The record-union., 1897-03-17
HELEN HUNT JACKSON.
Life and Work Of the Famous California
AuthOreSS.
Interesting Lecture Last Night on
Them by Mrs. Eliza upper
Wilkes.

The lecture last night at the Congre-
gational Church by Mrs Eliza Upper
Wilkes on the life and work of Helen
Hunt Jackson, was a most interesting
one to the admirers of that fascinating
author, and those who gathered to hear
1t felt we'll repaid for coming.
Mrs. Wilkes is a pleasing and enter
tanning speaker, and the personal
friendship she entertained for Mrs.
Jackson made her an earnest one.
She said it was for long time that
people were inquiring who H. H" was.
So shy was she of revealing her person.
ality that people wondered who it could
be and she gave no sign to the inquir-
ing ones.
Mrs. Upper read from 1.-THE Blind
Spinner and others of Mrs. Jackson S
poems, and said that it was little bits
like these that set people to asking
who H. H. was. Her letters of travel
attracted attention, then her articles,
eloquently descriptive and with little
German brogue, her magazine articles,
stories, Ramona" and others written
just before she laid down her pen for
ever.
Letters to a Cat give a picture of
a home in New England. She was edu-
Gated as New England girls generally
We're, in boarding school. Soon after
graduating she met Major Hunt of
West Point and they were married.
Her time was passed in a gay round of
social life and she used her pen but
little. During the last years of the war
her husband invented a torpedo. He
was testing it at one time and as it
failed to go off he descended in a div
ing bell to ascertain what was the
matter, when the tardy missile ex-
ploded.
The patent he had obtained for his
invention afterward made her rich. She
went to the New Hampshire hills and
lived there for some time, and while
there she lost both her children, the
eldest being a bright and lovely boy of
years. After his funeral she went
home and shut herself up for a week.
and when she again came forth it was
with bright and cheerful countenance
and she was never afterward heard to
utter a lament over them After her
bereavement she went to Newport for
her health, and for six years was an
inmate of the family of Mr. Higginson.
While there he one day found one of
her little attempts at poetry and en-
couraged her to persevere, while crit
lclsing her writings freely and vigor-
ously, and she afterward said that she
owed all she had done to him. She
wrote Systematically and regularly. A
few years afterward she was sent to
Colorado Springs for her health. and a
mutual friend wrote to Mrs Wilkes.
asking her to call and become acauaint-
ed. She did so. She had read Mrs.
Hunts poetry and pictured her as a
delicate, spirituelle young woman and
was surprised when she called to be re
ceived by a large woman, with gray
hair brushed back, which gave her a
rather defiant expression.
Mrs. Hunt greeted her cordially and
said in the course Of conversation that
she did not know why she liked their
mutual friend, who vas a professional
woman, as she did not like screeching
women" Mrs. Wilkes did not tell her
that she was preaching at the time, but
Mrs. Hunt found it out and the next
day called, in a violent snowstorm. and
apologized for her remark and asked
if she could come to hear her preach.
and did so during her stay there.
She was a devoted friend impetuous
in speech, often wounding her friends
and wondering how she did it, and re-
penting. She was at that time spe-
cially averse to woman's rights move
ment, fearing it would injure woman's
home influence, but after hearing Lucy
Stone speak she was converted
Together they climbed the mountains
and rode across the plains, and Mrs
Hunt pointed out to her the beautiful
tints and the scenes that would other
wise have escaped her attention, and
often she saw the poems before they
were in print. She was a charming
companion, and had a large heart She
never looked more beautiful and inter-
esting that when sitting at the bedside
of some poor cripple, telling stories or
showing the wonderful flowers and
lichens she had gathered. She could
not bear scandal and would often re-
buke her friends for speaking it. She
was quick to sympathize with the
dOwntrodden and became an enthu-
siast on the subject of the Indians
wrongs. When they visited the Indian
camp together Chief Colerow came to
talk with them and she questioned him
closely and when she found out how
their lands We're paid for with mouldy
rice, musty sugar and shovels that had
been used by emigrants crossing the
plains instead of money. she was indg-
nant and hurled invctives against the
Government for permitting it TO be
done. She gathered data and went to
Washington and succeeded in seeing
the President, but accomplished moth
ing.
She went back to Colorado and was
there during the rising and massacre.
About this time she married Mr.. Jack
son. of Colorado Springs, who was a
Philadelphia Quaker. and a business
man with no literary tastes Her
health broke down and she came to
California, where she heard the fas-
cinating stories of its early history. the
struggles Of the priests, etc, and the
result is known. She gathered her ma
terial by driving from ranch to ranch
and listening to the stories of the old
settlers Ramona" however, was
written in the Brunswick Hotel in New
York. You can trace the wanderings