Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/24

Rh within the range of her strength and forging in her own girlish body the steel fibres of character which were to stand her in such good stead in the stress of military and political life as co-worker with her distinguished husband, and in the temptations of that lighter world of diplomacy and wit into which her personal popularity placed her as a star.

An early biographer of Mrs. Logan has written, "Beyond a fine constitution, a comely presence, a tendency to a highly moral standard in childhood fostered by early beneficent influences, and an abiding faith in the goodness of God, Mary Logan cannot be said to have been specially endowed she was simply a good, honorable girl, who early became imbued with the conviction that the secret of success in life is the faculty of seizing promptly an opportunity  Every opportunity for self-help that has passed her way she has been wise enough to improve to its uttermost and the consequence is that Mrs. Logan has played her prominent part in the drama of national life bravely and well, and will remain in the hearts of the many until the inexorable prompter rings down the curtain upon the last act of her well rounded career."

This, though undoubtedly a just estimate, can hardly be judged overgenerous, since it fails to mention the great asset that Mrs. Logan's charming personality has always been. Moreover, the pioneer girl, Mary S. Cunningham, became a strikingly handsome woman, a woman who has always commanded attention by her appearance and bearing as well as through her talents. And yet a glimpse of her earlier public life written by Mrs. Logan herself gives the following modest summary of that period:

"My father being made registrar of the Land Office at Shawneetown, Illinois, under the Pierce administration, we subsequently removed to that place. I attended school at the Convent of St. Vincent, near Uniontown, Kentucky,