The record-union., 1891-03-01
CLEVER WOMEN OF AMERICA.
Olive Thorne Miller, Friend Of
Birds and Beasts.
Her Home in Brooklyn-A Witty Ken
tuclsy Girls Work in Gotham-Mrs.
utz-Rees-self-made wom-
men.
Especial Correspondence of the SUNDAY
UNION. CoDyright 1901

men.
| Especial Correspondence of the SUNDAY
UNION. Copyright, 1911
Those of our readers who take an inter-
est in bird-lore and the feathery and ful
| creation, owe much to Olive Thorne Mil
Ter, author, naturalist, philanthropist and
hon comradie. For thirteen years Mrs
Miller has made Brooklyn her home, and
1t is here, in the lovely City of Churches
| where she is reverenced and beloved.
Although several ''little folks" call hel
grandmother" her mind is as bright
her heart as warm, and her pen as
busy as ever. Her gentle, motherly
face Is familiar one at the receptions and
luncheons of women's clubs in this vicin-
lty, Besides the Brooklyn Women's
Club, she is a member of the Seidl Socie-
ty and Sorosis and Meridian Clubs ot
New York. 'These clubs" she says,
are working revolution among women
| and teaching the sex to regard each other
as sisters" The ''small talk" which was
part and parcel of the sewing circle and
| quilting party twenty years ago does not
enter into the discussions at any of these
modern clubs. We all know-that is.
those of us who have visited meeting OF
modern women's club-what lofty
themes and high motives actuate the sis
terhood to discussion. The latter, if any
thing, are prone to be too serious. Mrs.
Miller also belongs to the Women's Uni
tartan League, but, strange to say, she is
not Unitarian. She attends the New
Church (Swedenborgianl. By nature, a
woman of broad and liberal views, she
suffered in secret for years because
py stn
of woman's having any aims outside OF
her home, or any ideas above those held
by past generation. Born in Western
New York, she married quite early in
life a man who descended from an old
fashioned New England family, who,
Mrs. Miller said, believed that ''the dish
cloth was mightier than the pen.' as far
as woman was concerned. Like good
wife, she tried to model her ideas after the
plan Of her husbands family, so it was
not until her four babies were out Of her
arms, and she away from her husband s
people, that the inborn taste for writing
and telling what she knew about birds
asserted itself. Think of a people blind
enough to discourage the author of ''Lit-
tie Folks in Feathers and, Fur" Queer
Pets at Morcy'S,o Little People of ASIA -
Bird Ways" and '.In Nesting Time.'
Mrs. Miller has also been a liberal con-
tributor to the Atld2tic, Hd1per's, and
the newspapers.
She has two books in course of writing,
one, "Hops in the Field" and the other
on organizing and running club.
A sELF-MADE WOMAN
This "clever' woman, who has done so
much to show US our duty to the dumb
pets of creation, passed twenty years of
her marriage life in Chicago. Possessing
talent of a high order, and selecting a
field that was not overdone, she expert
enced little or no difficulty in disposing
Of her stories. She is q self-made woman
in the truest sense of the word.
Lately statement has been going the
rounds of the papers that she Mrs. AfiIler)
had issued and sent out circulars to twen-
ty thousand fashionable women, asking
them not to wear birds or wings on their
hats. Mrs. Miller wished me to contradict
that statement, for she never sent out any
such circular. Her modesty shrinks from
the egotism which such a move implies.
Like a sensible woman, she knows that
the wearing of birds on bonnets is due to
the thoughtlessness, and not the heart
lesSnesS, of women. One extremely con-
scientious young lady, after reading an
article by Mrs. Miller in the Chn2tfuu-
guam, this winter, sat down Immediately
and took the birds and wings off her bon
net, and had it retrimmed with velvet and
gold embroidery.
Come to think of it, there is nothing
graceful or elegant about wings or birds
on a lady's bonnet. Even the richest and
best of them look forced and stiff to fine
observer, and there is the ever present
thought that the blood of little innocent
creature has been shed merely to crafty
a whim of fashion.
In the line of head-gear nothing is
softer or prettier for winter wear than
rich velvet with gold or silver embroid-
cry. Then there is felt and velvet, and
a., tl,~,,
slave to fashion who needs to wear
"our friends III feathers,' as Mrs. Miller
affectionately refers to her pets.
One of the best paid newspaper women
in New York is Miss Matte Sheridan, of
the Continent and 1Iunsey's Weekly. tits
reported that her salary is close on to
$1,000 u year. She is by far the best So
ciety writer in this section, and enjoys an
intimate acquaintance with several thou
sand of the -Four Hundred" She is a
close friend of Mrs. Frederick W. Van
derbilt, and every summer finds her
visitor at the Newport house of this
branch of the Vanderbilt family, which
may in truth be called the intellectual
branch Of the American "Rothschilds."
Miss Sheridan is native of kentucky
Almost anybody would take her for
Kentucky girl, for she has the coloring,
wit and sparkling intelligence which has
immortalized the women of the Blue
Grass State. Her family is one of the
oldest and best in the country.
MRS. JANET RUUTz-REEs
Is an English woman, who came to these
shores eleven years ago to make her for
tune. She is at the head of large depot
in New York where etchings from one
dollar to, five hundred can be found on
sale. Without money, friends or calling
and three children to educate, she arrived
in Boston on a cold winters day. Reared
in 4 circle where it was considered de-
grading in woman to work, everybody
wondered what she would do, But their
wondering faculties were appeased when
she went to Prang's and showed them
that she could do something in the art
line. What she lacked in experience she
made up in aptitude, SO it wasn't long be-
fore she was considered Indispensable to
the hrm. She supplemented her art crit
1clsmS by occasional contributions to the
English magazines about American in
stitutions. In less than five years she
began to make money, and to-day she is
regarded as representative woman, who
combines business ability with literary
and artistic talent. Her eldest daughter
is graduate of Cambridge. and under the
friends she opened young ladies' semi
nary in Pennington, Conn, last October.
Mrs. William b. Choate, Bishop Potter
and many other prominent New York
ers are interested in it's success. Mrs.
Rees is the President and founder of the
Kindly Club, an organization of men and
women who pledge themselves never to
speak unkindly Of a human being, even
when they know something detrimental
OF persons whom they happen to know.
The lady is thoroughly American in her
ideas and tastes, and believes there is no
country for women like the United States.
She lives out of the city in house owned
by prominent New York lawyer The
place is said to be haunted, but the noises
which are heard at night are soothing, she
says, to her nerves. At all events, She is