Woman of the Century/Lucy A. Mallory

MALLORY, Mrs. Lucy A., editor, born in Roseburg, Douglas county, Oregon, 14th February, 1846. Her father, Aaron Rose, settled in Oregon early in the forties, and the city of Roseburg was named for him. He was one of the first white settlers at a time when the country was an unbroken wilderness. The wife and mother died in giving birth to Lucy. Though reared among Indians and surrounded constantly in early life by the wildest aspects of nature, she was always a vegetarian. Soon after reaching the years of womanhood she became the wife of Rufus Mallory, who afterwards represented the State in Congress, and who is now one of the most successful lawyers in the Pacific Northwest, and is the senior member of the extensive law firm to which Senator Dolph belongs. She accompanied her husband to Washington. Not long after their return to Salem, which at that time was their home, an incident occurred which brought out the spirit of the woman. In 1874 the old slavery prejudice was so strong in Oregon that some forty-five negro and mulatto children were prevented from attending the Salem public schools and kept from all chance of acquiring an education, as no white teachers could be found who would condescend to teach them. A public fund was set apart for them, but no one came forward to labor for it. Mrs. Mallory volunteered to instruct the dusky children, in the face of sneers and ridicule. Her course shamed the people into a sense of duty, and within three years the children were admitted into the white schools and classes, when all friction and opposition disappeared. Mrs. Mallory, having no immediate use for the public money which she drew for her work, let it remain in the bank. In 1886 she used the fund for the purchase of a printing plant, and soon after started her monthly magazine, the "World's Advanced Thought," with Judge H. N. Maguire for assistant editor. The latter recently retired from editorial connection, on account of the pressure of other business affairs, but still contributes to its pages, while Mrs. Mallory, who was always the proprietor, has full control. Her magazine circulates among advanced thinkers and workers in every portion of the civilized world. Count Tolstoi, of Russia, takes it. Her work, like that of her husband, is in Portland, but their home, where they rest nights and Sundays, is on their ranch or fruit farm, four miles out in the suburbs of the city.