St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-05-13

MRS. MARGARET BOTTOME.
faculty. of taking cheerful view of things.
She knew there were thousands of noble
women throughout the country ready to
enter into such a movement, under intelligent
direction. To her, primarily, and to a group
of other worthy women in conjunction with
her, is due the organization of the Kings
Daughters, a society which now numbers its
branches by thousands all over the land. One
afternoon in January, 1886, nine ladies met at
AZ West Twenty-second street, New York city.
All were influential women and majority
were actively engaged in philanthropic work.
These ladies, after discussing various methods
and comparing notes and experiences, finally
accepted Mrs. Bottome's suggestion for
organizing a society. Mrs. Bottome was
chosen president, Mrs. M. L. Dickinson,
secretary, and Mrs. Hamersley, treasurer.
The others who were present and who
pledged their prayers and efforts for the sue
cess of the new venture were Mrs. Theodore
Irving, Hrs. T. Payson, Mrs. G. P. p. DeField,
Mrs. J. F. Ruggles, Miss S. B. Schenck and
Miss G. Fl. Libby-all names well known in
New Yorks Upper Tendom.'' When plan
of organization had been definitely sketched
out, the next thing to be done was to agree
upon a name for the new society. One after
another was suggested and rejected in rapid
succession.
81 propose that the title should be the
Kings Daughters" said Mrs. Theodore
Irving. She was the wife of an Episcopal
clergyman, and after his death she had con-
Quoted private seminary for young girls in
Montreal, where she had organized society
under the same name, but totally dissimilar
in its workings. For long time she was
thought to be the originator of the name, but
she has since discaimed the honor, for it
was discovered that an association bearing
the same name had already existed in Massa-
chusetts. The suggestion of the name by
Mrs. Irving, however, was made in good
faith, and the fact that other organizations
had already borne it, has in nowise initiated
against its popularity.
Mrs. Bottome has since discovered another
fact which shows the designation to have
been applied, at a date still more remote, to
a somewhat similar organization in Virginia.
In that State there existed society of Kings
Daughters nearly generation ago, and long
anterior to the Montreal organization founded
by Mrs. Irving.
There are many ways simple in themselves,
yet graceful and effective, which Mrs. Bot
tome and her associates have devised for
keeping the fraternity of the organization
intact and the relations of many branches of
the Kings Daughters harmonious. One of
these devices is the organization Of badge,
beautiful little Maltese cross of silver, finely
chased, and bearing the letters I. II. N, Gin
His Name" The cross also bears the year of
the society's institution, 1885, To the
badge is attached a purple ribbon, the royal
color, which appropriately carries out the
significance of the insignia. s.+-
There are no longer any geographical
limits to the order of the Kings Daughters,
tation. Many thousands of the best
women in America belong to the order,
and it has been a potent factor in the
development of new and valued activities
in connection with church and charity
work. In the large cities especially, the
organization finds its ranks steadily swelling.
It has taken up the problem of industrial
education as well as the training OF nurses,
furnishing of rooms for impoverished
families, the buying of shoes for the children
Of the poor, supplying garments for destitute
families in the South, and thousand other
ways Of helping the unfortunate part of
humanity.
Mrs. Bottome is wholly devoted to her
work and has grown very dear to every
Daughter of the King" There is not
State in the Union, and hardly city or town,
where the Silver Cross is unknown to-day,
and where the organization, started so
humbly by nine noble women few years
ago, has not its thriving branches. Mrs.
Bottome resides in Fordham, N. Y, where
she is an amiable and popular hostess. She
is in demand everywhere and among all
classes. Her name has become a household
word to greater extent probably than that
of any other American woman of the present
day. Personally, she is one Of the pleasant
est and most gracious of women; gentle,
mother-ike, refined and eminently calculated
to win and hold the love and admiration of
her own sex. These among other qualities
serve partially to explain the remarkable in
fuence she now Yields as the leader of over
half a million Kings Daughters-one of the
greatest moral and social forces in this
country in century. AsS
- BLANCHE ELLIOTT.
- ::.:s-i5 ODDS AND ENDS. .-.4---.a.,.-