The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-10-03
A BROTHER AND SISTER.
Editor W.. 7. Stoad's Tribute to the
Memory Of the Two Cor
dons.
A Noble Woman Who Had q
Great Generals Fullest
Confidence.

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The nau,s r,,,liahed nv tho west,ni nstar
Gazette ~. aveninr hrn,,nht hack n Aood
IF memories aorro,yfnl md atern Tar
Misa Gordon ri So,thamrton was one of
tina few remairino links which ,,n;ted the
world ~ TODAY via the mast time
when her brother died ain the far Soudan.D
It seems but as Yesterday when, in reply to
the telegram from SOUTHAMPTON that he
Ind nothing to say. I left Northumberland
street to hold chat interview with General
Gordon which led directly and almost i'm
mcdiately to his dispatch to Khartoom.
Yet nine years and more ave passed since
thcn-nine ~eventful years full Of the TRACE
DIV and the pathos which abound in our i'm
perial annals, and now the simple an
nonncement of Miss Gordon's death recalls
with painful vividness that episode OF glory
and OF shame.
Miss Gordon was Charles Gordon's elder
sister. Her house at 8 bookstore place,
Southampton, was his only home when he
was in England. 1t was there that l inter
viewed him. ana at the present moment,
although the familiar rooms are empty of
their mistress, they are full OF the aSsocia-
tions OF her brothers presence. Never was
q sister more proudly fond of her brothers
fame. Never did brother trust more abso-
lutely his innermost thoughts to a sister
than Gordon. She was the custodian of his
archives. He left all his letters to her, and
she treasured as precious relics tho few
REMNANTS OF uniform n of other personal
belongings which he left in her hands.
The first things a visitor saw on entering
her drawing room were ostrich shells
which had been sent her from Africa, and
the next thing was the skin Of a leopard
which he had shot in the Soudan. In her
bedroom, where everything was as reli-
giously preserved as 1t was when lastit was
occupied by General Gordon, her favorite
texts were still OF the wall, the wardrobe
still held some of the hero's clothes. Miss
Gordon localized her brother-not without
cause.
The world knew him when too late as
the peerless paladin of modern chiyalry,
She knew him as such from Of old time, but
she knew him also as the merry souled,
laughing brother who never ceased to have
the heart of a schoolboy beneath the trap
pings of a governor general. Small reason
is there for surprise that Miss Gordon re-
garded with but scanty sympathy the min
lister. the lateness of whose awakening to
the dictates of patriotism and of honor cost
her brothers life. Miss Gordon, dif1ident,
humble and retiring, never expressed her
opinions publicly. But those who were
privileged to enjoy her friendship never
mistook her silence for indifference.
Her majesty was a good friend to Miss
Gordon always. It was some consolation
to tho queen, Indignant at the betrayal of
her representative, TO shower sympathy
upon his bereaved sister. Miss Gordon
naturally priced each fresh token of her
sovereign's sympathy, and she was not less
proud of the superb album, containing the
signatures of all the notable women of
England, which was presented to her after
her brothers death. Miss Gordon, how
ever, was too much of a Gordon to bemoan
her brother with ~unavailing tears. She
tended his memory with sedulous care, she
carefully treasured up all his letters, she
observed the anniversaries of his death,
and she was ever grateful to those who, to
the best of their means, had served her
brother. But she displayed always the
resignation Of a Christian and the endur-
ance Of a Gordon.
The world was never the same world to
her after her brothers. death, but it was
Gods world still, and she endeavored to
the best of her ability to walk in her broth
er's footsteps, to encourage all who had Ell
deavored to carry ON his work and to dis.
play to the weakest and the poorest of her
friends the same overlooking sympathy
which ever animated General Gordon.
Whether it was in the establishment of the
Gordon Boys homes or in helping the
wretched o%utcast, she was always ready.
Once only I had the honor Of receiving
her at my Office at Mowbray House. She
came on u characteristic errand. Some pool
bedridden old women, inmates of the local
workhouse, were panic stricken by the re
port that the guardians, after their death,
turned a penny by selling their poor car
casses to university dissecting rooms. Miss
Gordon, hearing Of this dismal vista of the
dissecting room, which rose grim and ghast
ly before the dying eyes of these poor souls
came to see me to ascertain whether thu
practice could not be stepped, The burning