Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/670

Rh the care of Mother Tucker, mistress-general of Manhattanville. The two foundations of Halifax and Buffalo made heavy demands on the community of Manhattanville. Among the many foundations organized by Mother Hardey, there is probably none more interesting in history than that of Detroit. In 1852, Mother Hardey established a free school in New York City for the instruction of poor children. The Manhattanville School owes its establishment and organization to her. In 1863, she began labors for the church in Cuba, establishing a boarding school for girls in Sancto Spiritu, Cuba. At one time when it was decided that Mother Hardey should leave Manhattanville and be succeeded by another superior this met with the earnest disapproval of Archbishop McCloskey, and a letter was received from Mother Barat at the head of the order in France written to Archbishop Hughes promising that she would never withdraw Mother Hardey from Manhattanville. In addition to this she organized parochial schools and many of the prominent educational institutions of the church in existence to-day. She was the instrument of the church for the foundation in Cincinnati. At the time of the memorable and terrible conflagration in Chicago in 1871, Mother Hardey organized bazaars in all her houses and sent the proceeds to be distributed to the most needy sufferers. When the terrible days of 1871 had drawn to a close, Mother Hardey was appointed assistant-general and deputed to visit the convents in North America, which required several months, as at this time they numbered twenty-five houses. After this service, she was permanently transferred to Paris to give to Mother Goetz the benefit of her experience and judgment in determining matters of importance to the church. Mother Goetz's death occurred January 4, 1874. She was succeeded by Mother Lehon as superior-general and her first act as such was to send Mother Hardey to America to attend to business matters for the Manhattanville property.