training, and her earnest Christianity. At that time one of the leading merchants in the city, in whose home Miss Willard was entertained, said to her: "If you have come here to speak and organize a Woman's Christian Temperance Union, you are welcome, hut if you have come to spirit away Mrs. Clara Hoffman from our schools, then I, as a member of the school board, have a controversy with you, however cordially I may treat you as my guest." But Mrs. Hodman had heard in her inmost spirit the call of the crusade movement, and she ventured out from an assured position, where she was greatly beloved, upon what many regarded as a most uncertain sea; but the life-boat of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in Missouri, receiving Mrs. Hoffman as its captain, soon began to manifest its power. It was within a year well manned, or womaned, by associates fitting to such a leadership, and in 1883, being duly elected by the State convention, Mrs. Hoffman left her position and entered upon the work. Front that time on the work in Missouri, which had been playfully railed "poor old Misery" by the white-ribboners, forged forward, until it attained a position hardly-second to that of any State in the Union. Every town and village had its local association. Mrs. Hoffman's labor was almost incessant. She rallied the forces with the skill of a major-general, drilling them with the thoroughness that her long experience as a teacher had caused to become second nature, and inspiring them with zeal. No woman has been better loved by her associates. Headquarters were established in Kansas City, which still continue, where systematic work is planned, and whence hints and helps are sent out broadcast over the great commonwealth. Temperance sentiment has been wonderfully cultivated. Improved legislation on many lines has been secured, and the good work still goes on, with Mrs. Hoffman at the head. Her powers as a speaker, her strength in debate on the floor of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union convention, caused her to become a national leader, and she is now a national organizer. She is one of its fittest survivals, by sheer force of intellect, pluck and devotion. She is in demand from Maine to California, and makes endless trips, speaking and organizing. Her powers upon the platform have greatly developed. The courage and vigor with which she attacks conservatism, and the merciless logic and keenly cleaving blade of satire that she wields, make her a tremendous power before an audience. Mrs. Hoffman has two sons grown to man's estate, and, as has been aptly said by Antoinette Brown Blackwell. she finds that the work of her life remains for a life-time, and that its long afternoon is indeed the best time of her largest influence for the protection of the home.
HOFFMAN, Mrs. Sophia Curtiss, philanthropist, born in Sheffield, Berkshire county, Mass., in 1825. As a member of many notable organizations, and often acting in an official capacity, she is widely known in our land. Wherever the Woman's Congress, the Association for the Advancement of Women, has met in the North, South, East or West, there the name of its early treasurer and always active member is familiar almost as a household word. She has been a valued member of Sorosis for nearly as long as it has existed, and is usually in office or prominent as the reader of a paper, or a speaker in the discussions which occur on the famous sixial days. Years ago she was better known as Mrs. George Hoffman. Her late husband was a successful business man in New York City. Her name, thus given, appears in the list of incorporators of the Chapin Home, a benevolent institution greatly esteemed in that city. In fact, it is to Mrs. Hoffman the inception of the home came as a sort of inspiration, and she gave at various times thousands of dollars to promote its beneficent aims. Mrs. Hanaford, in her book, "Daughters of America," after referring to Mrs. Hodman as the founder of the Chapin Home, says: "In her early life, an invalid aunt, by her own suffering with a sense of dependence, impressed upon Mrs. Hoffman's mind the importance of a home where aged women, who had been accustomed to the comforts of a competence in earlier days, could feel independent, at the same time that they were made comfortable; and she promised this relative that, if ever the means were in her possession, she would seek to establish such a retreat" The Chapin Home was the outgrowth of that experience. Faith and love are the pillars upon which this arch of benevolence rested. As the years rolled on, the dream of her childhood became
SOPHIA CURTISS HOFFMAN.
a reality, and with the hearty cooperation of her husband, she consecrated the first contributions to the new enterprise, and then toiled to obtain co-laborers, that the home might be reared and occupied. It was to be wholly unsectarian, and was so incorporated, though it was to bear the name of a widely-known Universalist preacher, who had been for many years Mrs. Hoffman's pastor. The first annual report of this charity mentions that the first meeting of friends interested in the enterprise was held on 1st February, 1869, in the basement of Dr Chapin's church, New York, but prior to that several private meetings had been held in Mrs. Hodman's parlors, and the corner-stone of the handsome brick edifice was laid by Mrs. Hodman's own hands. The Chapin Home is especially her work, since from early youth she had planned such a charity. While in Europe, she visited many such homes in Great Britain and on the Continent, that she might study their methods and develop a plan for a
