The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1882-05-10

her:
II am sorry to appear downcast at
one Of your charming receptions, but
the fhcf h / an greatly troubled over
the case Of IN American lady and her
daughter who arc very III for. lack Of
food to ct, and who are too proud to 40
cept anything in the way Of assistance.
The mother (he named her. but I SIN
not permitted to do so) h an artist who
has not been able TO dispose Of her pic
tures, and my attention WAS called to
her case BY . letter received from Amer
ica, stating that It was feared there that
che was Starving to death. I called at
her apartments and the mother only
consented e So mo on account Of my
Official position. The rooms they Occur
py are seantily furnished, and the
clothes they wear are threedbare and
dirty. The floor Was covered with can.
VAS which, truth compells me to say,
arc works Of inferior quality. The two
ladies positively rsfoesd to accept my
mother, Il am IN artistic. There aremy
win wait. God will protect us, and We
win never accept chafity.' What could
I do: Nrs. Noyes on several occasions
fixet( up some nourishing dishes, home
style, and the doctors wife took them
to the pooF woman, saying he had pre-
scrii~d them. But now the mother re-
fuses to accept any more such prescrip-
tiOn.. She has become suspicious, and
has ordered the physician out Of her
house for haxing insulted her. I ann
troubled because can do nothing for
these two ladies. They are Of excellent
family, intelligent, but too proud to &C.
cept assistance in any form whatever"
Mn. Nackay listened and said Moth
lug. General N0yes remarked after
ward that he wondered at the time II
she had no heart. But he soon knew
whether she had or not. The very
next day there came to the General .
private note, written on delicately-per-
fumed paper, bearing silver crest, =
hand holding q dagger pointed upward,
and the motto, ''Manu FOrti" add couch
ed in language rhetorically as fine a. ev-
er any woman wrO:e. / shall not at
tempt to repeat the precise words, but
in that letter the writer told the Minis
ter that he knew she had . very large
house in which sexeral small rooms
needed decorating, that she was anxious
to secure some pictures, was determined
they should he by Americans, and great
lv preferred them to he the work Of an
artistic Of her own sex. Net being ac-
Quaiptell with any such she had ven
tured to ask the assistance Of the Minis
ter who perhaps knew some such paint
ers, and she would consider 1t . great
kindness II the Minister would invest
the amount of the enclosed check In the
manner indicated. That check was for
many thousand francs and was signed
''Marie Louise Mackay."
It was the wife of the millionaire min
er who wrote the note. Her wOmanly
intelligence had discovered . way by
which those proud and starving Amerf-
cans could be assisted, and she acted Inn.
n,ediatly. OF course General Noyes did
a. he vas requested; and when heshow-
ed the mother and daughter Mrs: Mac
kay's letter, the former accepted 1t as q
matter Of fact, and began to turn over
her paintings that the Minister might
make his selection. In few days Mrs.
Mackay had in her hotel in the Rue
Tilsitt, q lot Of paintings which, to say
the least, would never be admitted into
the French salOn.-Paris Letter to the
BOsfOn Herald.