# Representative women of New England/Alice S. Geddes

​ALICE SPENCER GEDDES.—One day in the early fall of 1898 a young woman, a Freshman in Radcliffe College, received a letter asking her to call upon the editor of the largest and most influential paper in the city in which she lived. "I have noticed with approval," said the editor, "the reports of the Cambridge Art Circle affairs, which you as clerk have sent in. Will you take charge of a woman's department in my paper?"
"What do you want in it? How shall I start about it? Do you think I can do it?" were some of the questions asked by the bewilflered girl.
"I am too busy to answer questions. Will you furnish matter for eight columns of the Cambridge Chronicle a week from to-day?"
"Yes, sir, I will," came the prompt reply.
Thus it was that Miss Geddes was precipitately plunged into the field of journalism.
She often jests now about the feeling of utter helplessness which overwhelmed her as she left ​ that editor's office, but she knows that it was this very throwing of herself on her own resources that started her on her successful career. A week from that day the Woman'n Chronicle, supplement to the Cambridge Chronicle, appeared, containing an editorial by the young editor, setting forth the policy of the paper, which was not to be concerned with the sentimental and useless matter usually crowding the so-called woman's pages of our large newspapers, but rather was to be devoted to educational, philanthropic, and social activities of Cambridge women. This first issue contained a resume of all of these lines of work, illustrated with photographs of prominent women interested in them.
From that time, save during the months of July and August of each year, the Woman's Chronicle as long as she edited it kept to the high ideals of the first issue, largely increased the circulation of the paper, and came to be recognized as the official organ of women's societies in Cambridge. All this Miss Geddes accomplished entirely unaided. She collected the matter, wrote the articles, and read the proof for each issue, and at the same time carried on the regular course at Radcliffe, and held the positions of clerk of the Cambridge Art Circle and the Cantabrigia Club. Such were the beginnings of the career of a young woman who is now widely known, not only as an active worker in women's clubs and as a journalist, but as a lecturer and class leader in all branches of English literature.
Alice Spencer Ceddes was born in Athol, Mass., November 13, 1876, and was named for her paternal grandmother, with whom she spent her early years. In 1878 the family moved to Cambridge; and in the following year her parents, William E. and Ella M. Ceddes, went to England to establish business there. As they intended to be absent but a .short time, the daughter was left in her grand-mother's charge. But, where success is, there is contentment; and Mr. and Mrs. Geddes took up their permanent residence in London. Ever since her babyhood, then, the daughter has lived in Cambridge in the winter and in London in the summer.
Miss Geddes is a graduate of Chauncy Hall School, Boston, which she entered at the age of eight, and of Radcliffe College, class of 1899. After leaving Radcliffe, she studied at Newnham College. As a result of her special fondness for English literature and of her familiarity with the homes and haunts of literary men and women abroad, she was led to enter upon the field of work which has brought her fame.
In October, 1901, a large audience listened to a "Recital of Literary Romances" by Miss Geddes. Clearly and distinctly, without affectation, she read the stories .she had written of the love episodes in the lives of Swift and his Stella, Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, and Carlyle and Jane Welsh. Her hearers, among them being many literary critics, marvelled at the purity and beauty of these sketches, as well as at their keen insight and penetration into character.
The next morning the leading Boston papers announced the appearance of a new star in the literary firmament, and letters congratulatory were followed by letters of inquiry as to terms for lecture and class work. Thus, at the early age of twenty-five. Miss Geddes became much in demand to give lectures and recitals and lead classes in eighteenth century and Victorian literature.
The secret of her popularity lies in the newness of her methods; for in her analysis of a great work of literature she gives merely statistics enough to identify the period, and avoids repeating well-known truisms and general statements. She goes below the outer shell, and unearths the inner meaning of the work, the causes which produced it, and the effect of its existence. She is now preparing a course of ten lectures on "The Novel and Life," which will follow the parallel development of civilization and the English novel.
​Her personality is charming, and her naturalness of manner makes her a pleasing picture on the lecture platform and an inspiring leader in class work.
In March, 1903, she took the most ambitious step of all. She purchased a well-known Cambridge newspaper, The Cambridge Press, and announced in the first number that it would be devoted to the interests of Cambridge, and that it would be owned, edited, and conducted entirely by women. This innovation was a welcome one, and the excellent sheet is a source of pride to the whole city.* There is not a weak point about it. Miss Geddes is a born journalist, and her editorials are fine samples of literary style and fearless utterance.