from all parts between, as an inspection of its "tramp" register shows. Mr. and Mrs. Sewall have been abroad during thr^e summers. In 1889 Mrs. Sewall was the delegate from the National Woman Suffrage Association and from the Woman'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 Woman's Council of the United States." Her response for America, which was delivered in the French language, was highly praised for its aptness and eloquence by M. Jules Simon, who presided over the session.
SEYMOUR, Miss Mary F., law reporter, business woman and journalist, born in Aurora, Ill. Her father was a lawyer in Galena, a man well
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MARY F. SEYMOUR.
read in his profession, a fine linguist, and a student and writer on scientific subjects. Her mother was a broad-minded, philanthropic woman, possessing great executive ability. Mary, the oldest faughter, inherited the best traits of both parents. She was a born scribbler and, when she was eight years old, she began to write poems and stories. When she was eleven, a little drama she had written was acted by the children in the village school. She
was educated in a boarding-school. While she was still young, her father, acting as counselor for a large company, started for California. While crossing the Isthmus, he was attacked by yellow fever and died. The family returned to the East Miss Seymour secured a school in New York City, where she taught until the confinement affected her health, and she was forced to resign. For a long
time she was confined to her bed in New England, where she had been sent for a change of climate. Surrounded by books, she busied herself with her pen. She wrote stories for children, many of them
of an instructive character, and a series of "talks" which appeared under the head of "Table Talk of Grandmother Greyleigh," and other
more substantial work. The editor of one of the periodicals to which she had been contributing, offered her a regular position on the staff of a new paper he was starting, which has since become well known. She has always used a pen-name. Recovering health, she accepted a position in a New Jersey school. She was soon again
forced to give up work, and in the enforced confinement she took up the study of stenography. She went to work in New York City, and was
soon earning a large salary. She felt that women should be permitted to till any position for which they had the capacity, and she decided to do anything in her power to help them. Opening an
office for typewriting, she engaged two competent young women who understood the use of the machine. As the business increased, there was work for more women, but no women who understood the work. At first tuition was free, but, as the expenses and pupils increased, a regular school was opened, which continues to flourish under the name of The Union School of Stenography. The office work increased until six separate offices were running successfully. Her tastes all tended to journalistic work, and, as her other enterprises reached
their full fruition, she gave way to her natural bent and commenced the publication of a magazine devoted to the interest of women, the "Business Woman's Journal" After the first year a publishing
company, composed entirely of women, was formed with the name of The Mary F. Seymour Publishing Company, Miss Seymour acting as editor of the magazine and as president of the company. The "Journal" was something new in the line of periodicals and was warmly received. In October, 1892, the magazine was enlarged and appeared under the name of the "American Woman's Journal and The Business Woman's Journal." In the spirit of self-help, and to prove the ability of women to manage large enterprises, all the stock of the company has been kept in the hands of women. and with very satisfactory results. When Miss
Seymour was appointed Commissioner of Deeds for New Jersey, an appeal to the legislature was necessary to repeal the law to make 11 possible for a woman to be appointed to such an office. She is
also a commissioner for the United States for the Court of Claims and a notary public of New York county, N. Y. In her interest in women and their work she has been interested in woman suffrage,
and has given considerable attention to all branches of reform. She has been elected vice-president-at-large of the American Society of Authors.
SHAFER, Miss Helen Almira, educator, born in Newark, N. J., 23rd September, 1839. Her father was a clergyman of the Congregational Church. She was a child of marked intellectual
powers, and she received a thorough and liberal education. She studied in the seminary in Albion, N. Y., and afterward entered Oberlin College, where she was graduated in 1863. After leaving
Oberlin, she taught in a school for young women in New Jersey, and for some years she w is in charge of the advanced classes of the school. In 1865 she became the teacher of mathematics in the
public high school in St. Louis, Mo., where she remained till 1875, attracting wide notice by her superior methods of preparing pupils, by the study of algebra, for work in higher analytical mathematics. Professor W. T. Harris, superintendent of the schools of St. Louis, ranked her as the most able and successful teacher in her chosen line in the
