250 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND the attention of the school. For many years there was little attempt at teaching the natural sciences or any other of the higher English branches, though the teachers employed were all graduates of eastern schools of repute ; but the ground was taken that such studies require more maturity of mind than is usually found in girls before the age of eighteen. It was the definite aim to teach thoroughly the most important things ; to awaken, if possible. a love of study, and to keep tie pupil from superficiality. At that period, there were comparatively few in Cleveland Who made education a matter of pretense. The children, like their parents, were for the most part in earnest, breathing in, with the air of their native State, the spirit of buoyant life and enterprise--purified and tempered by the higher principles of rectitude and responsibility inherited from New England ancestry. Among devoted teachers are Miss S. E. Hoisington, afterward Mrs. Stoddard, of Independence, Kansas, where she died ; Miss L. Peabody, of Oxford, Ohio ; Miss M. R. Barron, now Mrs. M. E. Rawson, and Mrs. K. Kellogg, both of Cleveland ; Miss L. L. Fox, of the Cooper Institute, AND THEIR WORK - 251 New York. In 1868, Miss Mary E. Ingersoll became connected with the school, and in 1872, Miss Sarah L. Andrews ; the latter teaches a limited number of pupils, in her own building, at 276 Huntington street, taking the " Cleveland Academy," when Professor Bridgman left. We believe that between 1872 and 1874 Miss F. A. Fuller had charge of the primary department. The first class, numbering three, graduated in 1867. In these days of universal Bible study among Christians, it is refreshing to know that this eminent educator forty years ago made the Scriptures a constant text-book. Direct instruction was given from its pages, and strict examinations required therein. The Monday morning exercise was sermon recitation, the girls being required to give synopses of sermons preached the day previous from the various pulpits. So many were there in attendance at the Academy connected with the Second Presbyterian Church that its discourse was given in sections by several misses. This whole exercise on the part of the pupils was a labor of love and entered into with wonderful readiness. During her days of teaching, Miss Guilford went twice to Europe, bringing back with her the cul- 252 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND ture of foreign lands, and the last two years of instruction were devoted to an art class, composed of former pupils. One of the principles instilled into the hearts of those nearest her was kindness to the unfortunate. As much as possible, she was foremost in good works—the organization of the Young Ladies' League for temperance education was largely effected by her. She gives time and means to the instruction of voung men and boys in the Friendly Inns. Since Mrs. Arey's residence in Baltimore, Miss Guilford has been president of our Press Club. A red-letter day in Cleveland's history was October 24th, 1892 ; the dedication of the new building, composing the Woman's College, known as Clark Hall and Guilford Cottage, President C. F. Thwing, chairman of the day. A choir of ladies' voices from the Conservatory of Music sang delightfully, and later, two young ladies led a triple quartet in " What beam so bright ?" Eliza Clark, a noble woman of Cleveland, gave the beautiful hall in which Alice Freeman Palmer, ex-president of the Wellesley College, made a fine address. Guilford Cottage, cozy and fresh, floating the AND THEIR WORK - 253 college colors, was filled with visitors to welcome the auspicious opening. Mrs. Worcester Reed Warner reported in a business way for the Building Committee. Mrs. Flora Stone Mather bestowed a name in brief, appropriate remarks. " This house is called Guilford Cottage in grateful and loving acknowledgment of the debt which this community owes to her who bears that good Saxon name." Miss Guilford responded entertainingly. Mrs. Mather is noble in charities, in helpfulness everywhere and crowns her past by loyalty to the College, making it possible by her generosity for this charming cottage to be added to the cause of higher education for woman. It is gratifying to know that the students realize their indebtedness to those noble-minded donors, and they pledge themselves to secure the greatest possible growth in unselfish, cultured womanhood. This pen would be glad to pay a tribute to our music teachers and musicians, vocal and instrumental, of this city, who have- done and do now most beautiful work. Julia Somerville, at home under Italian skies, Ella Russell, in St. Peters-burgh, and others throughout Europe. At home, 254 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND we have Mrs. Henry Perkins, Birdie Hale Britton, and her sisters, Mary and Emma, Mrs. S. C, Ford, Mrs. C. B. Ellinwood, and a troop, besides, whose melody fills earthly choirs, reminding us of what we may hear in putting on immortal youth " in the land that is fairer than day." The sacred oratorios and college glee clubs of Oberlin have always been a delight to Clevelanders, and in turn our city is a source of enjoyment to that cultured community. Suffer the writer to mention Mrs.. A. A. F. Johnston, well known from the sensible and polished addresses she has frequently made us. She has held for twenty years the position of principal of the Ladies' Department of Oberlin College.* She is also professor of Mediaeval History, and is remarkable in many directions, being an interesting speaker ; a forceful writer. Her success in man= agement and in moulding the lives of hundreds of young women is phenomenal. She has a passion for travel and has been abroad several times. *Rev. John J. Shipherd, the founder of Oberlin College, selected its site in August, 1832 ; all students, irrespective of race, sex, nation or sect were Welcomed. The name is in honor of a Strasburg minister who gave his life to a broad philanthropy. Mother Shipherd had recognition in Oberlin's semi-centennial, 1882. AND THEIR WORK - 255 Northern Ohio is rich in schools ; our own here, Oberlin, Painesville, Hiram, all have strong attractions for the girls and boys of the period. Very dear to the writer is her own Alma Mater, the Ohio Wesleyan at Delaware. 256 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND CHAPTER XXIII. EARLY LITERARY WOMEN OF. CLEVELAND-MRS. MARIA M. HERRICK-MRS. L. C. PARKER-MRS. H. E. G. AREY. THE West Side claims our oldest literary lady, for there, six of her best years were passed; an admirable woman, excelling in those qualities which make the mother at home a power where-ever she may be, and yet who, in her quiet way, found time to work for others. She is the sister of Mrs. A. S. Hunt, so long an enthusiastic missionary with her husband in China and India; and is also related to the first Cleveland girl who sailed to the Orient. This lady edited the earliest magazine published here, from 1837 through 1840, under the auspices of the Maternal Association of Ohio City, " Mothers' and Young Ladies' Guide," read in many households, and its editress enshrined in many hearts—Mrs. Maria M. Herrick, over fourscore and ten years of age. Through a fall from AND THEIR WORK - 257 a carriage, long ago, she became prematurely infirm, and now, sitting in her pleasant apartments on Prospect street, waits for that hour when, with the loved and lost, she shall put on immortal youth. This first magazine was published in Tremont Block, Main street. It is an established fact that the West and South Sides from that day to this furnish a fair share of the literary and much of the musical talent of Cleveland. Mrs. Herrick came to Detroit street, Ohio City, from Utica, N. Y., in November, 1836. Being in full mental vigor, she wrote many of the articles that graced her columns. Looking over the venerable pages, some moons ago, I traced the devotional spirit and practical sense of the writer in 'several of her contributions and transcribe a few of their subjects: " Duties of Mothers," "Family Government," " To Young Ladies," " First at the Sepulchre," "Similitude," "The Nourished Plant," "A Word in Season," " Self Consecration," " Sewing Societies," " An Orphan's Tale " (a serial). An extract from Philo's pen cannot fail to' awaken merry thought, in a piece entitled ' Fashion : ' " The writer well remembers when tight sleeves were 'all the go,' but anon, the word of command 258 - WOMEN OR CLEVELAND was given, and oh! what a, change! How rapid the transition through all the grades, from 'mutton leg' to the extra 'bishop.' What innumerable yards of silk were used to make a covering—for what? For Mount Etna? No, for a lady's arm. And, still, the sleeves, like the waters of the Deluge, continued to increase until they required almost as many extra women to carry them as it did Queen Esther's train of old, and the fair beauty resembled more a wasp attached to two balloons,, than aught else in the heavens above, the earth beneath, or the waters under the earth. And this was the fashion ! But now (184o), the smaller the sleeve, the greater the beauty. What is to come next, Heaven only knows!" She is not aware of the publication of this slight tribute, but we do not consent that her name be omitted from the roll of women who have helped Cleveland, and give her a merited place in the history of our work. On the last page of Vol. I. of the Guide is a stanza appropriate to her and to other dear gray-haired ones whom we all love : "As one who, when the sun goes down, Still lingers on the rosy West, Shaping the shady clouds, to crown Some vision of the dreamer's breast, AND THEIR WORK - 259 So I, in memory's sunset sky, Do shape and fashion things as bright, And build me bowers that seem to lie Beyond the reach of woe and night." MRS. L. C. PARKER.—A half hour was spent ten years ago with this lady, a friend of the mothers of Mrs. Mary H. Severance and Mrs. Mary Scranton Bradford, herself the mother of Mrs. Louise Barrett, a rare woman of Cleveland and a. fine musician. She had always lived upon the Western Reserve, which may be the reason that we seldom find a person of three-score and ten so delightful in conversation as Mrs. Parker—fanciful, practical, scientific, vivacious, as befits her theme. She was fond of the literature of the day and wrote reminiscence of early workful years, excelling in epistolary correspondence. Hers was the power to fascinate little children and older people with relation of well remembered tales and poems. Lying upon the center table was a page just written to a nephew, an active business man residing on one of the Sandwich Islands, who had informed her of his Hawaiian laborers, his lumber mills, and of lassoing wild cattle, and I brought the page home with me. Here it is : 260 - WOMEN OR CLEVELAND " LORIN, DEAR : Away up in the mountain tops, looking off on the vast expanse of water separating you from kith and kin. Eloha! We are not separated in thought, hardly in vision, for do we not see you careering down the hill-side and away ? Your letter brought to mind lines from Scott's Marmion : `The Scots can rein a mettled steed, And love to couch a spear. St. George ! a stirring life they led That have such neighbors near.' When your father crossed the Equator on his first voyage to the Islands, he finished Rokeby,' and, pronounced it one, of Scott's best. It has beautiful passages and their interest is enhanced a hundred fold by the recollection of your father's voice and manner in reading aloud to us ladies—his audience on board the brig—becalmed as we were, a few degrees from the Equator. Every breeze wafted from Micronesia is laden with perfume. I remember so distinctly away back in the days of Obookiah and the sailing of the first missionaries in 1819, that at times I almost fancy myself, like Cleopatra's needle, inscribed all over with histories of the long ago." MRS. H. E. G. AREY.—The ability of this lady AND THEIR WORK - 261 was acknowledged in Northern Ohio forty-seven years ago, and until very recently Cleveland has been honored by her presence and work. She has the love of a large circle, being at home in all activities, her pen moving most briskly, perhaps, for reforms, for literature and art. Upon solicitation, Mrs. Arey has furnished a sprightly bit of history. " Upon the infantile formation of letters into words, I began to write and my copy-book made the back-ground of remarkable effusions, much to the amusement of my tall, leather-jacketed teacher. These efforts jingled, but beyond that they were indescribable. My friends were first alarmed by a brilliant fiasco upon the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, followed by the transla- Livii uf Whittingt6ii and his Cat.' Learning to read at the age of three and one-half, the writing came two years later. I remember when seven or eight, my father offered me a pair of red morocco shoes if I would go through Murray's Grammar in six weeks ; lost it by a week, but got the shoes. All my subsequent delinquencies in that branch must be attributed to this breach of modern rule. I came to Cleveland in 1844, having given up a nearly completed college course at Oberlin, 262 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND through failure of the eyes. After a time, I took charge of the Department of Mathematics in Miss Fuller's school (Episcopalian) on the west side of the Square. Close beside this building stobd another, Mrs. William Day's school (Presbyterian). Mrs. D. was wife of the first Bethel Chaplain, and her husband a brother of Rev. Dr. Aikin's wife. Miss Catharine Jennings, a class-mate at Oberlin, came as Mrs. Day's assistant, and when two or three years later Mrs. Day retired from teaching,_ Miss Jennings and I took charge there. My continuance was limited by marriage. Miss Jennings went into the high school, upon its opening. Subsequently, she sailed for Syria, as wife of Rev. Mr, Parsons, a missionary afterwards murdered in Turkey. She then taught a girl's school in the land of her adoption." Mrs. Arey was formerly Miss Harriet E. Grannis, writing for the press from childhood. She and Constance Fennimore Woolson are relatives, and are descended from the Sumners, of Boston, a well-known family in old colonial times. Mrs. Arey's early education was received under English oversight in Canada. Mr. Grannis, senior—her father—was a member of that Provincial Parliament prorogued by Lord Gosford, AND THEIR WORK - 263 previous to the Canadian Rebellion. Mr. and Mrs. Arey's marriage and removal to Buffalo occurred in 1848. A few years later she edited a periodical for children, out of which grew the Home Monthly, a domestic magazine, the first of its kind. She sought to reach the serious work of women in the household, finding something which would elevate and purify what else might be cheerless drudgery, and also help mothers in the training of children. In this editorial work she gathered about her a corps of contributors, among whom were Helen Barron Bostwick and Emily L. Bissell. In 1864, Professor Arey took charge of the State Normal School at Albany, N. Y. Three years later, taking with her their youngest child, she went back to teaching. Removing later to Cleveland, Professor Arey having been called to the head of our own Normal School, with Miss Ellen G. Reveley as assistant. Mrs. Arey's keenest life sorrows have been the recent death of a favorite grandchild, and the earlier demise of an only daughter, her companion, friend and helper at every step ; possibly, the school room on that account seemed attractive as a means of absorption, and because young girls trooped so lovingly 264 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND about her. Especially among the latter has been her work, and her aim to use such influence as elevates home life, believing if households are pure, society cannot take a much lower plane. She was the progressive, helpful president of the Cleveland Woman's Press Club from its beginning until her removal to Baltimore. Its ten members grew into a prosperous organization, being now one of the International League of Press Clubs ; during its first two years, the only association of pen-women in Ohio. None of us present at its annual banquet in 1890, at her charming home, can forget the unique and beautiful occasion, made such by the combined skill of herself, daughter, and Mrs. G. V. R. Wickham. Mrs. Arey gave attention to decorative art. Her mementoes to friends were the work of her own skilled fingers, through an eye capable of blending colors. In addition to other duties, she was president of the Art and History Club, but lived not alone in the ideal, for one line of endeavor, as she herself says, " grew out of an attempt to solve the problem, ' What is to be done with humanity at its worst?' A volume of her early poems lies upon my table ; from one entitled " The New Year," I gather expressions typical of the author's own beautiful life among us. AND THEIR WORK - 265 CHAPTER XXIV. FIVE FAMOUS WOMEN OF CLEVELAND — SUSAN COOLIDGE—CONSTANCE FENNIMORE WOOLSON —LYDIA HOYT FARMER—SARAH K. BOLTONLUCY SEAMAN BAINBRIDGE. " There they stand, Shining in order like a living hymn Written in light." SUSAN COOLIDGE.—This lady, a charming writer, widely known by her nom de plume, was born in Cleveland and lived here during the early years of her life. Her birthplace was A large, old-fashioned house on Euclid avenue, situated near where the residence of Mrs. Amasa Stone now stands. She is Miss Sarah Coolidge Woolsey, of choice ancestry and parentage. Her father—deceased—was brother of ex-President Woolsey, of Yale College, and also a brother of Theodore Winthrop's mother. Her mother is Jane Andrews Woolsey, only sister of the late Hon. S. J. Andrews, 266 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND of this city. Removing to New Haven, it is said, some years were spent there. Having traveled extensively in our ,own and foreign lands, Susan Coolidge with her mother and one sister, Mrs. and Miss Woolsey, went to reside in Newport, Rhode Island. They are accustomed to the mode of living of families in the highest circles, who are above the affectation of show. They have a lovely, artistic home, a suite of rooms fitted up with antique furniture. From the windows is an outlook upon Narragansett Bay. Miss Coolidge is very successful in the culture of flowers ; the scarlet geranium, the golden nasturtium, the coleus of many hues bloom in brilliant parterre under her skillful nurture, and, with such neighbors as she has, may we not hope that the esthetic sunflower and the snowy lily thrive ? This lady sketches and paints with great skill. She is tall and elegant in figure, with dark eyes and silver speech, indeed, her charms of conversation are the delight of friends. Her lovely home is a center of intellectual culture, and the coterie of literary friends who summer on the Bay must make of life something above the average. With this gifted lady, literature is a pastime. , Her AND THEIR WORK - 267 books are mostly stories for children : "The New Year's Bargain" is a decided favorite. In it, each month of the year tells its own story to two little German girls, "What Katy Did," " What' Katy Did at School," "Nine Little Goslings," "Cross-patch," "Eyebright," are, all of them, greatly loved by the little ones. Of course she is a constant contributor to the St. Nicholas Magazine. She has recently revised and edited the "Life and Letters of Mrs. Delaney," as well as the "Memoirs of Madame d' Arblay." These give a charming description of English court life and circles of rank in the time of George III. and Queen Charlotte, one hundred and fifty years ago. She writes for the Century Magazine, and for the New York Independent. Susan Coolidge traveled in a Pullman car, when railroads and cars were new, with "H. H." (Helen Hunt) to California. Their letters, addressed respectively to the Independent and Christian Union, were very witty and rich in description. One of her books entitled "Verses," bound in cream and gold, lies upon my table. Within is the "Legend of Kintu," "In the Mist," "Angelus," " Savoir c'est Pardonner,” and other true and beau- 268 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND tiful poems. Of these, I choose one, perhaps her most celebrated, "The Cradle Tomb, Westminster Abbey, 16o6 ; by Susan Coolidge, 1872." It is prefaced by the following note: "Two American girls on their visit to Westminster Abbey, in 1876, were attracted to the Cradle Tomb in Henry the Seventh's Chapel. Near by, on a card, they found a manuscript copy of the following verses attributed, simply, to 'An American Lady.' On their return to America, they learned that the poem was written by Susan Coolidge and printed in the Century Magazine, and that it had been copied and placed in the Abbey at the instance of Lady Augusta Stanley. Several friends of these travelers, on hearing of this incident, have asked for a copy of the verses, and to gratify them, an edition has been privately printed in Baltimore at Christmas, 1877: " THE CRADLE TOMB IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. A little rudely sculptured bed, With shadowing folds of marble lace, And quilt of marble, primly spread And folded round a baby's face. Smoothly the mimic coverlet, With royal blazonries bedight, AND THEIR WORK - 269 Hangs, as by fingers set, And straightened for the last good-night. And traced upon the pillowing stone A dent is seen, as if to bless That quiet sleep, some grieving one Had leaned, and left a soft impress. It seems no more than yesterday Since the sad mother, down the stair And down the long aisle stole away, And left her darling sleeping there. But dust upon the cradle lies, And those who prized the baby so, And decked her couch with heavy sighs, Were turned to dust long years ago. Above the peaceful pillowed head Three centuries brood; and strangers peep And wonder at the carven bed ; But not unwept the baby's sleep, For wistful mother-eyes are blurred With sudden mists, as lingerers stay, And the old dusts are roused and stirred By the warm tear-drops of today. Soft, furtive hands caress the stone, And hearts, o'erleaping place and age, Melt into memories, and own A thrill of common parentage. Men die, but sorrow never dies, The crowding years divide in vain, 270 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND And the wide world is knit with ties Of common brotherhood in pain. Of common share in grief and loss, And heritage in the immortal bloom Of love, which, flowering round its cross, Made beautiful a baby's tomb. Although many pleasant things have been written and will continue to be written of this, our own Cleveland child of song and story, she yet shrinks from public mention. An unusual fondness for retirement prevents her being known under any save the unassuming name she adopts. An equally gifted and eminent woman, whom the writer well remembers at the Rockwell street grammar school, is Constance Fennimore Woolson. This promising writer was born in Claremont, New Hampshire, but removed at a very early age to this city. Her father will be remembered as C. J. Woolson, of the firm of Woolson & Hitchcock, stove merchants, of Cleveland. Through him, Constance is descended from the Peabodys of New England, a family among whose direct posterity rank some of the strong workers of the age. Her mother was a niece of Fennimore Cooper. She was known among her sisters as a quiet, thoughtful child, flashing at rare intervals into enthusiasm, AND THEIR WORK - 271 as something touching or artistic came in her way. She talked but little ; this quietude remained with her as she grew to mature life, impressing an observer with the idea that the highways and byways of her thinking were not trodden by every casual acquaintance. The greater part of her school life was spent in Cleveland, but the special preparation for the work she has since done was outside of school room walls, and, indeed, outside the city's smoke. When her father's health began to fail, she set out in the family carriage; together they "went gypsying" wherever their horses' heads were turned, down among the valleys of the Buckeye State, any and everywhere out of the mire and dust of travel, wherever anything quaint or' picturesque was to be found, subjects for weeks together of the King of Zoar, or tarrying at another place in which the more curious studies of human life were presented. Again, whole seasons would be spent at Mackinaw, or in out-of-the-way places on the upper lakes. From these out-door studies she gleaned for the future, as our artists do in their summer wanderings over hill and dale. In these resorts, her best character studies were undoubtedly first embodied. 272 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND It was in one of these remote sojournings that news came to her of her father's last illness. She took the first boat for Cleveland, hearing nothing more until arriving here at midnight. Upon being driven to her home, she learned first of her bereavement when she laid her hand in the darkness on the crape-muffled handle of the door bell. It is believed that subsequent to her father's death, her writings were given to the public. Soon after this time, she went south with her mother, spending Winters in Florida, rarely coming further north than the Sulphur Springs of Virginia. After the loved mother's death, she, her sister, and niece went to Europe, and notes of travel came back to friends. The special point of excellence in her work is thought, by those best qualified to determine, to be in quaint character sketches. Each line is a study from one whose eye sees far below the surface. Those who give to her writings the highest meed of praise come from the leading critics of the day. The list of her principal works is : "Rodman the Keeper," comprising her southern sketches; "Castle Nowhere," includes her Mackinaw stories; "The Old Stone House;" "Anne," a serial in Har- AND THEIR WORK - 273 per's Magazine. A volume of short articles may have preceded these. Miss Woolson spent one Winter at Sorrento, the birthplace of Tasso. In addition to the beauty of the scenery and the delights of the climate, she undoubtedly finds in the quaint characters about her, new subjects for study, rare models for the touches of her facile pen. A thorough cosmopolitan, she sees always the human pulse beating under whatever guise. No national prejudice, no unblending habits of criticism dim her keen power of observation when new phases of character are presented for dissection. Her sketches, gleaned from a residence South, show this trait, and from the rare homes she is making for herself in the Old World, we may hope for still richer presentations. In the Spring of 1883, she joined her sister and went to Switzerland, where she finished her work in hand, "Anne," and one other. "Horace Chase," is the title of her new novel, beginning January r, 1893, in Harper's Magazine. The opening scenes of the story are in Asheville, N. C., soon after the close of the war. MRS. LYDIA HOYT FARMER is a daughter of 274 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND Hon. James M. Hoyt, sister. of Rev. Wayland Hoyt, D. D., of Minneapolis, Minn., and of Colgate Hoyt, of New York, and of Messrs. James H. and Elton Hoyt. Her husband is a son of Mrs. Meribah and the late James Farmer, all of them well known residents of Cleveland. Mrs. Farmer is poet, artist and Christian, as well as an accurate historical and biographical writer. The following is a list of her books ; certainly, none of us are more industrious than she : " Boys' Book of Famous Rulers," published in 1886; " Girls' Book of Famous Queens," 1887, giving information regarding the various epoch in which all these rulers lived, noting the important events of their lives. " A Story Book of Science," 1886 ; opening to youth a rich fund of knowledge, concerning the creatures of sea and earth, as well as of plant and insect life ; " The Prince of the. Flaming Star," a fairy operetta, 1887; a striking example of the author'• diversified gifts, the words, music and illustrations all being from her facile hand. The operetta is in four acts ; act first, introducing us to the .fairy realms of heaven; second, to Titania's kingdom on earth ; third, to the "Flower Court," and fourth, to a scene of general rejoicing among the AND THEIR WORK - 275 fairies of both spheres. "Life of LaFayette ; the Knight of Liberty in Two Worlds and Two Centuries," 1888; a most valued and entertaining book and a much needed one, as, in literature, there was no adequate biography of this brave French General, so dear to the United States. In 1889, she published "A Short History of the French Revolution," being selections from the principal French historians interwoven with the text. Carlyle is the favorite in quotation, with Thiers, Michelet, Lamartine, Louis Blanc, Henri Martin, Van Lauri and others to form a group about him. It is the story of the revolution of 1789. In the same year, " A Knight of Faith," written in answer to the widely read "Robert Elsmere." It is a wholesome book, showing the perfect development of a Christian character, which a father may well put into the hands of sons and daughters as a counteracting influence to the sceptical literature of the day. For this, Hon. W. E. Gladstone gives her hearty recognition. In 1890, " A Moral Inheritance." For two years, Mrs. Farmer has been preparing a religious, historical novel, entitled, " The Doom of the Holy City: Christ and Caesar," founded upon the destruction of Jerusalem, the 276 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND beautiful. Her work par excellence, upon which are bestowed time and painstaking, is the National Exposition souvenir, " What America Owes to Woman," which is progressing rapidly and will be a source of pride to Cleveland and to the gifted author and compiler. LUCY SEAMAN BAINBRIDGE.—This lady was born at the old homestead, 65 Seneca street, educated at Cleveland Central High School and at Ipswich, Mass., and came out a "healthy, sensible, companionable woman." During the war, she' went to Washington, D. C., with her mother, and from there to the front as a member of the Christian commission ; then to Acquia Creek to meet the boatloads of wounded ; going back to Washington with, them, tried to alleviate the sufferings of those poor fellows packed in rows on the floor. This first effort being acceptable, she was urged to keep on, and for some time worked within sound of the cannonading at the front, living in a tent, and laboring all day long in giving drink, food and medicine, or wetting the dried wounds of poor, maimed, suffering men just brought from the battle-field. After dusk came the duty of writing for the soldiers to anxious wife or mother. Lucy AND THEIR WORK - 277 Seaman regards these weeks under a Virginia's Summer sun as among the most precious of her life. September, 1866, she married Rev. William F. Bainbridge, pastor of the Baptist Church, in Erie, Pa. During the year that followed, they 'visited England, Scotland, France, Switzerland, and Germany ; made a specialty of an Egypt and Palestine tour, being two months 'tenting and traveling on horseback in the Holy Land, going as far east as Constantinople, and north as St. Petersburg. Called to the Central Baptist Church of Providence, R. I., in 1869, she had ten busy years as pastor's wife, and Sunday school worker. In 1874, on a visit here, she joined two processions of ladies holding saloon prayer-meet ings, and otherwise assisted us. Home again, to lead the forces of her own city and to organize a club of reformed men, whose reputation for excellent service reached us. This labor she laid down to travel, and her book, "Round the World Letters," is one delightful result. Here is a bit of description: "We were in Agra, the city of the Taj ; entered the gateway, and passed Taj through the avenue of cypresses toward this mausoleum, built by Shah Jehan to the memory 278 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND of his beloved wife, Noor-Jehan, `the light of the world.' ' A poem in marble,' ' The sigh of a broken heart,' `A floating palace in the air,' ' The spirit of some happy dream.' It is the mausoleum of a woman, the most exquisitely beautiful tomb in all the world, and built by the emperor of a people who despise women, and whose holy book does not recognize that they possess souls. Napoleon's crypt, Prince Albert's memorial, Charlottenberg's tomb, are far outrivaled in pathos of beauty by the Taj where sleeps the inmate of a harem, a simple woman, whose life was spent behind the screens of an Indian palace. The whole building, as one looks upon it, seems to float in the air like an autumn cloud." Then follows a detail of luxurious word-painting of the exquisite marble screens and carving, the mosaics of precious stones, the traceries, the Oriental glory of this "work of art possessed of life and perfect," whose, domes, crescents, minarets, and terraces seemed to her like " a castle of pearl and burnished silver." Mrs. Bainbridge's description of jungle life is the best I have ever read. Of course, as may be expected, Mrs. Bainbridge visited some of the Zenanas AND THEIR WORK - 279 of India and looked upon the "golden lily foot" of the esthetic Chinese wife, was refreshed by the height of style on Japanese young ladies as to their back hair, done up in form of a half-open fan, or butterfly secured with hair-pins of flowers or golden balls. But these things did not move her. She was not so absorbed with the bangle bracelets of the fair ones of Delhi, nor with the shopping of the sheeted Moslem girls in the bazaars, nor yet with the blue feather, pink flowers, and yellow kid gloves of the fascinating Syrian, on a ground of plum color, scarlet and drab at the Pasha's garden reception, but that she could, with her husband, visit nearly a thousand missionaries in their various fields of labor, and ride through the jungles to caress the resting place of the heroic pioneer woman missionary of America to India—Ann Haseltine Judson. Nor did our gentle crusader fail to note the marvelous work of one temperance woman at Bareilly. It must be that Cleveland Baptists have a just pride in their Sabbath school child, Lucy, who resides now in Brooklyn, N. Y. Permit me to assure our readers that the Cleveland woman abroad is always a wide-awake and far-seeing creature of intelligence. 280 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND MRS. SARAH K. BOLTON.—Her first published poem was in the Waverly Magazine, when she was fifteen. At this time she became a member of the family of her uncle, Colonel H. L. Miller, a lawyer of Hartford, whose extensive library was a delight, and his house a center for those who loved scholarship and refinement. The aunt, a descendant of Noah Webster, was a woman of wide reading, exquisite taste, and social prominence. Here the young girl saw Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mrs. Sigourney, and others like them, whose lives to her were a constant inspiration. She graduated from the seminary founded by Catharine Beecher, Sarah became a practical and brilliant scholar. Motley, Prescott, Guizot, Hallam, and the best essayists were her special favorites. So closely did she read that for some months her sight was endangered. A small book of her poems was now published of the Appletons, and a serial novel in a New England paper. Soon after, she married Mr. Charles E. Bolton, a graduate of Amherst College, and they removed to Cleveland, 0. In this city, remarkable for its benevolences, she soon became the first secretary AND THEIR WORK - 281 of the Woman's Christian Association, using much of her time in visits among the poor. This is not strange, as during all her school life she was deeply interested in such work—persuading some of her wealthy friends to educate the brightest of the boys in her mission Sunday school class, and reading each Saturday to a poor blind woman. The writer well remembers, in the early days of her Cleveland work, Mrs. Bolton's charitable intent ; how she took clothing from her own person wherewith to invest the chilly, delicate women who came to her for relief. In one family, where death had come for the first time and taken a pretty child, and the young wife was wretched because she had no picture of her infant, Mrs. Bolton dressed the little one in the white clothes of her own baby, had the father take her in his arms to a photographer, and a good likeness was obtained, as if in life. The poor mother was comforted. Mrs. Bolton placed the dead in the coffin she had purchased ; with her own hands screwed down the lid, and then she helped at the simple burial. A picture of the sweet-faced child has always been in her own home. When, in 1874, the temperance crusade began 282 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND in Hillsboro', O., she was one of the first to take up the work, having found, naturally, in her labors among the poor, that poverty is too often the result of drink. For several months, through Northern Ohio, she spoke at evening meetings, going with he praying bands to the saloons during the day. Indeed, she led the first crusade in Northern Ohio, which began in Berea. With scarcely an exception, her gentleness and Christian spirit paved the way for earnest conversation and blessed results. The latter was true, also, in this city; and she was soon appointed assistant corresponding secretary of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Invited to Boston, to become one of the editors of the Congregationalist, a most useful and responsible position, she proved herself an able journalist. Always suggestive in plans, careful lest feelings be unnecessarily wounded, and untiring in her work, she made many friends among those best known in literature. She has passed some years abroad, enjoying the wild scenery of Norway and Russia, and the art of classic Rome. Her only child spent his vacation with her in seeing the old world, and together they often walked AND THEIR WORK - 283 eighteen miles a day. Here she was fortunate in meeting Jean Ingelow, Christina Rosetti, Robert Browning, Dinah Maria Mulock, Frances Power Cobbe, and many others whom the world delights to honor. She made an especial study of woman's higher education in the universities of Cambridge, Oxford, and elsewhere, preparing for magazines several articles on this subject, as well as on woman's philanthropic and intellectual work ; also, what is being done for the mental and moral help of the laboring people by their employers, reading a paper on this subject at a meeting of the American Social Science Association, held at Saratoga. Much material was also gathered on Technical Education, a matter of growing importance in this country, and for biographical and descriptive work. Mrs. Bolton has written: " How Success is Won," " Poor Boys and Girls who became Famous," " Stories from Life " (fiction), "Social Studies in England," " Famous American Authors,", " From Heart and Nature " (poems), half the book written by her son, Charles Knowles Bolton, Harvard College, class '90 ; " Famous American Statesmen," "Some Successful Women," 284 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND " Famous Men of Science," " Famous English Authors of the Nineteenth Century," " Famous European Artists," " Famous English Statesmen of Queen Victoria's Reign," " Famous Types of Womanhood," and for at least forty journals published in New York, Boston and Ohio. It will not be amiss for me, a friend of long standing, who has loved her from the very first, to say that in manner Mrs. Bolton is refined and winsome, full of good cheer, treating the lowest with as much courtesy as the higher born. Her home has the pleasant accompaniments of a student's life—books and pictures. About her writing table are portraits of Emerson, Longfellow, and Victor Hugo, all personally known to her, and pictures of the homes of Tennyson and Ruskin. She is in her prime, giving promise of Much valuable literary work, and is one of the most vigorous of our Pallas Athens. AND THEIR WORK - 285 CHAPTER XXV. SIXTY WELL KNOWN WOMEN OF CULTURE -TWELVE CLUBS FOR INTELLECTUAL ADVANCEMENT-THE COLUMBIAN ASSOCIATION. CLEVELAND is noted among cities for its large number of bright women. Mrs. Sarah E. Bierce, of the Plain Dealer editorial staff, and secretary of the Northern Ohio Woman's Press Association, states that thirty-five of these write books. We have a reserve force, aside from the eight already delineated ; first of whom in mention is May Alden Ward, an elegant pen woman and still a student ; for the most part of the literature of Continental and Southern Europe ; known and appreciated here by scholars and writers, she has a fine reputation among the Boston literati. Her books are " Life and Works of Dante," " Life and Works of Petrarch," " Studies in French and German Literature." Her parlor lectures are greatly enjoyed. Kate H. S. Avery, well-informed and 286 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND brilliant, wields a sprightly pen ; is looking up " those Revolutionary dames, our foremothers," indeed, she is constantly engaged in historical and genealogical research ; in the latter, Elizabeth Clifford Neff is interested ; our other Neff, called in her girlhood, Lizzie Hyer, writes short stories, and is a witty, impromptu talker. Mrs. Neff has forever rescued mothers-in-law from obloquy, by her eloquent defense of Dona de Perestrello, who sustained that relation to Christopher Colum ; truthfully stating that only the irony of fate compelled Spain to be step-mother of these new ands, for, had there been no Isabella, America have been discovered through the persistent aid to the great navigator of this Italian cavalier's widow, who placed in his hands all the papers, charts, journals and memoranda of the lamented Perestrello. Two of the most valued members of our widely known Press Club are May Alden Ward and Lizzie Flyer Neff; graduates of the Ohio Wesleyan University. Jessie Glasier, her mother Mrs. Eliza Glasier, and Estelle Bone, sparkle in the newspapers Clara A. Urann is author of a " Course in English Literature," gathering flowers under Christmas AND THEIR WORK - 287 snows, giving most instructive and entertaining lectures. Miss S. A. Wilson is a diligent writer for Epworth Leagues, Sunday schools and Bible study. She and Miss Clara G. Tagg are acknowledged leaders in religious and intellectual circles. Mrs. M. M. Caton has just issued a " Commercial Speller," the product of a year's work—having original features, systematically graded, and so far as known to the writer, the only business college text-book compiled by an Ohio woman. She recites well, and so does Miss Kate Parmalee. We may as well attempt to count the stars in midwinter skies as to enumerate all the bright women of Cleveland. Of these is Miss Emma Perkins, teacher of Latin in. Woman's College of Western Reserve University, a fine essayist and superior scholar, graduating at Vassar with the first honor of her class. Mrs. S. T. Paine is a lady of excellent ability ; a fine Secretary. Mrs. H. M. Ingham is a gifted writer ; adapted to editorship. Mrs. Gertrude Van R. Wickham writes for St. Nicholas, the local papers, and other journals; Anna M. Pratt furnishes charming poems for this same Saint. Adele Thompson is delightful. Mrs. B. F. Taylor, a brilliant writer, is a fit companion for 288 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND the poet-editor of Chicago, who wrote " There is a Magical Isle up the River of Time." Mrs. A. M. Burns furnishes stories for a New England journal. Her review of current literature for our Press Club, at its January meeting, was remarkable for taste and beauty. Ella S. Webb is a practical writer for Leisure Hours, in Philadelphia. Sarah E. Chandler, Mrs. Chas. Ruprecht, Anna E. Treat, Laura. Rosamond White and Emma Scarr Booth are familiar names in city journalism. Hanna A. Foster, a poet, and Jane Eliot Snow, write and lecture equally well ; they are pronounced temperance women. Four ministers' wives distinguish themselves in a literary way—Mrs. P. E. Kipp, Mrs. M. C. Hickman, Mrs. Margaret B. Peeke, Mrs. J. G. Fraser. Our educational writers are Miss Harriet L. Keeler, Miss Ellen G. Reveley, Miss I,. T. Guilford, Mrs. Mary E. M. Richardson. The latter delights a large circle of friends with holiday booklets. Mrs. W. C. Weedon collects legends ; Helen M. Houk sets us out handsomely in the Plain Dealer. Mrs. B. D. Babcock writes gracefully ; her papers on ceramic art, illustrated by porcelain and pottery, charm her friends. Mrs. G. A. Robertson, Martha Canfield, M. D., and AND THEIR WORK - 289 Etta L. Gilchrist, M. D., have original ideas and know how to express them. Alice Webster, Elsbeth B. Black, Belle K. Adams and several more are a credit to our city by their industry with pen and brush. Helen Watterson Moody belongs to us. Mrs. C. C. Burnett is a pioneer in literary societies, and, skilled in planning for their success. Mrs. W. G. Rose is thinker, writer, reformer and president of our largest club—Sorosis, organized in 1891, numbering over two hundred members ; out of which has come the " Poet's Corner," in charge of Mrs. Lyda C. Seymour, and the Natural Science Club, organized in 1899 ; Mrs.. A. P. Davidson, of Oberlin, and Mrs. N. Coe Stewart, president and secretary. Mrs. Rose has afforded rare intellectual feasts, at two or three Sorosis banquets ; notably, that of October, 1892 ; " Woman " was the subject considered. Mrs. Emily G. Cory, resident abroad for three years, spoke upon the " Women of Germany ; " Luella Varney, our sculptor, living for the most part in Rome, the " Women of Italy." Harriet Taylor. Upton furnished a remarkable ,paper upon the " Women of Washington, D. C." Mrs. L. Dautel, toast mistress, and our own Mrs. M. G,I3rowne, both having done 290 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND much to develop Sorosis, gave polished utterance upon "American Women; " Mrs. Lydia Hoyt Farmer, " Mrs. Mal-a-prop." Three ladies, wives of physicians, Mrs. H. F. Biggar, Mrs. D. H. Beckwith, and Mrs. T. P. Wilson read the best literature, and delight select circles with admirable papers upon historical and social topics. The wives of some of the professors and editors in town, and Mrs. Cady Staley write with beauty and thoroughness upon exposition and general subjects. Our clubs are numerous and excellent, doing fine literary work, with conversations and discussions that indicate deep study and patient thought ; Monday Club, organized in 1877 ; East End Conversational, 1878 ; Nineteenth Century, 188o ; Western Reserve, 1882 ; merged into Sorosis in 1891 ; Press Club, 1886 ; Cleveland Literary Guild, 1889 ; the President, Mrs. 0. C. Lawrence and several of the members recite well ; Daughters of the American Revolution, 1891; Journalists' Club, 1892 ; a talented coterie from this organization edit, publish and write for the Household Realm. Alice Webster, founder ; Mrs. Belle K. Adams, editor. Clara Freeman, Mrs. Perkins, Miss Black, AND THEIR WORK - 291 Marion L. Campbell, Nellie N. Amsden and Virginia Reid are contributors. These ladies are also included on the staff of other newspapers. There are at least one French and two German clubs. Apparently, the only one now to be desired is the " Twentieth Century," which may Miss Katharine Wilcox, of Genesee avenue, find as she did the other twelve in her walks about town ! The Columbian Association was formed November 7th, 1892, to continue until May 1st, 1893, for the purpose of collecting statistics of woman's work in this city ; the departments being Philanthropy, Education, Literature, Art, Industrial Pursuits. Women of Cleveland—Protestant, Roman Catholic and Jewish, came forward nobly ; so responsive were they that results in detail must add considerably to the World's Fair Encyclopedia. In connection with this ingathering, valuable papers are presented upon topics pertaining to the early history of America and to the Columbian Exposition. 292 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND CHAPTER XXVI. MRS. MARY MASON FAIRBANKS—CLEVELAND NEWSPAPERS—OLD ROUND TABLE—JULIA VAUGHN WILLEY—HARRIET GAYLORD SMITH— OHIO FARMER —GOOD THOMAS BROWN—TWELVE SPRIGHTLY WRITERS—HELEN BARRON BOSTWICK—CORRESPONDENCE. IT is impossible to review the history of woman's 1 literary work in this city without also reviewing in brief the history of those newspapers which have fostered most a love of literature and the exercise of gifts in expression. The Cleveland Herald is the oldest newspaper here, beginning as a weekly in 1819. In 1836, the Daily Gazette made an appearance. March 22, 1837, it vas consolidated with the Herald, published by Whittlesey & Hull. Mr. Hull soon gave place to J. A. Harris. Upon the retirement of Mr. Whittlesey, the name of Gazette was dropped. Subsequently, Mr. Harris admitted to partnership with him A. W. Fair- AND THEIR WORK - 293 banks, and afterwards George A. Benedict. January 7th, 1842, Messrs. J. W. and N. A. Gray bought the Cleveland Advertiser and converted it into the Cleveland Plain Dealer. From personal knowledge, it may be truly said that Mr. J. W. had a keen appreciation of wit and genius, whether in man or woman, and was one of the most genial of hosts ; he and Mrs. Gray being the soul of kindness to the lady teachers who had charge of their children--Josie and Eugene. Bishop W.E. Mc-Laren was on the staff of that paper in 1853 and '54. Chas. F. Browne, a well-known humorist, began lii6 L.i,cr with the Plain Dealer. The Cleveland Leader was the result of combining the True Democrat, an anti-slavery paper, started in 1846 by Bradburn and Vaughn; and the Forest City, organ of the "Silver Gray Whigs," issued in 1852 by Joseph Medill. The marriage took place in October, 1853. Mr. Medill associated with him Mr. Edwin Cowles. In 1855, Messrs. Medill and Vaughn removed to Chicago and became connected with the nibune of that city. The Leader has always been noted among Clevelanders for its fearless, outspoken utterance, and espousal of woman's cause. 294 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND One of the charming ladies of that golden age writes me thus of the editor of the oldest newspaper and of some of the contributors : " Among those who had much to do with developing the literary taste and ability of Cleveland women during the period of which I write, should certainly be mentioned the well remembered and beloved editors of the Cleveland Herald, Messrs. J. A: Harris, George A. Benedict and J. H. A. Bone ; with them should be included the warm hearted and genial proprietors of the True Democrat, Messrs. John C. Vaughn and Thomas Brown. I am sure that many a literary aspiration was awakened and encouraged iliough the graceful writing and commendatory words of these very men. , In those days were fewer outlets for womanly sentiment, than now. The young girl who reached forth to something beyond the monotonous routine of society life could not then, as now, occupy herself with the fascinating varieties of art culture. Somehow, while she might shrink from public criticism and had little courage to assert herself; there was an irresistible desire to prove herself, and so had recourse to her pen. Many Clevelanders of those earlier days will recall AND THEIR WORK - 295 the friendly comments of the city papers, upon giving place to a poem or a story over some girlish signature, paying a partial and encouraging tribute to home talent. The Old Round Table, at which Mr. J. A. Harris was once the good King Arthur, succeeded by the no less benignant Mr. Benedict, held many a page of manuscript that but for their lenient judgment would never have made a record for its author, and through the sanctum of the True Democrat came often to the public eye some dainty sentiment in prose or verse, of so much excellence as to compel the fathoming of the nom de plume. It does not follow that these various writers became Sapphos, but it is a pleasant tact to record that Cleveland owes much of her reputation now for cultivated women and lovely homes, the latter graced by refinement and ministered unto with elegance, to that same literary coterie which long since laid down the lyre of poesy for the distaff of domestic life, " Frequenters at the hospitable fireside of Mrs. George Willey have no need to be reminded that she was one who once sang in ' tuneful numbers,' and, though afterward she left her harp unstrung, they will believe that the spirit of 296 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND poetry diffused itself throughout her nature. She was the ,daughter of one of those early patrons of Cleveland literature, Mr. John C. Vaughn, and inherits from both parents her intellectual birthright. Mr. Vaughn was himself a brilliant writer during his conspicuous career as editor and politician, and the niother of Mrs. Willey will be recalled as a woman of unusual talent." Mrs. Charles Gilman Smith, now of Chicago, justly ranks among the shining' lights of Cleveland society. The more familiar name of Harriet Gaylord will bring back to many here the vision of the brilliant girl Nelloe sparkling repartee is to this day quoted among her friends as the best bon mots. The mother, Mrs. Erastus F. Gaylord, has already been referred to in a previous chapter as a woman of rare native endowment. It is full praise to say that the mantle of the mother has fallen upon her daughters'; the oldest sister of Mrs. Smith, the wife of Professor John Newberry, holds acknowledged place among Cleveland's most intellectual women. Few ladies not devoted to a literary career have so industriously pursued literature as a pastiine. Although Mrs. Smith has been for many years connected with the most cultivated AND THEIR WORK - 297 circles of Chicago, an active and creditable member of the widely known Fortnightly of that city, her friends here still name her as one whose quick improvisations and piquant wit made her the Madame de Stael of former days. Among the most graceful writers of this epoch and one whom we all love and honor, is Mrs. Mary Mason Fairbanks. With the outflow of her gifted pen we ate more or less familiar ; she composes with equal facility in Verse or prose. Her first attempt was a little essay on " Woman," and came to the Round Table in this wise : Harmon Kingsbury, Esq., being a guest at her father's house, found it in a composition book lying on a table in his room, and forthwith hastened with it from Mr. Mason's to dear Thomas Brown, of the True Democrat. It was a modest setting forth of a schoolgirl's views of what woman's sphere should entail, its signature being her given name transposed into " Myra." A writer for the same columns, the redoubtable Frances D. Gage, veiled by a homely nom de plume, attacked the little essay. In defense, "Myra," by her charming reply, was brought to the front, and there she has stayed ever since. The Herald did 298 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND its utmost to indicate appreciation of her gifts; it married her. Mrs. A. W. Fairbanks was one of the "Innocents Abroad " upon the memorable excursion of the Quaker City to the Orient, and her letters to the Cleveland press during the six months' jaunt were the delight of her friends. Mr. S. L. Clemens, known to the world as "Mark Twain," claims her as a special personal friend, and is a welcome household guest; she was president of the "Cleveland Fortnightly Club " during its existence, and her philanthropic traits had sway as president of our Diet Dispensary. Mrs. Fairbanks wrote an inside histnry of our oldest church, of which she is an active member, highly esteemed for its authenticity as a quarter century's record, as well as for its literary merit. She is a many-sided person, not a particle narrow—her own home is graced as but few are capable; as wife and mother we can attest her excellence. In her delightful boudoir at the Weddell House, among gems of art from the old world, stood the identical Round Table of the palmy days of yore. She says of it: "Mr. Harris gave it personality, and to it when absent, always addressed his letters. One of the institutions of the Herald, it was re- AND THEIR WORK - 299 garded with a tender reverence by all the attaches of that paper after their beloved chiefs had ' gone hence.' The dear old table is to me full of sentiment. It is like Thackeray's cane-bottomed chair in its marks of age, but the marks and marrings of the years that are fled and the fingers that lie idle, now, are all precious to me as mosaics."   THE OHIO FARMER.—The first agricultural paper printed in the United States was the American Farmer, published at Baltimore, Maryland, in 1818. Probably the next was the Ohio Cultivator, at Columbus, in 1848, by Hon. J. C. Bateham, whose esteemed widow is active in the work of today, residing in Kentucky. This was merged into the Ohio Farmer and Mechanic's Assistant, which made its weekly appearance in this city in 1852, tinder the genial proprietorship of Thomas Brown, who brought to it as former editor of the True Democrat the prestige of success, and a large acquaintance with the Cleveland public. It became very popular in this city and throughout our own and other States as a family newspaper, devoted to agriculture, horticulture, mechanic arts, literature, domestic economy, social improvement, and general intelligence.