attended the National Convention at Columbus, Ohio. In 1889 she was chosen Department Senior Vice-President, and in February, 1890, received the highest office in the Department of Massacliusetts, that of Department President. It was in August of this year that
the National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic was held in Boston, and many extra duties devolved upon her. She was a
vice-president of the general committee and a member of the executive committee of arrangements for the National Convention, also chairman of the reception committee and an active worker on the committee on finance, press, and invitation. In her general order to the corps some time previous she said: "This year promises to be the most important one in the history of this Department. This dear old State of ours will be honored above all others during the month of August. From all parts of the country the veterans of the G. A. R. and our sisters of the W. R. C. will come to us. Prove to them that the Mother Department of our order can be as royal in her hospitality as she is generous and tender in her care and protection of her country's defenders."
Mrs. Knowles, in her official visits to corps and at public meetings, earnestly referred to the plans for encampment week in Boston, and awakened great interest in the object. She had a prominent part in the festivities of the week, and assisted in welcoming to Boston the President of the United States and other dis- tinguished citizens. The liberal response of the corps and the able management of the committee enabled all bills to be paid, with a surplus of one thousand dollars on hand. Therefore the sum of three thousand dollars appropriated by the G. A. R. for the expenses of the Woman's Relief Corps during the week was returned to the Grand Army committee.
In presenting her annual address to the De- partment Convention of 1891, Mrs. Knowles thanked the members for their hearty interest, and said: "When the word was brought back to us from Milwaukee that the eighth National Convention would be held in Boston, every niembfT in the Department began to feel that she would do her part toward welcoming those who would come from all sections of our be- loved land, wearing the little bronze badge. The work of preparation for this memorable event occupied many months of careful and un- tiring labor, and the grand results accom- plished elicited words of prai.ie and gratitude from the visiting members of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Woman's Relief Corps."
Captain George L. Goodale, chairman of the executive committee of the G. A. R., when for- warding the official thanks of the committee, extended congratulations upon the grand suc- cess of the efforts of the AV. R. C, and added: "No feature of the week of duty and of pleas- ure was more enjoyable than the camp-fire at Tremont Temple on the evening of Friday, August 15." Three thousand people attended this Relief Corps gathering in Tremont Temple, and three thousand more were turned away, disappointed that they were unable to gain admittance. Governor Brackett, Mayor Hart, General W. T. Sherman, Commander-in-chief Wheelock G. Veazie, Mrs. Annie Wittenmeyer (National President), Miss Clara Barton, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, and other distinguished speakers were present. One of the attractive features of the programme was a rearling by Mrs. Knowles of a poem entitled "The Massa- chusetts AVoman," written for the occasion by Mrs. Kate B. Sherwood, of Canton, Ohio, a past National President.
In an address at the Department Convention in Boston, February, 1891, she gave a sum- mary of the year's work, from which the fol- lowing extracts are taken: "The growth of our order in Massachusetts during the past year has been most encouraging. At the end of the official year of 1890 our roster bore one hundred and twenty-five corps with a membership of nine thousand and ten. To-day we have one hundred and thirty-seven corps, with a mem- bership of ten thousand six hundretl, a gain of one thousand five hundred and ninety. The sum of seventeen thousand one hundred and tliirty-four dollars and thirty-four cents repre- sents the value of relief expenditures and money turned over to posts.
"On the 7th of last June I was honored with an invitation from the Board of Trustees of the Soldiers' Home to participate in the dedi- cation of the new part of the home. The in-
