Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-07-20
A Woman Naturalist.

On entering the Colorado depart
ment, every one stops first to look at
the Rocky Mountain section where
Mrs. Maxwell's own collection of ami
mails is exhibited. 1t is a source of no
small annoyance to this lady, who Is
simply and sincerely naturalist, who
shrinks from destroying life as sensi-
| lively as would the most dellcately-
reared metropolitan woman, that she
should be called for, almost demanded,
as part of the exhibit, as ''the Rocky
Mountain huntress" The would-be
interviewers are not only surprised
but disappointed when told that the
little woman in plain black dress
whose shining deep-blue eyes, glancing
back for an instant as she retreated
into her 'cave'' with a look of mirth
and annoyance, is the one they seek,
and is so wholly different from the
muscular, Amazonian Rocky Mount
ain combination, armed with bow
like Diana, and dressed like miner,
that their fancy had cOnjured. Mrs.
Maxwell is a native of Pennsylvania.
Her parents early removed to the To-
cality in Wisconsin so new that it was
quite a necessity that the women
should know how to use firearms; and
here, while a mere child, she received
her initiatOry training for the work SO
thoroughly accomplished. After spend
ing some years at school in Oberlin,
Ohio, she married, and with her hus-
band removed to the ''far West" 1t
was not until the birds of her
hOme-neSt had taken their flight
that she as a naturalist, not as
ht1ltTess," again revived her early
tastes and habits. She learned some
thing of the arts of the taxidermist,
but satisfied neither with their results
nor her own, she set to work to do
better, and succeeded in making i'm
provements that, if she had been self
appreciative and "knoWn at the time"
might have been patented with profit
able results. But now her "way'' is
copied by many. Which "way'' was,
not 10 stuff the skin to any shape it
would assume, but to take careful
measurement Of the animal, construct
model and then clothe it with its
own skin. She first used plaster, but
finding this too heavy for transporta-
ton and liable to crack she has since
found more desirable material for her
models. If Mrs. Maxwell had been
educated in Italy she would have
carved life out of marble. The forest,
instead Of the city, has been her school,
and she is a naturalist who studies the
pose of her animals to a degree that
drew from the most distinguished
visitor at the Exposition an expression
of admiration and the honor of a GEN
uine American shaking hands" that
would be a matter of boast to a metro
pOlitan belle and her descendants even
10 the next Centennial.
''Oh, they are so literalr' was her
slightly annoyed exclamation after
such questions as: do the animals
really stand on the Rocky Mountains
as thick as that?''
''Is that real Rocky Mountain soil?'
Jersey beach sand scattered over
canvas.
did you really shoot them all ?'-
10 +i,f 5,f1,
The crowds of appreciative visitors
for the most part admire in silence.
The labOrs of Mrs. Maxwell form an
interesting chapter in natural history.
Her collection Of ores, fossils, ETC.,
contains many specimens of extreme
rarity and value. For instance, a
specimen of the black-footed ferret, the
only one, Mrs. Maxwell is told by Prof.
Baird, in any American collection eX-
cepting the one in the National Museum
in Washington. Prof. Hayden, the
United States GeolOgist, assures her
that, though others may doubt it, one
of her fossils, found near the base of
the Rocky Mountains, is that of rhi-
nOcerOS horn.
Mrs. Maxwell had not decided to
come to the Exposition until about a
month before her departure from Colo
RADIO. Her collection, which repre-
sents only a part of the work of many
years, was made with no reference to
this Centennial EXposition.-Neo0 Cen
taqy for Women.
Alaskan Idols.