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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 16, 1902)
Grand Old Women of the World Briefly Sketched (I J f - 1 ' V ; , j its ,' j MRS. JEFFERSON DAVIS. (Copyright, 19o2, by John R. Welsh.) tin 1 .1 1 . .. U J 4 ,-. np.nn,l I I Old Men," and, comparatively I , 1, t. l,,,t little nf Ko TrnnA Old Women." It is given small chance to forget that nearly a hundred men, far advanced in years, are still active in politics and statecraft, in commerce and finance, in art, science and letters. It does not often stop to realize that a goodly number of the so-called weaker sex are laboring with their brothers for its betterment. The death of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, taking away one of the most notable of these women, calls attention to those that are left. When they are counted and their deeds recalled, it makes a tale worth telling. Trained according to the lights of the earlier years of the last century these "Grand Old Women" are not employed In the pursuits of business, but they figure in the politics of the time, influentially though indirectly. They are playing a largo part in philanthropy, and certain of them stand forward prominently In art and liter ature. The oldest of this little company is An gela Georgiana, First Baroness Burdette Coutts. In another year she will be 90, and perhaps she is the only woman of promi nence living today who, as she sat in West minster Abbey and saw the crown placed on the head of Edward VII, could remember the coronation of tho king's mother. The baroness, raised to the peerage In 1871, was honored by Queen Victoria not because of the unusual part which she played as a partner of the great banking house of Coutts & Co., but because of her position as a pioneer of practical imperial ism. It was she who endowed the bishop rics of Adelaide, Australia, at Cape Town and in the far west of British Columbia. She has given to the poor more money than any other woman in the world. At one time she sent $1,250,000 to the destitute poor of Irelaad. Every Christmas 300,000 people are fed at her expense. It Is esti mated that her annual gifts to various charities amount to not less than $2,000,000. Her home at West Hill, London, has be come the Mecca for all the charitable work ers In the United Kingdom, and It Is sel dom that one leaves her doors without hav ing received substantial assistance from MARY A. LIVERMORTC MADAM JANAISCIIKK. tho genial old lady whose interest in the world's affairs is still keen. Susan B. Anthony, who was born in Mas sachusetts In 1820, has stood forward promi nently in the woman's suffrage movement, having experienced in her own case the commercial inequality between the sexes when, in her earlier years, she was teach ing school for $15 a month, while a man In the other school of the village was receiv ing $15. From that day she has been a worker for woman's rights, though her in terest in that rause did not prevent her laboring with I'hillips and Garrison for nine years against slavery, nor has It weakened in latter times her efforts in the cause of temperance. Tho old Bay slate claims as daughters two other American women known all over the world for their work in charity. Mary A. Livermore was born in Boston eigh. two years ago, ten years before the birth of Clara Barton, who was to work with rer in so many of her enterprises. Mr3. Livermore, beginning life as a school teacher, first became known to tho world through her labors with the Sani tary commission in the dark days of the civil war. She identified herself also with the temperance and anti-slavery move ments, worked hard to further the cause of women's clubs, is the author of half a dozen volumes, has edited several papers, and has lectured not only in America, but in England and Scotland. Clara Barton, who also began life as a teacher, is identified as is no other woman in the world with the work of caring for the sick and woundid. In 1865 she was voted $15,000 by special act of congress for what she did on tho battlefields in the south. In 1870, during the conflict be tween France and Germany, she was pres ent on the fields of battle to alleviate suf fering. Her work in Cuba won for her the title of "The Adopted Daughter," from the latest republic to take its seat at the coun cil of nations. The disasters that have come In years of peace have known her presence also. In 1884, at the time of the great floods of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, Red Cross workers, with their president at their head, distributed supplies throughout the devas tated districts. Five years later, when Johnstown was overwhelmed iu a moment, Clara Barton was there. She was confined to her bed at the time of the Galveston flood in HMM), but insisted upon directing as well as she could by telegraph the move ments of her assistants. England's Clara Barton is Florence Night ingale, or Florence Shore, as her name is entered on the baptisimal register of the little English church in Florence, Italy, where she was born in 1820 and troni which town she took her name. She, too, has been a leader iu Rtd Cross work ever since the foundation of that organization, having learned well her lesson years before when she labored with two or three other Eng lish women in the fearfully crowded huspi. tals of the Crimea. How well they did their work was shown in the official reports that went back to London to tell that the? death rate had been cut down from 42.7 to 2 per cent. In those days no woman in all England was better known or loved than the "Angel of the Crimea." Even today Miss Night ingale, living quietly iu a retired house in West Loudon, is far from forgotten, for the $250,000 voted her by the English gov ernment was not expended for her own comfort, but went to the building of Si. Thomas' hospital and tho Nightingale School for Nurses, two of the best kuown charities in the English capital. Another of the world's grand old women living in retirement in London is Marie Eugenie, Countess de Monti jo and ex-empress of tho French. The love of Louis Napoleon for the beautiful daughter of a Spanish grandee, abetted by the astute ness of the girl's mother, as well as by her own wit and discretion, lifted her to a throne that had been intended for a daugh ter of royalty. During the winter she passes much of her time near Nice, from where she may cruise at will In the Mediterranean in her yacht. Then she goes to Paris, the sceno of her greatest triumphs and saddest hu millations, to consult her physician before returning to England. At present she is said to be at work upon her memoirs, which are not to bo published until after her death and which are to present not a mere collection of idle gossip and personal anecdotes, but a seri ous history of t lie third Napoleon's reign, written by the only person who could write such a book from intimate knowledge. In America are living three "grand old women" who may look back upon days of brilliancy and power from retirement al most complete. Mrs. "Ilettie" Dundrldge, the niece oT JCachary Taylor, who iu IM'.i, a mere girl or 24 years, was mistress ut the While House, is living iu Winchester, Vu. it is given to few women to bo married at Hi and within eighteen months to be both widow and orphan. It is given to jet fewer to retain when the 87th birthday is so near such splendid health as is tiiat of the mistress of this center of old-time southern hospi tality. Mrs. Jefferson Davis does not enjoy this bb'ssing of continued health. She has never quite recovered from her serious illness of last summer, nor has she ever been her old nclf since tho death of her daughter, Varina, "the daughter of the confederacy" some years ago. She passes her time at tho cottage of her friend, Mrs. Joseph l'ulitzer, at Bar HarLor or at 0110 of the quiet New York hotels. Ou the western edge of the continent at Los Angeles there is living a gracious, charming old woman of 78, Mrs. John C. Fremont. She, too, is au invalid, with a mind undimmed by tho passing of tho years and an unfaltering devotion of her famous husband. When Jcssio lienton, the daugh ter of the great senator of Missouri, run away from Washington to marry tho young lieutenant who wus to write his name in history as "the pathfinder" she was known to all the country for her brilliancy and beauty. For years after her popularity was phenomenal. Daughters and dolls una dogs without number were named after her, yet today the white-haired, pale-faced old woman living alone with so brave a spirit in her rose-covered little house is practically forgotten by the nation which received from her husband tho gift of a Btate. For herself she does not seem to. care, but she is keenly Jealous of the fame of her husband. "Fat blinders die, but the paths remain upon," she suvs. It is only a short step from those who have actually ruled on the world's stagf to those who rule on the mimic stage be- IIAKONKSS 1URDETT -COl'TTS. youd the foollighls. In their ranks stand iluee women famous both for their con summate skill iu their ait and for the long years through which they have served It. Madame Fraucesi n Janausi lick at 72, and Adelaide Kii-lorl at S2 are no longer on the stage, though Mis. Gilbert, horn iu 1821 iu Lancashire, Kngland, still c harms her audiences and wins their love. The last years of Janauschek and Historl have been strangely different. Tho one has livid through all her triumphs to know what it is to tie forgotten and in want; the other, celebrating her 80th birthday iu tho greatest theater in Koine, found herself surrounded by court officials and the fa mous men and women of all Europe. Both have played Judith, Lady Macbeth, l'hedr.i and Deborah; both have given long lives to Hie profession which they have graced, yet Janauschek is neglected and Historl Is courted. Mrs. Gilbert made her first appearance en the stage when u girl of 23 as a dancer In one of the smaller theaters iu rural England. The same yeur she married an other dancer, whose name she had made famous, and three years later they came to America. Almost from the first she was given the leudlng "old woman" characters, and almost from the first her place lu the hearts of those who saw her was su cure. To many there Is no pleasanter sight on the American stage than tho quick turns of the head, tho bright eyes, Hushed cheeks and merry little laugh of this lovable old lady. When, a few weeks ago she entered tho stage on her eighty-first birthday, tho ovation sho received showed tho esteem in which she Is held. In the realms of literature are two named to bo mentioned Amelia E. Barr and Julia Ward Howe. The last named is distinctly the "Grand Old Woman of Amer ican Letters." For so many years she has been closely identified with tho literary life of Boston t hut few know that she Is a New Yorker born (lSl'J). Before she was 12 years old sho had begun her willing. She published essays at 17, but creditable as all her work has been, her fame rests upon her "Battle Hymn of the Republic," written Jn 18til, under tho Inspiration of tho swinging refrain of "John Brown's Body," and the sight of a review of troops iu Washington. Women Who Are Interested in the Practical Study of Domestic Science and. Household Kconomics - .'I'-f J F. M ran j 1 ----- s n w . : j 1 1 hi i r i ' j ' ' " Ik 1 tic&m -1 nWV-Nv, OFFICERS OF THE HOME QUEENS' CIRCLE. GROl'B OF THE MEMBERS OF THE IK ME Ql' KENS' CIRCLE-I'hoto by a Staff Artist.
