Page:Sketches of representative women of New England.djvu/623

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REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND

the same year, she continued, with the exception of three years, to teach for twenty-two years, most of the time in East Ahington. She was principal of a grammar school for fifteen years, receiving most of the years the same salary as that paid men holding a similar position. This came as the result of her arguments with the school committee regarding the question of equal rights, the members of the committee being convinced that she had justice on her side. Miss Loud was elected a member of the Rockland School Board in 1887, and .served in that capacity until 1890.

From 1872 to 1776 she was a speaker in the woman suffrage cause, performing able service for this movement by her convincing arguments and earnest manner. In 1884 a new paper was started in Rockland, and an invitation extended to Miss Loud to become its editor. She named the paper The Independent. Five years later she purchased the entire property connected with the paper, including the job printing as well as the publishing business. The paper, which is devoted to social and political reform, continues to be successfully conducted by Miss Loud, who is sole proprietor. In her opening editorial in 1889, after the paper came into her hands, she announced that she had gone into the newspaper business with the .sole purpose to help save the world, and her ways of saving it would appear in future editorials. The Independent is an eight-page paper, and she has averaged a page of editorials each week. As a publisher she has shown excellent business ability, and the articles from her pen are in harmony with the name of her paper. She is a woman who has the courage of her convictions, and fearlessly denounces unjust measures. The Independent represents the highest principles, and is supported by people who have the interests of the public at heart. The fact that she has continued in its management for .so many years proves that her efforts are appreciated.

Miss Loud represented the National Assembly of the Knights of Labor at the Woman's International Congress, held in Washington, D.C., in March, 1888, and addressed the congress upon the subject, "Women in the Knights of Labor." Her addresses have been received with enthusiasm, but home life is more con- genial to her than public life, and she prefers newspaper work to the lecture platform. In 1891 she adopted two grand-nephews, and had a house built for them near her old home. The eldest, Ralph Powers, was fataly injured by falling from his bicycle in 1898. His brother Carl was graduated from the Rockland High School in June, 1903.


ELEANOR BALDWIN CASS was born in Charlestown, Mass., less than thirty years ago. She is the daughter of Charles F. and Mary (Gilbert) Baldwin. Her maternal grandfather, Robert Gilbert, was an Irishman. One of her paternal ancestors, Jean Gieto, who was a Frenchman, left Paris at the time of the commune (1789-94) and came to America. He attained the great age of one hundred and six. The family, it may be said, is noted for longevity and ath- letic ability.

Eleanor Baldwin was graduated from the grammar and high schools of Charlestown, later taking the regular course at Dr. Sargent's Normal School and a special course of instruction at Emerson College, Boston. She studied French and German with private tutors and took voice training under .some of the leading teachers of New England.

She was married to John William Cass in 1900, and is the mother of one child.

With her husband's encouragement Mrs. Cass has continued her work of teaching and lecturing, which she enthusiastically enjoys. She instructs at the Durant Gymnasium, and also has many private pupils in physical culture and fencing, of which art she is perfect mistress.

Her lectures deal mostly with the "balance of mind and body." Though she has been often heard at the Somerset, the Tuileries, and Vendome in Boston, she is far better known in New York and Newport. Her first lectures were given at Newport. These led to the formation in Newport, by Mrs. Cass, in 1897, of a fencing club, which was the first club of its kind for women in the country. Mrs. Cass has lectured before some of the most fashion-