This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
DOUGLAS.
DOW.
257

own lack of education, both parents strove to give their children the best educational opportunities possible The sole luxury of their home was literature. They took the " Democratic Review," almost the only magazine then published in the United States, and such papers as the " National Era" and the "Boston investigator." In 1853, when she was twenty-six years of age, she became the wife of Joshua Douglas, then just entering the profession of the law, and removed to Meadville, Pa., where they have resided ever since. There her life was devoted to caring for her household, rearing her children and mingling somewhat in the social life of the place. In 1872 she made a visit to Europe. She arrived home from Europe on the 23rd of December, 1873. the day of the great Woman's Temperance Crusade. Meadville was aroused by the great spiritual outpouring, and the following March a mass meeting was called and a temperance organization effected which, under one form or another, still exists. Mrs. Douglas very early identified herself with the movement, and has always been a most active and enthusiastic worker in the cause. She early became a member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and for many years was president of the Meadville Union. Her ardent enthusiasm and untiring zeal have made her name in her own community a synonym for temperance. For a few years Mrs. Douglas has been obliged to retire from active efforts in the cause, owing to failing eye-sight. Cataracts formed on both her eyes, and during these later years she has walked in gathering darkness. The cataracts have been removed, but with only partial success.


DOW, Miss Cornelia M., philanthropist and temperance reformer, born in Portland, Me., 10th CORNELIA M. DOW. November. 1842. She is the youngest daughter of Neal Dow. of Portland, Me. Her mother, who died in 1863, was Maria Cornelia Durant Maynard, who was born in Boston, Mass. Her daughter, Cornelia, was born in the house where she now lives with her father, who is in the eighty-eighth year of his age. Miss Dow possesses many of the characteristics of both mother and father. She excels as a careful homekeeper, and yet is able to find a great deal of time for the world's work. For many years she was secretary of the Woman's Christian Association of Portland. She is the treasurer of the Home for Aged Women of Portland and also treasurer of the Temporary Home for Women and Children, a State institution situated in Deering, near Portland. The larger part of her time is given to works of temperance, which would seem the most natural thing for her to do. For years she has been officially connected with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Portland. She is president of the union in Cumberland county, one of the superintendents of the State union, as well as one of its most efficient vice-presidents. She is a member and a constant attendant of State Street Congregational Church in Portland.


DOW, Mrs. Mary E. H. G., financier, born in Dover, N. H„ 15th December, 1848. Her maiden name was Mary Edna Hill. She is a daughter of Nathaniel Rogers Hill. She was educated partly in Dover. While she was yet a child, her parents removed to Boston, Mass., and it was there she got the larger part of her schooling. When seventeen years of age, she was graduated with high honors from the Charlestown high school. For some years she was a successful assistant principal of the Rochester, N. H., high school, and after went to St. Louis, Mo., where for three years she was instructor in French and German in a female academy. When twenty-five years old, she was wooed and won by a wealthy resident of Dover, George F. Gray, part owner and editor of the Dover "Press," a Democratic weekly paper published there. They spent two years in Europe Three children were born to them, and after a few years Mr. Gray died. Before her marriage she was correspondent for several newspapers, among them the Boston "Journal" and "Traveller," "New Hampshire Statesman," the Dover "Enquirer." and some southern papers. Five years after the death of her first husband she became the wife of Dr. Henry' Dow, of Dover. They spent some time in England. Returning to Dover, Mrs. Dow began to attract attention as a financier. In January, 1888. she was elected president of the Dover Horse Railway, an event that caused much commotion in railway circles. She was perfectly familiar with the affairs of the road and had secured a majority of its stock The story of this occurrence is interesting The road had been a failing enterprise. The patrons found fault with the accommodations and the excessiveness of fares, and the stockholders growled at the excessiveness of expenses and the small receipts. For years it had paid but a small dividend. A Boston syndicate made overtures for possession of the whole stock, and with such success that the board of directors reached the point of voting to sell. Mrs. Dow was out of town during these negotiations, but returned as the sale was about to be consummated. She held a small amount of the stock, and was approached with an offer for it at something like one-third the price at which it had been bought. With characteristic promptness she at once decided that, if the stock was so low, and yet the Boston syndicate expected to make the road pay, any other able financier might reasonably indulge the same hope; that, if there were any profits to be obtained, they ought to be saved to Dover, and that she would try her own capabilities in the matter. Her attitude interrupted the syndicate's