Page:Woman of the Century.djvu/459

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LAWTON.
LAWTON.

support it had to be discontinued. Whenever a good cause was in need, she came to its help with pen and heart. Blessed with a strong constitution, there was almost no work of brain or hand from which she shrank. Strongly attached to the Church of England, and of a profoundly religious nature, she never wearied in self-sacrificing labors in its cause or the cause of the poor and suffering.


LAWTON, Mrs. Henrietta Beebe, musician and educator, born in New York, N. Y., 2nd December, 1844. Her father was William H. Beebe, the well-known hatter, who was conspicuous for his espousal of the cause of the workingman. HENRIETTA BEEBE LAWTON, Henrietta was a musical child. Her fine voice was early discovered, and she received a very liberal and thorough training. At the age of fourteen she was already a successful church-choir singer, and for thirty years she sang in the most prominent choirs in New York City. At the age of sixteen years she sang in Haydn's "Creation" in Cooper institute, under the direction of Professor Charles A. Guilmette, her first teacher. She was successful throughout her career before the public. She did a notable work in English music, both sacred and secular. For fifteen years she was connected with the English Glee Club of New York City. She has visited Europe four times. In 1867 she went to Milan, Italy, to study with Perini and to perfect herself in the Italian method of singing. In 1881 she went to London, Eng., where she studied a year with Sir Julius Benedict, Sir Michael Costa, Joseph Bamby, Fred. Cowen, and others of the best English musicians. The climate of London proved uncongenial to her, and she was obliged to give up her plan of permanent residence in that city. Among her English friends was Jenny Lind Goldschmidt. In 1886 Miss Beebe became the wife of William H. Lawton, the distinguished tenor. Since her marriage she has made her home in New York She is now employed by Mrs. Jeannette M. Thurber in the National Conservatory of Music in New York City. She is devoting her time entirely to the teaching of oratorio and secular English music.


LAZARUS, Miss Emma, poet and author, born in New York, N. Y., 22nd July, 1849, and died EMMA LARAZUS. there 19th November, 1887. She was a member of a Jewish family of prominence. She was noted in childhood for her quickness and intelligence She received a liberal education under private tutors, and her attainments included Hebrew, Greek, Latin and modern languages. She read widely on religious, philosophical and scientific subjects, and was a profound thinker. Her literary bent displayed itself in poetry at an early age. In 1867 she published her volume, "Poems and Translations." and at once attracted attention by the remarkable character of her work. In 1871 she published "Admetus, and Other Poems," and the volume drew friendly notice from critics on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1874 she published her first important prose work, "Alide, an Episode of Gothe's Life." She contributed original poems and translations from Heinrich Heine's works to "Scribner's Magazine" In 1881 she published her translations, "Poems and Ballads of Heine," and in 1882 her "Songs of a Semite." She wrote for the "Century" a number of striking essays on Jewish topics, among which were "Was the Earl of Beaconsfield a Representative Jew?" and "Russian Christianity versus Modern Judaism." Her work includes critical articles on Salvini, Emerson and others. In the winter of 1S82, when many Russian Jews were flocking to New York City to escape Russian persecution, Miss Lazarus published in the "American Hebrew," a series of articles solving the question of occupation for the incomers. Her plan involved industrial and technical education, and the project was carried out along that line In 1882 she wrote her "In Exile," "The Crowing of the Red Cock"