Woman of the Century/Elizabeth Porter Gould

GOULD, Miss Elizabeth Porter, critic and author, born in Manchester-by-the-sea, Mass., 8th June, 1848 She is the daughter of John A. and Elizabeth C. Gould, and is descended from generations of worthy Essex county people, including the famous schoolmaster, Ezekiel Cheever. ELIZABETH PORTER GOULD. Had she never given to the public any other work than her "Gems from Walt Whitman" (Philadelphia. 1889), she would be entitled to a lasting place in the literary world. No word said of the poet has brought a deeper expression of thanks from him than the essay in the book on his life among the soldiers. Her essays on education during the past ten years have been valuable additions to the educational thought of the day. One, "John Adams as a Schoolmaster," published in pamphlet form, attracted the notice of the leading educators of die country. Through the courtesy of Charles Francis Adams, who called it a most thorough piece of his- torical work, it has been placed in the leading libraries of the land. Another, "Daniel Webster as a Schoolmaster," with other articles on that great statesman, gave her an honorary membership in the Webster Historical Society. Those on "Robert College" and "Bulgaria under Alexander," the former the only full account of that American institution on the Bosphorus ever written, brought her most complimentary words from the ex-Prince himself. Others, such as, "Friedrich Froebel." "School Life in China," "The Steele Orphanage in Chattanooga" and "The Woman Problem," have become authority on those subjects. The versatility of Miss Gould's mind, as well as her conscientious research, are seen in articles published in the Chicago '"Law Times," the New York "Critic," "Literary World." "Independent." "Christian Union." "New England Magazine," "Woman's Journal," and other periodicals. Her article in the "Century," in 1880, on Pundita Ramabai, was but an outline of the lecture which, with those on Abigail Adams, Hannah Adams, Mary Somerville and Caroline Herschel, has brought her as an interesting lecturer before the chief woman's clubs in Boston and vicinity. Besides having inspired clubs in the city of her long residence, Chelsea, Mass., she has been, and still is, an intellectual power among the society women of Boston, Brookline, Newton and other places, by her "Talks on Current Events." Besides her unique work in private circles, Miss Gould, as an officer in philanthropic organizations in Boston and Chelsea, has struck important chords for more efficient work, especially in the line of reform. Her brochure, " How I became a Woman Suffragist," is a book of personal experience. She has written poetry, a volume of her verse, "Stray Pebbles from the Shores of Thought" < Boston, 1892), having been recently published. She has a novel ready for the press.