organized the first Woman's Foreign Missionary Society west of the Missouri river, in April, 1872. The idea of the Woman's Club in her town originated with her and the club was organized 15th November, 1883. It is a monument to the literary taste and business ability of its founders. On 29th October, 1885, she was elected to the office of State treasurer of the Kansas Kqual Suffrage Association, to which office she has every year since been re-elected. On 14th April, 1887, she was placed at the head of the sixth district of the Kansas Woman's Christian Temprence Union. On 28th February, 1889, she was elected to the office of State treasurer of the Union, and her yearly re-election proves her faithfulness.
MABEL. BERT.
BERT, Mabel, actor, born in Australia in 1862. Her father was A. C. Scott The family came to this country- in 1865, settling in San Francisco, Cal. Miss Bert was educatedin Mills Seminary, Oakland, Cal. She left school when seventeen years old, was married and made her debut on the stage the following year. For two years she played with various companies throughout California, and in 188$ joined a stock company in San Francisco, for leading parts For fourteen months she took a new part every week, including Shakespeare's plays, old comedies, melodramas, society plays and burlesques In 1887 she went east and joined one of Frohman's companies in "Held by the Enemy." Since that time Miss Bert has taken leading parts in various plays, and has appeared in all of the important critics of America.
BEST, Mrs. Eva, author, horn in Cincinnati, Ohio. 19th December, 1851. She is a daughter of the late John Insco Williams and Mrs. Mary Williams, now of Chicago, III. Her father was an artist and painted the first bible panorama ever exhibited in the United States. Her mother is also Ml artist of merit and a writer of excellent verse and prose. The daughter inherits the talents of both parents. In 1869 she was married to William H. Best, of Dayton. Ohio, and her home is now in that city. Mrs. Best began her literary career as a poet. Her first short story' appeared in one of the Frank Leslie periodicals. That was
EVA BEST.
followed by stories in other publications. In 1882 her services were sought by the editor of the Detroit "Free Press," and now Mrs. Best is editor of the household department of that paper. She is also a regular contributor to A. N. Kellogg's Newspaper Company and has written several dramas. The first, "An American Princess," is now in its sixth season. A comedy drama, " Sands of Egypt." is in the hands of Miss Elizabeth Marbury, of New York. "A Rhine Crystal" is being used by Miss Floy Crowell, a young New England artist, and her other plays, "The Little Banshee" and "Gemini," the former in Irish dialect, the latter a two-part character piece, were written for Miss Jennie Calef. In all these plays the music, dances, ballads and all incidental scores are distinctively original. A number of ballads have also added to the author's fame. She has devoted some attention to art. She has two children, a son and a daughter, and the latter is already an artist of some reputation.
BETHUNE, Mrs. Louise, architect, born in Waterloo, N. Y., in 1856. She is of American parentage. Her maiden name was Blanchard. Her father's ancestors were Huguenot refugees. Her mother's family went to Massachusetts from Wales in 1640. Being a delicate child, she was not sent to school until the age of eleven. Meantime she had acquired habits of study and self-reliance which led her through school life to disregard the usual class criterions. In 1874 she was graduated from the Buffalo. N. Y., high school. A caustic remark had previously turned her attention in the direction of architecture, and an investigation, which was begun in a spirit of
