Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1865-08-18
THE LATE MRS. SEWARD.
ny MRS. JANE O. swIssHELN.
Correspondence Of the Pittsburgh Com nsrcitl.
wAsHtNoroN, July 20, 1865


the grave Of Mrs. Seward is still more re-
markable than the unobtrusive quiet Of her
life, and trust IL is not idle curiosity which
makes me more anxious to know her history
than that Of any woman whose name | have
ever heard. II | mistake not her example is
one which the women Of this country cannot
afford to lose ; and in hope il may induce
some one who knew her 10 give US some in
cdents in her honorable life, let me tell you
the little, the very little, / know.
When | went into Campbell hospital, after
the battle OF Chancellorsville, l called upon
the public for fruit acids as an antidote to
thirst and hospital gangrene; the fret con-
tribution received was from Mrs Frederick
Seward II was accompanied by a note ask
ing me to send TO her whsn anything special
was wanted. Some one that | supposed
knew told me this Mrs. Frederick Seward
was the wife Of nephew Of the Secretary Of
State, who, being a bachelor, had this lady
to preside over his home She afterwards
called at my rooms, and | at Mr.. Stewards
house, on hospital business, supposing she
was Mr.. Stewards neice by marriage, until
the following winter, when there was much
trouble in the contaband 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 barracks, 20 distribute clothing, books,
announcement and instruction amongst those
scattered and bereaved people We were one
day in troubled council on one of the many
wrongs which had stubbornly refused to be
| righted. 1t was hard to ask Secretary Stan
ton to give the time necessary TO understand
the case, while his ante-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 thougttfully, this lady soliloquzed;
" II Mrs. Seward was only here"
"What Mrs. Seward p
"Mrs. Secretary Seward" she answered
abstract-dly, and kept on thinking.
My exclamation of surprise aroused her.
and her surprise at my Ignorance was equal
to mine at her information. A question as
to the presentability of that lady. since such
a person did actually exist. started her to talk
as had never before heard her.
She described Mrs. Seward as one Of the
excellent of the earth, and woman Of won
derful intellectual power, and great breadth
of attainment-the companion, confdant,
counsellor of her husbsnd-one who read his
written speeches before the printer saw them,
and gave an opinion which he valued more
than any other-one who read snd digested
long, tiresome documents, and gave him the
substance in few moments fresde chat,
thus contributing largely to that fund of in
formation which distinguished Mr.. Seward.
She was his " higher law" adviser, and when
ever his policy fell below that standard be
had differed with her in opinion. She ever
regarded the right as the expedent; or, in
other words, aimed always to walk in the
narrow path straight toward 1.-THE mark for
the prize Of the high calling which is in Christ
Jesus, our Lord"
10 dress and manner this friend described
her as simple, and unostentatious to singulari'
ty. A smart mechanics wife would not have
exchanged wsrdrobes with her, and milliners
apprentices looked at her in plying wonder
for her lost opportunities. few days afte
this conversation, Mrs. Seward returned from
Auburn, but her arrival was not publicly an
nounced. The contraband trouble was ex
planned to her, and a short note of modest re
I quest from her to one in authority, removed
= the difficulty before which we had been stand
ing in dismay. After that, when hear peo
pie remark that the Stewards gave no recep
tions, have thought of little teacher o
contrabands, in the magnificent costume Of
mixed straw bonnet and brown ribbons, darl
woollen dress and shawl and heavy shoes
having marks of sacred soil, with a littl
travelling basket on her arm, going to Mrs
Stewards house in the cleaning, weary, hun
CRY, disheartened, and footsore; and fndin
a reception, a bath, dinner, bed, break
fast, long, comforting talk, note to remov
her UveIhanging mountain, aud saw her light
ened step as she returned to her duties II
joicing. | never heard what kind of jewel
. ner hostess wore at these receptions, but ca
: culate they were not bought at Tiffany's.
A woman in Mrs. Stewards position, VIII
simply remained outside that gilded pagod,
s society, in which her Majesty, First Famil,
- with twenty-pound-o tobbaco-wor,h o
: grandmother to stand upon---her Royal Higi
: ness Official Position, with a wire-pullin
husband to bear against-the Duchess
u Shoddy, with pedestal of greenbacks fC
support-the Countess of Petroleum, with
q sea of light to illumine her diamonds, and M
Lady Bloomer, radiant in health and ind
pendence. contend so fiercely for the prec
10 dence, she would have been worthy Of stud
:, as a natural curiosity but to know that ST
d lived out Of the world OF fashion and in Il
s. world of duty, from a high ideal of Christit
n obligation, is TO know that her example
one that the world cannot well afford
d lose.
~ juries of accident and the assassin's knife,
10 a common wonder and Surgeon Barnes b
10 said that when ne left Frederick Seward, {
s. the night Of the assassination, he lit;
y thougt to find him alive in the morning-th
ID for weeks the quickening Of his pulse at al
O. moment must have been fatal. What secur
y that perfect repose of body and mind necess
e' ry to the recovery OF both The report
u her death says it was caused by illness oct
az stoned by the distress into which the fam
~ was plunged by the attempted asssssinatic
In other words, the devoted wife and moth
n died that the husband and son might live,
A Those lives in which she had merged her
.s. dividual being could only be reached throu
n hers. The dagger Of the conspiracy made
Nv passage for her spirit out Of its clay prison
a. effectuslly as il it had passed through
pk heart and, in doing so, was turned ssl
et from its purposed victim. Nothing in
II. history Of remarkable women interests me
II much as the little | know of this strong,
lei roic unseRsh, silent wife and mother OF N
yho.a panoaa ara known over the Cylll2