Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-11-29

:tllsin while she rubbed at the tub Or
stoOd over theSironing board. Her chil-
dren became interested and she took
them into her class Soon they becameA
help IN her work OF obtaining an educa-
ton, for they, with childlike interest.
asked her questions which gave q new
spur to her ambition.
In turn she piled them with queHtion0
and SO the washerwoman's children
prof1ted, too, by the daily study. In the
course Of time, Mrs. Lease wass capable
OF higher things than washing other
women'e clothes. She taught school and
in other ways made her brain help take
care OF the family. Meanwhile two more
children came to the household. and
yearly the load became heavier. Her
husband did his share. but the two tenn
permentS were Incompatible and they
pulled at cross purposes. He was q
plodder. contented with letting tomor-
row take care OF itself. She lived in the
future. She was ambitious to make a
place for herself and her children.
But they made no Roadway financial-i
". The first open quarrel Of this mis-
mated pair was Of commonplace origin.
It was over an umbrella, and 1t hap
pened in a store where Mr.. Lease was a
clerk. She had taken refuge from a
shower with her children, and she want
ed to take for temporary uhe an umbrel-
la which had been left and forgotten by
some customer six months before
You can't take it, her husband said;
1t is not yours, nor mine"
But only till get home: you can
bring 1t back
No. 1t Is not yours. You can't take
IT,
Full Of Indignation, the woman went
out into the rain with her children, and
passing a dry goods store, the proprietor
It was the first umbrella she had ever
owned, which, coupled with the incident
of moment before, added fire to her
feelings She made new resolves All
she wanted was chance, and Ii came
IT was in 1883, the year of the union
labor campaign. She WAC out again in
the rain, this time with come neighbors
and they took refuge in a hall where a
union labor meeting was in progress
The meeting was short of orators. and
somebody suggested Mrs. Lease. She
never had addressed a public meeting,
but among her neighbors and in clubs
che had discussed economics, and after
some hesitation she took the platform.
Her remarks were a revelation to all, in
|ciuding herself. She never had suspect
ed her powers before. 1t was the open
ing SHE had sought and from that hour
che has been on the platform. She went
into the campaign at once. and again in
$780, 1899 and 1894. She II was Who was
get upon the trail Of John James ingalls,
in 1880, and she did more toward his I'M
doing than any other public speaker In
1888 her reward was a membership Of
The state board of charities the first and
only woman who ever has been mem
Der of that board. In 1894 she broke
with Governor Lewelllng, and thereafter
she began to sulk. In 1883 sne Went to
New York and took up the cause CT the
republican party in the campaign OF
1886 She Vas on the same eide in the
recent campaign. She lives in New
York city with her four children, and In
the city directory after her name is the
word lecturer Her son, Charles, has
position in the revenue Office.
When Mrs. Lease was in the fuilness
Of her reputation in Kansas there was
great demand by the public for a
glimpse of her husband Her own por-
trait was instantly In the papers and
the portrait of her son Charles and Of
her daughter Louise were also in the
public prints from time to time Even
the pictures OF the boy. Ben Hur, and
OF the youngest child, Its mothers
namesake. Mary, We're occasionally
seen. but no sign OF the face OF Charles
Henry Lease. the husband and father,
appeared He was vaguely reported to
be little, shriveHng man. Who was
content TO WELD the pestle and mortar
in drug store at Wichita, but what he
looked like nobody, knew. Photograph
ers tried to kodak him in vain He al
ways lodged and got away, and Mrs.
Lease said that he had hidden the only
| likeness of himself he had ever had
taken.
To the Topeka correspondent cf the
Star Mrs. Lease one day promised to
take this picture out OF the family
treasures and lend it long enough for
the Illustrators use. but she never ful-
| filed the promise. II guess he has hid
an old Fashioned daguerreotype, taken
| long before ! married him. 1t used to
be lying around the house any old
place but lately he has hidden 1t. Pos
! sibly ii has been lost. But 1t don't mat
4 ter. We don't count him any more
Mrs. Lease was not proud Of her hus-
band and always referred to him con-
temptuously. He found me, or we
found each other, she said. IN Neo-
sho county, at what was then Usage
Mission, now ST. Paul. We were mar
Tried in 1873 and have been working
hard ever since
This conversation was in 1894 about
the time Mrs. Lease was at war with
Governor Lewelling.
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HANNA ANSWERS NO