Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-06-15

Sketch OF lDr. Mary E. walker by a
Western EdIt0F-Personml Keminis-


cenees.
The Dubuque Qowa) Herald has
the following sketch of DR.. Mary
E. Walker, whose persistent efforts
to get an Office under the Grant
administration have again brought
her prominently into notice -. -
Miss Doctor Mary E. Walker w as
first seen and heard of west of the
Mississippi in the spring of 1860.
One morning in May the local
columns Of each of the Dubuque
dailies referred to the fact, with
comments not very complimentary
that a young lady in boomers had
created quite a sensation upon the
street the day before. The writer
hereof, then conducting a paper in
Delhi, forty miles west, gallantly
came to the rescue of the then nm
seen and unknown bloemerite, in
sisting that consistency demanded
of the Dubuque editors to- cease
sneering at her for wearing a dress
unfashionably short at the bottom,
until they likewise dashed some of
their own ladies for wearing dresses
fashionably too short at the top,
etc. A few days afterwafd our
sanctum was invaded by a young
lady in boomers, who introduced
herself as Mary e. Walker, said
that she had come to Iowa to
see the West, and by and by,
perhaps, TO work into the
practice of her profession,
which was that of medicine
If water can be called medicine
for she was Of the hydropathic
school. Miss Walker was not
handsome in feature, nor yet was
she homely, was rather under the
medium size, viyacious and spright-
ly, sometimes almost graceful, al
ways in buoyant spirits. Her
bloomer dress was rich, neat, and
becoming; for she was one Of the
few women upon whom bloomer
dress can be made to hang right.
Miss Walker was an incessant and
endless talker. But it soon became
manifest that the staple of he r con-
versation consisted of one ever
prolific topic-hersef. Her adVen-
lures had been numerous and va
ried for one of her age. What her
age was it was difficult to deter
mine from her experience, or infer
from her conversation. From APP
pearance, one would judge her to
be between twenty-five and TWEEN
ty-eight years Of age. But in con
versation-held at different times,
and after forgetting what she had
said before were informed that
at fifteen she commenced to teach
school, and taught common school
for FIVE years; that she taught for
five years in q seminary; that
she was a milliner for five years /;
that she worked at the printers
trade for FIVE years; that she was
for five years associate editor of a
literary magazine; that she had
studied medicine, regular school,
for three years, and then prac-
ticed it for two years; that
she was an invalid, unable to walk
moro than few rods at time, fol-
five years; that she was cured by
the hydropathic treatment, which
led her to Investigate and adopt the
'water-cure system, which she hao
practiced for five years, ETC., etc
Aggregating the time occupied II
her various occupations, shemus
have been close to one hundred anC
twenty years old, unless she-bu
we will not question her veracity
for she was woman of answering
principle she said so herself
| repeatedly. So let us rather believ'
that during herresidence in Florida
as amanuensis for the Senator o
that State, she had discovered ant
partaken of the fountain of eterna
youth. 1t was something of
shock to US, by the way, after hav
ing been, at first acquaintance will
the lady, informed that she ha'
been associate editor of q leadin:
magazine for five years, to discover
in receiving communications TO
publication, how triumphant an
unconsciously she OVERRIDE all rule
of grammar, punctuation, capital
cation, etc. On meeting her after
ward, we led the conversation t.
botanical and medical topics, an
discovered that here, too, she dii
fered equally widely from the com
monty received authorities. W
| recollect, for instance, her locatio
of the thyroid cartilage in tn
thigh.
| About this time our editorial a
tention happened to rest upon
couple of advertisements which az
peared in couple of our exchange
-one from an adjoining county
and one from a county in Ne
York. The latter contained a nc
tice that Mr.. Alfred E. Miller pet
toned for a divorce from his wifi
Mary E. Miller; the other o motto
that Mrs. Mary E. Miller petitione
for q divorce from her husband M
Alfred E. Miller, with right to r,
sumo her maiden name Of Mary
Walker. We kept our own cpuT
sci, and soon learned more aboV
the matter than we could have di
covered by any amount of question
ing. The enterprising Mary ha
come all the way from New Yo1
to get divorce from her husban
Her husband had forestalled her /
| getting a divorce from her son
three weeks the first. If that CO.
pie are not divorced, with deere
/, from the courts of two States
q that effect, we don't know how SUI
3 result could be accomplishe
; About this time the war began, al
}, Mary started for the front. The
: was a chance to thrust herself ft
ward into notoriety-and su
? chances she never let slip. Duril
I the war she was frequently hea
, from on both sides of the lint
n When it closed she went to En-
y land, and delivered medical Il