The record-union., 1891-05-10


NEW YORK, May 5. 1891.
Mrs. NJ. M. Merrill Margaret Manton)
is the daughter of the Right Rev. w. E.
Merrill and sister of the Rev. c. W..
Merrill.
Although Mrs. Merrill is the daughter
Of Bishop and sister of an evangelist.
she is not connected with any church.
II believe" she says, sin the religion of
humanity and in the creed of Ezra Tay-
lor, who said: IF I can do any human
being a kindness, will do it now, for
might not pass this way again." Few
women have seen as much of the world
as Mrs. Merrill.
She was born in England, and when
six weeks old was brought to this coun-
try by her parents, who, although Eng
lish, had lived here before. AS little
girl she travelled through Europe, Egypt,
and portions of the Holy Land with her
father, whose desire to see and know the
world was great. Bishop Merrill stopped
at nothing, taking his daughter as far as
the Canary Islands and the Azores.
After summer in Norway, the child
was brought home to complete her edu-
cation. Graduating with honor from the
Minnesota University, the young woman
did the first thing which every we'll
educated young woman thought otsdoing.
For several years she taught school in
Minnesota and Colorado, but she was not
sufficiently enamored with teaching to
make it life profession, and then again
the reStlessness which doubtless was in
her blood asserted itself. She could write
a good letter and had written some stories
for children.
81 will write and lecture and travel, !"
! CriU nm S1 h
ing" And she did. The prohibition
question, which has always been strong
in certain portions Of the West, strength
ened her convictions, for she had spoken
in public at an early age on the evils OF
intemperance. When she was twenty
one years old she purchased the Colorado
Gazette, the only temperance paper ever
published in that State.
For brief season she wrote some fiery
and eloquent articles for her paper, but
either Colorado made up its mind not to
encourage prohibition, or the editor of
the Gazette was too young and ineXperi-
enced to successfully edit and publish a
paper.
The Gazette enterprise having failed,
she lectured on temperance through
Iowa, Colorado and Dakota.
Soon after this she married, but for
reasons which need not be stated here,
she resumed her fathers name after the
death of her husband.
The next step in her remarkable career
was trip to the Sandwich Islands, Aus
tralia and Mexico.
Three years ago she came to New York
penniless, and without any special inf1u-
ence succeeded in getting work on the
New York Herald, In less than nine
months she had succeeded in selling arti-
cles from her pen to every daily paper
| but the Tribune, Times and Post. That
she didn't sell those papers anything is
due to the fact that she never asked them
to buy.
The American Press Association has
given her employment right along. Last
winter she spent in Washington, where
she received considerable attention, not
| because she happened to be the daughter
of Bishop Merrill, but because she was a
brilliant and talented young woman.
For the Herald she wrote twO-page
article about the doors of the Capitol,
which many Of US read with pleasure and
profit.
Her social success was no less fiatter-
ing. She was invited by Mrs. Harrison
to receive in the blue-room, by Mrs. SEN
ator Davis from Minnesota, and also at
the British Legation.
For the New York Sun she went to
South Dakota last year and secured the
State advertising through the Legisla-
ture. She has done every kind of news
paper and literary work, but it is prob
aDIy as writer or chlldren'S stories that
she reaches the hight of excellence
She has just completed series of tales
on the little children of the Sioux In
dians. Mrs. Merrill lived and spent
many years of her life in Minnesota, her
parents having settled there when the
population was sparse. Her knowledge
of the Sioux dialect, together with her
natural ability as story teller, have
fitted her more than any other woman to
write about Indian children. Mrs. Mer-
rill Is tall and graceful. with dark hair,
gray eyes, which at times look sad.
She has excellent taste, and is more
than anything else true to her friends
and generous to a fault in dealing with
others.
THE BUSINESS WOMEN OF NEW YORK.
want to say word about the wonder
full success of Harriet Hubbard Aver,
who as business woman has mounted
the topmost round of the ladder Mrs
Aver was born to wealth. She graduated
from the Convent of Sacred Heart Chi
cago) when she was l6, and few months
after made what was then considered the
finest match of the year, by marrying
Herbert G. Aver, a wealthy iron mer-
chant of Youngstown, Ohio. As the
columns Of a newspaper is no place to en-
large on the marital troubles of woman,
/ will pass over that part Of Mrs. Ayers 5
life as the wife of Herbert G.. Aver. It
1 g L
ceived the idea Of making the preparation
that has made her name famous.
The pictures of pretty women inyaria-
bly, fatter the originals, but have yet to
see picture of Mrs. Aver that does her
justice. Her complexion is exquisite, her
hair golden blonde mot bleached), her
eyes large, expressive, and deep-blue in
color, her features the kind which artists
rave about: and her forehead indicates a
plentiful supply of brains. Her figure is
finely proportioned, and her voice soft
and well modulated, like the voices
well-bred English and Irish women. To
the women in her employ Mrs. Aver acts
more like sister and friend than an en-
ployer. A strange coincidence it is that
the three women in her retail shop are
reduced gentlewomen. But it is her ma
ture TO be kind, Many people have said
If she depended on the general public for
customers she would have failed long ago
because she is so generous, but fortu-
nately her trade comes from the wealthy,
Her shop on Fifth avenue is furnished in
gold and white and the draperies are steel
blue. On the walls are several pictures
of Madame Recamier. Every prominent
woman who comes to New York is
sure to visit Mrs. Ayers establishment
| sat there for a half hour one afternoon,
when no less than a dozen prominent
women entered and made purchases.
Among them was Mrs. Kendel, the Eng
lish actress, Mrs. G. P. Huntington, Mrs.
Stuyvesant Fish, Augusta Forster, of the
Senator" company, Edith Sessions
Tupper, the New York correspondent of
the Chicago Herald, and Mrs Isabel A .
Mallon-"Babw Mrs. Aver is very
popular with the lady correspondents, as
she herself was a journalist for a time.
Another woman who has made great
success in business is Mrs. Z. Lynch, the
Broadway jeweler and diamond expert.
Excluding Tiffany's, I don't know of a
finer shop than Mrs. Lynch's. She, too,