of her work. Energetic-and industrious, she has made a grand success of whatever she has undertaken. She is of a decidedly literary turn of mind, has always been fond of books, has written for many years for newspapers and magazines, and is at present desirous of eliminating everything from her life that shall interfere with this her chosen vocation. Versatile and facetious in her writing, she excels in both poetry and prose, but prefers poetry. She has written the words to several songs for the director of music in the Boston public schools, and has many orders for stories in leading magazines. Many of her stories and sketches are written under the pen name of "Cordwainer," which she has used for many years. She has travelled considerably, and intends to go to Europe for a season as correspondent for a leading newspaper. She is a public reader of marked ability and a very successful teacher of elocution and of the guitar. She was made one of the council of the Boston Conservatory of Music in 1901.
She belongs to many prominent lodges and societies in Boston; is Past Noble Grand of Mary Washington, Rebekah Lodge, No. 1, L O. O. F., of Boston; is the present Worthy Matron of Mystic Chapter, No. 34, O. E. S., of Boston, one of the largest and most important chapters in the order (Governor and Mrs. Bates are members of this chapter); and is chaplain of an order. She is a member of the Rebekah Assembly, the M. and P. Association, the Associated Charities, the Day Nursery, and the Chapin Club, and is president and founder of the Clara Frances Towne Fresh Air Mission. She was made an honorary member of the A. B. of S. P. and several other social organizations. She is much sought for in society, but dislikes public life, and prefers her quiet home at the Victoria, her books and her writing, to all else.
Mrs. Towne has lived for twenty-five years in Boston and vicinity, and prefers it to all other cities, having, however, a strong liking for Washington, D.C., which may be her future home. She is very charitable, and has great love for children and old people. Our space is too short to give more than a rough sketch of this remarkably versatile woman. An ex- tract from a local paper well illustrates her life Mrs. Clara Frances Towne, of Boston, is spending the summer [1903] at Wakefield, recruiting from a severe illness. Mrs. Towne is widely known as an artist and writer of great ability, and has been affectionately called 'the Helen Gt)uld of Boston ' from her kind and charitable disposition, and for years has been known as the leader in many charitable organizations, and is especially interested in the care of the poor children of Boston and suburbs, and does much for their comfort and pleasure. Her legion of friends wish her a rapid recovery to health and strength, as she is one of those rare noble women whose services the world can ill afford to lose, even for a short time."
TRYPHOSA DUNCAN BATES (now known as Mrs. Bates-Batcheller) was born in the town of North Brookfield, Worcester County, Mass. She is the daughter of Theodore Cornelius Bates and his wife, Emma Frances Duncan. Her maternal grandmother, Tryphosa Lakin, was considered a beauty, and she was possessed of an unusually sweet soprano voice. This latter gift and the name Tryphosa, in addition to a very great resemblance in appearance, have descended as heirlooms to the subject of our sketch.
The Bates records go back to the early thirteenth century. There is still extant in the aisle of the old church at Lydd, England, the brass bas-relief of Bates ancestors. Thomas Bates, who was Lord Mayor of London and an intimate friend of King Edward III., was an immediate connection of the Lydd branch, ami possessed the same armorial bearings. Among the American ancestors may be counted many heroes of the early colonial wars and several Revolutionary patriots. Major Daniel Fletcher, on the paternal side a great-great-grandfather of Tryphosa, was a commissioned officer of the king in the early colonial wars, and had, as the records show, a distinguished career. His son, Captain Jonathan Fletcher (maternal grandfather of Theodore C. Bates), who had been a private in Captain Samuel Reed's company of minute-men, which marched on
