Page:Sketches of representative women of New England.djvu/633

480 Civil War led to the organization of the Sanitary Commission, Miss May became a leader in the group of patriotic women who in Boston and Massachusetts generally exerted themselves to send aid and comfort to our soldiers in the field. In a notice of Miss May published soon after her death Mrs. E. D. Cheney says;—

"She was engaged in many philanthropic movements, and usually went to the head by a natural tendency. President of the Horticultural School for Women, vice-president of the New England Women's Club, president of the Massachusetts School Suffrage Association, vice-president of the Association for the Advancement of Women, and director in other institutions, she would seem to have found ample scope even for her large powers."

Miss May was an ardent suffragist. She was also much interested in dress reform, and was active in the movement which led to the improved system of underwear for w-omen now so generally adopted in this country. Her own taste in dress was simple and individual. She would wear a hat that shaded her eyes, shoes adapted to the shape of her foot, and garments of rich material, but of sombre color and comfortable cut. Mrs. Cheney says further:—

"In her later years education became her greatest interest. She was one of the first women elected on the school committee of the city of Boston, and she served on it faithfully for several years. When through changes in the manner of election she was not returned to the board,' the deep disappointment of her fellow-citizens led them to petition for the right of women to vote for the school committee. She was soon after appointed a member of the Board, of Education. Her services in this position were greatly valued, especially her oversight of the normal schools, in which both teachers and pupils profited by her wise counsel and warm sympathy."

My own happiest remembrance of Miss May relates to her participation, continued for years, in the work of the Association for the Advancement of Women. This Association, which is now in some degree replaced by the (General Federation of Women's Clubs, was accustomed to hold an annual Congress of Women in widely distant parts of the country. At these meetings, which were continued during a quarter of a century, the duties and interests of women were considered in their most vital relation to the well-being of society. They were often held in cities where no one of the participants was known by sight. On such occasions Miss May would come upon the scene attired in her usual plain, rather colorless dress, wearing the broad-soled shoes and serviceable hat, from the use of which she never departed. This simple costimie hardly commended her to an ordinary assemblage of women. The hat, however, was soon removed, its absence permitting a full view of the face, with its cameo-like profile and fine expression. As soon, moreover, as she began to take part in the proceedings, the charm of her voice and the power of her presence made themselves felt. All did love to hear her and to look upon her.

In the business of the meetings, which was manifold and sometimes not without difficulties, her advice and influence were most important, and the "lady in plain clothes" showed herself as she was, a great gentlewoman. As such and as a most loyal and sympathetic friend, faithful and affectionate in all personal relations, she is remembered and mourned by those who had the happiness of being her fellow-workers.

Miss May's death occurred in Boston on the 30th of November, 1888, before the completion of her fifty-ninth year. .

ARGARET JANE BUTLER, whose name has come into prominence in connection with charity and reform work in Boston, was born in Sebago, Me., a daughter of John Emery and Mary Ann (Farr) McDonald, and is of Scotch descent. After taking up her residence in Boston in her early womanhood, Mrs. Butler became interested in the woman suffrage movement, and soon joined the ranks. She is a fluent speaker, and her voice has ever been raised in the causes of freedom and of philanthropy. She is closely identified with the Woman's Relief Corps, the Soldiers' Ladies' Aid Society, and was the in-