Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/318

Rh lively, stimulating, intellectual circles of Europe had given Mrs. Otis convincing proof of what a woman might accomplish for a community if she handled the social circle with brains and independence. So, on her return to Boston, she set out at once to build up in her home a social circle where naturalness and simplicity should rule. At that time, elaborate heavy dinners were considered the proper social entertainment for elders and balls for the younger set. There was very little informal visiting. Mrs. Otis swept all of this out of the way and ignored functions, banquets and balls, but instead opened her house every Saturday morning and every Thursday afternoon to her own set and many more invited guests. No aspiring worthy young writer, singer or artist of talent who fell in Mrs. Otis's way but was welcome in her circle. A big, wide-awake informal circle was soon about her, and instead of the previous form of entertainment, she substituted simply tea and cakes. No matter what the occasion, "tea and cakes" were all her guests received, and when entertaining even President Fillmore, Lord Elgin and many other dignitaries, tea and cakes were the only refreshment at the affairs given in their honor. But her innovations were founded on good sense and genuine love for people, and therefore they were a success from the beginning. Her book "The Barclays of Boston" embodies her ideas, and is a valuable document on the manners and customs of Boston in her time. The results of Mrs. Otis's stand were altogether beneficent and stimulating. Mrs. Otis's great passion was the life and character of George Washington. On February 22nd her house was always thrown open and she entertained elaborately. It was her work that made that date a legal holiday in Massachusetts and gave the strongest impulse toward making it a national day. It was natural that she should take a leading part in the enterprise of buying Mr. Vernon for a national monument, and the money which completed the purchase of Mt. Vernon was raised by a ball engineered by Mrs. Otis and given in the Boston Theatre on March 4, 1859. She was also one of the leading spirits in the ball to raise the money for the completion of the Bunker Hill Monument. The success of this affair was due largely to a woman—Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale—the best-known editor at that time among American women.

Mrs. Joshua Speed and Mrs. Ninian Edwards, of Springfield, Illinois, were conspicuous leaders in their home city, the capital of Illinois. They gathered about their table and in their drawing-rooms such men as Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, John J. Hardin, James Shields, the Edwardses, John Stuart, David Davis, and Edward D. Baker, all distinguished men in the history of our country. At this time all the women were interested in politics and national affairs. Throughout all the West, indeed, there flowed an enthusiastic spirit which made up for everything else. The women of the West were a part of the great growth of that country. They felt their responsibility in the westward movement, the obligations which had been laid upon them as wives and mothers, the obligation of establishing homes while their husbands established the towns and cities, of looking after the education of their children while their husbands made