San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-06-29

a political as well as a social distinc-
ton, and later, when Michigan was
erected into State, her brother, Stevens
T.Mason, becameit its first Governor and
the Youngest who has ever held the po-
sition of Executive-she presided over
his household, and dispensed a liberal
and graceful hospitality. The Guber-
Material mansion on Fort Street was the
center of the culture and fashion of the
Northwest, and Miss Mason was at the
head of the society Of the Wolverine me-
tropolis. Very few of. the old families
of that day now remain, few, indeed,
whose members can tell of the loves
and the hates, the aspirations and the
triumphs of the time, but those who can
recall with eagerness the brilliancy of
the days when the Masons, the Cases,
the Morells, the Chesters, the Aliens,
the Abbotts, the Towards, the Hollands,
the Kirchivilles, the Campbells, the
Legers, and the Atterburys formed the
social and political powers in the land.
Governor Mason was man of genius,
coupled with eccentricity, fond of the
good things of life, and not given to
stinting himself of its pleasures. He
was so absent-minded that his vagaries
were occasionally themes of general
wonderment. His death was sudden.
He complained of being unwell one
evening, and DIR. Mott was called in.
The doctor observed that his patient was
very i'll and recommended that he inn
mediately be placed in a warm bath.
This was done, but in the morning
Stevens 7 Mason was dead, victim to
suppressed scarlet fever.
While Miss Mason was discharging
the duties of first lady of the State,
Lewis Cass was at West Point. During
his vacation he used to come home, and
naturally was thrown into the society
of the brilliant Emily. He was an ar
rant Hirt, however, more given to sip
ping sweets from many flowers than ex-
hibiting constancy to one. Besides, he
was good deal younger than was Miss
Emily, and if he was smitten by her
beauty and accomplishments he never
summoned up courage enough or au-
dacity enough to propose to self-pos-
sessed lady, capable of filing the most
exalted position with ease and grace,
while he led a gay butterfly species of
existence. The Mason and Cass fami-
lies were united by the strongest ties OF
friendship, and their intercourse was OF
the most cordial character until the
former family was broken up by the
death of Governor Mason.
The breaking up of the Mason home.
stead and the reverse which followed
obliged Miss Mason to look about for
means of support. Had she chosen she
might have entered a score of brilliant
homes which would have been proud of
her presence and her society. She was
a girl of proud, independent spirit,
and her warm Kentucky blood
indicated to her that the noblest
course for her to pursue was to MAIN
tain herself and those dependent upon
her by her own exertions. With the re-
mains of her property she purchased a
in Fairfax County, Va,
and commenced business like practi-
,al woman. She displayed energy and
foresight, and soon enjoy
I'd abundant prosperity. She supported
herself and her orphaned nieces in ele-
CANT style, worked hard and acquired a
At the time the civil war
broke out, her home was one of the
most delightful in all Virginia, and Miss
Mason was enabled to devote q consid-
,rable portion of time to literature.
The war, however, destroyed her home,
scattered her fortune to the winds and
eft her all but destitute She was now
! fully matured woman, over forty years
Of age, strong, resolute and energetic.
Driven from her home by the exigen-
,ies of the strife, she went to Richmond
md became nurse in the hospitals, a
sort of Florence Nightingale among the
sick, the wounded and the dying SOL
liers. The Federal prisoners who came
lnder her ministrations of mercy re-
,eived her especial care, and there are
many men in the North who, passing
through the ordeal of sick and wound
ID captivity, remember with gratitude
Ter kindly attentions.
On the close of the war she devoted
herself to the education of Southern