GRIFFITH, Mrs. Mary Lillian, philanthropist and author, born in Germantown, Philadelphia, Pa., 5th October, 1854, and died in Tamaqua, Pa., in March, 18S4. She was the only daughter of Thomas and Mary Thurlby. As a child she was devoted and conscientious. She attended the grammar-schools, and was graduated from the Normal School of Philadelphia. She accepted a position as teacher, and for herself and pupils pursued her ideals of highest culture. On 12th October, 1875, she became the wife of Rev. T. M. Griffith, pastor of the Cumberland Street Methodist Episcopal Church, of Philadelphia. She entered with zeal into work that appealed on every side to her sympathetic heart. In 1877 she was appointed secretary of the Ladies' and Pastors' Christian Union, a benevolent organization designed to call out the women of the churches to work among the people. She became deeply interested in moral educational work. Her tract, "Wifehood," which she printed and circulated privately, was so highly appreciated that, to meet the demand for it, another edition of a thousand copies was printed. The Moral Educational Society published a third edition, and the organ of that society, the "Alpha," gave it to the world with her name appended. She organized a local Woman's Christian Temperance Union, speaking and writing in behalf of that organization and other reform movements. Her articles attracted the attention of Miss Frances E. Willard, who urged her to take the national superintendency of the branch of work now known as "Heredity" in that society, which was then in the process of development. She accepted the arduous task and wrote a series of twelve papers, some in tract form, doing all that work in addition to her labors as a pastor's wife. Early in life she was led to adopt advanced opinions in relation to the position and rights of women. She was often impelled to speak and write in behalf of her sex. That, together with her moral educational work, brought out antagonism. A pamphlet entitled "An Open Letter," a most pathetic and powerful plea for unselfishness and purity in the marriage relation, excited hostility and criticism. She was interested in the woman's branch of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Her religious life was remarkable for fervor, activity and consecration. She was often called upon to address public assemblies on Christian themes. A series of six religious tracts she wrote at the request of Rev. Dr. John H. Vincent, which were published by the Tract Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. When the General Conference of that church met, she wrote, published and sent to each member of that body an eight-page pamphlet entitled, "The Position of Women in the Methodist Episcopal Church." Another on "License and Ordination of Women," which she had prepared for the next meeting of that chief legislative body, was sent when the hand that had written and the head that had planned were at rest.