Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/332

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Women from the Time of Mary Washington
299


thropy and economic questions, "The Journal of Reverend Silas Constant," her able defense of her brother, General Warren; reports and lectures written by her, all prove the delicacy of her taste, purity of her mind, earnestness of thought, indefatigable energy, inborn patriotism and unwavering loyalty to her husband and family. Her judgment of men and measures was singularly unerring for a woman; her ambitions were laudable and did credit to her intelligence and noble character. Her death in 1903 was an irreparable loss to her family, the community, the poor and society. In her brief life she accomplished more than has been done by many men.

MRS. JAMES TANNER.

Mero L. White was born at Jefferson, Schoharie County, September 13, 1844, the daughter of Alfred S. and Julia Snyder White. She was educated at the New York Conference Seminary at Charlotteville, New York. At the age of thirteen she passed an unusually brilliant examination and for several seasons thereafter was a very successful teacher of a district school. On November 17, 1866, she became the wife of James Tanner, and in 1869 they moved to the city of Brooklyn, where she continued to live until 1889, then removing to Washington upon the appointment of her husband as United States Commissioner of Pensions, resided there until her tragic death through an automobile accident on June 29, 1904, at Helena, Montana. She left surviving her husband and four children, James Alfred, an attorney-at-law in Philadelphia, Earle White, a captain in the Eleventh Infantry, United States Army, and two daughters, Ada and Antoinette, who reside with their father who is the Register of Wills for the District of Columbia. The mental endowments of Mrs. Tanner were of a very superior order. She was a deep, careful and omnivorous reader of the best literature of her day. Her nature was very sympathetic and at the same time very practical. She possessed to a marked degree executive capacity and force. The misfortune and helplessness of others always appealed to her most strongly. During her twenty years' life in the city of Brooklyn she was a most earnest and efficient worker on the board of directors of the Brooklyn Nursery, one of the most efficient and helpful institutions of its kind in the United States. She was especially interested in the welfare of the old comrades of her husband who survived the Civil War and struck many a blow in their defense and for their help. Thousands of personal appeals made to her by or for those in distress met with instant and helpful action. During the time of the Spanish-American War her ability, resourcefulness, and executive capacity came into full play. She had been allied for years with the national body of the Red Cross and during that struggle she was a member of the executive committee. Her fellow members, recognizing her peculiar fitness, gave her a very free hand and her work was on large lines. Possessing for many years the personal acquaintance and friendship of President McKinley and Secretary of War Alger, she was particularly well situated to do effective work, and many a negligence and much wrong doing was corrected by a quiet word from her to the President or the Secretary, and thousands upon thousands of sick and wounded soldiers were the unknowing beneficiaries of her words and deeds. It would take no small volume to give in full a statement of her work at that time. Besides all this, she took