Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-06-05
ISABEL G. BARROWS.

| To the Editor of the Eagle
A paragraph concerning this gifted
woman has been recently going the
rounds of the newspapers relative to her
EXPERIENCES as a shorthand reporter and
language into another. I have noticed
the paragraph in no less than three is
sues OF our local press. The feat men
toned was the reporting in English of a
political speech made by Carl Schurz in
German, both translation and report be-
ing made simultaneously.
Two years ago l met her in Denver,
Colorado. She is a little, black-eyed,
plain featured woman, with a face which
seen casually one would scarcely remem-
Der as at all striking. But should you
happen to engage her in conversation
you would see her TRANSPORTED with the
eloquence and intensity of sprightly wit
and nimble perspicuous thought, and
unless you are stone or wood you will
catch somthing of the quickening intel
lectual glow yourself.
She has wide range of subjects that
she is interestingly conversant upon.
Subjects she is not familiar with she is
as eager to learn about as a child. 1t
was on Sunday that / met her in the
crowded aisles Of the new Unity church
in Denver, which was being dedicated
that day. She had but few days be-
fore attended benevolent convention in
Montreal; from thence she sped as a
delegate to a humane association which
convened in Omaha, and from this place
she went to Leadville, Colo, and by
travelling in the night returned to Dem
yer in time for the Unity dedication
Sunday morning. On invitation to at
tend the opening exercises of another
Unitarian church in Greeley, Colo, on
the same evening, she accepted and
joined our party. Monday morning she
arose at o'clock to be driven six miles
in coach in order to catch the train for
Georgetown and Gray's Peak, which she
climbed in a thunder storm the day fol-
lowing. From Rev. Minnot j. Savage,
who was a member of that early
morning party learned many things of
interest about the little woman. Her
experiences as a shorthand reporter was
only one of the many things Mr.. Savage
mentioned. Besides reporting Mr.. Say
ages sermons every Sunday she does
a great deal of reportorial work for her
husbands paper, the Christian Register.
of Boston. She is also a frequent con-
tributor of original articles to its col
umns. Then she is editor of a paper of
her own, the organ Of some of the
humane and charitable associations with
which she is connected. She has an ex-
cellent medical education, and was a
successful practitioner for some years in
the city of Washington.
She is perfectly at home in the mod
ern languages, as the reporting of the
German speech in English shows, but
she is familiar with Sanskrit and the ma
tive language of Ida as we'll. Formerly
the wife of a Congregational clergyman,
she went to India, where she spent sew
eral years as a missionary. Her hus-
band dying, she returned to Amer
lea and subsequently married her
present husband, Samuel j. Barrows. |
They are the joint authors of two or
three published works. One is "The
Shaybacks in Camp" Two articles
giving recollections of Charles Seward |
have recently appeared from them in
the Atlantic Monthly. Withal Der
facility with the pen, she can use a saw,
a Ratchet, broom, needle or a rolling |
pin as dexterously as the most skillful. |
She helped lay the floor and nail the
shingles of the cabin they built for their
summer abode on lake Memphamagog,
and quite excelled some of the country
at their own trade.
She takes deep interest in matters of
public veal; reform in religion, morals,
suffrage and in the line of literary and
work she lends not only
helping hand" but gives the service of
both hands and feet. A private letter
from her husband intimates that half the
good things about her have never yet
been told. From which l infer that
her domestic life with her
husband and two children is very happy
That she gives so much of herself to
public interests does not mean that she
owes her husband and children less. but
more. She is one of those that having
once met we seem always to have
known. and having once known will
never allow to pass completely out of our