Page:Woman of the Century.djvu/208

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CONWAY.
COOK.
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and literary writer. Miss Conway is a woman without a grievance. Her toil has been hard and long, but she has won recognition and made steady progress. Her influence is wide. She organized the first Catholic reading circle in Boston, of which she is still president For years the chosen chairman of the literary entertainments of the New England Woman's Press Association, which office she has resigned, she has made an admirable presiding officer on occasions when any notable literary visitors to Boston were gathered about the board, and has done much to advance the dignity and preserve the harmony of that organization. In the spring of 1891 Miss Conway was invited to give before the Woman's Council in Washington, D- C., her paper upon "The Literature of Moral Loveliness." She was the first and is thus far the only Catholic who has appeared before the Educational and Industrial Union of Boston to speak upon a religious theme. In addition to that, during that year she read before the Women's Press Club papers on "Some Obstacles to Women's Success in Journalism," "Personal Journalism," and "On Magnifying Mine Office, a neat satire." Besides all this, her poems have appeared in the Providence "Journal" and "Life," with thoughtful articles of literary trend in the Catholic and secular periodicals. Miss Conway has lately been honored by being chosen president of the press department of the Isabella Association, in connection with the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. She is still on the " Pilot." associate editor, with James Jeffrey Roche, chief editor. Miss Conway s life has been a full and generous one. overflowing with thought and help for others.


COOK, Miss Amelia Josephine, litterateur, born in Ballston Spa, N. Y. She is the daughter of AMELIA JOSEPHINE COOK. Morton C. Cook of French extraction, and the son of a Unitarian minister. Her mother, Phebe A. Griffin Cook, was a Connecticut Ouaker. Amelia was one of a family of six children. She was educated in the public schools in childhood, and subsequently studied in a select school, in a private seminary for young ladies, in an academy for both sexes, and finally in the State Normal School, where she studied with the object of becoming a teacher. From her father she inherited a talent for poetry, which early revealed itself in connection with a remarkable facility for prose composition. Her specialty in literature is the short story. Much of her work is designed for the boys and girls of the land. Her recent work in various periodicals has appeared under several pen-names. She has used her full name very seldom, preferring to remain unknown to the public. She is a member of the Women's National Press Association and of the Incorporated Society of Authors.


COOK, Miss May A., pianist, born in Paw Paw, Mich.. 4th December, 1869. Her father, Prof. MAY A. COOK. E. Cook, was born in Genesee county. N. Y. During the Civil War he served in the Eighth New York Heavy Artillery as a member of the band, and saw the surrender of Lee's army at Appomattox Court House. When the regiment was discharged, he returned to his native State and resumed his studies in the normal school in Brockport, N. Y. Afterward his attention was devoted wholly to music. While teaching in Michigan, he became acquainted with Miss C. A. Tyler, and they were married in 1868. Miss Cook showed an early predilection for music, and has always been an industrious student. At the age of sixteen years she was known as the finest pianist of the Pacific Northwest. She was the first pianist to present to the musical public of that section the works of the great masters, and concertos by Weber, Beethoven and Schumann, with full orchestra, were successively given, and in such an artistic manner as to make them popular. A remarkably clear technic and great expression characterize her playing. In the summer of 1891 Miss Cook, accompanied by her mother, went to