The Washington herald., 1913-07-13

1853. accompanied BY her three daughterss
she went to New York. engaged in teach
Ing. and then. a. the result Of q letter
to Henry Ward Beecher. whom she had
met years before IN Glasgow. obtained
q position on the stan Of the Christian
Union. Thenceforward her future was
secure. She wrote yoluminously for that
paper. became q frequent contributor TO
the New York Ledger. and. during the
past thirty years. has written some sixty
novels.
Exceptional az has material adventures
have been. Mrs. Bars spiritual adven-
lures have been no less remarkable. The
gift Of precience Ii hers, and throughout
life she has had visions and dreams or
premonitions. Of events to come, or hap
penings to loved ones far OF. Many Of
theee experiences she narrates with
frankness. calm simplicity. and an as
sured sincerity, and In reading Of them
We cannot resist the feeling that to her
has been opened the doors of a knowi-
edge denied to the vast majority. Yet
with all this there is nothing Of the ir-
responsible dreamer in Mrs. Barr. She
Is wide awake to the facts Of life, liv-
ing In the midst of its realities as well
as deiving deeply into its ideals. An
active, alert woman herself she has been
from her youth believer In and an ad-
vocate Of the whole responsibilities of
womanhood. 1t was her good fortune to
marry a man who loved her. but II was
her misfortune that he possessed GER
tain characteristics that are by no means
exclusive to the Scotch.
Mrs. Barr was over forty when she
began her writing career. and over fifty
before her first book was published. The
events OF the decade Of her literary life.
therefore. are the most inconsiderable
part Of her autobiography. but they are
none the less interesting and illuminative,
for they contain record Of extraordi-
nary industry and Intellectual power.
Mrs. Bars retrospect is one that every
woman may well envy.
THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEN GEORGE
GORDON MEADE: By George Meade. New
fork-Charies ScTibner's Soma Two yolumeSI
Almost the entire story is told in Gen.
Meade's letters to his wife, written dur
ing the Mexican war and during the civil
war. The part up to the battle of Get
tysburg Is written and edited by his son.
George Meade. who was on his staff from
the time that he was made a major gen.
eral. while the latter part Of the two
volumes Is the work OF his grandson.
George Gordon Meade. One of the par
ticular interests in the letters comes from
the fact that as Gen Meade had no idea
that they would ever reach the hands Of
any other than her to whom they were
written. he comments openly upon the
conduct and ability Of the generals Of
the war. talks freely OF the Southern
talent, and tells his own ambitions and
disappointments-
One OF the saddest of these was the
treatment which he received from the
Union government after the battle Of
Gettysburg. Yet in his letters to his
wife he writes clearly that he has
watched one general after another taken
from the command of the Army of the
Potomac. and that all he can expect is
the same kind of treatment. and his only
hope is that he will still be able to serve
his country. II is a well-known story of
how Hooker had started to follow Lee on
his famous march into the enemy's coun-
try, and at night letters came to the
camp informing Hooker of his removal
and telling Meade that he was placed in
command of the Army of the Potomac.
The famous three days before he met
Lee also are well known. II is charac-
teristic Of Meade that the first of these
days was spent n studying maps and
to make Lee give battle. After the terri
BILE three days when Meade started his
weary men upon the pursuit of Lee, mes
sages kept coming from Washington with
no praise for the victory. but only con-
demnation that he was not already fore
ing Lee into another battle.
Gen. Meade's boyhood was passed in
Spain, whittier his father had gone when
the war of 1872 had injured his shipping
trade. Later when his father was dead and
his family had gone home to Pennsylvania
circumstance again guided the choice OF
his vocation. His mother &as poor. but
of good family: so the boy went to West
Point. for she could not afford to SEND
him to college. He studied the engineer
ing side of warfare at West Point anc
when the Mexican war broke out his du-
ties were confined to that department.
Never. until the War of the Rebellion, did
he have the command of troops, and then
he went through none of the lower Of
fees. but was made a brigadier general
1t was no easy thing for Meade to make
bis decision at the breaking out OF the
war. His wife's sister was married tC
the Governor of Virginia. who put to
death John Brown. Many were the
friends and relatives who faced him In
the Southern ranks, but he made his de-
cison and asked for the command of a
brigade in the Union army. In spite OF
his long service he was slow in receiving
an answer 20 his request. and almost had
decided to take command of a Michigan
regiment which was offered him. when
the news came that he was to commsn nd
enc OF the divisions Of the Army of the
Potomac.
The letters to his wife show repeatedly
how badly he felt at the delays and tie
inacrion of the army. Many times he
speaks of the Southern army as better
trained and better soldiers than the
Never was II more truly