The age-herald., 1898-02-22
The Life and Work of
Francis E. Willard
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 and sunshine of life, the greatest of Ameri- can women fell asleep. Miss Willard had been so long and so prominently associated with the great temperance movement that the average man and woman had lost sight Of her achievements tn other fields. It seemed impossible to estimate the results of her busy, active existence until after the silence came.
 Miss Willali woman of unusual mental endowments which had been im- proved and cultivated by a thorough edu- cational training, constant study, broad heading and daily contact with humanity.
 She possessed unlindbed energy, a ca- pacity for cleaving to an ideal, an execu- tive ability of marvellous development, and that rare, indescribable, subtle power which men call personal magnetism, for need of better name.
 Miss Willard began l1er career as an educator and in the position of teacher she rose to the rank of dean at one Of the prominent womenis colleges of the north- west She also achieved success and emil nence as a journalist and was one Of fhe principal and most forcefm editorial writers on Chicago daily for several years. Miss Willards mental, moral and physical vitality was one Of the distfn- guishing characteristics of her personality, and stood her in good stead through all the years of her useful life She wrote, spoke and organized with a facility rarely equaled in Nike degree by man or woman, and these attributes were the source or her power and salient features in her fame and success.
 To Miss Willard is due the growth and progress of that great army of temperance workers, the w. c. T. U., which have belted the globe with their spotless white badge. When she became interested in this moyment it was insignificant in numbers and influence, but the member ship grew with surprising rapidity, and resulted in the organization Of the Worlds w c. T. U., which is directly the out come of plan which originated in Miss W1lard's brain.
 Miss Willard was always keenly alive to political topics and from her early girl hood was concerned about the rights of humanity. She was student of sociol- ogy in it's broadest and most helpful sense, and was always the friend Of the poor and helpless.
 In a peculiar degree Miss Willard shrunk from the glare of publicity and never, under any circumstances, whether advo- eating temperance or equal suffrage. did she lose her sweet and attractive woman liness Miss Willard was born Sept. 28. 1889, at Churchvile N. Y., an unimportant village near Rochester. Under all circum- stances, she unhesitatingiy told her age, and explained in the following language the reasons for her perfect frankness on the subject:
 s'I have never felt reluctant to tell my age. It early came to me that nothing was less dignifed than to make a secret of ones personal chronology. Marketable values in many instances depend upon freshness and If girl has no broader view of her relation to the world than the relation she will hold to some man who will prize her more if she is younger, then she does well to hide her age. But if she is a dignifed human being who has start ed out heart within and God o'erhead for by the stars, rather than the clock, she will never hesitate either to know or to announce just where she is on that long voyage, how many days out from child hood land"
 Miss Willard's platform was "No Sec tarianism in religion; no sectarianism in politics; no sex in citizenship" On this platform she stood bravely, and fearlessly all the years of her active life, and &C., complished more good for the human race than any other woman of the century
 Miss Willard had her romance, of course. without it her life would have been incom- plete, and unfinished. She was at one time engaged to Bishop Fowler, of the Method- ist church, previous to his elevation to the bishopric. But, in her professional asso- citation with him-ehe as dean Of the wo- mans college he as professor president of the Northwestern college-she discover ed that many of their views upon impor- tant subjects were at variance, so she wisely decided to break the engagement, existing between them. Their later years were not disturbed by a ripple of romantic sentiment; all the richness of her mature sympathies were devoted to the ameiora- tion of the sufferings of the human race.
 
 When not travelling in the interests of the Womans Christian Temperance Union Miss Willard resided at 1730 Chicago ave- a nf CbiaaOo home was called Rest cottage" and in this unpretentious home she gathered about her books, pictures and all the refining environments essential to cultivated wo- manhood. This residence was built by Miss Wilard's father ,as far back as 1858, and although in close proximity to many magnificent homes, 1t is attractive in ap- pearance and Is naturally one of the sights to be seen by travellers and strangers.
 Miss Willards funeral occurred yester- day, and this noble woman received in her death the homage of American manhood and wornanhood.
 One who knew her wela pays this trib- ute to her remarkable personality:
 Her absolute generosity toward others most impressed me. Her desire was that everyone should have the best chance DOS sible. Whenever she saw the faintest glim- mer of abilfty sine was the first to fan it into acf1ve life. Her desire was to help and to expand. Hundreds of women today oc- cupying positions of trust and honor are doing so because she put them there We all know people in high places who, u-,- consciously or otherwise, seem afraid that others will get ahead of them or do Ettlo better than they. It was not so with. Miss Willard. She was never afraad-not be- cause she recognized that she stood head and shoulders above them adl and was without peer. but because her heart was filled with large unselfishness.
 ''rhe thought of her which stands out most plainly in my mind at this moment Is connected with last summer, when she went to the Whtte mountains after her illness in the spring. She sent for me for conference, and we met at the home of Mrs. Stevens in Portland, and then cane the tree-p1anting at the lttle town in Yer mont which was her mothers birthplace. She was at her best, well and happy anl full of that sweet consideration for others so marked in all her ways. She talked so swectly of the work and the workers. Of course. in a body as large as this there are occasional attrttions and some people who are i'll content, but she had no censure, nothing but the kind word for all of