Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-01-30

bined to handicap its efforts at the first concert
a fortnight or SO ago. There are very few
any country, that can sing as we'll as the Wash
ington Choral Union; and it is to be hoped that
us conductor and members will persevere in
the line they have SO successfully cultivated
for three years past"
TAKING THE BLACK VEIL.
Romantic Career OF u Baltimore Belle
Who Gives Her Life to the Church.
telegram from Baltimore, January %, saws:
There is a most romantic history attached to
the lady who, after many years reign as one of
the social attractions and beauties of Balti-
more. has Withdrawn from the world and taken
the final vows and black veil as nun. II is no
uncommon thing for ladies of family and posi-
ton in Baltimore to enter the cloister, quite as
frequent as for Philadelphia bellies to marry
foreigners and go to live gay lives abroad, but
there are few who turn their backs on so much,
and with SO many possibilities before them give
up all, as has this fair daughter of a city noted
for beauty, who had for her portion all there is
In the world that is supposed to give happi-
Miss Emily MacTavish belongs to a family
in which beauty is hereditary. 1t is sell
DOM dom, however that family fam history
danger of beauty as it has in hers. On both
sides her family connections are Of the most
distinguished character. She is, on her fathers
side, the great-granddaughter OF Charles Carroll.
Of Carrollton, the signer of the Declaration of
Independence, and on her mothers side the
granddaughter OF the once commander of the
army of the United States, General Winfield
Scott. There are few who have not heard of
Gaees Who f6 as
Carrolls granddaughter, These ladies, after
hourishing as bellies in Baltimore, went to
England, where the Duke of Wellington pre-
sented them to the court of the Prince Regent,
upon whom their beauty made a great impress
sion. They all became peeresses: Mary, the
nd r<,prf If Vail shaw TIM
elder brother OF the Duke of Wellington Eliza
beth married Baron Stafford, and Louisa became
the duchess of Leeds.
Gainesville, located on the edge of Baltimore.
was named after the family which owned most
OF the place. Since then a very large portion of
Roman Catholic church, and in and around
Gainesville, with their large woodland tracts
and picturesque surroundings, are to be seen
some OF the most interesting converts, mOnaS-
teries and schools In this country. Mount de
Sales is a beautiful spot, where the nuns some
and Spain, teach in the most accomplished
manner young ladies from the most prominent
families of the south. At Mount de Sales, which
is one qf the largest convent schools in the
United States, there are nearly as many la
dies from Protestant from Catholic fam
lilies. Most of the leading Catholics of Mary
Dame, another convent, located north of the
city. The daughters Of S. A. Abel, the pro-
nus, the proprietor of the Baltimore american,
both Of them prominent Catholics, were edu-
Gated at Mount de Sales. The monastry of the
Franciscan monks near Gainesville is the
largest in this country, and ATTACHED to it is
the industrial school for boys, where most of
the boys committed by magistrates in Balti-
more for triding Offenses are sent 1t is an
interesting tact that not only at Catonsville, but
all around the city OF Baltimore ON its three
land Sides there is an almost continuous chain
of converts, monasteries and places of religious
retreat and instruction, which remain even at
this day as memorial Of the Catholic founders
The MacTavish family, whose possessions
come from the CAROLS, the Calverts and the
Cations, has given nearly, if not all its property
the House of the Good Shepherd, in Philadel-
pha to which the late Mr.. Drexel left a large
lished in N0rristOwn by Archbishop Ryan, that
it is interesting to know that the first House of
the Good Shepherd in the United States was
established in Baltimore by Mrs. Emily Mac.
lavish, the mother of the young lady who after
the usual probationary period, has taken the
black veil. Mrs. Macravish. who died about
twelve years ago, was a granddaughter OF Lady
GeOrgianna, the Duchess OF Leeds. 1t was she
who gave the house and grounds to the Sisters
part of the modern institution, and its broad
front, wide porch and angled wings look out
upon the garden, planted in the last century by
the dead and gone beauties of the MacTavish
family. Hanging on the walls of the reception
room is life-size picture OF a lovely woman in
the bloom of youth. Her abundant black hair
is combed and pulled at the Sides in the style
of forty years ago. Her dress is cut low, and the
splendid neck and arms are in full view. The
Il
came the famous Mrs. Howard, confidant and
intimate friend Of Napoleon I'LL, the only wo-
man Of whom the Empress Eugene was ever
jealous Margaret MacTavish went with some
of her family to England about the year 1850,
and married q Captain Howard, an officer in the
British army, and a connection of the Catholic
branch of that noble family, the Towards OF
Norfolk. She was in Paris at the time Of the
coup d etat, and attracted the attention OF Ma
pOleOn. It is not known where or how she died,
except that some mysterious terrible fate over
took her, and the picture upon the wall is the
only relic of her splendid and guilty life. AS a
measure of expiatlon Mrs. MacraviSh has given
church to establish sisterhood and homes
for erring and depraved women, and out of the
mother house here has grown the one in Phila-
delphia.
Now another, and it is believed the last of the
family, has given her life to the cqurch and hid
den her beauty behind the Visitation closister
wallis Her wealth and high social position
placed her in the front rank of Baltimore
society. Stately in her bearing as Tennyson's
Maud and calm in her manner as her grand
aunt, the Duchess OF Leeds, whom she resem-
bles, Miss Mac1aviSh was possessed of that
conscious repose and high-bOrn grace seen SO
often in Vandycks portraits, representing as
of q dozen generations. Those who witnessed
the ceremony of her first entrance into the
nunnery will never forget its sOlemnity. When
she came to the altar clad in white satin, like a
bride, there were many regrets for the loss to
society of such beauty and talents that were
to be offered in vicarious atonement for the sins
of an ancestor. HencefOrth the life of this
great belle and beauty, now one of the Sisters of
the Good Shepherd, will he spent among SHINING
and fallen women, trying to reclaim them to
society and to the church.
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