Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1894-03-30


A Noble Woman Who Was a Great Gener-
ais Confidante and the Unassuming
Friend of the Poor and Lowly-Sister Of
Him Who Died ''In the Far soudan."
The news published by the Westminster !
Gazette this evening brought back food
of memories, sorrowful and stern, for
Miss Gordon of Southampton was one of
the few remaining links which united the
world of today with the troublous past time
when her brother died sin the far Soudan."
1t seems but as yesterday when, in reply to :
the telegram from Southampton that he
had nothing to say, left Northumberland
street to hold that interview with General
Gordon which led directly and almost i'm
mediately to his dispatch to Khartoom
Yet nine years and more have passed since
then-nine eventful years full of the TRACE
dy and the pathos which abound in our i'm
perial annals, and now the simple an
nouncement 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 5 Rockstone place,
Southampton, was his only home when he
was in England. 1t was there that inter-
viewed him. and 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
sister more proudly fond of her brothers
fame. Never did brother trust more abso-
lutely his innermost thoughts to sister
than Gordon. She was the custodian of his
archives. He left all his letters to her, and
she treasured as precious relics the few
remnants of uniform and of other personal
belongings which he left in her hands,
| The first things 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 leopard
| which he had shot in the Soudan. In her
bedroom, where everything was as reli-
| giously preserved as it was when last it was
occupied by General Gordon, her favorite
| texts were still ON the wall, the wardrobe
still held some of the hero's clothes. Miss
| Gordon idealized her brother-not without
cause
The world knew him when too late as
| the peerless paladin of modern chivalry.
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 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, diffident,
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 good friend to Miss
/ Enr1OU al = Lat
to the 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 tbet~sMperb album, containing the
signatures of all the notable women OF
England, which was presented to her aftel
her brothers. death. Miss Gordon, how
ever, was too much of 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, tC
the best of their means, had served hel
brother. But she displayed always the
resignation of a Christian and the endur
ance OF u Gordon.
The world was never the same world tt
her after her brothers death, but it was
Gods world still, and she endeavored tc
the best of her ability to walk in her broth
er's footsteps, to encourage all who had en-
deavored to carry on his work and to dis
play to the weakest and the poorest of hel
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 outcast, she was always ready.
Once only had the honor of receiving
her at my Office at Mowbray House. She
! came on characteristic errand. Some pooi
bedridden old women, inmates of the loca
, 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 thu
dissecting room, which rose grim and ghast
ly before the dying eyes of these poor souls
, came to see me to ascertain whether the
practice could not be stepped. The burning
indignation of the Gordons glowed in hel
eyes as she told me the story, which, 1 con
fessed, seemed to me utterly incredible, i'm
til, from subsequent correspondence with
the local government board, learned that
Miss Gordon's representation had finally al
layed the alarm.
MISS OOruOn ufedu was 10 DE discovered
, doing anything of a public nature, but
when necessary she did not hesitate to act
, even though action cost her many sor,
searchings of the heart. She never public
ly identified herself with political parties
but she used to remark occasionally thai
after parliament had enfranchised the il
; literate plowman it might perhaps in it:
wisdom see fit to give vote to his edu
Gated mistress. There was the Gordon
CLEAN of humor in all her conversation
She was Gordon through and through-ir
her patriotism, in her endurance, in hel
quaint humor and above all in her religion
He did not seem to have quite gone from
among us while his sister lived.
Now that Miss Gordon is no longer al
Rockstone place, we begin to realize thai
the generation which ennobled history with
the character of Gordon at Khartoom il
fast passing away, leaving to the coming
century a proud Inheritance in the memory
of sanity life and heroic death.-W. 7
Stead in Westminster Gazette.