown, Kuth, 619. Browne, Marie A., 247. 744 Brownell, Katy, 196. Bruce Elizabeth M., 451, 691. Buckel, C. A., 572. Bullock, Mrs., 647. Burleigh, Celia, 490. Burnhain, Marv M., .544. Burr, Frances Ellen, 691. Burt, Lizzie, 669. Burt, Mary T., 427. Butler, Clarissa, 538, 733. Butts, Amy B., 537. Butts, Mrs., 688. Caldwell, Mira, 618. Callanan, Mrs., 342. Canfield, S. A. Martha, 205. Capen, Bessie T., 514. Capen, Mary E., 205. Carpenter, Caroline A., 533. Cartwright, Ellen M., 596. Carver, Jane, .'■)75. Gary, Alice, 234. Gary, Annie Louise, 591. Cary, Phebe, 234. Chandler, Elizabeth M., 263. Chandler, Lucinda M., 433. Channing, Susan Burdick, 529. Chapin, Augusta J., 446. Chapin, Ella, 668. Chapin, Mary E., 549. Chapman, Maria Weston, 175. Chase, Ann, 57. Chase, Elizabeth B., 181. Chase, Mary Maria, 261, 283. Cheatham, Adelicia, 148. Cheney, Ednah D., 247, 340, 489. Cheney, Harriet V., 238. Chesbro, Frances M. 258. Cheves, Charlotte, 308. Child, Lydia Maria, 168, 184, 263, 352, 696. Chilton, May, 34. Churchill, Elizabeth K., 340. Clark, Lucia F., .544. Clark, .Mary S., 344. Clarke, Mrs., 702. Clarke, Sarah, 302. Clav, Elizabeth, 64. Clement, Annie \V., 627. Clement, Clara Erskine, 292. Clemmer, Mary, 620. Cleveland, Emeline Horton, .571. Cleveland, Frances Folsom, 109. Cleveland, Rose Elizabeth, 109. Cleves, Margaret, 575. Clifford, Mrs., 737. Cobb, Eunice Hale, 448. Coffin, Mary Starbuck, 262. Coffin, Mrs. C. F., 182. Coffin, Narcissa, 433, 437. Coggeshall, Elizabeth, 441. Colbv, Sarah A., 561. Cole," Miriam M., 345. 703. Coleman, Mary F., 607. Colfax, Harriet R., 20.5. Collins, Jennie C, 179. Colt, Mrs., 183. Comb, Helen, 668. Comstock, Elizabeth, 433, 441. Comstock, Sarah Davis, 510. Conant, Helen C, 247. Conant, Helen S., 288. Conise, .\nnette, 669. Cook, Dr., 572. Cook, Maria, 445. Cooke, Frances M., 574. Coolidge, Addie Ryan, 596. Cooper, Ellen, 308. Cooper, Susan Fenimore, 239. Corbin, Margaret, 63. Cornelia, 25. Cornell, Sophia S., 539. Cory, Florence E., 323. Couzins, Adaline, 659. Couzins, Phebe W., 659. Cowell, S. Emma, 593. CoiK, Hannah, 375. Coxe, Margaret, 239, 287. Cranch, Julia, 247. Crandall, Prudence, 175. Crane, Elizabeth Watson, 529. Creenier, Lucy M., 448, 619. Crittenden, Elizabeth, 146. Crocker, Lucretia, 540. Croly, Mrs. (Jennie June), 687. Crouch, Mary, 710. Cummings, Maria, 245. Currie, Mary, 544. Curtis, Harriet F., 226, 696. Curtis, Jessie, 299. Cushman, Charlotte, 576. Cushman, Susan, 578. Custis, Eleanor Parke, 144. Cutler, H. M. Tracy, 345. Dada, Hattie A., 205. Dall, Caroline H., 365, 489. Damon, Ruth Augusta, 449. Danforth, Abbie Ellsworth, 451. Darlington, Hannah, 376. Darrah, Lydia, 55. Darrow, Julia May, 519. Davenport, Fanny, 590. Davidson, Lucretia .Maria, 263. Davidson, Margaret Miller, 263. Davis, Clara, 205. Davis, Hannah, 613. Davis, Marv F., 493. Davis, Minnie S., 239. Davis, Paulina Wright, 697. De Forest, Jane O., 341. De Hart, Madana F., 575. De Hart, Sarah, 575. De Kroyft, S. H., 346. Deming, Charlotte, 292. Deraorest, Madame, f 11. De Norniandie, Elizabeth K., 310. DeRyther, Jule, 591. Dewey, Mary E., 217 Deyo, Amanda, 432. Dickinson, Anna E., 337, ,591. Dickinson, Lida M., 247. Diehl, Anna Randall, 593. Diniock, Susan T., 555. Dinnies, Anna Peyre, 264. Divers, Bridget, 194. Dix, Dorothea L., 176. Dodd, Mary Ann Hammer, 239. Dodge, Mary A. (Gail Hamilton), 245. Dodge, Mary E., 689. Doffgett, Kate N., 306. 745 Dolley, Sarah R. Adamson, 567. Donelson, Mrs. Emily, 133. Donlevy, Alice, 319. Doolittle, Antoinette, 432. D'Ossoli, Margaret Fuller, 217. Douglas, Marv Ann, 308. Drake, Lucy R., 621. Draper, Margaret, 647. Dubois, Mrs., 293. Ducoudray, Madame, 647. Duniway, A. J., 704, 711. Du Pre, Julia, 307. Duston, Hannah, 38. Dutillet, Madame, 647. Dwight, Elizabeth Baker, 507. Eames, Elizabeth J., 266. Eames, Jane A., 736. Eastman, Mary F., 342, 489. Eastman, Sarah P., 544. Easton, Elizabeth, 529. Easton, Rachel, 607. Easton, Sarah C, 529. Edson, Sarah P.^ 205. Elkins, Lydia, 607. EUet, Elizabeth F., 224, 264. Ellet, Mary, 191. Elliott, Anna, 64. Elliott, Melcenia, 204. Elliott, Sabrina, 64. Elliott, Susanna, 64. Embury, Emma C, 225. Emerson, Frances, 544. Endicott, Anna T., 179. Entricken, Sarah, 572. Estes, Huldah, 423. Etheridge, Annie, 192. Evans, Augusta J., 245. Fales, Almira, 204. Farley, Harriet, 225, 696. Fanner, Haiuiah, 448, 619. Farnum, Mary Allen, 437. Farrar, Eliza, 239. Ferguson, Elizabeth Graeme, 140. Field, Catherine, 143. Field, Kate, 590. Fillmore, Abigail, 88. Fillmore, Mary Abigail, 134. Fiske, Catherine, 528. Fiske, Fidelia, 513. Fitzhugh, Anne, 52. Fletcher, Alice C, 534. Fogg, Isabella, 205. Foley, Margaret, 292, 738. Follen, Eliza Lee, 226. Folsom, Mariana Thompson, 450. Forbes, Arethusa L., 660. Forman, Mary Leavenworth, 145. Fosdick, Hannah, 607. Foss, Louise Woodworth, 582. Foster, Abby Kelley, 354. Foster, .Fanny, 591. Foster, Judith Ellen, 673. Fowler, Almira L., 572. Fowler, Lvdia F., 287, 559, 602. Frank, Emi B., 488. Franklin, Anne, 708. Franklin, Deborah, 48. Franks, Rebecca, 141. Freeman, Alice E., 545. Fremont, Jessie Benton, 149. French, Anna Densmore, 353. French, Bella, 704. Frietchie, Barbara, 212. Fuller, Electa, 720. Fuller, Laura, 720. Fuller, Margaret, 266, 703. Fuller, Sarah E. 319. Gage, Frances Dana, 179, 208, 360. Gage, Matilda J., 641. Gaines, Myra Clarke, 146. Gardner, Anna, 17.5, 262, 341. Gardner, Avis, 529. Gardner, Charlotte M., 537. Garfield, Eliza, 639. Garfield, Lucretia R., 105. Garrison, Helen E., 375. Gaston, Esther, 61. Geiger, Emily, 60. George, Mrs. E. E., 205. Gibbes, Marv Ann, 62. Gibbons, Abigail Hopper, 205, 355. Gibbons, Sarah H., 205. Gifford, Susan Ann, 386. Gilbert, Linda, 181. Gill, Elizabeth Mary, 615. Gillett, Fidelia WooUey, 451. Gilman, Caroline A., 227, 256, 696. Gilpin, Mrs. Henry D., 146. Gilson, Helen L., 200. Glazier, Sarah, 544. Gleason, Dr., 572. Glover, Anna, 530. Goddard, Marv Katherine, 647, 710. Goddard, Sarah, 709. Goodell, Lavina, 663. Goodrich, Abigail Whittlesey, 702. Goodrich, Mrs., 292. Gordon, Laura De Force, 344. Gore, .Miss, 304. Gould, Hannah F., 262. Gow, Ellen, 514. Graham, Isabella, 162. Granbury, Miss, 304. Grant, Julia Dent, 97. Graves, Mary H., 349, 489. Greatorex, Mrs., 296. Greble, Mrs. Edwin, 205. Greeley, Mary Y. C, 433. Green, Betty, 616. Green, Frances H., 263. Greene, Anne Catherine, 710. Greene, Catherine, 139. Grew, Mary, 355, 356. Griffin, Josephine R., 210. Griffing, Josephine S., 373. Grimke, Angelina, 175, 345, 355. Grimke, Sarah, 145, 345, 355. Guilford, Annie, 591. Gustin, Ellen G., 488. Haddock, Emma, 661. Hagar, Sarah J., 210. Hagidorn, Marv, 51. Hale, Ellen D., 299. Hale, Mary W., 258. Hale, Sarah Josepha, 227, 702. Hall, Anne, 294. 746 Hall, Louisa Jane, 257. Hall, Lydia S., 668. Hall, L. C, .544. Hall, Maria M. C, 205. Hall, Sarah, 243. Hall, Susan E., 205. Hallett, Emma V., 247. Hallock, Mary, 302. Hallowell, R. C, 703. Hallowell, Susan B., 544. Hamilton, Gail (Mary A. Dodge), 245. Hanaford, Phebe A., 242, 258, 349, 427, 433, 447, 690, 733. Hancock, Cornelia, 204. Hancock, Dorothy Quincy, 138. Hanna, Rebecca, .557. Harbert, Li/.zie Boynton, 344. Harmon, Amelia, 212. Harper, Frances E. W., 346. Harris, Mrs., 204. Harrison, Anna Symmes, 82. Harrison, Caroline Scott, 118. Harrison, Margaretta Willetts, 380. Harvey, Cordelia A. P., 204. Haskell, Parola, 719. Hastings, Caroline E., 343. Hastings, Mary A., 540. Hathaway, Mrs. P. V., 288. Hawley, Harriet Foote, 205. Hawley, Laura M., 265. Hawley, Maria, 704. Hawthorne, Mrs., 295. Hayes, Lucy W., 122. Haynes, Dr., 574. Haynes, Lorenza, 450, 719. Hentz, Caroline Lee, 229. Herrick, Mary Elizabeth, 679. Hevrick, Elizabeth, 352. Hicks, Margaret, 306. Hildreth, Mrs., 295. Hill, Frances M., 509. Hill, .Mrs., 296. Hiscock, Mrs., 702. Hohbs, Amelia, 669. Hoffman, Sarah, 164. Hoffman, Sophia C, 164. Hoge, Mrs. A. M., 205. Hoiley, Sallie, 175. HoUowav, Laura C, 703. Holstein. Mrs., 204. Holt, Mary, 710. Homer, Ella, 279. Hooper, Lucy, 267. Hopper, Anna M., 633. Hopton, Sarah, 64. Horr, Sophia B., 544. Hortensia, 25. Horton, Mary, 540. Hosier, Lydia, 607. Hosmer, Harriet, 320. Hovev, Augusta M., 493. Howard, Ada L., 544. Howe, Harriet (Mrs. Henry Wilson), 620. Howe, Julia Ward, 248, 249, 349, 432, 448, 489, 690, 737. Howe, Roxana, 433. Howell, Elizabeth Lloyd, 259. Howland, Rachel, 441. Howland, Susan, 441. Hoyt, Lucy, 618. Hubbard, Emma, 668. Hubbnrd, Sara A., 696. Hulett, Alta Q., 663. Humphrey, Sarah W., 540. Hunt, Dr., 572. Hunt, Harriot K., 556. Hunt, Helen (Fiske), 246. Hunt, Sarah Augusta, 556. Huntington, Susan, 152. Hurd, H. A., 544. Husband, Mary Morris, 204. Hussey, Nancy, 607. Hutchinson, .\bby, 591. Hutchinson, Elizabeth, 591. Hutchinson, Elizabeth Chase, 363. Hutchinson, Nellie McKay, 691. Hutchinson, Viola, 591. Inman, .\nna, 574. Israel, Hannah, 59. Jackson, Mercy B., 560. Jackson, Rachel, 80. Jacobs, Sarah S., 268. James, Annie P., 510. James, Caroline A., 450. Jarauld, Charlotte, 713. Jay, Sarah Livingstone, 137. Jefferson, Martha, 75. Jenkins, Helen P., 341. Jenkins, Lydia A., 445, 563. Jewell, Catherine Underwood, 557. Johnson, Agnes, 575. Johnson, Eliza Mc.\rdle, 93. Johnson, Lucie F., 205, 448. Johnson, Lucy, 653. Johnson, Mary C, 420. Johnson, Mrs., 702. Johnson, Sarah R., 204. Jones, Sybil, 438. Joy, Charlotte Austin, 371. Judson, Anna H., 502. Judson, Emily Chubbuck, 219, 266, .505. Judson, Sarah B., 503. June, Jennie (.Mrs. Croly), 687. Keller, Elizabeth C, 572, 573. Kellogg, Clara Louise, 591, 592. Kenworthy, Ann, 441. Kerr, Annie E., 696. Kimball, Harriet .McEwen, 269. Kimher, Abby, 356. King, Mary Alsop, 141. King, Siisan, 611. Kinssbnrv, Elizabeth A., 343. Kirkland,' Caroline M., 229, 702. Kuisht, Abbie R., 529. Knight, Mary, 63. Knight, Miss, 652. Knox, Mrs., 138. KoUock, Florenc_e Ellen, 451. Kugler, .\iiiia, 575. Lamb, Martha J., 730. Lander, Louisa, 'SOI. Lane, .\manda, 428. Lane, Cohimbia, 609. Lane, Harriet, 135. Langston, Dicey, 57. Larcom, Lucy, 246, 254. 747 Lathbury, Miss, 738. Lazarus, Emma, 269. Lea, Anna M., 299. Leaveinvortli, Mary, 145. Le Clerc, Prudy, 450. Ledyard, Mrs. John, 155. Ledyard, Mary, 155. Lee, Hannah F., 229. Lee, Mary E., 244. Lee, Mary W., 205. Lees, Harriet, 696. Legare, Mary Suinton, 295. Leiter, FannV W., 399. Leslie, Ann, 393. Leslie, Eliza, 230. Le Vert, Octavia, 147. Lewis, Edmonia, 316. Lewis, Grace Anna, 279. Lewis, Ida, 1156. Lewis, Lizzie T., 635. Lewis, Sarah Anna, 266. Lincoln, Mary Todd, 91. Lippincott, Sarah Jane, 223. Livermore, Mary A., 205, 325,452, 529, Livevmore, Sarah White, 256. Lockwood, B. A., 663, 670. Logan, Olive, 590. Longley, Margaret V., 703. Longshore, Hannah E., 559. Longstreet, Miss, 696. Lord, Lucy T., 513. Loud, Huldah B., 344. Lowe, Martha Perry, 259. Lowell, Josephine Shaw, 667. Lowrie, Mrs., 475. Lozier, Clemence J., 558. Lozier, C. S., 574. Lunt, Harriet M., 489. Lupton, Mrs., 292. Lyman, Mrs. Walter, 343, 526. Lyon, Mary, 519. MacDowell, Annie A. E., 702. Macintosh, Sarah, 292. Mackway, E., 704. Macomber, Eleanor, 511. Macv, Anne M., 262. Macy, Harriet, 607. Macy, Mary, 437. Madison, Dolly P., 75. Maertz, Louisa, 205. Mansfield, B. A., 662. Martin, Elizabeth, 48. Martin, Grace, 49. Martin, Rachael, 49. Mason, Caroline A., 255, 448. Mason, Emily, 149. Mason, Helen M., 513. Matthews, Louisa, 718. May, Abby W., 205. -May, Berenice, 529. May, Caroline, 304. May, Miss, 206, 295. Mayo, Sarah Edgarton, 268. McCabe, Harriet Calista, 402. McCuUoch, Fanny J., 718. McEwen, Hettie M., 212. Mcintosh, Maria I., 233. McKay, Charlotte E., 205. Mc.Meens, Anna C, 205. McNall, B. A., 671. Meigs, Mary Noel, 267. Mellen, Mary B., 309. Merrill, Mrs. John, 56. Meyer, Emily L., 247. Meyers, Jane V., 559. Miles, Anne, 257. Miles, Ellen E., 240, 258, 448, 538, 593, Miles, Lizzie, 538. Miles, M. Jennie, 205, 538. Miles, Sarah E., 257. Miller, Augusta A., 714. Miller, Emily Huntingdon, 704. Miller, Harriet Granger, 714. Millett, Deborah D., 625. Mitchell, Alice, .529. Mitchell, Ellen E., 205. Mitchell, .Maggie, .590. Mitchell. Maria, 262, 272, 346, 718, Mitchell, Martha, 529. Mix, Josephine B., 570. Moffinburv, Julia, 669. .Alollov, E'mma, 427, 693, 711. Monroe, Anna, .574. Monroe, Eliza, 77. Moody, Eliza G., 619. Moore, Kate, 155. More, Hannah, 613. Morell, Imogene Robinson, 308, Morgan, Middle, 686. Morris, Miss., 305. Morse, Rebecca A., 306. Morton, Helen, 555. Morton, Dr., 574. .Mott, Lucretia, 170, 184, 356, 357, 437. Motte, Rebecca, 57, 602. Mo)ilton, Louise Chandler, 246. Munroe, Nancv T., 448. Munsell, Jane R., 205. Murray, Mary, 292. Neal, Alice B., 233. Neale, Elizabeth, 356. Neff, Mary, 38. Nelson, Jennie, 544. Newell, Harriet, 505. Newman, E. E., 474. Newton, Charlotte L., 610. Nicholas, 1. R., 611. Nichols, C. I. H., 366. Nichols, Rebecca S., 269. Nivison, Miss, 572. Oakley, Juliana, 304. O'Daniels, A. M., 463. O'Hara, Miss, 292. Oliver. Sophia Helen, 264. Olmsted, Cornelia, 718. Orvis, Mrs., 295. Osgood, Frances Sargent, 267. Osgood, Kate Putnam, 269. Otis, Elizabeth Bordnian, 145. Owen, Maria L., 290, 529. Paddock, Eunice, 607. Page, Elizabeth, 635. Palmer, Eliza, 736. Palmer, Henrietta Lee, 847, Palmer, Lydia P., 247. Palmer, Phebe, 618. 748 Panish, Lydia G., 304. Parsons, Emily E., 204. Parton, Sarah Payson, 245. Patterson, Jane C, 452. Patterson, Martha, 135. Patton, Abby Hutchinson, 362. Payne, Alice Huntley, 696. Payne, Jane, 572. Peabody, Elizabeth Palmer, 240, 530. Peake, .Mary S., 208. Peale, Anna C, 293. Peale, Rosalba, 293. Peale, Sarah M., 293. Peasley, Mrs.,610. Peckham, Lily, 345. Pennock, Deborah, 377. Perkins, Sarah M. C, 342, 452. Perry, Katherine White, 537. Perry, Mary F., 663. Pettes, Mary Dwight, 204. rhelps, , 730. Phelps, Almira H. Lincoln, 286, 528. Phelps, Aurora, 183. Phelps, Elizabeth Stuart, 244, 343. Phelps, Mrs. I. S., 205. Phillips, Anne Greene, 356. Phillips, Phebe, 175. Pierce, Jane, 90. Pierson, Lydia Jane, 266. Pitcher, Moll, 53. Planteau, Madam, 292. Pocahontas, 32. Polk, Sarah, 86. Porter, Eliza C, 204. Post, Cornelia S., 301. Post, Partlienia S., 301. Potter, Helen, 594. Powell, Elizabeth M., 476. Powers, Lucy Gaylord, 209. Powers, Martha E., 593. Preston, Ann, 558, 559. Prince, Joanna, 635. Prior, Margaret, 153. Pugh, Esther, 427. Pugh, Sarah, 175, 356. Putnam, Caroline, 175. Putnam, Mary C, 572. Quinby, Adeline Cordelia, 182. Rand, Susan A., 607. Randall, Gertrude E., 544. Randolph, Martha Jefferson, 132. Ransom, Sarah, 320. Ray, Charlotte E., 662, 669. Ray, Sophia A., 607. Raymond, Sarah E., 548. Ream, Vinnie, 320. Redfield, Ann Maria, 285. Redmond, Mary, 58. Reed, Catherine S., 423. Reed, Esther, 55. Remington, Mrs. Mather, 612. Rich, S. Louisa, 718. Richardson, Abby Sage, 733. Ricker, M. M., 673. Ricketts, Fanny L., 205. Ridgeway, Ann, 147. Ritchie, Anna Cora, Mowatt, 267. Roberts, Fannie, 476, 668. Robinson, Hannah M., 263. Robinson, Harriet H., 612. Robinson, Mrs., 614. Rockwood, Eleanor D., 702. Rodgers, Augusta M., 652. Rodman, Charity, 166. Rogers, Mary H., 441. Rose, Ernestine L., 175. Ross, Anna Maria, 204. Ross, Laura E., 572. Rounds, Christiana, 538. Rouse, Mrs. Benjamin, 417. Rudd, Susan, 143. Ruggles, Emily, 608. Ruggles, .Mrs., 304. Rule, Elizabeth E., 718. RuUan, Maria, 210. Runkle, Mrs., 696. Russell, Mrs. E. J., 205. Russell, Mary, 529. Russell, Penelope, 711. Rutherford, Frances A., 669. Safford, Mary J., 204. Samson, Deborah, 50. Sarrick, Mrs., 647. Sartain, Emilv, 312. Sawyer, A. R^, 320. Sawyer, Caroline M., 265. Sawyer, Lucy, 644. Schaumberj, Emilie, 147. Schuvler, Catherine, 141. Scofield, Lydia A., 432. ScoK, Julia H., 261. Seaver, Nancy, B., 530. Sedgnick, Catherine M., 216. Seton, Eliza A., 184. Severance, Caroline, M., 359. SewaU, Dr., 574. Sewall, Lucy E., 55.5. Seymour, Almira, 257, 448. Shattuck, Mrs. Job, 56. Shaw, .\nnette, 451. Sheads, Carrie, 212. Sheaffe, Helen, 138. Sheaffe, Margaret, 138. Sheaffe, Susannah, 138. Shelton, Mrs., 615. Sherwood, Emily Lee, 691. Shubrick, Mrs. Richard, 62. Shuck, Henrietta, 512. Sigourney, Lydia H., 250. Slocum, Helen M., 432. Slocum, Lillie, 615. Small, Jerusha R., 205. Smalley, Ann, 615. Smallwood, Hannah T., 279. Smiley, Sarah, 441. Smith, Abby, 372. Smith, Elizabeth Oakes, 264. Smith, Erminnie A., 289. Smith, Eveline Sherman, 266. Smith, Fanny I., 288. Smith, Frances A., 301. Smith Julia, 372. Smith, Margaret Harrison, 244. Smith, Sarah E., 284. Smith, Sarah Lanman, .508. Smith, Sarah Louise P.,264. 749 Smith, Sarah R., 538. Smith, Sophia, 183, MO. Snow, Georgie, 667. Spear, Sarah, 205. Spencer, Lily Martin, 304. Spencer, Mrs. B. H., 205. Spindler, Marv B., 243. Spofford, Harriet Elizabeth Prescott, 246. Soule, Caroline A., 240, 350, 427, 448, 493, 680. Southwick, Abby, 356. Southworth, Emma D. E. N., 237. Stannard, Martha Pierce, 149. Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, 175, 350, 368, 690. Starbuck, Elizabeth, 262. Starbuck, Katherine, 634. Starbuck, Lucy, 529. Starr, Eliza Allen, 696. Stearns, Sarah Burgess, .557. Stebbins, Catherine, A. F., 372. Stebbins, Emma, 308. Steele, Elizabeth, 58. Steinbach, Sabina von, 291. Stephens, Ann S., 237. Stetson, Martha A., 345. Stevens, Mary E., 668. Stevenson, Sarah Hackett, 383, 563. Stockton, Annis, 141. Stockton, Louise, 690. Stoddard, Dora V., 346. Stoddard, Elizabeth, 269. Stoddard, Harriet B., 514. Stone, Lucinda H., 737. Stone, Lucy, 350, 363, 690. Storey, Widow, 33. Stork, Helen, 544. Stover, Mary, 136. Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 175, 221, 269, 737. Strickland, S. E., 346. Stuart, Jane, 295. Stiiart, Sarah M., 373. Sullivan, Margaret B., 696. Sully, Jane, 293." Swain, Louisa A., 433. Swain, Mary P., 607. Swain, Miss, 285. Swain, Sarah, 607. Swisshelm, Jane G., 703. Talbot, Caroline, 433, 441. Talley, Susan Archer, 269. Taylor, Elizabeth, 711. Taylor, Esther W., 563. Taylor, Lvdia, 711. Taylor, Mara^aret, 88. Taylor, Nellie Maria, 204. Terrv, Rose, 266. Thaxter, Celia, 260. Thomas, Mrs. E., 205. Thomas, Mary F., 5.59. Thomas, M. Louise, 724. Thompson, Eliza Jane, 412. Tliompson, Esther E., 544. Thompson, Mary H., 674. Thompson, Mrs. E. J., 380. Thompson, Sarah, 139. Thrale, Mrs., 647. Thursby, Miss, 591. Timothee Elizabeth, 710. Todd, Elizabeth C, 719. Tomlin, Mary, 704. Tompkins, Amelia, 572. Tompkins, Cornelia M., 205. Torrens, Eliza, 292. Torrens, Rosalba, 292. Townsend, Rachel, 432, 441. Treat, Mary, 288. TuUy, Jane, 292. Tupper, Eliza, 450,611. Tupper, Ellen S., 722. Turchin, Madame, 192. Turner, Eliza, 714. Turner, Emily, 714. Tuthill, Cornelia, 243. Tuthill, Louisa C, 238. Tyler, Adeline, 204. Tyler, Julia Gardiner, 85. Tyler, Letitia Christian, 85, Tyng, Anita E, 572. Underbill, Elizabeth H., 432. Van Alstine, Nancy, 60. Van Buren, Angelica, 134. Van Buren, Hannah, 82. Vance, Miss, 205. Van Cott, Maggie N., 344, 480. Vandenhoff, Mrs., George, 593. Vandernplasse, Mrs., 647. Van Lennep, Mary Elizabeth, 512. Van Ness, Cornelia, 144. Van Ness, Marcia, 144. Very, Lydia Louisa Ann, 256. Vrooman, Angelica, 51. Waddell, Mrs. Coventry, 147. Wade, Jennie, 211. Walker, Miss, 544. Wallis, Mary D., 737. Ward, Sallie, 143. Ware, Catherine A., 263. Warner, .\nna, 50. Warner for Wetherell), Elizabeth, 245. Warner, Harriet E., 315. Warren, Mercy, 38, 137. Washburn, Agnes Bartram, 537. Washington, Jane, 64. Washington, Martha, 66. Washington, Mary, 41. Watson, Jennie, 289. Wattle, Mary, 668. Way, Amanda M., 475. Weaver, Anna K., 611. Webber, Mary T., 254. Webster, Mary C, 452. Webster, Dr., 574. Welby, Amelia B., 269. Welch, Nancy, 635. Wellington, Margaret, 713. Wells, Ann Maria, 261. Wells, Charlotte Fowler, 559, 612, 702. Wells, Mrs. Shepard, 205. West, Maria A., 738. West, Mary Allen, 547. Weston, Mary, 307. Wetherell, E. C, 205. Wheatley, Phillis, 37. White, Armenia, 457. W^hite, Callie, 714. White, Caroline Earle, 180. (50 W'liite, Emily, 572. White, Sallie Joy, 594, 691. Whiting, Martha, 529. Whitman, Bathsheba, 529. Whitney, Adeline D. T., 245, 737. Whitney, Anna, 318. Whitney, E. ¥., 618. Whitney Maria, 540. Whittier, Abigail H., 626. Whittier, Elizabeth H., 626. Whittredge, E. P., 635. Wilber, Mrs., 722. Wilbour, Charlotte B., 371. Wilkes, Eliza Tupper, 450. Willard, Emma, 286, 524, 730. Willard, Frances E., 350, 387. Willard, Sarah, 544. Williams, Pamela, 143. Williams, Sarah R. L., 697. Willing, Jennie Fowler, 460. Wilson, Mary, 724. Wilson, Mrs. Charles, 142. Wilson, Mrs. Robert, 62. Wilson, Mrs., 62, 293. Wilson, Mrs., 142, 647. Winship, C. A., 634. Winslow, Emily, 356. Winterburn, Charlotte V., 592. Winthrop, Elizabeth Temple, 137. Winthrop, Hannah, 138. Withers, The Misses, 308. Wittenraeyer, Annie, 204, 344, 394 Woodbridge, .Mary Ann, 386. Woodman, Mrs., 304. Woodward, Ann .^ubertine, 600. Woolsey, The Misses, 204. Woolson, Abba Goold, 245, 343. Wooster, Mary, 139. Worcester, Catherine, 544. Woruieley, Katherine P., 204. Wormly, Mrs., 315. Wortliington, Jane T., 266. Wright, Mrs. David, 56. Wright, Margaret Coffin, 174. Wright, Rebecca, 615. Wright, Susanna, 605. Yale, Margaret Perry, 263. York, Sarah Emily, 613. Yorke, Miss, 134. Young, Carrie, 703. Zakrzewska, Marie, 554, 575. Zane, Elizabeth, 61. Zerger, Mrs., 709. 1