Julia Ward Howe

Exactly 125 years ago this week, Julia Ward Howe, best remembered today as the author of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” was a house guest of John and Frances Glessner.  In this article, we will look briefly at Julia Ward Howe’s life and then focus on her frequent interactions with the Glessners during a friendship that lasted over twenty years.

JULIA WARD HOWE

Julia Ward was born in New York City on May 27, 1819, the daughter of a successful banker and stock broker.  Well-educated and extremely intelligent, she began writing essays, plays, and dramas.  In 1841, she married Samuel Gridley Howe, a reformer and founder of the Perkins School for the Blind; he was 18 years her senior.  Her husband in general did not approve of her writing, especially since it often focused on the rights and roles of women in society. 

In November 1861, the Howes were invited to meet President Abraham Lincoln at the White House.  During that trip she wrote new words to the popular song “John Brown’s Body” and the new version was published in the Atlantic Monthly in February 1862.  It became one of the most popular songs of the Union during the Civil War and remains so to this day.

The popularity of the Battle Hymn raised her profile in the public eye, and she continued to write and publish extensively, on topics ranging from literature and her travels to pacifism and women’s suffrage.  In 1868, she was a co-founder of the New England Women’s Club, the first women’s club in the United States, and later served as its president.  She was also a founder and long-time president of the New England Woman Suffrage Association and later, the Association of American Women, and served in a leadership position in numerous other organizations advocating for suffrage and women’s rights.  In 1908, she became the first woman to be elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

THE GLESSNERS MEET JULIA WARD HOWE

The Glessners came to know Julia Ward Howe through her daughter, the author Maud Howe Elliott (see blog article November 16, 2015), whom they first met at a tea given by the English artist William Pretyman at his studio in April 1888.  (Four years later, the Glessners would commission Pretyman to design and execute the hand-painted burlap wallcovering in their parlor).

Just one year later, on April 16, 1889, Frances Glessner noted in her journal, “Had calls all the afternoon.  Mrs. Julia Ward Howe one of my callers.”  The following Monday she hosted a small luncheon in honor of Mrs. Howe to which twelve ladies were invited.  Following luncheon, Mrs. Howe and Mrs. Carpenter (one of the guests) sang, much to the delighted of the party.

Two days later, Frances Glessner attended another luncheon for Mrs. Howe, this time given by Mrs. Franklin MacVeagh (owner of the other H. H. Richardson designed house in Chicago).  She remained in the city for several more days, as indicated by the entry Frances Glessner made in her journal on May 3^rd:

“Friday I went to the Fortnightly and heard Mrs. Julia Ward Howe read a paper on Dante and Beatrice, I also heard some wonderful eulogies pronounced upon her by Mrs. Dexter, Mrs. Donelson, and Dr. Stevenson – who left no words in the language unused to heap praise upon Mrs. Howe.”

A VISIT TO THE GLESSNER HOUSE IS PLANNED

During a trip to Boston in February 1891 to visit their son George, the Glessners paid a call on Julia Ward Howe at her home, 241 Beacon Street.  She returned the call the following week, and invited them to breakfast at her home the next morning.  Of the breakfast, Frances Glessner wrote:

“Thursday we went to Mrs. Howe’s to breakfast where we met Mrs. Laura E. Richards, Miss Amy Richards, General Walker, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Gardner – the much talked of.  It was very pleasant.”

(Notes:  Laura E. Richards was a daughter of Mrs. Howe.  General Walker was president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  “The much talked of” Mrs. Jack Gardner was the art patron and collector Isabella Stewart Gardner, creator of Fenway Court – now the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston).

During the breakfast there was apparently some discussion that Mrs. Howe would be visiting Chicago in early March.  Soon after, Frances Glessner wrote to her inviting her to stay with the Glessners during her time in Chicago.  On March 4^th, Howe quickly penned a note to Frances Glessner:

“My dear Mrs. Glessner,

I am much concerned to have left your kind letter so long unanswered.  The rush and strain of ten days of almost constant sitting in Convention must be my excuse,  the fatigue of the meetings, pleasant as they were, incapacitating me from doing anything outside of them.  Without further preamble, let me say that I have arranged to leave this place tomorrow, Mar. 5^th at 3.30 p.m. by what is called the Pennsylvania Route, reaching Chicago some time on Friday.  I am sorry to say that my stay with you can only be until Monday, as I have a lecture in Hinsdale on Monday evening, another in Rockford on Tuesday evening, and one in Dubuque on Thursday, 12^th.  This, you see, will not allow me to attend the Fortnightly on the 13^th.  I am so tired just now that the prospect of two quiet days with you is delightful, but I shall of course be glad to meet any friends whom you might wish to invite.  My dear Maud is intruding, I know, to profit by your very kind invitation to her.  Hoping to reach you safely on Friday, and not at some unearthly hour, believe me, dear Mrs. Glessner, cordially and gratefully

Mrs. Julia W. Howe.”

JULIA WARD HOWE ARRIVES AT 1800 PRAIRIE AVENUE

Guestroom

Mrs. Howe arrived at the Glessner home on Friday afternoon.  In the evening, the Glessners took her to Hooley’s Theatre to see The Silver Shield, starring Rosina Vokes and Courtenay Thorpe.  Frances Glessner noted in her journal that “Courtenay Thorpe recognized Mrs. Howe and looked hard at her.”  The next day, Frances Glessner, daughter Fanny, and her companion Violette Scharff accompanied Mrs. Howe to the Columbia Theatre to see the Lilliputians “a company of German dwarfs” that the party found clever and amusing. 

Autographed photo of Courtenay Thorpe,
presented to Frances Glessner

Mrs. Howe’s daughter Maud Howe Elliott and her husband, the English artist John Elliott, arrived from St. Paul on Sunday.  Frances Glessner noted that “Courtenay Thorpe called on Mrs. Howe and Mrs. Elliott in the afternoon – he was very pleasant.”

On Monday, Mrs. Howe travelled to Hinsdale to give a lecture.  The next day, she and her daughter left for Denver where she was to give additional lectures.  They returned at the end of the month, staying in the Glessner home for one additional night before returning to Boston.

THE FRIENDSHIP CONTINUES

In October 1891, Mrs. Howe was back in Chicago and Frances Glessner saw her at an informal tea given by Bertha Palmer.  In early December, the Glessners were back in Boston, and Mrs. Howe invited Frances Glessner to attend a meeting of the New England Women’s Club.  She sent over her personal card in a note which read:

“Dear Mrs. Glessner,

The enclosed card will admit you to the Club session this afternoon.  You should be a 5 Park St., up one flight, by 3:15 p.m.

Cordially and in great haste,

Julia W. Howe”

Park Street, Boston; the New England Women's Club
met in the building at the far left

The Glessners were invited to lunch at Mrs. Elliott’s home later that week, and Mrs. Howe was present.  Frances Glessner noted that:

“There we met Augustus St. Gaudens – who came in for a few minutes with Mr. Elliott.  After luncheon Mr. Elliott took us over to see the new public library.  We went all over the building.”

(Note:  In 1901, John Elliott painted a large two-panel mural entitled “Triumph of Time” on the ceiling of the library.)

Mrs. Howe paid yet another visit on the Glessners when she was back in Chicago in May 1892.  And the Glessners lunched with Mrs. Howe when they were in Boston the following March.

THE WORLD’S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION

In May 1893, both Julia Ward Howe and her daughter Maud came to Chicago to participate in the Congress of Women at the World’s Columbian Exposition, staying at the Glessner home.  Frances Glessner noted in her journal that “Maud Howe Elliott has been here for two weeks.  Mrs. Julia Ward Howe has been here a week. . . Mrs. Howe and Mrs. Elliott have been going to the Women’s Congress this week.”

The Congress of Women, held in the Woman’s Building on the fairgrounds, consisted of a series of more than 80 meetings held over the course of a week.  Nearly 500 women from 27 countries spoke on a broad range of topics regarding women’s concerns, and it was estimated than more than 150,000 people listened to the speeches.  Julia Ward Howe spoke on the topic “Women in the Greek Drama.” 

LATER VISITS

The journal records several additional visits over the course of the next fifteen years in both Boston and Chicago.  In March 1902, Mrs. Florence Howe Hall, a daughter of Julia Ward Howe, presented a paper to Frances Glessner’s Monday Morning Reading Class entitled “Personal Reminiscences of Distinguished People” discussing Longfellow, Emerson, Lowell, Holmes, Agassiz, and others.

The last recorded visit with Mrs. Howe took place in May 1909, when the Glessners were passing through Boston on the way to their summer estate, The Rocks. 

JOHN GLESSNER REMEMBERS

In later years, John Glessner was persuaded by his children to write a manuscript entitled “Ghosts of Yesterday” where he discussed various prominent friends who visited the Glessner home on Prairie Avenue.  Of Julia Ward Howe, he wrote:

“Mrs. Julia Ward Howe and her daughter Maud Howe Elliott were with us many times, and Mrs. Howe delighted in her favorite stunt – reading her Battle Hymn and telling how she was inspired to write it.  She was really a great lady, with her excusable and generally admirable peculiarities – deeply interested in the Sanitary Commission during and after the Civil War.  And her daughter Maud’s filial love and admiration would inspire all observers.”

DEATH

Julia Ward Howe died on October 17, 1910 at her home in Portsmouth, Rhode Island at the age of 91.  She was interred at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  At her memorial service, more than 4,000 people sang the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” as a sign of respect.

Maud Howe Elliott

Maud Howe Elliott was an American author and the daughter of Julia Ward Howe.  A close friend of Frances Glessner, she was frequently a guest in her homes both in Chicago and in New Hampshire.  In this article, we will reflect back upon a series of lectures given by Elliott in Chicago exactly 125 years ago.

In November 1890, Frances Glessner pasted the following card into her journal:

SIX INFORMAL TALKS

-----------

Mrs. Maud Howe Elliott,

Wednesday Afternoons at Four O’Clock

Wednesday, Nov. 19 – “The Growth of Art.”

At Mrs. Charles Schwartz’s, 1919 Prairie Avenue

Wednesday, Nov. 26 – “Foreign Art in America.”

At Mrs. Charles Schwartz’s, 1919 Prairie Avenue

Wednesday, Dec. 3 – “Our American Artists.”

At Mrs. O. R. Keith’s, 1808 Prairie Avenue

Wednesday, Dec. 10 – “Late American Literature.”

At Mrs. O. R. Keith’s, 1808 Prairie Avenue

Wednesday, Dec. 17 – “A Glance at Belles Letters in England.”

At Mrs. Charles P. Kellogg’s, 1923 Prairie Avenue

Wednesday, Dec. 24 – “The Ethics of Art.”

At Mrs. Charles P. Kellogg’s, 1923 Prairie Avenue

Course Tickets, $6.00

Mrs. Charles Schwartz                             Mrs. O. R. Keith

Mrs. Charles P. Kellogg                      Mrs. Clinton Locke

Mrs. John J. Glessner

Have the pleasure of sending you a ticket for

MRS. MAUD HOWE ELLIOTT’S

course of Informal talks.

Will you kindly return the ticket or its equivalent,

at your earliest convenience, to

Mrs. John J. Glessner

1800 Prairie Avenue

Maud Howe was born on November 9, 1854 in Boston, Massachusetts.  Her father, Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, was the founder and director of the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston.  

Her mother, Julia Ward Howe, was an abolitionist, suffragist, and poet, best remembered today as the author of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”  She was privately educated by her mother in the United States in Europe; her mentors included Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  In 1887, Maud Howe married the English artist John Elliott. 

On November 10, 1890, the Elliotts arrived in Chicago and settled into the guestroom at the Glessners’ Prairie Avenue home.  During the week that followed Frances Glessner and Maud Howe Elliott attended numerous concerts, lectures, teas, and dinners.  Within a couple of days of the Elliotts’ departure, Frances Glessner received a letter stating in part:

“A home sicker pair than John Elliott and his wife, rarely sat down to a boarding house dinner!  And we were homesick not for Boston but for Prairie Avenue! . . . I shall see you tomorrow.  Goodbye, blessed saint of hospitality.  Your good offices to us, are written in the record book of our hearts and will not be forgotten, while our memories are intact.

                                                                        Your attached

                                                                        M.H.E.”

Prairie Avenue, circa 1890 (photo by George Glessner);

the Schwartz (1919) and Kellogg (1923) homes are at far right.

Elliott returned to Chicago to give her first talk at the home of Mrs. Charles Schwartz on Wednesday November 19^th.  (Within a few years the house was sold to Marshall Field Jr.; it still stands today).  Frances Glessner noted:

“Last Wednesday I paid some neighborhood calls after luncheon – and then went to Mrs. Schwartz’s to hear Mrs. Elliott’s first South Side reading.  There were nearly a hundred ladies there – it was very pleasant.  I have given Mrs. Elliott $710.00 for this course.”

Following the second reading at Mrs. Schwartz’s, Frances Glessner noted that “Mrs. Elliott said that I inspired her paper by some questions which I asked her at The Rocks.”

The Elliotts had visited The Rocks during the summer of 1890.  Maud Howe Elliott used the opportunity to write; her husband, to sketch.  John Elliott also provided some evening entertainment as noted, “Tonight Mr. Elliott did the polar bear, the monkey, the old lady, and danced.”

Frances Glessner also noted an interesting incident that took place when their piano was tuned:

“This afternoon our blind piano tuner came out and tuned the piano – he proved to be John Denny who was educated at the Perkins Institute for the Blind which was founded by Dr. Howe.  This man had played with Mrs. Elliott when she was a child.  They were very glad to meet – to see her as the blind man expressed it.”

When the Elliotts left The Rocks on August 4^th, Maud Howe Elliott made the following entry in the guest book:

“These days passed at The Rocks (days as full of pleasure as the comb of honey) are strong upon our memory as pearls upon the rosary of Time.”

A few days later, Elliott wrote from Newport where she gave a detailed account of a party at the Vanderbilt “cottage.”  She noted, in part:

“My dear Mrs. Glessner,

It has been very hard for me to ‘wait until after the Vanderbilt party,’ as was agreed between us!  I have wanted continually to write you to let my words follow my thoughts back to the beloved Rocks, and the encircling hills blue and mysterious, they haunt my memory, they and the song of the hermit thrush, the genius of the place.

Wednesday night we came down to Newport on the Fall River boat, bringing Miss Gardner with us.  We found my dear mother well.  When Thursday came I felt rather indifferent about the garden party, but my promise was given!  Mama and I went together.  The Vanderbilt’s home is on the cliffs, with wonderful lawn leading down to the cliffs which overhang the ocean.  We passed in . . . across the house and out to the lawn where the hostess stood under a group of tall palms.  She is a prettyish little lady, and looked well in her simple frock of white woolen stuff embroidered with gold thread.  She wore no jewels, and a simple, pretty hat.  There were two bands, one a mandolin band, the other (well out of earshot) a full stringed and brass band.  The refreshments were served in a large red Marquee.  The table was superb.  Two immense silver punch bowls of beautiful repoussé work.  The centerpiece was very lovely, all manner of water lilies.  I never saw some of the variety before.  These were great white lilies shaped like poppies big as a large peony, pink ones of the same color, beautiful tropical looking things besides water lilies of the ordinary shape in every shade of blue and pink, the deepest being claret color.  The food was fine, I believe, I only remember a figure of George Washington in ice cream.  There was a menu upon the table and most wonderful looking dishes savory and sweet, all made by the chefs of the houses Vanderbilt.”

Portraits of Maud and John Elliott by Jose Villegas y Cordero

The Elliotts lived in Chicago for a time and then in Italy for a number of years before permanently settling in Newport in 1910.  In 1918, the Elliotts purchased a mansion at 150 Rhode Island Avenue in Newport which she called “Lilliput.”  She continued her writing here, eventually publishing twenty books.  The best known of her works, The Life of Julia Ward Howe, co-authored by her sisters Laura Richards and Florence Hall, earned them the first Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1917.    

Maud Howe Elliott was a patron of the arts, and was the founder of the Newport Art Association organized in 1912 for “the cultivation of artistic endeavor and interest amongst the citizens of Newport.”  The organization purchased the John N. A. Griswold House on Bellevue Avenue in 1915 (a National Historic Landmark designed by Richard Morris Hunt and completed in 1864); it continues to serve as the home of the Newport Art Museum.  Maud Howe Elliott’s portrait (shown at the top of this article) hangs over the fireplace in the library.  She served as secretary of the Association for thirty years.

John Elliott died in 1925.  Maud Howe Elliott continued writing, publishing her final book, This Was My Newport, in 1944, when she was ninety years old.  She died on March 19, 1948 and was interred at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts alongside her husband and parents.  Her papers were given to Brown University, which had awarded her an honorary doctorate in 1940.

For more information on the Newport Art Museum, visit newportartmuseum.org.