Page:Woman of the Century.djvu/378

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HENRY.
HENRY.
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for years been struggling with "supreme prejudice and sublime mediocrity" in her efforts to awaken in the breasts of her countrymen a sentiment of justice toward women, and in her countrywomen a sense of the dignity of true womanhood. What she has already accomplished marks an advance in the political and social history, not only of Kentucky, but of the Southern States. She is the only woman in the South who ever ran for a State office. She was a candidate of the Prohibition party of Kentucky, in 1890, for clerk of the Court of Appeals, receiving nearly five-thousand votes, and that in a State where, perhaps, the popular prejudice is stronger against "Woman's Rights" than in any other in the Union. She has spoken before the legislature and the constitutional convention and has addressed large audiences all over the State on woman's suffrage. Although she is physically frail and delicate, she can address a public meeting for an hour or more with the force of true eloquence and with happy touches of humor and quiet sarcasm. She is a woman of literary talent. She has written several poems of merit, and her prose is clear, bold and incisive. Over three-hundred articles of hers on the subject of "Married Women's Property Rights" have been published. Her leaflet on "Kentucky Women and the Constitution" and her editorials in the "Clarion," published in Versailles, attracted general attention and were copied into papers all over the country. She is superintendent of legislative and petition work of the Kentucky Equal Rights Association. She is an accomplished musician and pianist. As a vocalist she has achieved success. Her home is in Versailles, Ky.


SAREPTA M. I. HENRY. HENRY, Mrs. Sarepta M. I., evangelist, temperance reformer, poet and author, born in Albion, Pa., 4th November, 1839. her father Rev. H. Nelson Irish, was a Methodist clergyman of the old style. He was preaching in Albion at the time of the daughter's birth. In 1841 he was sent to Illinois as a missionary, where he did heroic pioneer work and where he ended his days. In 1859 Miss Irish entered the Rock River Seminary, in Mt. Morris, Ill., when she had for her pastor Rev. J. H. Vincent, then just coming into his life work. Recognition had been given to her literary ability, and during her school days she won many honors in composition. On 7th March, 1861, Miss Irish became the wife of James W. Henry, of East Homer, N. Y. The Civil War broke in upon the plans of the young couple and left Mrs. Henry, in 1871, a soldier's widow. The trio of children born from this union are just such as would be expected from so true a marriage. Mary, an alumna of the Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., is already a writer of acknowledged ability in both prose and verse, and at the national convention of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in New York, in 1888, she was elected to the position of superintendent of the press department. Alfred, the oldest son, is a faithful and eloquent clergyman, and Arthur is an author. Mrs. Henry was among the first to join the crusade against rum. From the beginning of the organization of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union she has been associated with the national body as superintendent of evangelical work and as evangelist. The result of her seven years of service in gospel temperance in Rockford, Ill., would alone suffice to crown the labors of any ordinary life-time. A partial record of this work is found in her book "Pledge and Cross." Her published books number fourteen, of which two, "Victoria," written during the first year of her daughter's life, and "Marble Cross," are poems. The prose works are "After the Truth," in four volumes, "Pledge and Cross," "Voice of the Home and its Legend," "Mabel's Work," "One More Chance," "Beforehand," "Afterward," "Unanswered Prayer," and "Frances Raymond's Investment." Mrs. Henry has long occupied pulpits among all denominations throughout the land. Through her evangelistic work saloons have been closed, churches built and hundreds converted. Her home is now in Evanston, Illinois.


HENSCHEL, Mrs. Lillian Bailey, vocalist, born in Columbus, Ohio, 17th January, 1860. Her musical talent manifested itself very early in life, as, when she was fifteen months old, she plainly showed her choice of different tunes, crying and refusing to sleep if her mother sang one song, and at once remaining quiet when she heard another air. At the age of eighteen months the little one could sing the different tunes she had been accustomed to hear. From that point her whole life has been devoted to the study of music. She began to take piano lessons at the age of seven. Her mother, who was also a singer and had received vocal instruction in Boston, Mass., from the best teachers of her time, directed the daughter's vocal studies. At the age of fifteen the family removed to Boston, and she continued her studies with her uncle, Charles Hayden, a well-known vocal teacher. Later she became a pupil of Madame Rudersdorf, with whom she studied two years. In 1876 Lillian Bailey made her first public appearance in one of B. J. Lang's concerts, given in Boston, meeting with success. After her debut she continued to be a favorite singer in Boston, and her services were in constant demand during the concert season, until, in 1877, she went to Paris to study with Madame Viardot, with whom she remained for some time. In the spring of 1878 she went to London, where she made her first appearance in England with the London Philharmonic