El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-12-12

Mary e. Lease. lawyer and political
agitator, will this week fight for a di-
vorce from Charles Lease in the Sedg-
| wick county district court The pc
tition will allege incompatibility. fail
ure to provide. etc. For the past three
yearSMr. and Mrs. Lease have not liv-
ed together. Mrs. Lease has lived in
New York City, while her husband has
| conducted a drug store in Wichita
Mr.. and Mrs. Lease were married at
Usage Mission. Kan. in July 1873
| They have four children. two sons and
two daughters. all except one of whom
are of age. The youngest son is with
his mother in New York
The beginning of Mary Ellen Lease
was at the washtub. There was no
luck in her marriage and she took in
washing to keep the pot boiling. She
already was the mother of two chill
dren.
The groundwork of her little knowl-
edge was spelling and reading, but it
wasenough for the ambitious washer
woman and she made good progress.
First she studied at night after she
had done her days work and had put
the children to bed. But this was too
slow for her and to make time she
nailed her lessons to the wall and
studied them while she stood at the
tub or over the ironing board.
In course of time Mrs. Lease was
capable of higher things than wash
ing other women's clothes. She taught
school and in other ways made her
brain help to take care of her family.
meanwhile two more children came to
the household and yearly the load be-
came heavier.
Her husband did his share but the
two temperaments were Incompatible
and they pulled at cross purposes. He
was a plodder. contented with letting
tomorrow take care of itself. She liv-
ed in the future. She was ambitious
to make a place for herself and her
children
1t was in 1888, the year of the union
labor campaign. She was out in the
rain. with some 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
she had discussed economics and after
some hesitation she took the platform.
Her remarks were a revelation to all.
including herself. She never had sus-
pected her powers before. 1t was the
opning she had sought. and from that
hour she has been on the platform
she wen unto the campaign at Gee
and again in 1890. 1892 and 1894. She
it was who set upon the trail C .Jcrr
James ingalls, in 1890 and he lid
more toward his undoing than anv
public speaker. In 1893 Dor reward
was a membership of the state board
of charities. the first ar o-''~ woman
who has ever been a w. mh"~ OF that
board. In 1894 she r-1k@ with Cover
nor Lewelling. and thereafter she be
gan to sulk In 1So- er'a went to New
York and took up the case of the re-
publican party in the car~~ai"n of 1895
She was on the same side in the recent
campaign. She lives in Ne"- York
City with her four children, and IN the
city directory. after her name. is the
wore" lecturer" Her son Charles, has
a pOsition in the revenue office
When Mrs. Lease was in the fullness
of her reputation in Kansas there was
great demand by the public for
glimpse of her husband. Her own
portrait was constantly in the papers
and the portraits of her son Charles
and of her daughter Louise were also
in public prints from time to time.
Even the pictures of the boy. Ben Hur
and of the youngest child, it's mothers
namesake, Mary, were occasionally
seen. but no sign of the face of Charles
Henry Lease. the husband and father.
appeared. He was vaguely described
to be little shriveling man. who was
content to WELD the pestle and NOR
tar in a drug store at Wichita, but
what he looked like nobody knew.