Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-07-21
Death Of Mrs. E. N. Norris.

| MIS-. II. M. MOTIFS Q1oQ at Gum
berland City, ON Saturday, July IA
1877. She was one of those womer
of exceptional force of character
whose life has to be estimated by
criteria different from those by
which ordinary persons are judged
The average character, among fe
males especially, isiudged chiefly by
negative characteristics and the av.
oidance of the common foibles Of
humanity is the condition of IA.
vOrable judgment. In other words,
they are estimated by their mega
tiOns, by the sins they have alb
stained from.
But persons of the type we have
now to consider refuse to be CLASH
fed according to negative consider
ations; their type is positive, incis-
sive, aggressive, and they are to be
valued for what they have done and
not for what they left undone. Their
virtues are not of the squeamish,
fastidiOus type, but Of the heroic
mould which is not satisfied unless
it leaves decisive traces of its work
behind.
This is the principle on which we
shall base the few words which we
have to say about the subject of this
notice.
Mrs. Norris was born Miss Bel
soOVer, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
In that city she contracted her first
marriage with gentleman named
Cox, of that city. By this marriage
she gave birth to a daughter now
Mrs. F. Evans, who attended her
funeral last Monday. 1t was as his
widow that she became a citizen of
Cumberland Iron Works, in this
State. Here she became acquainted
with Mr.. Norris, who became her
second husband and shortly re-
moved with her to Dover, the coun-
ty seat of Stewart county.
OF the events of this most unhap-
Ply marriage and its tragical termi-
nation we propose to say nothing;
her action in it has already been the
subject of an earthly tribunal which
has acquitted her of criminal intent,
and it has now been called up to a
court more august still, before whose
verdicts all human judgment is 81
lent.
At the commemorate of the war
all her means of subsistence were
swept away by the invading forces,
she being at the time a defenceless
widow. 1t may be stated as an in
stance of the great energy of her
character that in this emergency,
instead of appealing to the charity
of her neighbors as she would have
been well justified in doing, she
found means to purchase a yoke of
steers and, working with her own
hands, raised a crop on her plumber
ed farm and so procured a subsis-
tence for herself and her daughter.
Subsequently during the progress
of the war she devoted herself to
the care of the sick and wounded of
the army, especially to those of the
18th Tennessee regiment, and many
a sufferer experienced in her matern-
al attentions the care and sustenance
which preserved his life from the
ordinary effects of the hardships and
priVatiOns of war. After the close
of warfare she turned her attentions
from the soldier themselves to the
orphans of those who had persisted
in the struggle.
The GAINESVILLE Orphan Asylum,
which has now fulfilled its mission
of providing subsistence to the
orphans of Confederate soldiers 50
long as they were of tender years,
owes a very large portion of its eff
ficiency first to her indOmitable eff
forts in every part of the United
States to collect funds for the pur-
pupose, and. afterwards, to her sedu-
lous care of its inmates while she
was matrOn of the institution.
This is a small part of what Mrs.
Norris has done to merit the graft
tude of her fellow citizens. If with
her great qualities moral, and intel
lectuaI, some infirmities of temper
ament mingled, this is no time to
drag them to the light. 1t will be
long e'er the memory of her COM
handing energy of character, COM
bined with an intense glow of active
benevolence, will fade from the
minds of men, especially from those
of the many hundreds who have
been the beneficiaries of her indie
fatigable charity. a singlesentence
uttered by DIR. Shearer ut the grave
gives the history of her life in terms
which volumes could not improve:
" Her plans of benefcence were
with the love of wO-
man; they were carried out with
the strong arm of man."