known as the Capital Female College, is now known as the Leonora Beck College. The success of the school has been remarkable. Under the principalship of Miss Beck, with a board of trustees
LEONORA BECK.
selected from the best-known educators of the land, and with a corps of seventeen assistant teachers in all the various branches of learning and tine arts, the school has Liken rank with the foremost colleges for young women in the South. Socially Miss Beck is very popular. The amplitude of her mind and the generosity of her nature make her a desirable friend and interesting companion. In everything she does there is an earnest purpose, which illustrates a strong mental and spiritual law. Her sympathies are acute, and the sincere interest which she manifests in all of humanity makes her at once
a power for good. Miss Beck is an occasional contributor to the periodical press. A series of essays on Robert Browning is, perhaps, her most enduring contribution to literature
BECKWITH, Mrs. Emma, woman suffragist, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, 4th December, 1S49. Her maiden name was Knight. Her father was born and reared near Baltimore, Md. Her mother is a direct descendant of the Sherman family, and to that fact Mrs. Beckwith probably owes her political tendencies and, we might say, her
lighting propensities as well, for it is said that from
her earliest childhood she was always befriending the weak and helpless, if they proved worthy of her support. She received a thorough common-school education, graduating at the age of seventeen years from the high school in Toledo, Ohio, whither her parents went when she was four years old. Her ambition was to earn money enough to cultivate her exceptionally fine musical talent. The only avenue open was a store clerkship, but the opposition of schoolmates and friends dissuaded her from making the attempt. At that time it was not considered respectable for a young lady to stand behind a counter and measure off dry-goods and ribbons for women, and possibly men customers. It was the remembrance of that keen disappointment in her early life which led her to sympathize with the educational features of nationalism. At the age of nineteen years she was married to Edwin Beckwith, of Mentor, Ohio After residing in Pleusantville, Iowa, a number of years, during which time she had ample opportunity to observe
the necessity of more freedom for women, they removed to Brooklyn, N. Y. Her sympathies with women have always been on the alert. In her early life she found it inadvisable to read the journals devoted to their cause, on account of the extended knowledge of their grievances they gave her, and, not being in a position to help, she preferred not to feed her aforesaid fighting pro-Densities. Upon locating in the East she began to put to practical use her knowledge of bookkeeping, after obtaining the permission of the owner of a building in Nassau street, New York, by promising to be good and not demoralize the men employed in the several offices in the building.
EMMA BECKWITH.
She began work in April, 1879. Keeling assured that other women would soon follow in her footsteps, she fully realized that by her acts they would be judged. She was the pioneer woman bookkeeper in that part of the city and established a reputation for modesty and uprightness that has helped many another to a like position. Her business education of five years'
duration gave her an insight into many matters not general among women. After leaving business life she turned her attention towards acquainting others with the knowledge thus gained and urging voting women to become self-supporting. She believed that by working in that direction the vexed question of marriage would eventually be settled. About that time she became acquainted with Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood and, having become disgusted with the vast amount of talk and so little practical
