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Part Taken by Women in American History


MRS. SLIDELL.

Mrs. Slidell, the wife of the senator from Louisiana, was conspicuous abroad among the ladies devoted to the Confederate cause and her influence in society was remarkable. Mrs. Slidell was Miss Daylond of Louisiana. Her home was on the Mississippi coast.

MRS. DUVALL AND OTHERS.

Another of the brilliant and intellectual women from the South was Mrs. Duvall, the wife of Mr. Duvall, a planter from Louisiana and son of former Chief Justice of Maryland. Among the social queens of the Confederate court in Richmond, Virginia, was Mrs. James Chestnut of Camden, South Carolina, Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Clement Clay. Mrs. Reverdy Johnson was a prominent leader of the society of Baltimore. She was very beautiful and queenly woman and helped greatly to advance the fortunes of her husband. Mrs. Myra Clarke Gaines was another southern woman prominent in the social life in Washington. Her name is familiar to everyone and her romantic history well known. The history of her claim to her father's estates, prosecuted under various discouragements for thirty-five years, and granted in her favor only a few days before her death, is considered one of the most extraordinary cases as well as one of the most interesting, in the annals of American jurisprudence.

LUCY CRITTENDEN.

Miss Lucy Crittenden who was the sister of John J. Crittenden, the distinguished senator, was a woman possessed of superior intellect and extensive social influence. She married Judge Thornton, a member of Congress from Alabama, the first land commissioner of California, and they made their home in San Francisco.

MRS. JAMES W. WHITE.

Among the women who were distinguished for their efforts for charity, for the poor and afflicted, and who wielded a wide influence through her domestic life, and who commands the admiration of all as a wife, mother and friend, may be mentioned Mrs White. Her mother was the daughter of General Whitney, a wealthy land owner. Her father was General Waterman, one of the earliest settlers of Binghamton, New York. Mrs. James W. White's name before her marriage was Rhoda Elizabeth Waterman, and when quite young she married James W. White a young lawyer of Irish descent and a nephew of General Griffin, author of "The Collegians." Mr. and Mrs. White took up their residence in the city of New York in 1834, and this home was known among her friends as "Castle Comfort." Mrs. White considered it her most sacred duty to God and her husband to deepen, purify and increase in her own heart and in his. the conjugal affection which bound them together and which she prized as Heaven's best gift. We regret that this idea and conception of married life is not more general to-day. In 1853 Mrs. White arranged a private concert in Niblo's salon in aid of charity, at which