Page:Woman of the Century.djvu/603

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598
RAY.
RAYMOND.

spent every spare moment during that time in writing stories, poems and practical articles. Her last school work was done in Clinton College, where she acted in the capacity of both student and teacher. She became the wife of E. R. Ray, of Hickman county, Ky., on 10th October, 1878. In the summer of 1880 Mrs. Ray had an attack of rheumatic lever, from which her recovery was so slow that a change of climate became necessary, and her husband took her to Eureka Springs, a health resort in Arkansas. There she improved sufficiently in a short time to resume her usual duties, and the family settled there permanently. For many years she has indulged her fondness for the pen by contributing largely to different weeklies and periodicals. "The Ruined Home," a continued story, published in 1889, in a St. Louis weekly, gives her views on the use of alcoholic drinks. She is a member of the Baptist Church. Her husband is a Baptist and fills the office of deacon in that church. The " Leaves from the Deacon's Wife's Scrap Book," from her pen. which have been so well received by the public, are original and humorously written sketches from her daily life. She strongly favors woman's advancement and is a stanch advocate of temperance. Judge Ray is a lawyer and real estate agent with extensive business, and Mrs. Ray is his secretary. She writes daily at a desk in his office, and in his absence has entire charge of his business. In addition to her usual literary engagements, office work and superintending her home, she edits three Woman's Christian Temperance Union columns each week in the papers of her own city.


RAYMOND, Mrs. Annie Louise Cary, contralto singer, born in Wayne, Kennebec county, Me, 22nd October, 1842. Her parents were Dr. Nelson Howard Cary and Maria Stockbridge Cary. She was the youngest in a family of six children. She received a good common-school education in her native town, and finished with a course in the female seminary in Gorham, Me., where she was graduated in 1862. Her musical talents were shown in childhood, and at the age of fifteen years her promise was so marked that she was sent to Boston to study vocal music. She remained in Boston for six years, studying with Lyman W. Wheeler and singing in various churches. She went to Milan, Italy, in 1866, and studied with Giovanni Corsi until 1868. She then went to Copenhagen, where she made her debut in an Italian opera company. In the first months of 1868 she sang successfully in Copenhagen, Gothenburg and Christiania. During the summer of 1868 she studied in Baden-Baden with Madame Viardot-Garcia, and in the fall of that year she began an engagement in Italian opera in Stockholm, with Ferdinand Strakosch. After two months she was engaged to sing in the royal Swedish opera, and sang in Italian with a Swedish support. In the summer of 1869 she studied in Pans with Signor Bottesini, and in the autumn of that year she sang in Italian opera in Brussels. There she signed with Max and Maurice Strakosch for a three-year engagement in the United States. In the winter of 1869-70 she studied in Paris, and in the spring she sang in London, Eng., in the Drury Lane Theater. In 1870 she returned to the United States. She made her debut in Steinway Hall, New York City, in a concert, with Nilsson, Brignoli and Vieuxtemps. She then for several years sang frequently and with brilliant success in opera and concert, appearing with Carlotta Patti, Mario, Albani and others. In the winter of 1875-76 she sang in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and a year later she repeated her Russian tour. In the seasons of 1877-78 and 1878-79 she sang in the United States, in opera with Clara Louise Kellogg and Marie Roze. From 1880 to 1882 she sang in opera with the Mapleson company and in numerous concerts and festivals, including a tour in Sweden. She sang in the New York, Boston, Cincinnati, Chicago and Worcester festivals, and with the Brooklyn Philharmonic Society. Her voice is a pure contralto, of remarkable strength, great range and exceeding sweetness. Her dramatic powers are of the highest order. Her professional life has been a series of successes from begining to end. She became the wife. 29th June, 1882, of Charles Monson Raymond, of New York City. Since her marriage she has never sung in public. Her only service in song has been in assisting her church choir and in charitable entertainments. She is ranked with the greatest contraltos of the century.


RAYMOND, Mrs. Carrie Isabelle Rice, musician and educator, born in South Valley, N. Y., 12th July, 1857. Her parents removed to Iowa CARRIE ISABELLE RICE RAYMOND. when she was quite young. Her love of music displayed itself very early in life, and at the time when most children delight in amusement, she was happy in practicing her music. At ten years of age she was sufficiently far advanced to play the cabinet organ in church, having had the benefit of such instruction as the small town afforded. At fourteen years of age she began to play on the pipe-organ. Her progress and the real talent she displayed warranted the desire for better instruction than die West then afforded. She went to Brooklyn. N. Y., and placed herself under the instruction of Professor Lasar. While with him she paid particular attention to the piano and organ. At the close of her stay in Brooklyn she went to Washington, D. C., and there began her career as a teacher and organist, in both of which she has been successful. Very few women can manipulate an organ with the ease and skill shown by Mrs. Raymond. Perfect