men. Up to the present time she has published the following works: "Poems" (Boston, 1881), which has passed to a second edition; "On the Wing" (Boston, 1883), a volume of letters of western travel, in its fifth edition; "Mexico" (Boston, 188S), a volume of travel, written in collaboration with Mrs. Margaret Sullivan; "A Summer Holiday" (Boston, 1890), an account of her European impressions; and "Verses Along the Way" (Boston and Dublin, 1890). Mrs. Blake has for many years contributed at frequent intervals to the Boston "Journal," the "Rambling Talks " by " M. E. B." being one of its most valued features. Much of her work in essays and poems has appeared in the "Catholic World," " Lippincott's Magazine," the "Independent," "St. Nicholas" and "Wide Awake." On the invitation of the Boston city government she wrote the poem read on the occasion of the Wendell Phillips Memorial Service in that city, and also the poem read on the occasion of similar honors paid to the memory of Admiral Porter Mrs. Blake's verse is lyrical rather than epic or dramatic, and its quality deepens and strengthens as time goes on.
BLANCHARD, Miss Helen Augusta, inventor, born in Portland, Maine, is a lineal descendant
HELEN AGUSTA BLANCHARD.
of the celebrated Huguenot exile, Sir Thomas Blanchard. Her father, Nathaniel Blanchard, was one of the most prominent and honored business men of Portland. In girlhood Miss Blanchard began to show that inventive power which has made her name famous. The death of her father and the embarrassment of his estate called forth her latent energies and developed the ability and ingenuity which determined her course as an inventor. She applied her powers to the intricacies of machinery, and in 1876, by the results of her inventions, she established the Blanchard Over-seam Company, of Philadelphia, which was the originality of what is now called zigzag sewing, both inside and outside of material sewed, and which achieved a signal success. A number of great industries have sprung from that company, and the benefits of that invention have spread through the country. The ambition and energy that have marked her life were stimulated by the numberless annoyances and obstacles that always beset the pathway of a persevering inventor, in the shape of Patent Office delays, mercenary infringement of her rights and unscrupulous assaults upon the products of her brain. Among her numerous inventions are the Blanchard over-seaming-machine, the machine for simultaneous sewing and trimming on knitted fabrics, and the crocheting and sewing machine, all of which are in use by immense manufactories and are ranked among the most remarkable mechanical contrivances of the age. For many years Miss Blanchard lived in Philadelphia, managing and directing her business in that city, but for the last few years she has made her home in New York. In all the rush and publicity that have surrounded her she has preserved those qualities of gentleness, dignity and modesty which adorn her character and secure her a grateful welcome into the social life of the metropolis. Aiding with open-hearted generosity the meritorious efforts of struggling women wherever she has found them, she has distinguished herself as a benefactor of her sex.
BLAVATSKY, Mme. Helene Petrovna, theosophist and author, born in Russia in 1830, and died in London, Eng., 8th May, 1891. She was the oldest daughter of Colonel Peter Hahn, of the Russian Horse Artillery, and granddaughter of Lieut.-Gen. Alexander Hahn von Rallenstem-Hahn, a noble family of Mecklenburg, settled in Russia. Her mother was Helene Fadeef, daughter of Privy Council Andrew Fadeef and his wife, Princess Dolgouriki. Mile Hahn became the wife of General Nicole V. Blavatsky at the age of seventeen, but, the marriage proving an unhappy one, they separated after three months of married life. Mme. Blavatsky began the studies of mysticism and the languages at an early age, and became very proficient in the latter, speaking nearly forty European and Asiatic tongues and dialects. She was also a great traveler, having visited almost every part of Europe, and living for more than fortv years in India. She spent a great deal of time m Canada and the United States, studying the Indian race and traditions, and also the mystic sects among the negroes. Mme. Blavatsky endeavored several times to penetrate the mysteries of Buddhism in India, hut did not succeed till 1855, when, with the aid of an oriental disguise, she succeeded in entering a monastic house of the Buddhists, in Thibet. Sne afterwards embraced that religion and her book, "Isis Unveiled," which was published in 1877, is the most remarkable work of the kind in existence. In 1878 she organized the Theosophical Society in America, and the following year she returned to India to disseminate its tenets among the natives. She established a society in Egypt for the study of modern spiritualism. She was a naturalized citizen of the United States, and her third and last husband was an American, Henry S. Olcott, who assisted her in her various psychical researches and publications. It was believed by many that she was a Russian spy, and that her theosophical ideas were only subterfuges to hide her real purposes. Among her esoteric works are "The Secret Doctrine," "Synthesis of Science, Religion and Philosophy," "Key to Theosophy" and "Voices of Silence." She at one time published in London, a paper called "Lucifer," the organ of Theosophy.
