Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-07-16


Tenth and Eleventh avenues. South High
lands Telephone 5SS.)
Everything that is published concern
ing Mrs. William j. Bryan confirms the
good opinion formed of her by all Amer
leans, regardless of party affiliations.
The descriptions given Of her as wife,
mother and woman are gratifying and
reassuring; gratifying that the wife of
the man chosen to lead the democratic
hosts to victory is a fit and congenial
companion for one of the greatest of
Americans, and reassuring in that the
next mistress of the White House will
be not only loyal and loving wife and
mother, but also an intellectual, brill
liant, progressive woman of today. AS
has been frequently stated, Mrs. Bryan
is regularly graduated lawyer. She
studied law in order to assist her hus-
band in his legal practice and to render
herself a more helpful wife to him in all
his ambitions and aspirations. She also
became student of politics and of men,
and she has cultivated taste for the
best literature, not only because her tai
ents lay in these directions, but because
she was anxious to keep pace with the
remarkable man she had married and to
contribute her part towards his ultimate
SucceSS. NTS. bTydn has dlWdyS udu
profound faith in her husbands capaci-
ty and a prophetic belief in the rewards
the future held for him. With a woman's
intuition, she anticipated the glory and
elevation that are his today, and, like
the earnest, brainy woman that she is,
she prepared herself for the fulfillment.
Mrs. Bryan is only a few years younger
than Mr.. Bryan and they graduated at
the high schools of their native towns
the same year, both as Yaledictorians of
their classes. Mrs. Bryan is said to be
very quiet, modest and unostentatlous,
not especially magnetic. but true and
straightforward. She Is sef-poised and
self-reIiant and her friends and neigh
boris pronounce her an ideal statesman's
wife. She cares nothing for fashion and
society, as the term is now used, and
lived very modestly in Washington city
While her husband was making a name
for himself in congress. During the wild
and tumultuous scenes at the conven-
ton at Chicago Mrs. Bryan did not once
lose her Self-control, and when the presi-
Dental nomination was made she was
perfectly calm and undisturbed and re-
ceived the congratulations of enthusiast
tic friends with little visible emotion.
She is a western woman native of IL
linois, and her manner and accent in
dictate this fact. She has a certain
amount of humor and Is capable of say
ing bright things and making witty re-
torts, accompanied by the merry twinkle
of her large dark eyes. Mrs. Bryan can
not be called a pretty woman by even
her most partial friends, but she is lady
like and refined in appearance and man
ner; her head is large and we'll shaped
and the outlines of her face are almost
as emphatic as those of her celebrated
husband Her rare mental gifts her
broad cultivation and her strong and
positive individuality will make Mrs
Bryan one of the most distinguished
women who has ever occupied the White
House. She is a splendid representative
of the womanhood OF America, and she
has the proud satisfaction of knowing
that she has been vertable helpmeet to
the man she married.
The following item from the Atlanta
Constitution of Sunday will be of interest
to many Alabamians who recall with
much pleasure the mother of Miss Rob
ertson, who as Miss Mary Webb Pollard
was one of the bellies of Montgomery:
The picture adjoining the woman's
pages this morning is that of Miss Elise
Robertson, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Joseph Robertson of New York city and
at present the guest of Mr.. and Mrs.
Joseph Thompson at Brookwood.
"She is possessed of an unusual and
most attractive type of beauty with a
complexion too fair and exquisitely tint
ed to make her a brunette, though her
hair is dark and wavy and her soft, ex-
pressive eyes are brown. She is tall and
wilowy, and in her graceful, airy gowns
and picturesque hats there is something
quaint about her loveliness that sug-
gests the portraits of the beauties of we
days of long ago. Although educated
and living in New York, Miss Robertson
has the quiet, gentle mannerisms of the
ideal southern girl, and inherits the
charms and accomplishments of her
among the most aristocratic of Alaba-
mas old families. With her many at
fractions Miss Robertson possesses
charming voice that in it's exquisite Gull
tivation has afforded her Atlanta friends
and admirers the greatest pleasure dur
ing her visit here"
On the 7th instant, at the Gait house,
Louisville, Ky, one of the notable women
of the south Mrs. Salie Ward Downs,
died. after a long illness. Her death came
suddenly, but she had been an invalid
since 1898. The following extracts from
q sketch of this celebrated southern belle,
taken from an exchange, will be of inter-
est, as Mrs. Downs had friends and rela-
lives in Birmingham:
MRS Downs was born in Louisville
about &C years ago. She wAs daughter
of Robert j. Ward, one of the most pop
ular and wealthy citizens that ever lived
fathers qualities of character and made
for herself remarkable career in So
ciety. No one could come within the cir
Gle of her acquaintance without being
won by her graces of mind and person.
She was first married in 1913 to Bigelow
Lawrence of Boston, but the match was
uncongenial. She returned to her fathers
home and after obtaining a divorce mar
ried DR.. Robert w. Hunt, one of the most
elegant and polished gentlemen of that
day.
"Dr. Hunt afterwards established him.
self in New Orleans, and here in the
palatial home he provided for her, she
ruled a social queen. The fetes, the en-
tertainments given at their hospitable
home have gone down in history. The
Album of American Bellies was publish
ed during that time, and in 1t appeared
a picture and a description of her home
there.
Mrs. Downs was always a leader in
every social function of this city, and in
her young days was a necessary pres
ence at every affair of great social prom
inence in America. She was given every
advantage in the way of elegant school
ing from private tutors and travelled
widely. enriching her mind with observa-
ton and experiences such as rarely fall
To The lot of American women. Under the