The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1876-12-16
MARTHA A. MAXWELL.


+ lure lnueeu, can she eSISG OuiSiue tne
strict secluSion of home or ever be occu-
pied with other than purely domestic duties?
( 1t seems to have been long ago decided that
the ideal man can do anything that is useful
be anything that he has capacity for be-
coming, whether it be dressmaker, archi-
tect, or king; and if in his calling he is
noble, strong, self reliant, i'll one word
manly, he is to be admired as realizing all
demanded of his sex.
When asked why not apply the standard
of womanhood to woman in the same way,
the reply is that it can not be done, as cir
cumstances affect her more, and, by her
very susceptibility, make a radical change
III her nature. Place her before the public;
let her pursue the same professions and arts
that have been held to be only appropriate
for men, and she becomes coarse and mas
culine, and loses those sweet, tender graces
that are distinctively feminine.
There is no logic SO irresistible as that of
facts; and the life of every womanly woman
who achieves a success in fields new to her
! a,
subject.
AS an argument of this kind we give this
sketch of Martha A. Maxwell, whose sue
cess as an artisttaxidermist and naturalist
called forth so much admiration at the Cen
tennial Exposition. She was born near
| Wellsboro, Pennsylvania. When she was
but little more than two years DID, her
father died, leaving her to the sole
of her birth, for nearly seven years was an
/ invalid, helpless child, but developed into
a woman of remarkable character. In re-
! ligious faith-in answering devotion to her
ideas of right, whether popular or other
wise, Amy Sanford, her maiden name, indi-
Gated the independence, energy, and native
refinement of her Puritan, Connecticut
ancestors.
Though confined to her bed and great
sufferer, she found strength to do more for
her little daughter than many a mother in
perfect health has done. She amused and
instructed her; teaching her at the bedside
of work. Mrs. Maxwell has still specimens
of sewing which she did when only four
years old: the little stitches set with a
regularity and nicely she could hardly rival
to day.
A few years later, her maternal grand
parents came to live with her parents, and
the little giil found in her grandmother a
delightful companion. She was an eccen-
trio old lady, intensely fond of nature, and
the two spent days together rambling among
the rocks and wood until the child, who
was frail and unable to endure confinement
in the school room, became far more famil-
lar with, and fond of, the birds and squir-
rels and all the little wild folk of the forest,
than with children of her own age.
When Martha was about ten years of age
her mother married Josiah Dartt, her for
mer husbands cousin. He was man who
cared little for business, but was devoted
to books and study in preparation for the
ministry, with the design of becoming a
missionary to the Indians in Oregon. He
of his slep-daughter, speaking of her as a
"diamond in the rough, and many were
the hours spent by them in the discussion
of themes connected with science and meta
physicist topics usually avoided by children,
because dry and uninteresting to them.
1t was with this missionary work in view
that the family left Pennsylvania two years
later; but upon reaching Illinois, long
sickness caused the project to be given up,
and they settled near Madison, Wisconsin,
where Mr.. Dartt pursued civil engineering
and surveying. 1t was in making their
home in this place, then so wild, that Mrs.
Maxwell fired her first shot and killed her
first game-a huge rattlesnake. Her faith
er's profession called him often from home,
and, one day, in his absence, she and her
mother were alarmed by a peculiar noise
coming apparently from the unfinished
corner of the building. Going to look they
discovered large rattlesnake in one corner,
his rattle in rapid motion, and his body
coiled as if about to spring upon her little
sister, who was uncOnsciouSly playing a few
feet from him. Quick as thought, she
caught the child away, seized her father S
ever ready rifle, and, steadying it across
some rails, tired-the ball sending the snake
mortally wounded into the cellar. After
this adventure, shooting seemed an art
which it was necessary for her to practice.
| From the time of their removal to Wis
consin, for some years, her parents were
her only teachers-her two little step
| tiers, to whom she was largely mother as
well as companion, and sundry pets chosen
from the woods, her only playmates.-
! Owing to her mothers frail health, after
| she was twelve years old, the dressmaking
of the family devolved upon her. She used
no patterns, but fitted garments nicely
cutting simply by her eye. At eighteen
she was sent to Oberlin, Ohio, that she
might see life in different surroundings,
and have better opportunities to pursue
her studies Then her unvarying kindness
and thoughtfulness for every one, her pleas
ant face and modest ways, won multitudeS
of friends among the students and teachers.
Her love of study was passion, and 1t
was with keen regret that in her junior
years, she left school and gave up the hope
of completing her course of study. A little
later, however, she had the opportunity of
attending Lawrence University, Appleton,
Wisconsin, for a year, at the end of which
time she married Mr.. James A. Maxwell
After seven years of the unceasing domes-
tic care and labor which necessarily de-
wolves upon woman at the head of large
family (for Maxwell was a widower with
several children when Miss Dart married
HIM her husbands finances became in
volved and they left their only child, then
two years old, with Mrs. MAXWELL mother,
and went to "Pike's Peak That was
the name by which all the gold. bearing
region east of the Rocky Mountains was
then known, and was the Ell Dorado OF
everybody's dreams.