The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1891-07-16


high vocations is she indebted tor her
supremacy. Her birthright was a
sunny aud adaptable temperament.
The environing circumstances of her
late husbands distinguished life devel-
oped her ''career' as surely as it did
his. 1t takes no great amount of dis
cernment to trace many of Mrs. Logan's
characteristics to her mixed ancestry.
Her wit is of Irish origin her strudy
conscientious staying qualities, to a
Scotch branch of the family; her re-
6nement and tact to mixture of
French blood her adaptability and
intellect, to a combination Of Eng
lish and American progenitors.
Mary Cunningham Logan was born
in 1898, in the State ofMissouri. The
family removed early in her life to
Illinois. Her father was captain in the
Mexican war John A. Logan was
in the same regiment, and he and
Captain Cunningham became fast
friends, bond that continued after
their return. Mrs. Logan was the
oldest of thirteen children, and the
family being so large and in modest
circumstances, Mary Cunningham, like
a dutiful daughter, on reaching woman
hood and having graduated, acted as
her fathers clerk when he was Land
Register by appointment of President
Pierce, at Shawneetown, III. 1t was
at this time that John A. Logan and
Mary Cunningham met as man and
woman, he being seventeen years her
senior, and Prosecuting Attorney in
the county town of Benton, Illinois.
Nature had evidently destined these
two for each other, and being mutually
attracted they soon joined hands
(hearts were already joined), and the
result proved happy thing for both
of them for never was fonder, truer
wife than Mary Cunningham Logan,
or more trustful and devoted husband
than John A. Logan, whose heart
implicitly "trusted in her," and con-
tinued steadfast until the last Of the
three inexorable Fates separated them.
That she exerted strong, sympathetic
and helpful influence in the life Of this
great man, all the world comedies.
She trod the paths of obscruity and
comparative poverty with him cheer
fully, and stimulated his best powers,
for she was not without an honorable
ambition in him, and for him. So
they lived and labored, hand in hand,
heart to heart, until the war of the re-
bellion broke out, when even then, she
did not hold him back, but gave him
up freely to the service of his country.
1t would make chapter worth
reading to 60 into the details of this
interesting period of her life.
When the war was over and General
Logan was reelected to Congress and
later to the United States Senate, and
they thus became residents of Wash
ington, Mrs. Logan's peculiar fitness
for social duties was soon recognized,
and her receptions were always exceed
ingly popular.
She spent her mornings usually with
her husband, acting as his conhden-
tial clerk, they often advising and
consulting together, for she understood
politics, his political attitude, and
thoroughly sympathized with him.
1t was a terrible blow to Mrs. Logan
when disease struck down the mortal,
and carried into the unknown all that
which was immortal Of John A. Logan,
her heroic and idolized husband. 1t
seemed to sweap the very earth from
beneath her feet her life work to
be utterly carried away as by mighty
food. How could she live the SEEM
ingly long, unknown years of the
future alone, without the occupations
that had so fitted her life to his j?
These were questions that overwhelm
but few women under affection as they
overwhelmed her, for this marriage
was singularly perfect, and even ideal
in respect to its fullness; a perfect
union, and in its comraderie or COM
panionship, complete.