Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-01-02
NEW LADY OF THE CABINET.
The Pleasing Personality of Mrs.
Leslie M. Shaw.
Tho Daughter Of a Pioneer, She Has
Greatly Aided Her Husband in
Rise to Distinction-Her
Church Work.

as secretary Of the treasury, so much Il
a surprise to the country because of his
sudden rise in public affairs, naturally
turns attention to Mrs Shaw, since the
wife of a cabinet minister plays so Large
a part in the social affairs of the national
capital.
Her life has supplemented the strenuous
NE of her husband. in it's humble begin
nirG born in a cabin in Vermont, wording
half n day Of manual labor to enable him
to so to school the other half. migrating
to Iowa al an early age, and then educat-
ing himself in the Cornell College of Iowa,
and then in the State Law School; rising
thence through earnc st cndoaV from sta
tion to station until he bccamc a banker
at DenniSon, a place of 200 people, and
until in 1873 he caused a sensation in the
state by single speech in favor OF sound
money and for gold as the only standard
that the next year made him governor of
tho state, ard speedily thcr, after the
leader of the West on all financial uu>s-
lions. In all this strange and rapid evoiu-
ton from obscurity into 81 eat things Mr.
Shaw has been his inspiration and his con-
slant help.
An Iowa woman in New York who knows
the social fabric of Iowa from long resi-
dcnce at Des Mones. the capital and the
social center of the State, givesi this ar
tive a few of the main facts in her career
and some of her personal characteristics
A PIONEERS LAUGHTER,
Mrs. Shaw. whose maiden name WAS
Alice Cranshaw, daughter of one of the
sturdy pioneers Of the Prairie state. WAS
married to Mr.. She in 1871. He had just
graduated at the law school. Thus h on
tered upon his public career by taking
wife from an Iowa home in which thrift
Independent spirit ard intelligence rulcI.
Cnc thing in their earnest and dcvout lives
doubtless proved to be the toGchstone e
their progress and the Insurance of their
career. this was their love Of religion aud
the church. Dcvcut Methcdists, both of
them became jealous workers in the a.
tiN tiles and generCsities of the church. its
charities. and all its good purposes. Here
IN came their first social prominence and
/ soon their local work and acquaintance
extended over the state and brought to
them the earnest friendship of the Metho-
4 diSts, thoS1 fine and militant people who
. believe not only in saving all the people
they can to the happiness of the next
woila, but also in helping their friends all
! they car in this world
In this church work Mrs. Shaw. with her
womans heart and more synpathetic nd
ture, was the leader. She it was. there
fore, who thus wicsly Gnd surely made
ready for her husband great constitu-
oncy of admirers and followers. as against
the day when he in single bold great
iooech, made in a timid and cowardly
tlnc, burst On the political attention Il
the State, and made himself SO complete
IS the leader of public thoughts that he
Was the year efter elected governor Of the
State, and became the chief spokesman of
sound money In the West.
THE CHURCH WORK
At this time Gov. Shaw had tecoms a
banker, es well as lawyer, lnl indeed
had largely changed to that vocation He
prospered in it, and the children who had
come and the faithful wife had teen Civ
en- in "A bouEtiiul home the rchrcd plrus-
ures and comforts of intellectual life.
When he became governor and removed To
pes Mones and took a fine house, and be
San to entertain, after the manner worthy
of the great state that he had hnen called
to preside over, he and Mrs, Shaw already
had, in the prominent Methodists. the
leading and most numerous denomination
H. the state, a strC ng and influential cir
Gle Of personal friends end admirers
The practical sense and discernment If
that church had discovered the value ana
usefulness of Mr.. shaw, aud had utilized
his fine abilities in its own service. lie had
been called into all O: its prominent coun-
els, and had been made a lay delegate
from Iowa tc four OF Its quadrennial or
rational conventions. To these and all
ether places, Mrs, Shaw had gone with
him, and in her Womanly way had helped
fm in making HanV charming and COVER
full friends. This positive. aggressive and
influential body of churchmcn and church
! MOfllC n ralllou on mdfSe 10 MS nomination
end election as governor in 1895,
| In this winning of so wide and CO inAu-
entail a following, first in Iowa and next In
the nation at large, Mrs, shaw played.
perhaps. the greater part, She knew long
before the country did, and even before he
did himself, that he was a great man. and
ON this knowledge she began, ia a good
vfc's ambition, to tuild for the day she
believed was to come, Nor can ii he
doubted by those who know them both.
that the satisfaction OF the great success
that has come has been sweetrr to her
than to him 1t is another Gnd a striking
instance OF the American wife discovering
a statesman in her own home, and in her
the country end tn fame.
In the social life Of the Iowa capital
Mrs shaw quickly became the social lead.
er Tho trained women in polite society
saw that she did not Rave AT the start thu
grace, tact and Undesirable charm and
ease of that me dcrn product called the so
oicty woman. but they saw that she had
what was better, the charm OF genuine
character. the frarkness ana blindness of
n good heart rnd the common sense oi
everyday life. 1hey quietly accepted her
leadership, ard for four years she has
been chief IN the social life CT Des Moline
and in all the coed works of its women, in
church, society. charity and club ami lit
erary life.
colds; the big colds that end in consump-
| 81 death Colds