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great independence of character, of courtly the Baroness entered upon her notable career manners, an engaging conversationalist, a as an organizer and dispenser of charity. The lover of the drama, a royal host. Of his amelioration of those human woes, which exthree daughters, known as the "Three isted within the limits of the London of her Graces," the two elder married, respectively, day, became her conscientious study, into the Marquis of Bute (the ancestor of "Lo- which she put the best instincts of her broad thair "), and the Earl of Guildford, while nature, open to the counsels of the prudent the youngest married Sir Francis Burdett, and the prophetic. Thirty-four years later, whose fifth daughter, Angela Georgina, born when the gifts of this noble woman had April 25, 1814, is the subject of this sketch. mounted into the millions, the Queen created Into the hands of Thomas Coutts' second her Peeress of the Realm. It was the first wife fell the large fortune of her husband. time the title had been conferred upon a Although she married again, becoming the woman because of her own individual merit Duchess of St. Albans, she bequeathed the and achievement. All England and America entire property of Thomas Coutts to his exclaimed, "Well bestowed!" The same youngest granddaughter, Miss Angela Bur- sign of universal approval greeted the words dett. With a high sense of honor and with of the Prince of Wales (now King Edward fine discrimination, the Duchess, being her- VII.): "After my mother, the most reself without issue, left her fortune to the markable woman in England is the Baroness young woman to whom she was bound by no Burdett-Coutts." ties of blood, but whom she trusted, absolutely, to administer it wisely and dispassionately. That her wisdom was fully justified an affluent and judicious beneficence fully declares.

Miss Burdett found herself at the age of 23 the sole possessor of a large fortune (supposed to be about $15,000,000), and intrusted with the management of the Coutts Bank, a position which she held for nearly 40 years. She accepted her inheritance not for her own use primarily, but for the wide constituency of needy souls created in God's image, and therefore commended to her for relief.

A NEW ERA IN PHILANTHROPY.

The year 1837 marks two notable events, the abolishment of the pillory in England, and the re-establishment of the Inquisition in Spain, unmistakable signs of the drift of two nations, the one toward an ever-expanding civilization, the other toward self-imposed servitude. But that memorable year stands out as the advent of a new age, unparalleled in the history of man, beginning with the accession of Victoria to the throne of England. In a less conspicuous manner, but with deepest significance, should that year be held eventful, for it marked the transmission of a great fortune into the hands of one who was to initiate a course of benevolence unknown before, alike in its power of suggestion, its comprehensive magnitude, and its vigorous pursuit. Two queens ascended their respective thrones, one to hold beneficent sway over her people, the other over her patrimony.

In the evolution of the high art of giving, a feature of our time, the Baroness BurdettCoutts led the way. She excelled in the grace of philanthropic beneficence; she was a pioneer in one of the most responsible tasks of her time, the distribution of immense sums of money in ways that were just and according to a law of wise proportion. Her power of initiative has been generally recognized. Her example is a striking rejoinder to the assertion that those who inherit great fortunes do not know how to use them. The Baroness proved in princely fashion that one form of investment of large amounts of money is in bettering the homes of the poor, turning a reeking purlieu into a sweet and clean abode; in building a great church with every accessory of education and instruction in all useful arts, and in diversion for body and mind. She maintained that such investments have a distinct dividend value; they return to the community in a higher standard of civic and social life, a finer type of manhood and womanhood, a better quality of workmanship, cleaner streets, stronger fabrics, purer homes. Her money paid no tribute to education for its own ends, none to patriotism nor religion for their own sake, but it was given as a helpmeet, an ally, a partner, unwilling to do its part without the co-operation of the recipient. It was her conviction that when full reciprocal action had been secured between giver and receiver the result was always salutary.

LIFTING UP LONDON'S POOR. The gifts of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts Philanthropy assumed new forms when to the London poor antedate those of George

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great financier was nearly 70 years old, he sat down to list his large possessions. laid aside $2,500,000 for improving lodging houses in London. He was led to take this step, in part, by the princely initiative of the Baroness, who had already transformed the fetid rookeries of Nova Scotia Gardens into model dwellings for 200 families. A young woman, undisciplined by years of contact with the world, assuming the onerous task of applying her great wealth to the improvement of her race, under the critical eye of her contemporaries, presents a vivid contrast to the man of mature experience and business training.

The Baroness made her initial study of the poor of London at first hand.

THE BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS, WHO DIED ON DECEMBER 30, 1906. In the midst of women are perverted to be unwomanly, and the men, for the most part, to be like the brute creation, with just enough humanity to make them more elaborate in brutishness." Much more might be quoted from Dickens' account of the East End, which the Baroness visited repeatedly and in so large a measure sought to relieve. Only one contemporary vied with her in visiting the poor,-the noble Earl of Shaftesbury, whose work for many years ran parallel with that of the Baroness, but whose limited financial resources did in no sense permit him to rival her in the bestowment of wealth upon the poor.

the repulsive sanitary conditions of the East End, without precedent or model, she began her splendid work of reform. Subsequently, in the companionship of Charles Dickens, she developed her eleemosynary pians, bringing them to an honorable climax. This far-seeing, chivalric, compassionate woman, from the ranks of the rich and the aristocratic, mingled with those living in squalor and direst misery. She pronounced as true Dickens' description of the filthy abominations which he found: "The home is perverted from being a haven of rest, which the man longs to get to, and is become an earthly hell, which he has cause to dread. The

England's gracious Baroness had no peer in the vast variety of her gifts. Under the

scrutiny of her own personal research she has given to a greater number of objects than any one of her time. She began where her heart was, with the church. She first endowed the bishoprics of Cape Town, South Africa, and Adelaide, Australia. Later she gave a large sum to endow the Church of England in British Columbia, and an additional sum for founding a bishopric and a clergy fund.

GIFTS TO THE CHURCH.

St. Stephen's Church, Westminster, built by the Baroness, ministers to a constituency of 1500 people, almost under the shadow of Westminster Abbey, so near do the poor and the rich approach each other in the great metropolis. The church represents an outlay of $450,000.

Ancient Ramsbury, the seat of the family Wiltshire estate, witnessed a sad coincidence on a memorable day in January, 1844, when the bodies of Sir Francis and Lady Burdett were together borne to their last restingplace, and laid side by side beneath the altar of the old church. As the procession passed the peasants stood with heads uncovered; they were ranged along the roadside for 20 miles. To the restoration of the church, one of the oldest in England, the Baroness gave her attention. Not only did she give liberally toward this object; she aroused public interest in her project, which was completely carried out and the church thoroughly restored.

Her noble spirit of benevolence penetrated to the quiet and retired village of Baydon. In place of unwholesome dwellings and a neglected and decayed house of worship there grew up sanitary homes and an attractive church. Under the care of a faithful rector the parish at Baydon became a model of the parochial system. The Baroness, having learned that the congregation at Carlisle were worshipping in a storehouse for furniture, built for them a church with seating capacity for 600 people.

EDUCATION FOR THE ENGLISH MASSES.

The alliance between religion and education found a practical exponent in the Baroness. It was a favorite belief of hers that near the church the schoolhouse should have an important place. This idea was nobly carried out in the founding of St. Stephen's School, which became the standard of such schools in London, and in some respects in advance of the standards set by the

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education authorities. Since those schools were established upward of 30,000 children have been trained for useful spheres. The same is true of Carlisle, Ramsbury, Baydon, and St. Anne, Highgate. The Baroness provided one-third of the money for the erection of the school buildings at St. Peter's, Stepney. In the direction of industrial training the Baroness Burdett-Coutts was the forerunner of methods that rank high in our time as mong the essentials of an education. believed in teaching the "Common Things,' as she called them. In one of her schools she gave prizes for papers on such subjects as " Household Work," "Household Management," Needle Work," etc. In the Westminster Technical Institute instruction was given in mechanical drawing, applied art, building construction, carpentry and joinery, bricklaying, plumbing, cooking, and dressmaking, each subject being taught by a competent specialist. Classes were formed in shorthand, bookkeeping, civil service, the modern languages, etc. She founded an Art Students' Home for Ladies. She was one of the first to establish evening schools for the poor. She gathered youths from the crowded and offensive districts of Spitalfields and Bethnal Green, and trained them for the royal navy or the merchant marine. In administering the Townshend Fund, upon which an institute for practical education was established, she provided education "of the humblest and simplest kind" for the very poor. She founded 50 scholarships. These enabled the children to whom they are awarded" to attend the institute free, while they remain in and, also, after leaving the day schools, and to receive the best instruction in technical art and on scientific or commercial subjects." This system of education for those restricted in pecuniary resources became the basis of a wider system now in vogue in many of our cities.

LIBERAL ENDOWMENTS OF RESEARCH.

Among the honors to be won at Oxford is the Burdett-Coutts scholarship. It provides that men devoted to any particular branch of art, science, or literature may pursue their studies beyond the prescribed curriculum limits. Building upon this idea, Johns Hopkins University has for 30 years given to its students ample scope for advanced studies. The Carnegie Institution of our time provides for similar advantages.

Distinctive lines of research were also marked out by the Baroness,-as archaeology,

paleontology, and zoology. She provided means for the topographical survey of Jerusalem, for the verification and authentication of the Bible, employing agents to search out ancient manuscripts, some of which were used by the New Testament Revision Committee in 1870.

TEACHING KINDNESS TO ANIMALS.

The Baroness believed in a religion of sweetness and light, in the gospel of sun-. shine and cleanliness, in clean hands, and clean floors, and clean linen; in the orderly arrangement of the household; in flowers in the window as well as in the garden. The principle of a wholesome æstheticism appealed to her refined nature. These arts and amenities of life can be provided for the poor; this was a dictum of her noble soul. She distinctly taught that kindness to animals is "a fundamental part of education." To promote this end she offered prizes for essays on the treatment of animals; these rewards were in some cases distributed by the Queen in person. Her numerous domestic pets made her love of animals apparent to all visitors at Holly Lodge, the charming country seat founded by Thomas Coutts, the grandfather of the Baroness. There the dogs have a wide range of open field and tufted lawn. "Peter and "Prince" have rights all are bound to respect, and are valued members of the social circle of that fascinating retreat. Cocky," the consequential cockatoo; Sir Garnet," the handsome goat, and the "Nubians" of the same tribe, are wellknown "characters" at Holly Lodge.

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In early life the Baroness could be seen riding horseback with her father, Sir Francis Burdett, an accomplished horseman. Her fondness for horses wrought out very merciful results. Under her humane leadership the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was organized, and she advanced the work by her splendid gifts and official support. To quote her own words: "Knowing that a horse would rather die than not do his work, I can estimate what the animal endures when he needs to be goaded to the task he has to perform." The recent reaction from the cruel custom of killing birds for the sake of their plumage reverts to a sympathetic protest in her own utterance when she pronounced the use of hummingbirds as a mode of ornament which must suggest a bloodstain in the delicate hat or cap."

Humanity to children held a foremost

place in her thought. The famous bill of 1889, making it lawful to remove children from the custody of incompetent parents and place them in the care e the state, was passed through her unwearied efforts.

HUMANITARIANISM IN THE CONCRETE.

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Since the death of Lord Shaftesbury, "The Destitute Children's Dinner Society has been under her superintendency. It gives 300,000 dinners each season, at a cost to the eater of a penny to a halfpenny each. The various societies emanating from her fertile brain are too numerous to be gathered into one catalogue, but such as these will suffice: " Boys' Brigades," "Boys' Clubs," "Sewing Schools," "Ragged Schools," "Weavers' Aid Association,' Colonization Aid Society," St. Giles' Refuge." It would be impossible to overestimate the value of her services to the flower girls around Covent Garden Market, making the "Flower Girls' Brigade" one of the most noted and unique forms of modern charity. In order to provide wholesome food for the poor, she built Columbia Market at a cost of $1,000,000. Owing to certain vexatious forms of opposition the project did not bring about the charitable ends the Baroness hoped would result. To improve the condition of the poor weavers of the East End, some she set up in new shops, others she sent abroad as emigrants. Emigration, to her view, was a happy solution of many of the ills of the crowded, feverish life in the slums of London. She sent large colonies of people to Halifax, N. S., to Canada, and to Australia.

SYSTEMATIC RELIEF IN IRELAND.

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The Baroness once and again did much to help solve the Irish problem. As early as 1862 she put into operation her splendid scheme for the relief of the poor fishermen of Skibbereen, not by giving them money outright, but by a provisional loan of £50,coo, and by opening a fishing school for training boys in the art of fishing and providing necessary fishing gear, boats, etc. sent out supplies of corn, meal, sugar, etc., to be sold at lowest prices. Her policy was clearly outlined in her own words: "I sincerely hope the efforts made to prevent the demoralizing effects of aid and help may be secured by avoiding gratuitous distribution of food, money, or clothing," adding that in cases of sickness or abject poverty an exception may be made. She always sought the permanent relief of Ireland. She firmly be

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lieved in the chaste sentiment of Disraeli,The palace is not safe when the cottage is unhappy, and no home can be happy where the presence of woman is not felt.

AIDING TURKISH REFUGEES IN WAR TIME.

The far-reaching humanitarianism of the Baroness found a field for its fullest expression in time of war. The ghastly atrocities committed by the Russians against the Turkish refugees, in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877, powerfully appealed to her great heart. At her own generous suggestion the Turkish Compassionate Fund was founded, administered, and in large measure sustained. She wrote and published a chivalric letter of exquisite pathos. It fired the heart of England. Enormous quantities of clothing and hospital stores were contributed. Large sums of money came in. Mr. William Ashmead Bartlett, who, four years later, became the husband of the Baroness, sailed from England in the yacht Constance, which was laden to the gunwales with provisions and medical stores. In the distribution of this vast quantity of goods he brought into service his admirable administrative ability. The abject misery of the refugees, the systematic manner of distribution, the incidents connected with the relief actually brought about, the perils encountered, and the final honors, form a fascinating chapter in the history of modern philanthropy. These superb labors were fittingly recognized by the Sultan in conferring both upon the Baroness and Mr. Burdett-Coutts the Order of Mejidiyeh.

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MULTIFORM CHARITIES AND CAUSES." The consecrated wealth of this peerless giver builds orphanages, hospitals, asylums; it gives lifeboats to the English Society, sustains the lifesaving service at St. Malo, on the coast of France; it supports the home for fallen women at Shepherd's Bush; it erects fountains in Victoria Market, Columbia Market, in Manchester and Edinburgh; it publishes and distributes pamphlets on peace and humanity; it scatters thousands of copies of an edition of L'Ouvrier Francais (the British Workman in French), of which the Society of Friends in France said: "If that publication could be furnished throughout France regularly it would be a real boon to the country."

This many-sided humanitarian raised her voice against the cruel way in which the transatlantic cattle trade was carried on and

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pleaded for a more merciful method of treating cattle en route from Edinburgh to London, quaintly suggesting that "the mental and bodily sufferings of the animals before they were slaughtered affected the quality of the meat."

A LIFE THAT EMBODIED NATIONAL ASPIRATIONS.

Lady Burdett-Coutts felt the throb of the life of her time; she kept in close touch with the pulse of national sentiment. There was no great movement of her day, either political, patriotic, or civic, which she did not feel, and in a measure promote. Her acquaintance with great statesmen, generals, explorers was more than friendly; it was intensely national. It was not her high social position .alone that gave her such a hold upon the people of England for seven decades, but her vital sympathy with every great and good movement for the betterment of mankind. The four apostles to Africa,-Dr. Moffat, Dr. Livingstone, Mr. Stanley, and General Gordon,-elicited her co-operation. When Gordon was shut up in Khartoum and no effort was made to rescue him, she joined a few friends in securing an English merchant to undertake in disguise the perilous journey to the far-off city, with a parcel of letters and English papers, the last words the great General received from the home land. He carried with him to the last a small lettercase given him by her ladyship.

With mental and spiritual faculties undimmed, this imperial humanist passed away on the thirtieth of December, 1906, in the grace and serenity of her ninety-third year. It is one of the noblest encomiums upon her notable history, as a princely giver, that she had few corrections to make regarding the objects or methods of her beneficence. What marvelous insight! What breadth of charity! What tenderness of compassion! What variety in gratuity! Index the charities of the opening years of the twentieth century; find them antedated in the catalogue of the gifts of the Baroness, in the middle of the nineteenth. An inheritor, not a coiner, of wealth, she has given to the world an example of how to distribute, in one's lifetime, the millions of a former generation. As her wealth passed on into its normal and splendid proportions, she kept up a corresponding ratio in her beneficent offerings. Her sapient humanity broadened with the years, and became more and more widely felt in two continents.

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