Los Angeles herald., 1907-09-22

DEw women now before the public
II have succeeded In creating a more
H profound impression than Mrs. Annie
Besant, who was chosen head of the
Theosopists last July, succeeding the late
Col. Henry Steele Olcott. Says the Chi
cago Record-Herald:
Mrs. Besant is so years of age. Her ca
reer though one of turmoil and trouble,
4 of persecution and exaltation, of victories,
reverses and almost constantly varying
vicissitudes, is now at its zenith. She has
won the coveted place upon which for
many years her eyes were set. She is
the head OF a great and growing body Of
students, of an organization of thinkers
and searchers. Herself brilliant wo-
man, one of rare wit and scintillant elo-
auence, she has, 1t Is said, never lacked
ambition.
/ Her ambition years ago was to uplift
the London poor, to relieve them of BIZ
of their burden, and she achieved some.
thing. Latterly Mrs. Besant has worked
with the pen and from the platform rath-
er than in the more trying and wearing
way of missionary in the slums.
! Despite her eventful life Mrs. Besant Is
still strong woman physically and men
tally. Apparently the years have ripened
her spirit and her intellect. Though she
| remains dIl OpJeCL VI SCNSiO SAAtASASAA'
| Besant seems to go her way either op-
livious of the arrows of the enemy Of
else arrowproof.
| Her hair, always attractive, is now quite
white. Her face as Of old is sad and re-
fectiye but redeemed from actual plain
ness by large, steady and powerful eyes.
The eyes of this woman have been spoken
and written about often. They are credit
ed with strange effects-once they wrunS
1 f~ox tha prn
Mrs, Besant, standing before learned
| English Judge, passionately acted as he's
Another striking feature Of this leaders
coumtenance is her forehead. In most
women the forehead, to attract the praise
| of an artist, must be rounding-the curved
line must arch it. Mrs. Besants lacks
| this curve of beauty, for 1t is square,
the brow of a logician, thinker ana
worker. The nose is not the large and
straight Roman type which is said to sug'
gest infexibility. Rather, it is OF the IN
uuiring, the probing sort. 1t Is rather
sharp, inqusitive and intelligent.
And who is Annie Besant? To the aver
age reader of the newspapers she is
theosophist, whatever that may pe' OF
the ''high priestess of theosophy, now
that Blavatsky, Olcott and Judge nave
been called away. OF her trials, her
hardships the sharp raps that fate has
handed her, the miseries of her married
life, the cruelties of an English court
and the poignant anguish that the sneers
and scoffings of a thick-skinned ana
narrow British public accorded her dur
ing the nadir years of her career little
If anything, is known. They are the
buried chapters in the life OF the most
remarkable woman OF the age.
She was born of Irish parents In hum
~ Her maiden name was
Wood. and her grandfather enjoyed the
distinction, If history is correct, OF hav-
ing maid the debts of the Duke OF Kent,
father of the late Queen Victoria. Loro
hathaway. lord chancellor of England,
was her cousin. But Besant never
troubled her relatives, and apparently
they gave her equally small concern
The famous theosophist was born in
I,ondon ON October %, 1S47, and was edu-
Gated privately In 1867 she married, not
from particular choice of her own, put
more because she obeyed the will OF
others, Rev. Frank Besant, who later
rose to place of Importance IN the
church In 1873 she was separated from
the rector, and in her autobiography MIS-
Besant relates in her characteristic way
the story of this period of her existence
Besant. she said, was cruel. That such
a
her own faith-always strong-in ortho-
dox religion and filled her with doubt.
She discussed the subject with many
clereymen whom she eagerly sought 1or
advice.
when the clerics near at hand had
failed her, in distraction she Went 10
Oxford to see the famous Or. Pusey'
The young wife found him. as she later
phrased it, "a short. stout gentleman
n
Portable monk" DIR. Pusey, according
to Mrs. Besant, evidently did not like her
free and easy way of talking about re-
ligion. He laid down the law to her, IN
formed her 1t was not her duty 10 ascer-
tain the truth but 'to accept and believe
the truth as laid down by the church'
The venerable doctor told his VISITOR that
she rejected this truth at her peril.
Mrs. Besant left the priest sad ana sor-
rowful.
"slowly and sadly took my way back
to the station" she says in her autopiog-
raphy. knowing that my last chance OF
escape had failed me. recognized IN TINS
famous divine the spirit OF priestcratt
that could be tender and pitiful TO the
sinner, repentapt, humble and submissive;
but which was iron to the doubter, the
hereto and would crush out all question:
ings of revealed truth by silencing by
force not by argument. all challenge of
the traditions of the church. Out of such
men were made the ipquisitors of the
middle ages, perfectly conscientious, per-
fectly right. perfectly merciless to the
heretic."
The breach between husband and wife
was now unbridgable. Mrs. Besant re-
fused. to attend communion and hpr indig-
nant Spouse tried to bully her to make
her obey him and follow him to the tab
ernacle. In the suit for divorce she ac-
cused Rev. Mr.. Besant. who was
brother of Walter Besant the novelist.
| of inhumanely attacking her. Her testi-
mony was so strongly supported that the
IMPLYING Judge had nothing else to do
but to grant her plea. But her children
were taken from her on the ground--in
England-that a mother who did not cling
to the religion of her husband could not
| rata in her nffsnring She was literally