purposes, " and the innocent inmates were driven out shelterless, being forced to leave behind them clothing, stores, and all the cherished tokens of days of prosperity. At the breaking out of hostilities Miss Mason was on a visit to a sick relative in the North. She became suspected, and was denounced as a Southern spy; was hunted by the authorities, hidden by her friends-and finally compelled to fly from pursuit. She fled homeward, and had a dreadful journey alone through West Virginia; finding no place of refuge where her home had been. Her property was entirely destroyed. She then went to the hospitals, and particularly devoted her energies to active usefulness in the Winder Hospital, near Richmond. Here, and in the prisons, she took care of the sick, wounded, and dying, wherever her ministrations were necessary; and many a Union soldier had cause for grateful remembrance of her good offices. Her spirit of benevolent enterprise survived the war. Since its close she has worked even more indefatigably than ever in the cause of humanity. She has been the benefactress of Southern orphans, solicitous to provide for them the means of education, that they may be enabled, in time, to earn their own living. Her widely extended influence, and the confidence of all who know her in her excellent judgment, faithful care, and generous charity, have enabled her to find temporary homes for twentyfive destitute little creatures, while she gives herself a respite of a few months, taking a tour in Europe with an agreeable party.

Miss Sallie Carneal, the daughter of Davis Carneal, of Kentucky, was the most celebrated belle of Cincinnati, not only for beauty, but for her rare musical attainments, her powers of song, and her accomplishments as a linguist, with marked and noble traits of character. Her fame spread widely through the Southwest, and in Cincinnati she was identified with all that was elegant and fashionable; being truly the pride and queen of the Queen City. She married Mr. Glendy Burke, a noted merchant of New Orleans, and did not long survive her marriage.

A prominent belle in Kentucky, and called "the belle of the Southwest," was Miss Louisa Bullitt. She married Mr. De Kantzou, a Swede, and went with him to Sweden, but returned to live in this country, with vivacity and social attractions undiminished. A wonderful charm of her manner was the faculty of putting those at their ease who conversed with her.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science held its twelfth annual meeting in Baltimore, in April, 1858. A splendid reception was given to the members, with five hundred guests, by Mrs. Lincoln Phelps, at her house in Eutaw Place. She had been elected a member years before. Standing around Mrs. Phelps, as she welcomed the company, were twelve young ladies, dressed in white, with natural flowers in their hair. They were chosen from the belles of Baltimore. Two were daughters of Colonel Van Ness; two the daughters of Bishop Whittingham; one a niece of

Chancellor Johnson. The lovely daughter of the hostess, and Miss Helen Scott, a noted beauty, were also of the group. The scientific visitors were not only impressed with the grace and loveliness of the fair Baltimoreans, but with their taste in dress. Flowers of the choicest variety adorned the drawing-rooms, veranda, &c., and the supper was presided over by an artist who had been confectioner to the Emperor of Austria, at Schoenbrunn. His achievements in iced fruits and other dessert preparations elicited the remark from a gentleman at a military dinner-party, given by Mrs. Phelps, that he had seen nothing like it since leaving Vienna.

On the occasion of a visit from Mayor Lincoln, of Boston, with the Common Council and Board of Education, to Baltimore, Mrs. Phelps gave them an elegant entertainment, at which her daughter's harp-playing was a most admired adjunct to the speeches by the mayor and other gentlemen. In the summer of 1866, a delegation from Congress was invited by General Phelps, and a morning "reception" was given by his mother. Mrs. Phelps has for ten years contributed to the enjoyments of Baltimore society. Her literary and educational celebrity is as extensive as the country. She is a sister of Mrs. Willard, whose social influence in Troy was as much acknowledged as her fame as a teacher and author.

XXI.

THE influence of Mrs. Frémont has been very peculiar. Without entering personally into the arena of politics, or using any machinery of partisanship, she has sent forth an animating spirit, acting on eminent minds. Living in the whirl of social excitement, she has found time to maintain relations with leading statesmen in every part of the country. Her influence seems to have been exercised, not in the furtherance of schemes, but simply by the force of a powerful nature and a singular clearness of mental vision. In France she might have ruled openly in the councils of the nation; in America she merely gave suggestions and advice to those who controlled the people's destiny. Her father was the distinguished Colonel Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri, who sat thirty-one years in the United States Senate. She was born in Virginia, on the family estate of her maternal grandfather, Colonel James McDowell, to whose father, a lieutenant-colonel in the British service, the crown grant for military services was originally made, and who was killed there by Indians in 1742. The domain was in Rockbridge County, and extended "from the valley to the tops of all the hills in view;" the point of view being a lakelet formed by the meeting of two streams

that crossed the valley. There was another grant of ten thousand acres of pasture land in Greenbriar County, adjoining; with yet another, called "the military," of some thousands of acres in Kentucky; and another on the Ohio side of the river, on which a part of Cincinnati was built. These grants of "wild lands" were made by the English government, instead of payments in money, to their young officers. The inheritor of this magnificent estate was distinguished not only by noble aspect and dignity of manner, but by uprightness, justice, and liberality, with a temperance rare in those days. He divided his patrimony with his mother and sisters, who, like him, bestowed on the lands the most careful cultivation, such as only those born on the soil they expect to transmit to their children are willing to give. It was a section where the chief crops were tobacco and wheat, and where the Scotch settlers had introduced a thorough system of farming. The best imported stock and horses always belonged to the property; and thrift, order, and abundance reigned. Colonel McDowell married into the Preston family, and held a commanding position during life. He was a private court of appeal on questions of property and honor among the neighbors. It has been recorded that but ten cases on which he had pronounced an opinion had afterwards been taken into court.

In this region stands the "Washington College," endowed by Washington, of which General Lee is now president. On the same "College Hill" is the Military Institute, of which Stonewall Jackson was for eight years