Page:Woman of the Century.djvu/53

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
48
BAKER.
BAKER.

choice passages from the best authors in the original Greek. Miss Baker is fond of company, plays the piano and violin, and sings. She is a devoted Christian, a member of the Methodist Church, and an enthuiastic worker in the Epworth League and the Sunday-school.


JULIE WETHERILL BAKER. BAKER, Mrs. Julie Wetherill, author, born in Woodville, Miss., in 1858. Her birthplace was the home of her distinguished grandfather, Cotesworth Pinckney Smith, chief-justice of the State of Mississippi. Her maiden name was Julie K. Wetherill. Born in Mississippi and reared partly in that State, and partly in Philadelphia, Pa., the home of her Quaker ancestor, Samuel Wetherill, she shows in her writings the dual influence of her early surroundings. Five years ago she became the wife of Marion A. Baker, literary editor of the New Orleans "Times-Democrat." Mrs. Baker writes over the unassuming disguise of three initials. "J. K. W.," mainly for the New Orleans "Times-Democrat," in its Sunday issue, and is a keen, cultured critic. The "Bric-a-Brac" department of the "Times-Democrat" is an authority in the South on all matters of current literature. Mrs. Baker is not only a literary authority in New Orleans, but is a general favorite in its most refined circles.


BAKER, Miss Louise S., Congregational minister, born in Nantucket, Mass., 17th October, LOUISE S. BAKER. 1846. Her parents were Arvin and Jerusha Baker, the latter of Quaker descent, and the former a Methodist in faith and a man of broad spirit. Louise was the only daughter among five sons. She was educated in Nantucket and was graduated from the high School in 1862. While well versed in mathematics, her specialty showed itself as linguist and elocutionist. She began to teach at eighteen, and at twenty-two was assistant in the high school in Pawtucket, R. I. Later, on account of her mother's semi-invalidism, she remained with her parents at home, receiving private pupils in the languages and English literature. From 1877 to 1880 she spent much time in Boston, speaking in the interest of the Massachusetts Woman's Christian Temperance Union. She was chosen to read a paper before the Suffolk County Medical Society, calling attention to the lessening of the use of alcohol in medical prescriptions. The paper was well received, and a large edition was printed for circulation. On one of her visits home she was invited to preach in the Baptist church, and subsequently supplied that pulpit many times when the society was without a pastor. In November, 1880, Miss Baker was invited to preach in the First Congregational Church in Nantucket, for one Sunday. She was the acting pastor of the Old North Church for more than seven years, being ordained by that body in 1884. She was a member of the church, having united with it in 1866. Repeated family bereavements caused her to quit active work for a time, and in 1888 she withdrew from pastoral labors. She still responds to frequent demands for pulpit and public service, and the record of her work shows attendance at nearly two-hundred funerals, twenty-one marriages and a number of baptisms. She has preached by invitation in other cities, and is very active in her own community. In the pulpit her manner is earnest, reverent and impressive. She has done considerable literary work in essays and lectures. As a writer, her style is terse and condensed. She has published a volume of poems under the title of "By the Sea." Her home is in Nantucket.


BALDWIN, Mrs. Esther E., missionary, born in Marlton, N. J., 8th November, 1840. Her father, the Rev. M. Jerman, was for many years an honored and successful member of the New Jersey Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Esther was constitutionally frail, sensitive and studious. Her first schooling was given her at home, where was laid the foundation of all her future usefulness. To this was added instruction in the public schools and in an excellent private school in Salem, followed by a full course in Pennington Seminary, New Jersey. She was graduated from that institution in 1859, taking the highest honors. During the next year she became a teacher of higher mathematics, Latin and French in a seminary in Virginia. At the beginning of the Civil War her sympathies were with the North, and she resigned her position and returned home. Mrs. Baldwin became a Christian when only ten years old and united with the church of her parents. In 1862 she was married to the Rev. Dr. S. L. Baldwin, a missionary to China. After her marriage she accompanied her husband to Foochow, China, and at once entered heartily into her work. Besides her domestic responsibilities, she was soon entrusted with the supervision of several day schools and of a class of Bible women who were sent out to read the Bible to their country-women. In her thoughtful survey of the condition of woman and childhood in China, quickened by her personal observation and experience, she became deeply impressed with the need of educated Christian woman physicians. She saw that through this means access and confidence could be gained and the way opened for missionary work. Her voice was the first to ask for a medical woman to be sent to China. When the hospital for women and children was opened in Foochow, the first for such a purpose founded in that great empire, she gave it her coöperation. For several years she translated the Berean Lessons into the Chinese language for the use of the Methodist Mission and of the American Board. For two years she edited in the same language the "Youth's Illustrated Paper." She had the pleasure of seeing the missions grow from