Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/292

Rh Madame Sontag sang, and this proved the great fashionable event of the season. In 1856 Mrs. White was solicited by the Sisters of Charity to aid them in the re-building of their hospital, and a meeting of the ladies representing the different Catholic churches was called for the purpose of carrying out Mrs. White's plan for a fair to be held in the Crystal Palace. A storm of opposition greeted this proposal but this did not deter Mrs. White from proceeding with the plan and, though the ladies manifested their opposition to the very hour of the opening of the fair, this great "Charity Fair" cleared thirty-four thousand dollars, a splendid memorial of the indomitable energy, practical wisdom and noble zeal of the ruling spirit of this enterprise. At the close of the fair the sisters urged upon Mrs. White the acceptance of a massive piece of silver as a mark of their gratitude, but she declined the gift and asked that it be disposed of for the benefit of the hospital. In 1859, Mrs. White was president of an association which brought to a successful ending a large fair in aid of the Sisters of Mercy which was held in the Academy of Music. One of Mrs. White's contributions was a large volume, elegantly bound and valued at twenty-five hundred dollars, containing the rarest and most valuable autographs ever collected. The book was drawn in a lottery after a large sum had been raised by the sale of tickets and the fortunate winner presented it to the original donor. Mrs. White carried on during her lifetime an extensive correspondence with the learned, gifted and distinguished persons of this country and Europe, and some have called her "the Sevigne of the United States." Among these correspondents may be mentioned President Lincoln. Among other social leaders prominent in the charitable work of the city of New York may be mentioned Mrs. Thomas Addis Emmet and Mrs. Dubois, who was Miss Delafield, at that time quite a noted artist in sculpture and cameo cutting. Mrs. Emmet was the widow of Thomas Addis Emmet, the son of the distinguished Irish patriot who was a prominent lawyer in New York City. Mrs. Emmet's father was John Thorn, of the firm of Hoyt & Thorn, noted East India merchants. Mrs. Emmet was a noted leader in the best circles of the metropolis, who devoted much of her time to public and private charities.

Charlotte Augusta Southwick was the daughter of Jonathan Southwick a successful merchant of New York City. She is descended from some of the distinguished families of the early period of Colonial history, the Washingtons and Elys. Richard Ely came to America in 1660. John Ely was a colonel in the Revolutionary Army and a celebrated physician. In 1770 he commanded Fort Trumbull, having raised and equipped his regiment at his own expense. The eldest son of John and Sarah Worthington was Worthington Ely, the grand-father of Charlotte Southwick. His wife was Miss Bushnell, of Connecticut. Their youngest daughter, Lucretia, was the mother of Charlotte Augusta Southwick, afterward Mrs. Coventry Waddell. Soon after leaving school Miss Southwick