The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-08-03
Thursday Morning, August 8, 1865.
THE LATE MRS. SEWARD.
LETTER FROM MRS. JANE G. swrssHnna.

LETTER FROM MRS. JANE G.. SWISEHEIsA.
Correspondence of the Pittsburgh Commercially
WASHINGTON, July 20, 1855.
The pail of silence which has fallen upon
the grave Of Mrs. Seward is still more remark
able than the unobtrnsive quiet of her life, and
thrust that it is not idle curiosity which makes
me more anxious to know her history than
any woman whose name | have ever heard
If / mistake not her example is one which the
women of this country cannot afford to lose !;
and in hope it may induce some one who knew
her to give us some incidents in her honor
able life let me tell you the little, very little,
know
When went into Campbell Hospital, after
the battle of Charlottesville, called upon
the public for fruit acids as an antidote to
thirst and hospital gangrene; the first contri-
button l received was from Mrs. Frederick
Seward. 1t was accompanied by note asking
me to send to her when anything special was
wanted. Some one, that l supposed knew,
told me that this Mrs. Frederick Seward was
the wife of nephew of the Secretary ofState,
who, being bachelor, had this lady to pre-
side over his home. Sbe afterwards called at
my rooms, and at Mr.. Stewards house, on hos
pital business, supposing she was Mr.. Sew
ards niece by marriage, until the following
winter, when there was much trouble in the
contraband CAMPS. Among the teachers was
quakeress, from central New York, one of
those women who left homes of wealth and
refinement to live in camp, cabin, and barrack,
to distribute clothing, books, encouragement,
and instruction amongst those scattered and
bereaved people. We were one day in troub-
led council on one of the many wrongs which
had stubbornly refused to be righted 1t was
hard to ask Secretary Stanton to give the time
necessary to understand the case, while his an
te-room was constantly thronged with persons
waiting on important business. What to do,
was the question. Folding her hands in her
lap, and looking down thoughtfully, this lady
soliloquized: "f Mrs. Seward was only here.n
sWhat Mrs. Seward? ?"
"Mrs. Secretary Sewardp she answered abb
stractedly, and kept on thinking.
My exclamation of surprise aroused her, and
her surprise atmy ignorance was equal to mine
at her information. A question as to the pre-
sentability of that lady, since such a person
did actually exist, started hefto talk as had
never before heard her.
She described Mrs. Seward as one of the ex-
cellent of the earth, woman of wonderful in
tellectual power, and great breadth of attain
ment-the companion, confident, counsellor OF
her husband-one who read his written speech
es before the printer saw them, and gave an
opinion which he valued more than any other
-one who read and digested long, tiresome
documents, and gave him the substance in
few moments fireside chat thus contributing
largely to that fund of information which dis
tinguished Mr.. Seward. She was his 'higher
law adviser, and whenever his policy fell be-
low that standard he had differed with her in
opinion. She ever regarded the right as the
expedient; or, in other words, aimed always
to walk In the narrow path straight toward
"the mark for the prize of the high calling,
which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord"
In dress and manners, this friend described
her as simple, and unostentatious to singulari-
ty. A smart mechanics wife would not have
exchanged wardrobes with her, and milliners'
apprentices looked at her in pitying wonder
for her lost opportunities. A few days after
this conversation, Mrs. Seward returned from
Auburn, but her arrival was not publicly an
nounced. The c0ntraband trouble was ex-
planned to her, and short note of modest
request from her to one in authority removed
the difficulty before which we had been stand
ing in dismay. After that, when heard peo-
pie remark that the Stewards gave no recep-
tions, / have thought of a little teacher of con-
trabands, in the magnificent costume Of
mixed straw bonnet and brown ribbons, dark
woollen dress and shawl, and heavy shoes hav-
ing marks of sacred SOIL" with little travel
ing basket on her arm going to Mrs. Stewards
house in the cleaning, weary, hungry, dis
heartened and footsore; and finding recep-
ton, bath, dinner, bed, a breakfast, a
long comforting talk, note to remove her
ONCAnuAASh15 AuOu1ltd1li, anu saw uCI ilSut6u6u
step as she returned to- her duties rejoicing.
never heard what kind of jewels her hostess
wore at these receptions, but calculate they
were not bought at Tiffany's.
a woman in Mrs. Stewards position, who
simply remained outside that gilded pagoda.
society, in which her Majesty, First Family
with twenty pound-oftobacc worth of grand
mother to stand upon-her Royal Highness'
Official Position, with a wire-pulling husband
to bear against-the Duchess of Shoddy with
a pedestal of greenbacks for support-the
Countess of Petroleum, with a sea of light 10
illumine her diamonds, and My Lady Bloomer,
radiant in health and independence contend
so freely for the precedence, she would have
been worthy of study as a natural curiosity I,
but to know that she lived out of the world of
fashion and in the world of duty from a high
idea of Christian obligation, is to know that
her example is one that the world cannot af-
ford to lose.
Mr.. Stewards recovery from the double inju-
ries of accident and the assassin's knife, is a
common wonder; and Surgeon Barnes has
said that when he left Frederick Seward on the
night of the assassination he little thought to
find him alive in the morning for weeks,
the quickening of his pulse, at any moment,
must have been fatal. What secured that per-
fect repose of body and mind necessary to the
recovery OF both? The report of her death
says 1t was caused by illness occasioned by the
alstless into which the family was plunged by
tne attempted assassination. In other words,
the devoted wife and mother died that the hus-
pand ana son might've. Those lives in which
she nag merged her individual being could only
be reached through hers. The dagger Of the
conspiracy made passage for her Spirit out
oi It's cay prison as eectually as if it had pass
turned aside from its proposed victim y Notbs ~69
ing in the history of remarkable women inter-
ests me so much as the little l know Of tb;s
strong, heroic, unselfish, silent wife and mother
of men whose names are known over the CIV
ilized world. JANE G. SwIssHEraS