regularly two columns daily of a thousand words each. She has done all kinds of newspaper work, from police-court reporting up. Her letters to the Cincinnati "Commercial" from Europe were published in a volume called "E. A. Abroad" (Cincinnati, 1883).
ELIZA ARCHARD CONNER.
She has also written several serial stories. An important part of her work for the American Press Association has been the preparation of a series of newspaper pages of war history, descriptive of the battles of the Civil War. In her girlhood Mrs Conner entered enthusiastically into the struggle for the emancipation and advancement of women. She originated classes in parliamentary usage and extempore speaking among women. Wherever occasion permitted, she has written and spoken in favor of equal pay for equal work, and of widening the industrial field for women. As a speaker she possesses the magnetic quality. She is deeply interested in psychological studies and in oriental philosophy, accepting the ancient doctrine of repeated incarnation for the same individual. She is an enthusiast on the subject of physical culture for women, believing that mankind were meant to live out-doors and sleep in houses.
CONNER. Mrs. Elizabeth Marney, dramatic reader and educator, born in Rouse's Point, N. Y., 26th February, 1856. At the age of eighteen she became the wife of Marcus A. Conner, of Burlington, Vt., who died in 1881, leaving her with two young sons to care for and educate. It was then Mrs. Conner turned her attention to developing tastes and satisfying ambitions which heretofore had lain dormant. With decided abilities for music, literature and the drama, circumstances led her to choose some form of dramatic work, and she began the careful study of elocution. In January, 1884. the Ruffalo School of Elocution was opened by Mrs. Conner, and since then she has rapidly won her way as teacher and artist in her profession, having gained for herself and school an enviable local reputation, and being well-known in a far wider territory. She is a devotee to the art of which she is a true exponent, and everv instinct of her being is absorbed in the success of' her pupils
ELIZABETH MARNEY CONNER.
and the advancement of that branch of education. Her lecture on "Expression" with illustrative readings has been in demand from school, pulpit and platform. She has published recitations in both prose and verse under the pen-name "Paul Veronique," and is the author of the popular operetta "Eulalie." Although her success as a teacher and reader is exceptional, it is considered by many that her true place is on the stage. For that profession she is gifted in a high degree with the essentials of success. She has a strong personality and magnetic presence, intense dramatic fervor, a fine voice and versatile powers of expression. She possesses in addition indomitable pluck, a cheerful, vivacious temperament, and is altogether one of the sunshiny people of the world.
CONVERSE, Mrs. Harriet Maxwell, author and philanthropist, born in Elmira, N. Y. She is Scotch by ancestry, American by birth and Indian by adoption. She is a daughter of Thomas Maxwell and Maria Purdy Maxwell. The history of the Maxwells, lineal descendants of the Earls of Nithsdale, is full of romance. The grandfather of Mrs. Converse was born on the shores of County Down, Ireland, his father and mother being cast there shipwrecked, having embarked for America in 1770. After the babe was some months old, they finally reached America and settled in Berkley, Va., in 1772. In 1792 the baby, Guy Maxwell, was a young man and removed to the spot now Elmira, N. Y. Of the children of Guy who became prominent, the father of Mrs. Converse, Thomas Maxwell, was remarkable A man of ability, he was an influential factor in a region of country where it is yet said, "The word of a Maxwell was law." He served as a member of Congress and occupied
