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Rh woman. She is president of the Business Woman's Association, lately formed in that city. Having retired from active work in the school-room, she intends to continue her work in the cause of education through her pen.

MERRILL, Miss Helen Maud, litterateur, born in Bangor, Me., 5th May, 1865 From 1881 to 1887 she lived in Bucksport, in the same State. In 1889 she removed to Portland, Me., where she still resides. There she soon became connected with several literary associations. She early showed a talent for composition, and since 1882 she has been a contributor, both in prose and verse, to the newspaper press. Her humorous sketches over the pen-name "Samantha Spriggins" had extensive reading. In 1885 she wrote a poem on the death of Gen. Grant, which was forwarded to his widow, and a grateful acknowledgment was received by the author in return. Her memorial odes and songs written for the anniversaries of the Grand Army of the Republic always find appreciation. In a recently-published work on the poets of her native State she has honorable mention. She has not yet collected her work in book-form, nor has she been in haste with her contributions to magazines and newspapers. Delicate in her childhood, she was tenderly and constantly cared for by her affectionate mother, who, doing her own thinking on all the most important themes pertaining to both man and womankind, encouraged her daughter to do the same. Early in life Miss Merrill was led to take herself into her own keeping, resolved on an honorable, useful and womanly life.

MERRILL, Miss Margaret Manton, journalist, born in England in 18 —. She has spent thirty-five years of her life in Minnesota, Colorado and California. Her father was the Rt. Rev. William E. Merrill, who fur forty years was one of the foremost educators of the Northwest.

Her mother was a grandniece of Sir Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, and her grandmother on the maternal side was second-cousin to "Royal Charlie" of Scotland. In spite of her lineage. Miss Merrill is very proud of the fact that she is an American woman. Entering Carlton College at the age of fourteen, she remained there a year, and then continued her studies in the University of Minnesota, from which institution she was graduated, being chosen by her class as the valedictorian. The succeeding fall, when just eighteen years old, she began her career as teacher, which vocation she continued successfully for two years. Her taste for literary work led her to the journalistic field, when she was barely twenty years old. Going to Denver, she purchased the "Colorado Temperance Gazette," which was then the only temperance paper in that State. The venture was not a success, on account of the doings of a partner, and also because the anti-temperance spirit was at that time too strong in Colorado for the prosperity of a paper wholly devoted to that cause. Later, during the temperance campaigns in Kansas and Iowa, she did very excellent service as a lecturer and organizer. She was especially fortunate in her labors among children. In. 1887 she went to New York City to do regular newspaper work. When the Woman's Press Club of New York was organized, she was one of the charter members, and was elected the club's first secretary. She is a club journalist of Sorosis, and a very active member of that club. She is now upon the staff of the New York " Herald " and is the only woman employed in that capacity by that great journal. In addition, she does syndicate and miscellaneous work, being especially successful as a writer of children's stones. During her vacations she has been an extensive traveler, having at various times visited every habitable portion of the globe. At the time of the famine in South Dakota, in 1889, she went through nineteen destitute counties in midwinter, visiting the homes of the people, and bringing back to her paper correct accounts of the condition of affairs there. The result was that large contributions were sent from the East, and many were relieved from want During 1890 she visited the Yellowstone Park and wrote accounts for papers in the West and in England, which have attracted attention. While in California, she wrote a poem, entitled "The Faro Dealer's Story," which gained for her considerable local fame. At present she is contemplating a work upon ancient Babylon.

MESSENGER, Mrs. Lillian Rozell, poet, was born in Ballard county, Ky. Her parents were Virginians. Her paternal grandfather came from Nice, France, during the Napoleonic War and settled in Virginia. Her maternal ancestors were of English descent Her father was a gifted physician, fond of poetry and music. Lillian's early education was varied, and her free country life made her familiar with nature. From reading poetry, she early began to make it At the age of sixteen she began to publish her poetical productions, and her pen has never been idle for any great length of time since then. Her father died while she was in college. After Dr. Rozell's death Lillian did not return to school. When a little more than sixteen years of age, she became the wife of North A. Messenger, a native of Tuscumbia, Ala., an editor and a man of means. His father had been an editor for forty years before him. Their wedded life was brief, only lasting four years, when Mr. Messenger died. She was left with one son, whom she raised and educated. He is a journalist. After her husband's death she made her home in Washington, D. C. She has published four