Page:Woman of the Century.djvu/606

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State Society, and one of the original members and promoters of the Woman's Congress. She has lectured occasionally on temperance, education and suffrage. She is generally known in literature as Mrs. Lizzie B. Read.


READ, Miss Jane Maria, poet and artist, born in Barnstable, Mass., 4th October, 1853. Her father, Rev. William Read, is a Baptist clergyman She comes from old colonial families on both sides, and her ancestors were among the early English pioneers. Until six years of age her home was in Massachusetts. In 1859 her parents moved to the sea-coast of Maine, where they lived till 1865, at that time returning to Massachusetts. Her parents noted her literary trend and developed and shaped it so far as lay in their power. JANE MARIA READ. She studied in the Coburn Classical Institute, in Waterville, Me., for several years. Her poetic tendencies were intensified by reading. She began to publish her poems in 1874 in various magazines and news- papers, and in 1887 she published a volume of verse entitled " Between the Centuries, and Other Poems." Much of her poetry is of the introspective kind, with a strong element of the religious and the sentimental. She has contributed, among others, to the " Magazine of Poetry." Besides her meritorious poetical work, she is an artist of marked talent, and makes a specialty of portraits and animal pictures in oil colors. She received her art training in Boston, Mass., from prominent artists and instructors. She is a woman of broad views, liberal culture and versatility. Her home is now in Coldbrook Springs, Mass., where her father is in charge of a church.


REED, Mrs. Caroline Keating, pianist, was born in Nashville, Tenn., and reared and educated in Memphis, where her father, Col. J. M. Keating, was the half owner and managing editor of the "Appeal." Early in her childhood she displayed her fondness for music, in which art her mother was proficient, the leading amateur singer in the city, a pianist and harpist As soon as she could comprehend the value of notes and lay hold of the simplest exercises, her mother began to train her. CAROLINE KEATING REED. She became the pupil of a local teacher, Emile Levy, and went forward very rapidly. Her parents determined that her earnestness should be seconded by the very best teachers in the United States, and she was sent in 1877 to New York, where, under S. B. Mills, she made great progress, but still more under Madame Carreno. She also took lessons from the pianist, Mrs. Agnes Morgan. She subsequently studied under Richard Hoffman and under Joseffy. She studied harmony and thorough bass with Mr. Nichols. To those lessons she added later on the study of ensemble music as a preparation for orchestral works, under the guidance of leading members of the New York Philharmonic Club. During the two last years of her stay in New York, she plaved in several concerts in that city and its vicinity. As an artist, she was recognized by the musicians of New York and the musical critics of the press. In January of 1884 she returned home. Before entering upon her successful professional career, she gave several concerts in Memphis and surrounding cities. The following year she became a regular teacher of the piano-forte and singing, having been fitted for the latter branch of her art by three years of study under Errani. She is very practical in her philanthropy, and since first forming her class, which has always averaged forty pupils, has never been without one or more whom she taught free of charge. For two or three years she gave lessons gratuitously to six pupils, who were unable to pay anything. She has contributed frequently to charitable purposes, either by concerts or with her earnings. Since her marriage in 1891 she has continued to teach. She is at present engaged in preparing a primer on technique for beginners. Mrs. Reed is broad and progressive in her views of life, especially those concerning women and women's work. When a mere child, she was wont to declare her determination to earn her living when she grew up. In stepping out from the conventional life of a society belle and conscientiously following the voluntary course she marked out for herself she was a new departure from the old order of things among the favored young girls of the South. Thoroughly devoted to her art and in love with her vocation as a teacher, she stands among the best instructors of music in the country. She has no patience with trifiers, and no money could induce her to waste time on pupils who are not as earnest and willing to work as she is herself. Though young, she has accomplished much and will maintain the high position she has so honestly won.


REED, Mrs. Florence Campbell, author, born in Door Creek, Wis., 17th January, 1860. Her father's name is Harvey Campbell, and her mother's maiden name was Melissa D. Reynolds. The mother was a woman of fine taste and culture, and was known as an author in her early days. She excelled in story-telling, and her improvised tales to amuse her children are remembered vividly by her daughters. Many of them afterward found their way into the "Little Pilgrim" and other papers. A part of the childhood of Florence Campbell was spent in Lone Rock, Wis., her father having abandoned farming for the mercantile business. She clerked for him during vacation, being familiar with ledgers, bills and prices of everything when she had to climb on a stool to reach the desk. Receiving a certificate at a teachers' examination when only twelve years old, she planned to enter the field of pedagogics, and did so when she