Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-11-04

work f0rs9Omethtng better. p root
OF failure lies often in the thought
that you can. do but n thing and
must dosthat or nothing"
when she was 9 girl in Syracuse, n.
Y, her birthplace. Her father,
Joseph slocun, was 80 reduced in cir
by the panic Of 1887 that
the daughter, at the age Of only g
years was obliged to help in the ups
keep Of the household. At the age
Of l6 she started for Mount Holyoke
College expecting to work her way
for four years by homework, but sick
less overlook her on her way and she
was compelled to stop at an uncle's
house in Troy. Later she was In
duced t6 enter Emma Williard's sem
mary at Troy, and after a hard battle
for self-support she was graduated
and became a school teacher. For
nearly. 20 years afterward she con-.
tinued her battle, teaching schools in
Philadelphia, Syracuse and Troy I'M
til, at the g of Al years, she became
the wife of Russell Sage, then q
frugal banker at Watervliet. N. Y.
Their home life was simple, despite
their great wealth. Mrs. Sage took
such a deep interest in her husbands
affairs that he turned over to her five
years before his death complete con-
troll of his business and found that his
faith was borne out by her successful
operations. But she was proudest Of
her ability to support herself alto
gether Independent Of wealth, and of
her housekeeping.
If my cook should leave me to-
day. she once said, II could do the
work myself without running all over
the city for another girl. before we
had something to eat. Housework is
one Of the best occupations I know.
Girls should take up homework, even
as servants, rather than work in the
stores. II I had a daughter (she was
childless) she would have been taught
to coo Inc sew and be Of some COM
fort to her parents. Some girls,
nowadays, are Of no more comfort to
their parents than If they did not ex-
isH."
Mrs. Sage was a "woman's woman
and her charities were largely direct
ed to h aid of women and children.
She became widely known as a "lady
bountifuf" and was so besieged with
requests for money that she had to
retire finally to seclusion. Begging
letters have bee received at her Fifth
avenue home at the rate Of 500 a day
some of the writers threatening sui.
eide and others to do her bodily harm
II their petitions were not needed. Sc
insistent were the hordes that. they
sometimes gathered in numbers abou'
her doors.
Mrs. Sage was a little woman an,
extremely self-controlled. She gave
and gave literally but was so de
termined that her giving should b,
done wisely that shortly after he
husbands death she established tn
Russell Sage Foundation with $40,
900, 900 for the improvement of so
cial and living conditions in tn
United States. Outside of this she ha
made large gifts including 81, 00o, 90
to the Emma Willard seminary, 81,
100000 to Rensselane Polytechnic In
s~titute, $350,000 to the Y. M. C. A
and Y. w. c. A., $150,000 to tn
American Seaman's Institute, $4,000
to the Mortified, (Mass.) seminar,
100000 to the Sage Institute q
Pathology Of the New York City hos
pital, $250,000 for a home for indigen
women, and 100000 to Syracuse uni
versity.
She was born Sept. 8, 1928, eight,
in descent, through her father, fror
Miles Standish, and on her materna
side a descendant Of Col. Henry Pier
son Of Sag Harbor, N. Y, founder q
the public school system in Americ
in 1887.