The age-herald., 1899-08-13

of Francis W. Pickens, senator from South Carolina, and South Carolinas war governor, recalls a life as striking as that of Kate Chase Sprague. What the latter was to Washington
 in her palmiest days, Mrs. Pickens was to the Confederacy, and in fact to the entire South. Unlike Mrs. Sprague. Mrs. Pickens retained her power and influence to the last. Her word had almost as much weight in politics of her own state at the close of her life, had she cared to exert l it, when, known as Lady Pickens, she presided at the executive mansion in Co., | lumbia during the eventful days of the | Confederacy.
 Born abou the same time as Kate Chase, I the two entered society at Washington | and for few months were rival beles l in this city. It is a strange coincidence l that both should have died almost within | week of each other, and that their last | days should have been spent in homes of l the same name.
 | Edgewood, S. C.. was famous before the
 war and pictures of 1t now are to be seen l on walls of many southern homes. It Is | one of the last homes to be left standing | that perfectly typifes the old south,
 
 | porch, its wings in the rear and countless | little houses, the remnant of the slaves | quarters, the house of Governor Pickenes | is an object of veneration among the | southern people and of great interest to l the northerner who seeks the climate Of 1 South Carolina in winter
 1 The private graveyard of the family is
 in sight of the house and here the Pickens' l ,l Alaf- l generations. The old place has been kept
 in order to this time, and 1t was the wish | of Mrs. Pickens that it should remain un- l divided as left by her husband, until her | youngest grandchild should come of age. 1 It was the boast of Governor Pickens l that he had married the two most beauti- | full women of the South. His first wife,
 the mother of Mrs. Butler. wife of General | M. c. Butler, was a famous beauty in her | day. It was not until his daughters were | grown that he sought a second wife, | When he proposed to the beautiful Lucy 1 Malcombe she told him she would marry l him if he secured the mission to St. Petes- | burg. Buchanan had just been nau- 1 gurated and from him Governor Pickens secured this post and shortly after welded his wife.
 | Wealthy, beautiful with a grace and | charm incomparabe, Mrs. Pickens at once | took an exalted place at the czar's court. l Both she and her husband were conspicu- | ous persons and as a witness of their | popularity there stands today in Edge | wood a marble bust of the old czar with l an inscription of the gift carved upon it's 1 base by the imperial order. It was during l their stay in St. Petersburg that the only | daughter Eugenia Olga Neva was born. | The christening of the infant was royal | affair, the Duchesses Olga and Neva | standing as god-mothers to the little one | and the czar himself being present to be- | stow his blessing upon the child. When | the South Carolinian left the Russian 1 court to throw his fortune with those of l his state in tho impending conflict, gifts 1 were exchanged in parting and the por- | trait of Mrs. Pickens was presented to the ] czar by Senator Pickens and Is still | pointed to in one of the Royal Palaces in l Russia as "The Beautiful American" Before reaching this country Senator | Pickens was elected governor of the state l of South Carolina and his wife at once | assumed part in the political history or | her state which made her one of the most | commanding figures in the Confectionery. | Her sway and influence was such that 1t | used to be said that if the Confectionery failed South Carolina would herself estab- l fish a monarchy and the governors family | should be declared the ruling house This was the beginning when South Carolina l felt supreme and inspired by the beauty and grace of the governors wife, the | heated imaginations of the Huguenots was | only a step from the secession to the establishment of monarchy. It is known, l however, that Mrs. Pickens discouraged | any such wild gossip of the ball room and l it was her influence as much as that of anyone which held South Carolina in the single path marked out for her by her statesmen at the time of the Confectionery. The title of "lady" was bestowed on her in her state and to all her old friends now she is known as Lady Pickens as she was to the whole Confederacy in the days Of the war
 She was an important factor in the af- fairs of South Carolina during the war period and no council of state was held without her influence being considered. It was due largely to her that South Carolina became resigned to the reconstruction as it did after the bloody battles of ths
 states She advised her people to accept the inevitable with good grace and to de-s vote their time to the cultivation of their
 wasted lands. She set the example of
 farming with the negroes on shares. On
 her plantation at Edgewood she was left
 widow soon after the war closed. Her
 negroes had remained witls.h husband
 and at his death they continued to serve
 his widow. On the night of hissdeath the
 dying statesman addressed the negroes on
 the place from window and told them
 to remain at Edgewood always, and to
 their care he would leave Mrs. Pickens
 and his daughter. They were true to their
 trust The oldest ones became his pall-