The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-04

lie.
The firm touch and exquisite beauty of
the Battle Hymn" gained the instant ap-
prevail and enthusiastic admiration Of the
cultured and critical But, though recognize
ing in an underlined way the grandeur and
loneliness of the composition, the soldiers
treated it in much the same way as they
did their bosom shirts and the pictures of
best loved friends 1t was only brought out
to be sung on special occasions, John
Browns Body" remaining the favorite
everyday ditty.
Circumstances, environment and atmos-
phere had we'll fitted Mrs. Howe to be-
come the author of Americas battle song.
It's Unlicensed word-stuff had long been
gathering against the blossoming time.
The full corn did not come without the
blade and the ear. Liberty and justice
were words whose meaning this singer re-
allied with force and fire. When Cheiro
was here" says Mrs. Howe, conversation
ally, and everybody was experimenting in
paimlstry, he said TO me- You have the
hand of a fighter. There must be military
men IN your family Well some Of my an
cestors fought in the revolution, and my
mother was the niece of General Francis
Marion, of South Carolina. Perhaps I am
SSAAASShAlAS VI d uSuleT myself. nave
fought for suffrage, and shall continue TO
nght Tor 1t as long as I can fight for any
thing"
Like attracts like Julia Ward married
in 1S43, a man who was also something g"
nay good deal of fighter" along a
number of different lines DR.. Samuel Grid
ley Howe after his graduation from Brown
University and the Harvard Medical School.
entered the Greek army, which was then
QS2D fighting for independence. AS the
mead OF the regular surgical service which
he had established in Greece, he returned.
IN 1927, to the United States to obtain HELM
Tor the threatened Greeks. He later
founded colony in the Isthmus of Cor
hth. In 1880 swamp fever sent him home
In 1881 ne turned his attention to the es-
adjustment of a school for the blind. then
eHlHely lacking In America. While in Paris
studying methods of instruction he was
made president of the Polish committee
While engaged in an effort to convey and
distribute funds for the relief Of a detach-
ment or the Polish army that had passed
INTO Prussia, he was arrested by Prussian
authorities. After a six weeks imprison-
ment he was conducted to the French from
tier by night and released. On his return
~~NNSHNNO1AcoStNE DulIOll2
of that school now known as the Perkins
institute for the Blind, continuing its su-
perintendent till his death Mrs. Howe
taught languages in this institution. Under
her instruction class of blind pupils be-
came SO fluent in German as to speak it
with great readiness and ease. The story of
DR.. Howes marvellous achievement in edu-
eating Laura Bridgman was set forth in
=
shortly after their marriage DR.. and Mrs
Howe, accompanied by the brides sister.
Annie Ward, visited England, they were
sought by such people as Thomas CARLYLE.
Lord Morpeth, Thomas Moore, Samuel Rog-
ers, Moncton Mines and Sydney Smith. the
latter speaking of DR.. Howe as "a moder
Pygmalion who had put life into a statue"
1t was during this visit that Mrs. Howe
met Florence Nightingale, who spoke to her
of large hopes and plans for the future.
DR.. Howe was a pronounced aboIitionist
and during 1873, aided by Mrs Howe WI
wrote many strong articles for its column
he edited the Boston Commonwealth, an ar
dent anti-slavery paper. In 1867 he again
went to Greece as bearer of supplies for
the Cretans, in their struggles with the
Turks, and afterward in Boston edited the
Graeco-T Turkish war Mrs. Howe spoke and
worked so persistently and sympathetic
ally for a people so loved by her husband.
Mrs. Howe relates with a smile and a sigh
how Tom Moore who, during her visit to
England, became much interested in the
American beauty, Annie Ward, asked il he
might come and sing for the ladies. an Of
fer which the careful married sister. not
clairvoyante of the young mans future,
put aside by saying they had no piano.
In almost every family Of children there
seems to be an odd one" one distinguished
by peculiar gifts or traits from the others
In the Ward family little Julia was this
one. 1t often puzzled those about her to
know how such strange and unchidlike
Ideas crept into the head covered by those
babyish looking red locks. Some one has
said that Julia Ward Howe wrote leading
articles from her babyhood." She certain
ly seems like one who might have been
born with a pen in her hands. One day she
came upon her two sisters engaged in a
merry game She reproved their levity. and
insisted that they should sit down and
write verses. The eldest sister refused. but
the gentle and doatng Annie resolutely
took up the burden, and after a prolonged
struggle handed her tiny and relentless
taskmistress some stanzas, two lines of
which ran:
He hears the ravens when they call.
And stands them in a pleasant hall
At nine years of age a heartrending
separation took place between little Miss
Ward and her dolls, since she was now TOO
old to play with them"
In 1888 Mr.. Samuel Ward, father Of the
poet built his red brick house. with its
white marble entrance steps and columns.
a the corner of Broadway and Bond street.
New York. 1t was one of the most stately
edifces of the city. but was said TO be so
far from the center that the town would
never built out to it. Mrs. Howe literally
watched New Yorks development into the
rich and fashionable place which it became.
Il remember" she declares, the first dia-
mond necklace which was ever worn in
New York. It was a present from John
Jacob Astor to his favorite granddaughter.
and made a great deal of talk"
In 1869 Mrs. Howe took up the woman
suffrage cause with great vigor, and in its
behalf some Of her strongest lectures have
been delivered. In 1872 she was a delegate
to the worlds prison reform congress, in
London, and aided the same year in found
ing the Woman's Peace Association. She
often addresses the Massachusetts Legis-