Page:History of the newspapers of Beaver County, Pennsylvania.djvu/42

 26 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY PAPERS. more hallowed in loving memory than Mrs. Eliza Huiitoi Barker, who died March 12. Bom nearly eighty years ago in Ireland, she refers to that spot in one of her poems as follows : — "Land of my birth, dear distant spot. Still memory turns to you ; The gibe of those who know you not. The pride of those who do. "She was the daughter of an officer of the British Navy, and received from private tutors the best in- struction, both in the more serious studies and the lighter accomplishments of life. By inheritance possessed of a grace and beauty remarkable among her kinsfolk, she was endowed with a brilliancy of intellect which was enriched by her careful mental culture. * * * Endowed with a rare poetic talent, it is not strange that kindred qualities in others should have blossomed from contact with her. Among her pupils here was the late Stephen 0. Foster, whose sweet melodies and pathetic verses have since stirred the hearts of millions, and who received at this fount the first draughts of his poetic inspiration. Herself a poet of rare and pure type, she cultivated as- siduously her talent, and wrote many beautiful things, among which we recall her 'Marguerite,' 'Diana,' 'An Ode to Masonry,' and that gem written in the fdl sympathy of a loving heart after the battle of Shiloh — 'Just as if No Christ Had Died' — coming back in memoiy like the sweet tones of a departed -mother's lullaby. "She married in 1826 Dr. Richard Butler Barker, of Pittsburg, a near relative of and named for Major- General Richard Butler, of Revolutionary fame. * * "After the death of her husband in 1860 Mrs. Barker devoted much of her time to writing and other literary pursuits, and was active in this line until within a recent