The Mena weekly star., 1909-12-30
slia Sss s.lI sis ;is s1il ;''l s''s 7i'E " ABravG American
 Woman.
How Mrs. Stevenson Up- held Her Opinions Against Those of the
 Queens Uncle.
sswe.Ya s.......'' P!


 There begins in the January Cen
 tury" publication of some delghtLul
 ly written letters by Mrs. SaHia
 Coles Stevenson. wife of the Ameri
 can minister in London, 1S36-41. The
 letters have been arranged by VII.
 liam L. Royall, who says in his ir-
 troduction:
 In the year 1886 President Andrew
 Jackson appointed Andrew Stevenson,
 a distinguished Virginian. as American
 minister to England, and this post
 he occupied until 1S41 Mir. Steven
 son had been speaker of the House
 of Delegates Of Virginia, member of | Congress from that State, and for
 several terms speaker Of the Unitei | States House of Representatives Hc
 married for his second wife Miss
 Sallie Coles, of Green Mountain, AL
 bemarle County. Virginia, who was a member of one of the oldest anl most prominent Virginia families
 
 The position and personal attrac- tions of the minister and his wife soon gained them admission to the most exclusive English society in town and country. and Mrs. Steven sons letters present an interesting and attractive picture of English homes and the inner life of the aris tocraey She was deeply religious, and a tone of devout piety runs through her letters. The following, taken from one of them written in October, 1889, from the country house of Lord Durham. describes Sunday evening:
 "A large party to dinner. After tho gentlemen joined us, when tho Duke of Sussex, Lady Durham and myself were sitting together and forming a social trio, Lord Durham came in with his imperial air and said, T do not know whether your royal highness objects to cards on Sunday evening; for myself l think there is TO greater harm in playing on that night than any other Nor l., said the duke. If it is wrong to play on Sunday, it is equally wrong to play on Monday or any other night I felt distressed Thinks l l to myself What shall I do? At that moment the duke appealed 50 | Lady Durham, who gave faint as- sent to what he had said. I, of i course. was silent when his roya, | highness. suddenly leaning forward | from the immense armchair in which | he was half buried addressed me. ! I think, my dear madam, it is con | sidered sin to play any game on [ Sunday in your country 1 replied | instantly in a calm, earnest and em- | phatic manner, so that, although little deaf, he did not lose a word: i Your royal highness is right. We | think it a violation of that commana- | ment which bids us to keep holy the | Sabbath day, and we also think it is | setting a bad example to our de- l pendents, who cannot so well discern i right and wrong The oll 1 gentleman drew himself back in his l chair and remained silent for sey eral minutes. A solemn pause eu sued, and I felt almost frightened at what I had done Still. did not regret it. In the meantime the ser wants had set out the tables, but no one approached them, nor was the slightest allusion made to the sub ject again. The duke did not retire until his usual hour. and continued in pleasant conversation all the even ing, every now and then speaking with his usual kindness to me; and when he rose to retire he called out for me, saying, Where is Mrs. Stev- ensonp and when l advanced from table where l had been looking at some drawings of Lady Marys, he shook my hand with even more than usual cordiality as he uttered his Goodnight. l was glad not to have offended him, for he has been very kind to us; still, felt very grateful that had moral courage given me at the moment to do and say what l ought. despite the fear of man"
 1t required moral courage as well as piety to play Mrs. tStevenson's part in this scene. The Duke of SJs sex was the queens uncle, and we all know what deference is paid to such rank in England, and Lord Dur ham was a commanding figure at fbot tiuna 1T, Tuefond