Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-02-05
THE WOODRUFF.
A Ledger Commissioner Calls to See
Her and Mss Tennessee ClafiIn.
And Their Venerable Mother. VINO
Travels with the Girls"

Without much ado or delay our com
missioner and a Front row merchant Of
an inquiring turn Of mind, who sent up
their cards, we're ushered into the
presence Of the far.famed Victoria
@. Woodruff. She is accompanied
by Miss Tennessee ClafAiR who fanci'
fully signs her name Tennie c." and
their mother, Mrs. Claflin, q vigorous
old lady in her eighty.frst year. We do
not feel at liberty to deal so freely with
the ages Of her daughters, that being
always a delicate subject with ladies
who are not old enough to be great grand
mothers. Aa a matter Of guess-work we
would not call Mrs. Woodruff over thir.
ty-six, or Miss Tennie much above twenty.
seven. Mrs. Woodruff is tall, well-pro-
%portioned, and has a striking face, per-
fectly cbiseled. She is classical, natural
and easy. Her eyes are large and gray;
10 repose cold as marble, bat when ami
mated capable Of wonderful expression
and meaning. Miss Tenne is of rouuder
form, plump, sparkling, yivseious and
rather pretty. The mother is a perfectly
formed old lady, below medium hight.
with a full suit OF white or haxen hair,
which any belle Of the blonde type might
envy. She has perfect confidence in her
daughters aud their theories, and speaks
in the most ~endeariug terms oil her hus.
band, to whom she has been married
over sixty years. He is a year older
than she ia, but is not along. They are
a most wonderful old couple, and GER
tsinly have two most extraordinary
daughters
Their parlor IS No. 8 at the Peabody,
the room occupied by the Grand Duke
Alexis, by ex-President Andrew John.
son, Governor Porter aud other noted
guests when visiting the city. We found
the two ladies at work mailing papers
ahead on the route Of their lecture tour.
Mas Tennie is the business manager
OF the firm, aud from the two bushels Of
papers done up in wrappers before her
and directed, is evidently an expert mail.
ing-clerk. Instead Of lo~ud-talking,
coarse women, We we're introduced to la
dies of easy manner and voices, much
culture, extensive information upon gen.
ersl topics and, in fact, persons quite
different from our p~reconcaived ideas.
After q running conversation with all
three Of the ladies upon the current
questions of the times, our commissioner
said:
Well, Mrs. Woodruff, / have called
more especially to give you an opportu.
nifty to speak for yourself through the
columns of the LEDGER before you ap-
pear at the Memphis Theater, inasmuch
as we have given your theories many a
sharp thrust, and as many of our church
going people will not 60 to hear you on
Sunday.
Mrs. Woodruff replied at length. We
condense a few Of her points. She was
grateful for the opportunity, having been
greatly misrepresented in her views of
marriage. Said she: 1t is | that believe
in marriage that knows no divorce, and
l desire to teach people the sacredness
OF marriage and stand in of the
great responsibility that follows. Seven.
of our young girls come out of
boarding schools unfit for marriage and
its duties, and nine-tenths of the young
men are sapping their manhood by
vices. Let US see what was my first crime
caused me to be go severely crit
by the press referring to the FIRST !
speech she ever made on the social evil
question:, l demanded that the same
purity be required Of the young man that
is demanded of the young girl, and that
when, a mother saw her virgin daughter
led to the altar she, as is her right, should
ask OF the man If his record was as pure I
the darling girl he is about to make l
ais wife. Do you suppose, for a,,moment,
t the mothers would do this, that we !
would have any more fast young menu !
Think OF a mother Dragging that a young
nan had sowed Ills wild oats. Who are Z
he young women be has sowed his wild (
bats with2 | tell you, this is a fearful
and can only be set at rights t
" women themselves, and that remedy |
in their intelligence. a
This is but an outline Of what we snip.
bose she will elaborate Sunday night. {
they are both terribly in earnest and {
ineW how to defend their peculiar ideas. J
The mother informed US that il Tennie |
been a boy he would have been 3
lsmed James X. Polk, bpt being a girl, {
Ter father, a great Democrat, named her Q
Tennessee, in honor 81 President Polk. t
This is leap year and TenDie says she
intends to marry in Tennessee.