before most of the suffrage organizations all over the country and also before committees of the Indiana legislature, committees of the United States Senate, and the National Teachers' Association. In 1889 Mrs. Sewall was the delegate from the National Women's Suffrage Association and from the Women's National Council of the United States to the International Congress of Women assembled in Paris by the French Government in connection with the Exposition Universelle. In that congress she responded for America when the roll of nations was called and later in the session gave one of the principal addresses, her subject being, "The National Women's Council of the United States." Her response for America, which was delivered in French, was highly praised for its aptness and eloquence, by M. Jules Simon, who presided over the session.
Mrs. Sewall's writings and addresses are characterized by directness, simplicity and strength. Her extemporaneous addresses are marked by the same closeness of reasoning, clearness, and power as her written speeches and they display a never-failing tact. She is conspicuously successful also as a presiding officer, a position in which she has had a long and varied experience.
THE REVEREND ANNA H. SHAW.
Mrs. Anna H. Shaw was born in New Castle-on-Tyne, England, on the fourteenth of February, 1847. Her descent is interesting as illustrating the force of heredity. Her grandmother refused to pay tithes to the Church of England and year after year allowed her goods to be seized and sold for taxes. She sat in the door knitting and denouncing the law while the sale went on in the street. Her granddaughter evidently inherited from that heroic ancestor her sense of the injustice of taxation without representation. Mrs. Shaw's parents came to America when she was four years old, and after living four years in Massachusetts they moved to the then unsettled part of Michigan where the young girl encountered all the hardships of pioneer life. She was, however, a child of strong individuality and those pioneer days were an inspiration to her. She may be said to have been self-educated, for her schooling consisted in making herself master of every book and paper that fell in her way. At fifteen years of age she began to teach, remaining a teacher for five years. When about twenty-four years old, despite her descent from a family of English Unitarians, she became a convert to Methodism and joined the Methodist Church. Her ability as a speaker was soon recognized, and in 1873 the District Conference of the Methodist Church in her locality voted unanimously to grant her a local preacher's license. This was renewed annually for eight years. In 1872 she had entered Albion College, Michigan, and in 1875 she entered the theological department of the Boston University, from which she graduated with honor in 1878. She worked her way through college and while in the theological school she was constantly worn with hard work, studying on weekdays and preaching on Sundays. At length when her health was becoming seriously impaired a philanthropic woman offered to pay her the price of a sermon every Sunday during the remainder of her second year if she would omit the preaching and take the day for rest. That help was accepted and afterwards when Miss Shaw was earning a salary and wished to return the
