Representative women of New England/Eleanor B. Cass

2349111Representative women of New England — Eleanor B. CassMary H. Graves

ELEANOR BALDWIN CASS was born in Charlestown, Mass., less than thirty years ago. She is the daughter of Charles F. and Mary (Gilbert) Baldwin. Her maternal grandfather, Robert Gilbert, was an Irishman. One of her paternal ancestors, Jean Gieto, who was a Frenchman, left Paris at the time of the commune (1789-94) and came to America. He attained the great age of one hundred and six. The family, it may be said, is noted for longevity and ath- letic ability.

Eleanor Baldwin was graduated from the grammar and high schools of Charlestown, later taking the regular course at Dr. Sargent's Normal School and a special course of instruction at Emerson College, Boston. She studied French and German with private tutors and took voice training under .some of the leading teachers of New England.

She was married to John William Cass in 1900, and is the mother of one child.

With her husband's encouragement Mrs. Cass has continued her work of teaching and lecturing, which she enthusiastically enjoys. She instructs at the Durant Gymnasium, and also has many private pupils in physical culture and fencing, of which art she is perfect mistress.

Her lectures deal mostly with the "balance of mind and body." Though she has been often heard at the Somerset, the Tuileries, and Vendome in Boston, she is far better known in New York and Newport. Her first lectures were given at Newport. These led to the formation in Newport, by Mrs. Cass, in 1897, of a fencing club, which was the first club of its kind for women in the country. Mrs. Cass has lectured before some of the most fashionable and representative women in the country. Though still a young woman, she has won phenomenal success in her chosen work. She goes in society a great deal, and is a great favorite in Newport, being a very clever entertainer. She is an expert horsewoman, plays a fine game of tennis, and makes a good partner at golf. She has but little time for social and club life, but is intelligently alive to all movements which tend to elevate American womanhood. She is an earnest advocate of simple and hygienic living.