Page:Sketches of representative women of New England.djvu/541

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
406
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND

having all these young people so near about her and so much with her in her home.

M. H. G.


ALICE STONE BLACK WELL was born in Orange, N. J., September 14,. 1857, the daughter of Henry B. Blackwell and his wife, Lucy Stone. In 1869 her parents moved to Massachusetts. She was fitted for college at Chauncy Hall School in Boston, where she took the Thayer prize for English composition and a special prize for knowledge of Shakespeare. She graduated from the College of Liberal Arts of Boston University with honors in 1881, and began in the same year to help her parents edit the Woman's Journal. For the last sixteen years she has also edited a small fortnightly paper called the Woman's Column, devoted to equal suffrage. She was largely instrumental in persuading the two branches of the Woman's Suffrage Association, which had split twenty years before, to reunite in 1889; and she has since been recording secretary of the united society, the National American Woman Suffrage Association. She is also chairman of the Executive Committee of the New England Woman Suffrage Association and chairman of the Literature Committee of the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association. She has been much interested in the Armenian question, has for many years been in the habit of befriending Armenian immigrants, and is the author of "Armenian Poems," a small volume of verse translated from the Armenian. She is also the compiler, with the Rev. Anna H. Shaw and Miss Lucy E. Anthony, of a book of equal rights recitations, "The Yellow Ribbon Speaker." She was for some years Associate National Superintendent of Franchise for the W. C. T. U. She lectures occasionally, and is interested in a number of reforms.

Miss Blackwell inherits much of her mother's tenacity and singleness of purpose. Endowed with a ready wit and retentive memory, in legislative hearings for and against suffrage she retains a vivid recollection of all that is said in opposition, and is usually able to turn the weapons of her antagonists against them- selves. Among the younger advocates of suffrage she is distinguished for her valuable and acceptable service.


ADELINE FRANCES FITZ.—In the list of Boston's women composers who occupy a high position is found the name of Adehne Frances Fitz, without any self-seeking on her part, her work winning its way by pure merit. Her compositions were first brought out in Boston after being produced as a pastime. Her scope is almost illimitable, comprising songs for kindergarten, hymn settings, piano solos, songs for concert use, and a vast number of patriotic songs. Mrs. Fitz has been an ardent worker for the cause of patriotism.- She has served the Daughters of the Revolution, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, three years as State Historian and two years as Vice-Regent; and on March 17 last she accepted the position of State Regent, Daughters of the Revolution. At the annual convention of the Gf'neral Society in May she was elected first Vice-President-general. Mrs. Fitz places music first in her artistic likings, but has a discriminating taste in literature, as is shown by her choice of words set to nmsic, as well as in her musical sketches which she is often called upon to deliver before clubs.

Through Mrs. Fitz's untiring energy and the hearty co-operation of her fellow-members, the Daughters of the Revolution, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, placed in the Boston Public Library a memorial tablet to the pre-eminent writers of American patriotic verse and song. This tablet was unveiled in the Lecture Hall on Tuesday evening, May 3, 1904, fully seven hundred people witnessing the ceremony, which was most impressive. The presentation speech, choicely worded, was made by Mrs. Fitz. The Rev. Dr. De Normandie responded in behalf of the Public Library Trustees. (For further account of the memorial see article on " Daughters of the Revolution, Conunonwealth of Massachusetts.")

Mrs. Fitz was born in Chelsea, and is the daughter of David and Elizabeth Wilson (Whitaker) Slade. She was married in 1884 to the Hon. Frank E. Fitz, of Chelsea. The