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HOWARD
892
HOWELLS

in 1845, he was sent to the United States senate and in 1859 became governor of the state. He opposed secession, and was deposed in March, 1861. He died on July 25, 1863.

How′ard, John, a philanthropist and prison-reformer, was born in Middlesex, England, about Sept. 2, 1726, and received his education by private tutors. He inherited a fortune from his father, and in 1756 sailed for Lisbon, but was taken prisoner by the French and thrown into prison, where his own experience first gave him his ideas of prison-reform. His life was devoted to prison-reform. To this end he visited all penal institutions. While in Russia he contracted typhus fever and died on Jan. 20, 1790. He published two works on the state of prisons and hospitals. He is honored as one of the most self-denying and benevolent of men. See Lives by Dixon, Field and Stoughton.

Howard, Oliver Otis, an American general, was born in Maine, Nov. 8, 1830, and
GEN. O. O. HOWARD
graduated from West Point in 1854. He commanded a regiment in 1861, and was made brigadier-general for gallantry at the battle of Bull Run. He lost an arm at the battle of Fair Oaks, but afterwards commanded the army of the Tennessee. He was commissioner of the Freedmen's bureau from 1865 to 1872. In 1869 he was made president of Howard University, Washington, an institution for the education of the colored people. In 1877 he led an expedition against the Nez Percé Indians, compelling the surrender of Chief Joseph, and later against the Piutes. He was made major-general in 1886, succeeding General Hancock in the command of the division of the Atlantic, where he remained until his retirement in 1894. In 1895 he founded Lincoln Memorial University at Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. His Autobiography was published in 1907. He died Oct. 26, 1909.

Howe, Elias, inventor of the sewing machine, was the son of a farmer, and was born at Spencer, Mass., July 9, 1819. He worked for a manufacturer at Cambridge, and there conceived the idea of the sewing machine. After five years' labor he completed and patented it, but was penniless and could find no sale for his invention. He sought England unsuccessfully, and on his return found his machine imitated. After a long lawsuit he recovered his rights, organized a company to manufacture his machines, and made a large fortune. He served in the 7th Connecticut regiment during the war. He died at Brooklyn, N. Y., Oct. 3, 1867.

Howe, Julia Ward, the wife of Dr. S. G. Howe, was born at New York, May 27, 1819.
JULIA WARD HOWE
She was carefully educated, and early wrote plays and poems. While on a visit to Washington during the Civil War she wrote the popular Battle Hymn of the Republic. She was a powerful advocate of woman's suffrage and a founder of the New England Woman's Club, of which she has been president. She published many poems and essays. She died Oct. 17, 1910.

How′ells, William Dean, an eminent American author, known in the Old World
WILLIAM D. HOWELLS
as well as the New as novelist, poet, critic, dramatist and essayist, was born at Martin's Ferry, O., March 1, 1837. The son of a printer and journalist, he early became familiar with journalistic and literary work and decided to follow it as a career. His first contributions were to the Cincinnati Gazette and Ohio State Journal. From 1861 to 1865 he was consul at Venice, where he wrote his papers on Venetian Life. After his return he wrote for the New York Tribune, the Times, the Nation, the Atlantic and, later, for the Century, Harper's Magazine and the Cosmopolitan. He was editor of the Atlantic during 1871-81, and afterwards held a position on Harper's Magazine. His real success, however, was as a writer of fiction, among his most popular novels being Their Wedding Journey, The Lady of the Aroostook and The Rise of Silas Lapham. His farces, The Sleeping Car, The Drawing Room Car, The Elevator and The Mousetrap, are the best specimens of his humor. In 1904 he received from Oxford University the degree of Hon D.C.L. Mr. Howells has also published valuable literary studies, as Literature and Life, and suggestive