The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1886-04-02
MRS. FRANK LESLIE.
A WOMAN'S ENERGY, PLUCK AND
RARE EXECUTIVE ABILITY.

The Dying Wishes Of Great Publisher
Triumph Over Long Succession of Diff
fculties and Gbstacles-A Woman Of
Refined Taste and Femininity.
"Go to my office, sit in my place, and do
my work until my dtsbts are paid, " we're Nj.
Leslie's last words to his wife after hearing
that he could no longer live.
1t was in the winter of 1880 that Mrs. Les
lie lost her husband. The great publishing
house of Frank Leslie was at that time in
{ volvea I'm ~ tangle of debt, and the business
already In the hands Of an assignee. Almost
! the dying words of the publisher were no
BILE testimonial to the good wife, the intelli.
gent, ready help-mate, as he honored her
with sacred trust. He told her to take his
place at the desk, to finish the work he had
left undone, to lift the reproach of debt from
his name, and when that was done she was to
continue the business of the publishing house
herself.
She was a young and very beautiful
woman, that sad hearted widow, who turned
from grave to face difficulties the most per-
picking, to begin a contest that many wise
ones prophesied would end badly for her But
ciers did not know what a woman can do,
who has energy and pluck united with rare
intelligence and mind formed for executive
work. By legal process and i'll response to
her husbands wish, Mrs Leslie abandoned
her Christian names of Miriam Florence and
became in the law and to the world "Frank;
Leslie. To the business world she became
even more than Frank Leslie; when the
slender, sweet-faced, gentle-voiced woman
walked into her husbands office, and putting
back the sad announcing folds of her crepe
veil, announced she had come to stay, her
gentle, gracious femininity won the sympathy
of those about her. But when she came the
next day as early as the earliest clerks. and
the next day and the next, something more
than respect and sympathy for the brave lit
tie woman came into their regard for her.
DEVELOPED A REMARKABLE FACULTY.
She sat at her desk like Napoleon over his
war maps. She developed a remarkable fac
ulty for knowing news: for seizing upon the
very things that caught and charmed the
public mind. A thousand and one things in
the history Of illustrated newspapers origin
ated in her brain, and were executed for he.
papers. All day long she bent to her desk,
and was her own wise counselor. The best
of it all was that Frank Leslie was not
afraid. Big contracts did not frighten her.
notes to pay did not cause her to get nerv
GUS, reading interminabe pages of proof did
not fret her, thinking out new features for
her paper did not perplex her. Always
CHEEKY in her speech, and with considerate
words and hopeful for her employees, it is no
wonder that both men and women fell in
love with the New Frank Leslie and gave her
the best work of which they were capable
The dying wishes of Frank Leslie have been
carried out but only after his widow has en-
countered and triumphed over one long sue
cession of difficulties and obstacles.
Opening out of the main editorial room on
the Park place front is the private office OF
Mrs. Leslie, the presiding genius of the entire
establishment. A peep within its walls will
discover rare and attractive combination Of
the surroundings of woman of refined and
cultured taste and of active business habits.
Sitting in her bijou sanctum in the mid
summer glory OF triumph, Mrs Leslie
presents a thoughtful and unusually earnest
face Her wondrously expressive gray eyes
seem to pierce to the inner humanity Of sense
and motive; mouth extremely mobile in its
play is added to the whole contour of regular
features that at once arrest admiration and
respect. One can not help taking in also
finely shaped head that is abundantly stocked
with brains.
She is thorough woman of business.
Every morning she is found in her Office by
Q o'clock, and there she remains until or
half-past in the afternoon. She signs all
checks and money orders, makes all contracts
for supplies of every sort, looks over proofs
of oil articles before they are published, and
approves the makeup of every periodical be-
fore it is seEt to press.
Mrs. Leslie is that most gracious and
attractive of all human beings, wornans
woman. She has never been too busy to talk
to a woman. She has ever been quick to
detect their talents, and to give them the
friendly hand of help. She has proved her
self one of the greatest, most enterprising,
and shrewd of the publishers of this age, the
equal in enterprise, ability, discretion, of any
man in the world; and alas! she is not only
pretty woman, but she is fond of dress, has
pretty feminine airs, and is, at the proper
times, devoted to society.-Lexington White
in Literary Life.