The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1876-03-14
"THE WOMEN or DESTINY"
Interview With Victoria Woodruff and
Tennle g. Clanln
The Mission ana Purpose oftbr Pri"Hi'
ess ~ Freedom Her PcrSe
cations ana Trials.

nun anu MISS le1Hi' ~ N'"'" :" WV
city yesterday was II rather notable
event, as was evidenced by the numer-
Gus callers at tho parlors Of the lie
Grand. All day long, and until late
IN the evening, their parlors were
thronged with visitors, all anxious Ia
see, hear and talk with these eXtra0r.
binary women.
without much ado, the ubiquitous
reporter Of THE HERALD, being Of an
inqulring turn Of mind, yesterday nt'
ternoon sent up his card, and was nsh'
cred into the presence Of the two
ladies. Instead of loud.talkiHg, coarse
women, the reporter was introduced
TO ladies of easy manners and voices,
much culture, extensive information
upon general topics, and, in fact, per
sons quite different from his precon'
ceived ideas. Mrs. Woodruff Is appa-
rently about thirty-six years of age,
tall, well-proportloned, and has strik'
Ing face, perfectly chiscled She Is
classical, natural md easy. Her eyes
are large, and gray; In rep0se, col! aS
marble, but when animated, capable
of wonderful expression and meaning.
Selfpossessed, lady-like aud dignlhed,
Il convinced believer In what she as.
serts Is her divine mission, II mistress
Of Language and brimfull Of ideas,
she left but one impression
on the reporter, and that
was good all good. Treating
in the most uonchalant way the deli
cate questions involved In the family
relations, she never once forgot her.
sell or failed to remember that she
was in the company of gentleman
visitor. The absence of all "prurient
prudishness," and the freedom with
which she deiies ordinary convention.
alities of speech, while preserving the
delicaoy and dignity of her woman
hood, is one Of the most surpris.
ing characteristics of this wo-
man. Miss Tennie is apparently about
twenty-five, vivacious and pretty,
and Is the business mau-ager OF
the firm, There is a nervous
energy expressed in every movement
of both ladies', which, of itself, were
their great intellectual powers un-
known, would attract TO them the
notice of every one, even in the circles
of court; an energy indicative of ex-
traordinary will, power, and physical
endurance enough to push their re-
solves to an accomplishment.
After taking his seat and explaining
the Object Of his visit, the reporter re-
quested the ladies', or either of them,
to impart to him such information as
they were DESTROYS of making public.
Mrs. Woodruff began by saying that
she was grateful for thus having an
opportunity of putting herself right
before the public, and especially the
Southern public, in regard to certain
views that have been enormously at.
tributed to her.
Thinking that the business career of
theae ladies would possibly be OF in
terest to THE HERALDs reuaers. the
reporter briefly referred to them. Miss
Clatlin, 1t will be remembered, was
one of Wall streets most industrious
brokers, ard to her the reporter direct
ell his inquiry as to what was the
first incentive that induced them to
venture into the mysterious sea OF
finance.
Miss C.-From our girlhood we
were resolved to reach a sphere where
our influence could be felt and appre-
ciated. Educated by our parents to de-
pend upon ourselves, and to believe that
woman ought to be equal to man as
an independent worker, we were re-
solved to earn our livelihood withoat
being indebted to any one for it, and
financiering opened to us results of
grander boundaries, and to IL we re-
solved to have recourse. Woman in
commerce has never been realized,
and we were the first to go down
Broad street, New York, for when we
commenced on our mission such
thing was unheard of. Independence
of thought, and the freeing of woman
from the restraints thrown about her.
helped US to make up our minds to
show the world that woman could ms
well rs man master the intricacies of
monetary affairs. Westarted. When
we first ventured, in 1867, down to
Wall street In our carriage, we only
dared to raise the curtain but little,
to peep through to beckon our brokers
to us to give them directions relative
to stock. A lady in business there
then would have produced almost
revolution, as it did. We resolved at
once that instead of doing business in
that way we would at once commence
the battle, and open Ia the light of
day an Office on Broad street. We did
1t. Thousands upon thousands passed
the place just to look In at the novelty
at the Queens of Finance" as we
were called. This gradually wore
away, and we felt after short time,
owing to our great gains, that the first
skirmish In our great world battle had
terminated favorably to us.
Were your transactions large on the
streets, Miss Tennie {?
Miss C.-very large; at times We
the market. Some days our
amounted to millions.
We have made and lost fortunes, but
have not lost as much az we gained.
what has been gained has been deyot.