Page:Sketches of representative women of New England.djvu/616

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REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
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lar contributor to the home, which she often visits. She has served continuously in some official capacity — as chairman of large committees for fairs, Memorial Day and other special work, as a member of the Board of Directors, and as one of the Vice-Presidents. A room bearing her name has been furnished by the Department of Massachusetts, W. R. C., and contains her portrait. Abraham Lincoln Corps of Charlestown, of which she has been a member the past eleven years, has placed her picture in Department headquarters, Boylston Building, Boston. Contribution.s of money for the portrait were sent this corps by friends and corps throughout the State.

Mr.s. Turner is a model financier, and her services as treasurer of large charitable enterprises are in great demand.

She is deeply interested in all the posts of the Grand Army of the Republic, and has many friends among the comrades in all parts of the country, for they appreciate her grand work in their behalf. In her collection of valuable gifts are a framed testimonial from Major-general H. G. Berry Post, No. 40, of Maiden, Mass., a costly badge and framed testimonial from Admiral Foote Post, of New Haven, Conn., given her in acknowledgment of gavels presented them by her, which were made of wood from Andersonville Prison and from the tree under which General Lee surrendered at Appomattox. The gift to the Maiden post was accompanied by the request that it should be presented to the Maiden City Library when the post should cease to exist.

Mrs. Turner was a member of the Executive Committee of Arrangements for the National Convention in Boston, Augu.st 15-20, 1904, chairman of the Badge Committee, also chairman of the Accommodation Committee and a member of other conmiittees.

Her recommendation that one thousand dollars be appropriated annually for the perpetual care of the historic grounds at Andersonviile was adopted at this convention.

Although not a near kinswoman of any soldier of the Civil War, she has given her best efforts to the cause represented by the Union veteran, and is recognized as one of the ablest of the loyal women of the Relief Corps.


HELENA HIGGINBOTHAM.— Among the authors who have recently made their bow to the public, and who have met with instant appreciation, is Helena Higginbotham, of Springfield, Mass. She was born in Philadelphia in 1874, but came as a tiny child to Massachusetts, since which time her home has been in Huntington and Springfield.

Her father, John Francis Higginbotham, was born and reared in Manchester, England; while her mother, Helen Hazelhurst Higginbotham, was of Spanish origin.

After a three years' cour.se at the Springfield High School, Miss Higginbotham, who from childhood had .shown much talent for sketching, took the two years' course in drawing at the Cowles Art School, Boston, later attending the Art Students' League in New York. Nature has endowed Miss Higginbotham generously with mental and physical gifts. When a little girl she sketched with ease, and in occasional fits of petulance eased her injured feelings by making quick caricatures of those who had offended her. These were so clever that the subjects, instead of feeling re.sentful, were lost in admiration. It was as easy for her to use her pen as her crayons; and, though too shy for a long time to offer her literary work, she gradually began contributing to newspapers and magazines. In September, 1902, Lee & Shepard published her book, "Rover's Story," which she had illustrated herself. She has another volume in progress, and intends to make literature her profession. Some of the articles contributed by her to magazines are not what might be considered of a literary nature, most of them being on mechanical subjects, such as wiring houses for electric bells and for lighting gas by an electrical current. In electrical engineering she takes a great interest, and her articles on this subject are ba.sed upon personal experience. She .says in regard to it: "Having wired nine houses, and after keeping them in repair without the aid of an electrician, I have found the occujiation far more interesting than literature, even if one does have to climb ladders to fasten insulators above the second-story windows, to attach the outside wires,