Page:Woman of the Century.djvu/684

Rh labor many poor children were sought out, clothed and taken to the school. The various literary entertainments which she prepared and presented to the public were models of their kind. During her residence in Titusville she entered the lecture field and was received with favor. She served efficiently the Home Missionary Society for three years as president, and was actively connected with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, being for some time county superintendent of juvenile work and other departments of Christian, benevolent and reformatory work. With all that work she continued to write, and a large number of hymns, poems for children, and short stories in prose came from her pen. A few years ago she published "Tom Tits and Other Bits," which has reached a second edition. Her hymns have been published in several Sunday-school and devotional books. She removed from Titusville several years ago to accept the superintendency of the Western New York Home for Friendless Children, and in that capacity, as well as in the position of financial agent of that institution, her labors were abundant and successful. She has long felt a drawing toward work more directly missionary in character. Yielding to her inclinations, she has entered upon the work of a deaconess in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Her vacations have usually been spent in her cottage in Chautauqua. N. Y., which is her permanent home.

STARR, Miss Eliza Ellen, poet, author and art critic, born in Deerfield. Mass., 29th August, 1824. She is descended from Dr. Comfort

Starr, of Ashford, County Kent, England, who, in 1634, settled in Cambridge, Mass. On her mother's side she is descended from the "Allens of the Bars," originally of Chelmsford, England, who were prominent in Colonial history. She was carefully educated in a refined home, and in early womanhood she enjoyed the social advantages of Boston and Philadelphia. In the latter city she formed many acquaintances of note, among them Archbishop Kenrick, through whose teachings she was led into the Roman Catholic Church. While in Philadelphia, she published some of her earlier poems. Her family removed later to Chicago, Ill., where she entered upon her literary career. During the last twelve years she has given a series of remarkable lectures on art in her studio and in the homes of friends, which have been repeated in the principal art and literary centers both east and west. In 1867 she published a volume of poetry, and soon after she brought out her two books, "Patron Saints." In 1875 she went to Europe, where she remained for some time, and on her return she published her art work, "Pilgrims and Shrines," which, with her "Patron Saints," has been widely read. In 1887 she published a collection of her poems, "Songs of a Lifetime," and in 1890, "A Long-Delayed Tribute to Isabella of Castile, as Co-Discoverer of America." That has been followed by "Christmastide," "Christian Art in Our Own Age," and "What We See," the last intended especially for children. She is a woman of strong personality in every way. She is gifted in art and poetry, and her Chicago home is a center of art and education, of charitable enterprises and social influence. She has contributed to "The Magazine of Poetry" and other prominent periodicals. Her pen and voice are still busy.

STEARNS, Mrs. Betsey Ann, inventor, born in Cornish, N. H., 29th June, 1830. Her maiden name was Goward, and she was the youngest of nine children. Her father and mother were born in Easton, Mass., and removed from there in their early married life to New Hampshire, where they engaged in farming, clearing the new lands and raising stock and wool. From the wool they grew her mother spun, wove and made up the clothing for her family. At the age of fourteen years Miss Goward, with an older companion, left home to earn her own living, and engaged herself as a weaver of cloth in a cotton factory in Nashua, N. H. Through her industry and frugality she not only provided for herself comfortably, but put in the savings-bank what she could spare each month, so that she soon had two-hundred dollars saved. Desiring to improve her education and wishing to visit her old home, she returned to Cornish, and afterwards attended the schools in Meriden, N. H., and Springfield, Vt. From there she was called to teach a district school in East Mansfield, Mass. After two terms of work she decided to return to her studies. After that a relative in the tailoring business made her a good proposition, and she decided to learn the trade. When her engagement was through, she became the wife of Horatio H. Stearns, of Acton, Mass., 5th June, 1851. They lived in Acton until 1875, and since that time her home has been in Woburn, Mass. Three daughters were added to their family. She had felt the need of a method by which she could cut her own and her daughters' dresses, and when opportunity offered she learned a system, though very imperfect, that was a help, and that she imparted to others. Having an inventive turn of mind, she resolved to bring before the public something more reliable and accurate in its proportions, and in 1864 her first invention was made. After the Civil War closed, she taught many helpless widows, enabling them to support themselves and families. In 1869 her invention received from the Massachusetts Mechanical Association a silver medal and diploma. It next received the highest award in the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, in 1876, for its accuracy, simplicity and economy. In 1877 the American