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 PHOTOGRAPH FROM WHICH WAS PAINTED THE PORTRAIT 
 PRESENTED TO VASSAR COLLEGE.
 
 3In jftemotiam 
 
 MRS. ERMINNIE A. SMITH 
 
 MARCELLUS, N. Y., APRIL 26, 1837 
 JERSEY CITY, N. J., JUNE 9, 1886 
 
 Ijhtntca for $ribntr Circulation bu 
 
 LEE AND SHEPARD, 10 MILK STREET 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 All
 
 to 
 
 THE SMITH MEMORIAL PRIZE FUND ASSOCIATION, 
 AND TO ALL WHO HOLD 
 
 THE WOMAN 
 IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTORY .................. 9 
 
 MRS. ERMINNIE A. SMITH AND THE /ESTHETIC SOCIETY ... 1 1 
 MEMORIAL ADDRESS ............... 29 
 
 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE . 43 
 
 THE CUSTOMS AND THE LANGUAGE OF THE IROQUOIS .... 50 
 
 To A LIZARD IN AMBER .............. 66 
 
 AMBER .................... 68 
 
 THE PETRIFIED FERN ............... 85 
 
 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF FLORA TO THE IROQUOIS ..... 87 
 
 NEW- YEAR GREETING ............... 99 
 
 " STILL ACHIEVING " ............... 102 
 
 IN MEMORIAM .................. 105 
 
 How FAIR SHE Is ................ 107 
 
 To ERMINNIE A. SMITH .............. 108 
 
 "BECAUSE" .... THOU ART . no
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 HPHERE are several reasons why this little book pre- 
 sents itself, and trusts to be kindly received : 
 
 That some of the many friends of Mrs. ERMINNIE A. 
 SMITH, who have desired a copy of the Memorial Address 
 which was delivered at Vassar College on the occasion of 
 the presentation of the Prize Fund, might be gratified; 
 
 That others, who have frequently requested further par- 
 ticulars of Mrs. Smith, with her relation to and an ac- 
 count of the "^Esthetic Society," could find here this 
 information ; 
 
 That between these covers, bound up with a short record 
 of Mrs. Smith's life and death, would be preserved some of 
 her shorter writings that might otherwise be lost, together 
 with a few "Echoes of the ./Esthetic Society," written by or 
 relating to her (the limit and character of this sketch not 
 permitting selections of the wit and humor contributed to 
 the Society by well-known writers), which the "Daughters" 
 and friends accustomed to attending the Society receptions 
 will be glad to recognize;
 
 I o Introductory. 
 
 That here also should be discovered recent beautiful contri- 
 butions from loving friends, who desired to add their flowers 
 of poesy to this garland, woven in loving remembrance; 
 
 Lastly, perhaps I might say principally, it is a sou- 
 venir for those associated with me, who with brave hearts 
 surmounted obstacles, overcame fatigue, and did not cease 
 from their labors until their work did follow them. 
 
 By turning these leaves, they may gather Pansies and 
 Rosemary, with which to refresh their memories as the past 
 recedes, while thoughts of the absent one and the happy days 
 with her still linger, and in the contemplation of her life will 
 see " How easy it is for one benevolent being to diffuse pleas- 
 ure all around her, and how truly is a kind heart a fountain 
 of gladness, making everything in its vicinity to freshen 
 into smiles." They will realize that though she sleepeth, 
 her influence remaineth ; for 
 
 The good that women do lives after them. 
 
 SARA L. SAUNDERS-LEE. 
 
 THE BRUNSWICK, BOSTON, 
 June 9, 1890.
 
 MRS. ERMINNIE A. SMITH 
 
 AND 
 
 THE /ESTHETIC SOCIETY. 
 
 TT 7"HAT constitutes the greatest difference between one 
 person and another, considered either as intellectual 
 or as moral beings," according to Dr. Abercrombie, " is the 
 culture and discipline of the mind." Though the advan- 
 tages are very great of having always lived in a refined 
 and intellectual atmosphere, of constantly being in the way 
 of seeing works of art, of hearing able criticisms expressed 
 on all subjects, yet without the appreciative soul and the 
 love of knowledge for its own sake a person can never be 
 truly cultured, though such environments may give a super- 
 ficial culture, which is sometimes mistaken for the real thing. 
 It is difficult to define the exact qualities which constitute 
 a cultivated mind. It is helped, however, in forming, by the 
 thoughts and sayings of the world's greatest thinkers, and 
 has therefore a wide range of ideas and a lofty ideal, and is 
 necessarily raised above the pettinesses and trivialities of life. 
 Agreeing with that writer who says, " Though no one can 
 acquire the creative power of genius, yet every one can train 
 himself to appreciate its products, and that the capacity for
 
 12 In Memoriam. 
 
 such appreciation grows and intensifies in proportion as it 
 is exercised aright," Mrs. Smith invited a number of young 
 ladies to her parlors, and announced her intention of organ- 
 izing a society for mutual improvement, being the cultiva- 
 tion and education of a taste for the beautiful in literature, 
 science, and art. 
 
 All were charmed with the idea, for 
 
 " What is life worth without a heart to feel 
 The great and lovely harmonies which time 
 And nature change responsive, all writ out, 
 By preconcertive hand which swells the strain 
 To divine fulness : feel the poetry, 
 The soothing rhythm, of life's fore-ordered lay ? 
 
 . . . Oh, to stand 
 
 Soul-raptured on some lofty mountain thought 
 And feel the spirit expand into a view 
 Millennial, life-exalting, of a day 
 When earth shall have all leisure for high ends 
 Of Social Culture." 
 
 Mrs. Smith was immediately elected President, and Miss 
 Clara Frasse, Secretary; the first text-book used was White's 
 "Eighteen Christian Centuries," and topics for essays and 
 debates were taken up in chronological order. So for these 
 young ladies dawned a new era. Under the loving and 
 skilful guidance of their President, the enjoyments of life 
 were enormously enhanced. They were given eyes, in fact, 
 where before they saw not, and ears, where before they were 
 deaf. In every book read, and in every work of art, there
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 13 
 
 was an added world of pleasure; and besides all this, the 
 mind was, to a greater extent, raised above the circum- 
 stances of life, and could find satisfaction in itself to a 
 degree little realized before ; while it was inculcated that 
 it is the application of culture to every-day life that is in- 
 valuable in giving that " added grace " which so beautifies 
 our relationship with mankind. 
 
 Thus, in the spring of 1876, when the earth teemed with 
 new life, sprang into existence the " ^Esthetic Society," 
 which eventually attracted more attention than any like as- 
 sociation throughout the Union, and which had its birth in 
 the cause that opened college doors to woman, or resulted in 
 annexes, the higher education of woman! Unlike aca- 
 demic halls, this society was peculiar in combining with the 
 study of science, literature, and art, the study of how to 
 make home beautiful and happy, practical lessons in the 
 reception and entertainment of guests, and an initiation into 
 the secrets of true hospitality. These, though not in the 
 curriculum, were acquired by observation and practice ; for 
 it has been very truly said, " Cultured women are more 
 than usually prone to take pleasure in the beauty and order 
 of their houses, and to love flowers and animals, and every- 
 thing which the typical Eve should bring about her to dress 
 and keep the garden of home." 
 
 Uncultured women may do valuable work in the world, 
 (and as of other things there are degrees of culture,) yet 
 "cultured" women are in sympathy with a far larger num-
 
 14 In Memoriam. 
 
 her of their fellow beings, and therefore their powers of 
 usefulness are greatly increased. The mind being filled with 
 more interesting topics, it rarely occurs to them to discuss 
 their neighbors, they are far removed from all the wretched 
 scandal in which little minds delight, consequently in con- 
 versation their influence is always elevating. Lavater tells 
 us, that " he who seduously attends, pointedly asks, calmly 
 speaks, coolly answers, and ceases when he has no more to 
 say, is in possession of the best requisites of a man ; " and 
 this is also equally applicable to woman. 
 
 To possess the power of being an interesting and intelli- 
 gent listener, to cease when she had no more to say, were 
 things Mrs. Smith had early learned, and a true estimate 
 of her powers kept her from expressing opinions though 
 she sought information on subjects with which she might 
 be inadequately acquainted. She was free, too, from that 
 dogmatic narrow-mindedness which is the inheritance of 
 the ignorant, and had acquired the blessed wisdom of hold- 
 ing her judgment in abeyance on subjects of which our finite 
 minds can never know the whole. By the wide range of her 
 ideas she was delivered from prejudice and intolerance, and 
 respected the opinions of others, however much they might 
 differ from her own. 
 
 With a large power of appreciation of all that is true and 
 beautiful in literature, nature, and art, she had a capacity 
 for appropriating knowledge on a variety of subjects, a 
 power of using that knowledge aright, and a talent for im-
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 15 
 
 parting that knowledge; while all felt the charm which cul- 
 ture bestows, touching every detail of life, giving a refining 
 sensibility to every action. She also had sympathy with, 
 and a comprehension of, the different phases of human life 
 around her, and a keen insight into those higher laws which 
 govern our universe. 
 
 Mrs. Smith was indeed the heart, soul, body, and strength 
 of this Society. It originated with her, and, alas ! ended 
 with her; for no one has felt sufficiently strong to lift her 
 mantle. It was impossible not to love our President, or 
 " Mother," and, though a general favorite, those loved her 
 most who knew her best She was made to be loved, and 
 received it as unconsciously as the " sunlight drinketh 
 dew ; " and from this central sun " the Daughters of the Es- 
 thetics " drew and dispensed the genial warmth that made 
 the hospitality of this Society so enjoyable, and made those 
 of the highest talent feel honored to deliver a composition, 
 or to lecture, before such appreciative people. 
 
 Our field of research was wisely a wide one ; for though 
 it is true a woman may become learned when a special sub- 
 ject is taken up to the exclusion of others, and pursued with 
 more or less amount of success, and though such a course 
 may be necessary to the woman studying a profession, it will 
 not make her cultured. 
 
 It must not be supposed that by appropriating knowledge 
 on a variety of subjects a desultory flitting from one subject 
 to another is meant; but culture implies an enlightened mind
 
 1 6 In Memoriam. 
 
 on all topics of present interest. Strengthening and ele- 
 vating as is a more exclusive research into the sterner field 
 of knowledge, yet, as woman's time for study is as a rule 
 limited, she must be content with a broad outline on many 
 of the more abstruse subjects. If, however, she has had a 
 certain amount of mathematical or classical training, she 
 will be cultivated in a deeper sense, for it will give her 
 that power of close reasoning, and those elements of exact 
 thought, without which it is hardly possible to comprehend 
 science. 
 
 To speak of the studies that occupied the members of 
 the Society would not be of general interest; so I will 
 proceed to describe the more public " Reunions," which 
 were exclusive, and for which the cards of invitation were 
 eagerly sought. 
 
 These receptions occurred monthly, in Jersey City, on 
 Saturday, during the winter or social season, and, being 
 held in the afternoon, a twelve o'clock luncheon was pro- 
 vided at Mrs. Smith's residence in Jersey City for those 
 taking part in the day's programme, and others specially 
 invited, ofttimes amounting to more than a hundred people. 
 The drawing-rooms each side of the entrance, and running 
 the entire length of the house, had their walls lined with 
 cabinets filled with geological and mineral specimens, fossil 
 fishes, petrifactions, rare pieces of spar, arsenic, and silver 
 ore; tourmaline, malachite, lapis lazuli, rhodenite, and some 
 unequalled examples of agate and precious gems, beside
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 17 
 
 curious treasures from the animal and vegetable kingdoms. 
 Pottery and other curios Indian implements and weap- 
 ons, trophies from Europe and elsewhere, together with rare 
 prints and engravings were scattered or hung about; and, 
 adding to all this different musical instruments, the rooms 
 were at once museum, parlor, and music-room. 
 
 Here could be seen the Indian costume of doeskin, richly 
 embroidered with beads and hung with little hammered- 
 silver plates, the pair of moccasins, the wampum belt, and 
 the head covering which Mrs. Smith wore at the ceremony 
 of adoption into the Tuscarora tribe ; here were seated for 
 luncheon those whom Emerson calls " the chief ornament 
 of a house, the guests who frequent it ; " and here was 
 given the liberal education in the arts of hospitality to the 
 " Daughters," who were instructed upon these occasions " to 
 make themselves generally useful and entertaining," and, 
 after the refreshments, to accompany the friends to the 
 edifice where were assembled those invited only to the lit- 
 erary part of the entertainment, which consisted of music, 
 recitations, " art talks," original essays or poems by eminent 
 people, discussions on some leading topic of the day, or the 
 exhibition of some new discovery or application of science. 
 
 These receptions became so popular, that it was soon 
 evident that the prescribed limits of private parlors were 
 inadequate, and the lecture-room of the Lafayette Reformed 
 Church was kindly placed at Mrs. Smith's disposal. Mean- 
 while, Mrs. Smith, although of another denomination, with 
 
 3
 
 1 8 In Memoriam. 
 
 that wide-reaching charity which was one of her character- 
 istics, was so active in procuring funds for the completion 
 of the new Methodist Episcopal Church adjoining her resi- 
 dence, that the bread she had cast upon the waters was 
 returned to her, when the building was completed, in an 
 invitation to use it for her meetings, which by this time had 
 outgrown and overflowed the lecture-room. 
 
 This was occasioned by the " .^Esthetics " having con- 
 sented to increase their membership, while instituting 
 yearly dues to defray the expenses of an extended series 
 of lectures ; and a society originally composed of twelve 
 members shortly after increased to sixteen young women 
 students expanded until it filled a church ! 
 
 " This is a wonderful organization, and I do not think 
 it can be equalled in the United States," exclaimed Pro- 
 fessor Morse of Peabody Institute, the first time he saw 
 the number of friends assembled, at the invitation of Mrs. 
 Smith, to enjoy the literary and musical treat prepared by 
 the ^Esthetics under her direction. And when one thinks 
 of the guests there collected, clergymen of different creeds, 
 United States officials, governors and statesmen, presi- 
 dents of colleges and professors, representatives of scien- 
 tific societies at home and abroad, American and foreign 
 artists, musicians, and literati, together with the cultured of 
 society, can it not be truly said, " There was one woman 
 capable of forming an American salon"? 
 
 Some one has written that " the greatest pleasure of life
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 19 
 
 is to know how to admire rightly," and this sign of a cul- 
 tured mind Mrs. Smith possessed. Not necessarily need a 
 woman have an advanced education to obtain this pleasure, 
 nor is it necessary for her to have more than the average 
 amount of advantages which travelling in different countries 
 and viewing life under different aspects gives, still a correct 
 taste for the fine arts can hardly be acquired by book 
 learning, and the more opportunities she has had for ac- 
 quiring that correct taste, and acquainting herself with the 
 greatest works of men's hands, the wider will be the sense 
 in which she is cultured. 
 
 These opportunities Mrs. Smith wisely improved in the 
 several years she had passed abroad educating and study- 
 ing with her sons, appreciating that " Adaptability plus 
 Opportunity is God's call to any position in life." In addi- 
 tion to travelling, she had attended lectures from some of the 
 most celebrated scientists ; had made explorations nearly 
 two thousand feet under the earth, in the mines of Saxony ; 
 had proved her courage, and continued her researches, by 
 descending in the only means of descent a bucket many 
 hundred feet in the Hartz Mountains ; and as she had many 
 interests and an open mind, all knowledge she gathered was 
 assimilated and stored for future use. Furthermore, her own 
 contributions to the knowledge we have of the Aborigines 
 are second to those of no student in that important field ; 
 so, since " Intellect is the atmosphere of the soul," she was 
 greatly appreciated by men of letters and science.
 
 2O In Memoriam. 
 
 Even after this interval of time, it is impossible to write 
 calmly of our sorrow, when, despite all efforts to retain her, 
 we realized she had heard the summons of the King, and 
 would soon pass to the other shore, where one of her sons 
 stood with the angel band to sing her " Welcome Home." 
 
 Having no own daughters, her kind and sorrowing hus- 
 band granted the request of the " Esthetic Daughters," and 
 permitted them to remain with and minister unto their 
 beloved " Mother ; " but to the regret of many, circum- 
 stances prevented their often availing themselves of this 
 privilege, so that Miss Churchman and Miss Ella Dudley 
 were the ones most with her, and have now the happy as- 
 surance that their loving care made more comfortable 
 her journey to the tomb. 
 
 Mrs. Smith's restoration to health was expected by her 
 physicians, until her death. Only a week preceding this 
 event, at a consultation it was decided she would recover; 
 and it was not until an hour before her death, when the 
 heart was attacked with paralysis, that her condition was 
 considered serious. 
 
 A woman with less energy and conscientiousness of pur- 
 pose might still be living, but Mrs. Smith, after the com- 
 mencement of her ill health, frequently rose from a sick-bed 
 to attend some meeting, give a lecture, or write scientific 
 articles, and the epitaph lightly proposed for himself by 
 another historian is equally applicable to her, "She died 
 learning."
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 21 
 
 On the day of the funeral, the intimate friends, the 
 " Daughters," and delegates from Sorosis and the various 
 scientific societies of which Mrs. Smith was an officer or 
 member, gathered early with the bereaved family at her late 
 residence. There, in one of the long drawing-rooms where 
 her hospitality had been dispensed amid sounds of joy and 
 gladness, her body lay in peaceful repose, amidst the evi- 
 dences of her busy life and explorations into the realms of 
 Nature. But the Soul, "the Knowing," "the rich star- 
 travelled stranger, who here sojourneth only for a purchase," 
 had passed to the Unseen, where there were no more doubt- 
 ful questionings regarding Prehistoric Time; no further se- 
 crets of the Palaeozoic Age to discover; in the twinkling 
 of an eye all mysteries had been made clear ! 
 
 Thou art not here, but well we know, 
 
 "Where'er thy spirit dwells, she dwells in full 
 Regality of nature ! crowned with power, 
 With purity clothed, and girt with grace. 
 
 ... All truth 
 Thou holdest now, all knowledge. 
 
 . . . On other shores 
 
 The Kings of Thought salute thee. Thou hast past 
 The river of Judgment ; and the saintly land 
 Of the elect immortals guests thee now." 
 
 Among the numerous flower offerings was a large bank 
 of roses, from which arose a floral shaft surmounted by a 
 wreath. Upon the white silk ribbon which tied the wreath 
 was written, " With fondest love from thy Daughters." She
 
 22 In Memoriam. 
 
 whom we loved, rested, in the glory of her womanhood, so 
 calm and happy, embowered among the profusion of flowers 
 always so welcome to her because " they talked to her," that 
 it was difficult to realize, that never again would we hear her 
 strengthening words of faith, hope, and love. 
 
 As the hour approached for the services at the church, 
 the friends at the house took a last silent farewell, the casket 
 was closed, and they joined the cortege that conveyed it to 
 the Lafayette Reformed Church, which was crowded to over- 
 flowing, there being, according to the newspaper reports, 
 upward of twelve hundred people, making the largest at- 
 tendance ever witnessed in Jersey City at the funeral of 
 a lady. 
 
 The sad procession entered the church in the following 
 order : the Rev. Dr. Duryee, pastor of the church ; casket 
 borne by the pall-bearers, Rev. Cornelius Betts of the Bergen 
 Reformed Church, Rev. J. Howard Suydam of the Park 
 Reformed Church, Prof. J. S. Newberry, President of the 
 New York Academy of Science, Prof. Thomas Eggleston of 
 Columbia College, Rossiter Johnston, and Albert U. Todd ; 
 members of the family, the " Daughters," and the delegates 
 from Sorosis and other societies; and, as the casket was 
 borne slowly up the aisle toward the altar, Mrs. Clementine 
 Lasar Studwell sang the beautiful hymn, " Asleep in Jesus." 
 
 After the family and chief mourners had taken the seats 
 reserved for them, Dr. Duryee began the impressive services 
 which affected many to tears. Mrs. Studwell, Mrs. Flor-
 
 Mrs. Erntinnie A. Smith. 23 
 
 ence Rice-Knox, and Miss Clara Stutsman sung the solos 
 in " I Know that My Redeemer Liveth," and " Beyond the 
 Smiling and the Weeping," with exquisite pathos, and the 
 sympathetic blending of their voices in the duets was touch- 
 ing in the extreme ; while those who heard the eloquent 
 eulogy, purely unconventional, which was delivered by the 
 pastor, will never forget it. 
 
 Those who desired were given the opportunity to view 
 the remains, which then were carried to the New York 
 Bay Cemetery, and interred after a brief ceremony at the 
 grave. 
 
 " Thou wert a love-gift heaven once gave to earth, 
 And took again, because unworthy of thee. . . . 
 . . . Heaven is happier now that thou art there, 
 Sweetest of human spirits, and for us 
 Enough the blessing to have known thee here. 
 
 Yet one more look ; farewell, thou well and fair ! 
 " All who but loved thee shall be deathless : naught 
 Named, if with thee, can perish. Thou and death 
 Have made each other purer, lovelier seem, 
 Like snow and moonlight. Never more for thee 
 Let eyes be swollen, like streams with latter rains. 
 Thy soul hath passed out of a bodily heaven 
 Into a Spiritual Rest ! "
 
 24 In Memoriam. 
 
 Time passed. When the year had rolled away, the 
 " Daughters," with several of Mrs. Smith's personal friends, 
 met at her grave on the anniversary of her death, bringing 
 flowers and plants with which to decorate her resting place, 
 and as a labor of love themselves transplanted their offer- 
 ings to the soil which covered her burial plot, so that it soon 
 became a beautiful parterre of bloom and color, although the 
 day was dull and dreary ; the light, gentle rain which fell 
 making it seem as though Nature, realizing what a friend 
 she had lost, sympathized and wept with them. 
 
 The suggestion was here made to raise some lasting monu- 
 ment other than stone a handsome granite shaft having 
 already been erected by her bereaved husband to her 
 memory, and a committee was selected, comprising Mrs. 
 E. F. C. Young, Mrs. J. F. McCoy, Mrs. Robert Gilchrist, 
 Mrs. F. J. Mallory, Mrs. Marcus Beach, Mrs. Robert G. 
 Lyle, Mrs. Rossiter Johnston, Mrs. "Jennie June" Croly, 
 Mrs. Henry Herrman, Mrs. Oliver B. Bunce, Mrs. C. Lasar 
 Studwell, and " the Daughters," to further this object. 
 
 With the exception of one or two whose time was other- 
 wise engaged, all invited to join gladly accepted ; and 
 at the first meeting called, at which Mrs. Young was 
 elected President, Mrs. McCoy, Vice-President, Mrs. Herr- 
 man, Treasurer, and Mrs. Sara L. Saunders, Secretary, 
 many plans were discussed and declined, but it was finally 
 decided to create a " Prize Fund," which should be pre- 
 sented to some college for women ; and to raise the necessary
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 25 
 
 amount of money, it was proposed to give two musical and 
 literary entertainments, one to be held at the residence of 
 Mrs. Herrman in New York City, the other at the " Jersey 
 City Athletic Club House," which the club kindly offered for 
 this purpose. The majority of the committee were ladies 
 of Jersey City, who entered heartily into the work ; so the 
 reception given there under their auspices was very brilliant. 
 
 It is difficult to particularize where all cheerfully and 
 earnestly assisted ; yet the Association felt so greatly in- 
 debted in many ways to their generous and charitable treas- 
 urer, Mrs. Henry Herrman, who by her services and the use 
 of her house had very materially strengthened their efforts to 
 raise the desired amount, that, to show their appreciation, a 
 vote of thanks was tendered her at one of their meetings. 
 
 It was a happy hour when this band of loyal friends found, 
 in a comparatively few months from the gathering at the 
 grave, that their labors were crowned with success ; for they 
 had realized over a thousand dollars, the interest of which 
 would become an annual prize, or prizes, for the best work in 
 Mineralogy or Geology at Vassar, which was the college 
 selected to perpetuate Mrs. Smith's memory. 
 
 Upon the second anniversary of Mrs. Smith's death, 
 about twenty delegates, chosen to accept the invitation of 
 the President, Rev. J. M. Taylor, D. D., to visit that insti- 
 tution, met at the Grand Central Depot, where was in 
 readiness a special car to carry them to Poughkeepsie. 
 
 Arriving at the College, they were conducted to the suite 
 
 4
 
 26 In Memoriam. 
 
 of rooms placed at their disposal, and, removing the traces 
 of the dusty car-ride, were escorted to one of the parlors 
 beautifully decorated with daisies, the Vassar flower, and 
 masses of daffodils and buttercups, surrounding an easel 
 upon which rested a life-like portrait of Mrs. Smith, which 
 was to be presented with the funds to the College. Here 
 the reception committee introduced them to the President, 
 Trustees, Faculty, and invited guests, who gave them a 
 cordial welcome; and after a few moments of conversation, 
 President Taylor, accompanied by Mrs. Young, President of 
 the Association, led the way to luncheon, which was laid in 
 another parlor fitted up for the occasion. 
 
 At its conclusion, the Secretary of the Association pre- 
 sented the picture and legal documents to Vassar in a 
 memorial address, responded to by Dr. Taylor, who ac- 
 cepted the gifts on behalf of the College, with a few brief 
 but graceful remarks, congratulating the Association upon 
 the form their memorial had taken, and thanking them for 
 choosing Vassar College as the medium through which 
 Mrs. Smith's memory should be perpetuated. The re- 
 mainder of the afternoon was passed in visiting the library, 
 students' apartments, museums, laboratory, and observatory; 
 and in strolling through and admiring the beautiful and 
 extensive college grounds, until it was time for departure, 
 when, joining in a parting cup of tea, and expressing their 
 appreciation of so delightful a visit and hospitable welcome, 
 the delegates returned to New York.
 
 Mrs, Erminnie A. Smith. 27 
 
 The presentation having been made at the period for the 
 annual Commencement exercises, the students were unable 
 to be present ; so, at the request of the President and Fac- 
 ulty, who desired the young ladies to know something re- 
 garding the woman whose memory was worthy to be retained 
 through the prizes bearing her name, the Memorial Address 
 was again read by the Secretary before the assembled College 
 in the chapel, February 6, 1889. 
 
 These details concerning the Prize Fund may not be of 
 interest to the general reader, yet will be appreciated by 
 those who took an active part in the work, as they have 
 many memories clustering around each step that was taken, 
 and it will be gratifying to them to know what have been 
 the beneficial effects of this Prize Fund upon the work of 
 the College, and who in this first year of its usefulness 
 have been the recipients of its rewards. 
 
 By vote of the Faculty, the award was arranged in two 
 prizes, one First Prize of $30, and a Second Prize of $20. 
 For the year's course 1888-89, the First Prize was received 
 by Miss Cora L. Scofield of Washington, Iowa, who was 
 very even and excellent in all branches of the required 
 work, and acknowledged by all to lead the class. It was 
 deemed just to make a division of the Second Prize be- 
 tween Miss Bessie V. Gaines of Mossing Ford, Virginia, and 
 Miss Sara C. Gates of Bay City, Michigan, because Miss 
 Gates had an advantage over Miss Gaines in also being a 
 student in the department of Chemistry and Physics ; but
 
 28 In Memoriam. 
 
 being nervous, and part of the time rather an invalid, her 
 work was not so evenly good. The excellent microscopic 
 sections of fossil corals, and other geological specimens, 
 made by the class in their regular work, are now on ex- 
 hibition in the Museum, and make a fine show. 
 
 Thus it is shown that Mrs. Smith's influence is ever widen- 
 ing, in the one year reaching from the Middle States both 
 West and South, and her usefulness continues beyond the 
 grave ; how useful, it remains for these young ladies and 
 their successors in obtaining the prizes to demonstrate, and, 
 judging the future by their past work, there will be no 
 limit to the unconscious influence exerted by Mrs. Smith's 
 memory. 
 
 One of the beautiful flower-pieces seen at Mrs. Smith's 
 funeral was an open book made of white roses, across the 
 pages of which was formed in colored flowers the word 
 " Finis." But it was not so, for we now see that " Here 
 only beginneth the end, the end of the old life, the be- 
 ginning of the new. For all life's ends are beginnings, till 
 its final end begins the Endless ! " 
 
 " Death means reunion with the deathless ; range 
 With our translated elders ; consciousness 
 Enlarged of the Eternal Spirit, unmarred 
 By bodily needments ; life at one with God ; 
 And faith's high promises confirmed by fate."
 
 MEMORIAL ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERED AT VASSAR COLLEGE, JUNE 9, 1888. 
 
 . PRESIDENT, FACULTY, AND STUDENTS OF VAS- 
 SAR COLLEGE, The ladies of Jersey City and New 
 York, friends of the lamented ERMINNIE A. SMITH, desir- 
 ing to establish a perpetual memorial of that brilliant and 
 noble woman, decided this could be best accomplished by 
 creating a Prize Fund for young women, and selected your 
 honored institution as its recipient. 
 
 Not the least of the good deeds in Mrs. Smith's useful life 
 was the stimulus she imparted to the young girls whom she 
 loved to gather around her, and whom by her magnetic and 
 sympathetic nature she incited to high and worthy aspira- 
 tions. It is therefore fitting that her memorial should be 
 of a character calculated to continue her work, and in the 
 line which most interested herself. 
 
 We have therefore made it an annual prize of money for 
 work in Mineralogy and Geology. 
 
 In the town of Marcellus, New York, in the year 1837, was 
 born to Joseph Platt (one of the earliest settlers of that town) 
 a daughter. This child was christened Erminnie Adele Platt.
 
 30 In Memoriam. 
 
 As she grew, although of a genial, fun-loving, frolicsome 
 disposition, Erminnie was, in her peculiar way, devoted to 
 the acquisition of knowledge, possessed of a very inquisi- 
 tive turn of mind, and never satisfied until she had discovered 
 the very root of the subject that interested her. So it is 
 not strange, that, with the scientific tastes inherited from her 
 father, combined with her love of open-air sports, she early 
 developed a taste for Botany, Mineralogy, and Geology, 
 always searching for something curious in Nature, and 
 gathering specimens for a collection, the commencement of 
 that one which, before her death, had grown to be one of 
 the valuable private collections in this country. She was 
 a happy child, given a hammer and a stone to peck at, 
 and may therefore be the cause of the saying, " Give the 
 baby the looking-glass and hammer to keep it quiet ! " 
 
 She used to gather beech leaves and fasten them in the 
 tiny pools of water until they had taken on the lime incrus- 
 tations ; and in her cabinet may be seen a few of these still 
 bright leaves from the history of a merry, sunny-tempered 
 little girl. 
 
 At fourteen, Erminnie entered Miss Willard's school at 
 Troy, where she closely applied herself to study, and gradu- 
 ated when seventeen years old. During vacations, the ven- 
 erable Dr. Arthur, father of the late Ex-President, gave her 
 instructions in Greek and Latin. 
 
 Within a year after leaving school, Miss Platt married 
 Simeon H. Smith, afterward Finance Commissioner of
 
 Mrs. Ertninnie A. Smith. 31 
 
 Jersey City. In that she could continue after marriage 
 her intellectual pursuits, she was singularly fortunate in 
 her family relations. 
 
 When her four sons were old enough, she went with them 
 to Europe, and placed them at school. They studied, and 
 she studied ; and the bright enthusiastic mother was the 
 most unwearied learner of them all. How can we speak too 
 highly of the blessings of a cultured mother, a mother 
 who will give the young minds that " bent," and encourage 
 their tastes for high pursuits which will give them some- 
 thing to live for beside pleasure-seeking and amusements, 
 and who will put everything before them to give that love 
 of knowledge for its own sake of which she so well knows 
 the value ! Her boys finished their school years without 
 ever having been separated from their mother; and there 
 is something very fine and touching in the thought of 
 the mother and boy learners, all working together gaining 
 knowledge. 
 
 She entered the School of Mines at Freiburg, taking 
 lessons in Mineralogy, Geology, and the use of the blow- 
 pipe. The solitary woman student was such a wonder in 
 that region, that the German newspapers noted the fact, 
 and called her " the North American lady." She was the 
 first, and it is said the only, woman who has attended the 
 school. 
 
 The Polarization of Light claimed her attention at Ober- 
 stein, Germany, where so large a quantity of the secondary
 
 32 In Memoriam. 
 
 gems in the world are cut, but where special attention is 
 given to the cutting of stones for lenses and scientific pur- 
 poses. The mills here are very, very old, the industry dating 
 back to the Middle Ages. 
 
 At Strasburg, she studied Crystallography, and received 
 private lessons from the Professors in the University, in 
 French and Literature; and at Heidelberg, devoted her 
 time to German and its literature, with the famous Pro- 
 fessor Otto. 
 
 She also visited the coast of the Baltic Sea, to investigate 
 the Amber Fisheries; and among her treasures is a roundish 
 lump of amber, imprisoning in its shining yellow depths the 
 form of a tiny, sprawling pre-historic lizard. 
 
 In 1876, at the entreaties of some young friends, Mrs. 
 Smith organized a class for the study of music, literature, 
 and the sciences, under the name of " The Daughters of the 
 ^Esthetics," using that word in its true meaning. 
 
 This society became so popular, that it soon numbered 
 over five hundred members, (beside the sixteen " Daugh- 
 ters,") and it became necessary to make the entertainments 
 more public. These receptions not only elevated the intel- 
 lectual tone of Jersey City society, but brought as their 
 guests many of the brilliant minds in the worlds of science 
 and belles-lettres, from both sides of the Atlantic, and drew 
 together audiences which were unrivalled. On these occa- 
 sions it was the pleasant duty of the " Daughters " to assist 
 our " Mother " in entertaining her guests.
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 33 
 
 Mrs. Smith was an active working member of Sorosis, 
 from its commencement until the time of her death. " Jennie 
 June " (Mrs. Croly), then President, speaks of the days on 
 which Mrs. Smith read papers as the " red letter days of 
 Sorosis." 
 
 Through geological researches, and from her childhood 
 home being near one of the Indian Reservations, Mrs. Smith 
 early became interested in Indian life and habits, and col- 
 lected a volume of quaint Indian Mythology and Folk-lore, 
 which was published, with illustrations, by the United States 
 Bureau of Ethnology. These studies in Indianology pre- 
 serve for us a record of a people now almost vanished from 
 the earth, and will greatly assist archaeologists to trace out 
 the history and origin of the red man in America. 
 
 It was not until 1880, however, that Mrs. Smith was ap- 
 pointed as a scientific explorer (with a stated annual salary) 
 for the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, and detailed 
 to study the traits, habits, and peculiarities of the Six Na- 
 tions, composed of the Tuscarora, Mohawk, Onondaga, 
 Iroquois, Oneida, and Seneca tribes of Indians. 
 
 At intervals, for some years, she resided among these 
 Indians, who, although dwelling in comfortable houses, have 
 customs practised only by these tribes, many of which cus- 
 toms, when with them, Mrs. Smith adopted. She lived, ate, 
 drank, slept, and enjoyed herself as they did, and gradually 
 learned their dialects, until she had gained a mastery of their 
 language ; but to continue in practice, and to assist in com- 
 
 5
 
 34 to Memoriam. 
 
 piling the dictionaries, usually had one or two Indians liv- 
 ing with her, and so endeared herself to the tribes that the 
 Tuscaroras, with rites and ceremonies, adopted her as a 
 daughter, giving her the name Kd-tcf-tcts-td'-Kwtf st (Ka- 
 cheche-sta-quaws), meaning " Beautiful Flower." 
 
 Beside compiling Indian dictionaries, she contributed 
 largely to various scientific journals, and lectured exten- 
 sively on Indian Culture and Ethics. 
 
 Mrs. Smith's studies embraced not only mineralogy, gem- 
 cutting, and crystallography, but ethnology, archaeology, and 
 anthropology as well. 
 
 I will not weary you by giving a full list of learned 
 societies of which Mrs. Smith was an honored member. 
 Unanimously elected honorary member of the British Ar- 
 chaeological Society, she was also a member of the similar 
 society in America. She was the first woman elected " Fel- 
 low " of the " New York Academy of Sciences," and the 
 only woman ever appointed an officer in the " American 
 Association for the Advancement of Science," being, at 
 the time of her death, Secretary of the Section of Anthro- 
 pology. 
 
 In 1885 Governor Abbett appointed Mrs. Smith "Com- 
 missioner of the Department of Woman's Work," to represent 
 the State of New Jersey at the New Orleans Exposition. 
 
 At the meeting of the Society for the Advancement of 
 Science at Ann Arbor, in August, 1885, Mrs. Smith worked 
 far beyond her strength, and laid the foundation of the
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 35 
 
 disease that was so soon to end her days. When remon- 
 strated with in regard to the completion of a second paper 
 she wished to present, (on the ground that it would keep 
 until next year,) her face assumed a serious and earnest 
 expression as she replied, " I never leave things for to- 
 morrow. Now is my word! Next year! why, who knows 
 what may be before next year?" Did she already hear 
 the still, small voice of God calling her? In a few months 
 the summons was answered, and she was not ! 
 
 During this Ann Arbor meeting, Mrs. Smith was the guest 
 of Mr. and Mrs. Trowbridge at Detroit. After her de- 
 parture, they found she had left as a souvenir in her room 
 a satin banner with these words, signally in keeping with the 
 spirit of her life : - 
 
 " Sleep sweet within this quiet room, 
 
 Dear friends from whom I part, 
 And let no mournful yesterdays 
 
 Disturb thy quiet heart ; 
 Nor let to-morrow scare thy rest 
 
 With dreams of coming ill. 
 Thy Maker is thy changeless friend, 
 
 His love surrounds thee still. 
 Forget thyself and all the world ; 
 
 Put out each feverish light ; 
 The stars are watching overhead ; 
 
 Sleep sweet ! good night ! good night ! " 
 
 These friends never met again ; it was the last good night.
 
 36 In Memoriam. 
 
 It may be said that Mrs. Smith died in harness ; for while 
 reading a paper on " The Significance of Flora to the Iro- 
 quois," at Sorosis, a severe hemorrhage rendered her. un- 
 conscious. Her illness was of about six weeks duration, 
 commencing with hemorrhage of the brain, and developing 
 into paralysis of the heart, while she seemed merely to be 
 living upon what her physician described as her determina- 
 tion to finish her book ; for almost her last words were, " If 
 I only had time to put what I know on paper ! " 
 
 She was then engaged in completing an Iroquois Dic- 
 tionary, but was never able to resume work. A talented 
 Indian, whom she had trained to be her assistant, familiar 
 with her plan, is now employed at the Bureau of Ethnology 
 completing the unfinished task. 
 
 Such was \.\\e public life of the woman whose memory and 
 good works we would perpetuate ; but who can do justice to 
 the private life and womanliness which so endeared her to 
 her friends? 
 
 Mrs. Smith was fair of complexion, robust in figure with- 
 out superfluous flesh, and of medium height (looking taller 
 than she really was). She dressed in perfect taste, and one 
 would not think she had a hobby, unless it be that excusable 
 in the mother of four bright boys. Nothing about her man- 
 ner suggested the pedant, although she stood so high among 
 the scientific people of the world ; for in the social circle she 
 never obtruded herself, but was ever retiring and modest.
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 37 
 
 You would have called her a bright, healthy, pleasant wo- 
 man, and felt cheered by seeing her; but could you draw 
 her into conversation would have found her one of the most 
 charming and entertaining talkers, and could not fail to 
 be impressed with the earnestness, amounting to enthu- 
 siasm, which was magnetic in its influence, as earnestness 
 always is. 
 
 It is written that " out of the abundance of the heart the 
 mouth speaketh." Yet there are feelings too deep for utter- 
 ance, and when they find expression in words, their intensity 
 is past, for, at the best, words are but cold; therefore 
 " Little shall I grace my cause in speaking for myself," but 
 will present the expressions of others more skilled. 
 
 Mrs. CROLY, Ex-President of Sorosis, says : 
 " She was a clear and captivating speaker, presenting her 
 subject with force and directness, rising often into elo- 
 quence, but never sinking below the high-water mark at 
 which she invariably held the closest attention of her audi- 
 ence. Her frankness of manner, her honesty, her unvarying 
 cheerfulness, were as characteristic as her generosity and 
 kindness of heart. 
 
 " She had the gift, rare among men or women, but espe- 
 cially among women, of universality. She was as much at 
 home with the prince as the peasant, with the most distin- 
 guished as with the most obscure, and she valued each one 
 for what she found in him, not for that which surrounded 
 him.
 
 38 In Memoriam. 
 
 " Of herself she gave freely, without thought of return, 
 meeting much treachery and ingratitude, but also drawing 
 about her a remarkable circle, and adding to it men and 
 women of distinction from abroad as well as at home, who 
 added their notes to the symposium of which she was the 
 inspiring centre. 
 
 " Mrs. Smith was a woman of extraordinary gifts in many 
 different directions, for with all her talents and powers of 
 mind no more loving wife and mother, no truer or more 
 devoted friend, ever lived. Those who knew her best and 
 were most intimately associated with her know well how 
 impossible it will be to replace the bright mind, the warm 
 heart, the sympathy with all that was noble, the scorn of all 
 that was despicable." 
 
 At the Ann Arbor Reception, Professor W. C. RICHARDS, 
 Doctor of Philosophy, breaks into verse : 
 
 To-night, far down the nineteenth century, 
 We, in the name of Science, gather here 
 To mark her sweep and scope so far and free, 
 And cast her horoscope with vision clear, 
 
 Homage with warm and willing breath to bring 
 To one who in her happy self combines 
 Science and soul. O how your bard might sing, 
 Could he but fuse their fervor in his lines ! 
 
 Our honored guest, from childhood to this hour, 
 Has humbly lain at generous Nature's feet, 
 Toyed with her charms, thrilled with her mystic power, 
 And from her lips drawn lessons pure and sweet.
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 39 
 
 By field and copse, by woodland, vale, and rill, 
 She sipped the wine of science with delight ; 
 With its rich draughts, our little cups we fill 
 From her brimmed beakers, poured for us to-night. 
 
 Our little cups we lift, we touch, we drain 
 In her applause, and thank her for her wine ; 
 A woman we were proud to meet again, 
 Mistress of Sciences, not one, but nine. 
 
 Self-taught in Indian language, as her own 
 Or Europe's polished speech she brings to book 
 Strange Tuscarora dialects, task alone 
 For whose eclipse in skill we vainly look. 
 
 A true Cornelia to her sons she led 
 Their feet to Wisdom's wells, and with them drank ; 
 By her own zest their thirst she fired and fed, 
 Nor let their mental grip her own outrank. 
 
 Hail, model mother ! noble scholar, hail ! 
 Thou real Minerva of our modern days, 
 Long be it, ere thy strength and zeal shall fail ; 
 And long thy growing honors ours to praise. 
 
 Major POWELL, Superintendent of the Bureau of Eth- 
 nology, when told a monument was to be erected to her, 
 exclaimed : " Mrs. Smith has a monument more enduring 
 in her books, valuable now, they will be invaluable to 
 those who come after her."
 
 40 ht Memoriam. 
 
 " She was as merry, sunny, and unaffected as if she had 
 not pursued studies which," Horatio Hale said, " in Indian- 
 ology alette would make any man famous." 
 
 But listen to the voice of her pastor, the Rev. Dr. DlIRYEE, 
 that man of God who had known her well for fifteen years, 
 and from whose eyes rolled the big tears as, in voice broken 
 by grief, he delivered her funeral oration. He says : 
 
 *' Mrs. Smith was my persona] friend. To me she came in 
 her troubles and her joys, and we had many talks upon that 
 faith in Jesus which is the stay of the Christian. Just before 
 her death, I took her hand and asked her if she believed. 
 She replied, 'that, although she had entertained doubts at 
 times, all had been removed, and she was firm in the faith.' 
 
 " She has never refused to participate in a good work. In 
 all my conversations with her, sometimes lasting for hours 
 at a time, I have known her to speak but once in a harsh, 
 and certainly never in an unkindly manner, of any person. 
 
 "She would come to me for sympathy and counsel, and 
 little knew she gave more than she received ; for her hope- 
 fulness and patience would renew my strength in the work 
 for Christ. 
 
 " At one time she said to me, ' God has given me gifts, 
 which I intend to use in the greatest measure to lift myself 
 and others to a higher degree of knowledge/ Brilliant, tal- 
 ented, and generous, she had no serious faults. I believe, in 
 saying so, I but voice the echo of the hearts of one of die 
 widest circles of friendship woman has ever known."
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smitb. 41 
 
 Mr. PRESIDENT, As the representative of that wide 
 circle of friendship, and in the presence of delegates from 
 some of the Societies, while presenting to you this check 
 and legal document, I have a request to make. Will you 
 kindly grant a place upon the walls of this beautiful College, 
 on which shall rest this portrait of our friend now presented ? 
 If after going hence we are permitted to look upon the 
 scenes of earth, it will make her happy to look upon the 
 bright, studious faces, and to be surrounded by the warm 
 hearts of young women, as when in life they sought her. 
 Do not give it place alone for the value of the services ren- 
 dered by her to the cause of science, and your appreciation 
 of the example she set to her fellow women of America by 
 devoting her life so largely to the field of scientific research ; 
 but more especially take to heart the influence she exerted 
 over the young girls and women in elevating their minds 
 and directing them in the search for the true, noble, and 
 good, so that the " Smith Prize " may carry with it, in the 
 memory of its winners, the loving face of her to whom it is 
 a lasting monument 
 
 In thanking you for your kind attention, and before saying 
 farewell, permit me to repeat the poem, composed and read 
 by Dr. Duryee at Mrs, Smith's funeral. 
 
 We mourn not those who drink Life's genial wine, 
 And while their pulses feel the warmest thrill 
 Lay down the goblet at a call divine 
 For richer feasts which nobler longings fill. 
 6
 
 42 In Memoriam. 
 
 Nor tears for those who, like the guarded flowers 
 When deepest hued, are from companions torn, 
 As walks the Master in his loving hours 
 Seeking the rare which may His home adorn. 
 
 We weep not when with sudden wrench the gem 
 
 Is from unseemly setting forced apart, 
 
 To sparkle on a monarch's diadem, 
 
 Or flash its rays on Love's delighted heart. 
 
 But constant tears for those who here must quaff 
 Life's bitter dregs, or, fading long, must stay 
 To meet the Winter, while with scornful laugh 
 A mocking world sweeps by upon the way. 
 
 Not thee we mourn, O friend ! as fall our tears, 
 Thine is the rest, the glory, and the gain ; 
 We grieve that we, more lonely, walk the years 
 And weaker turn to earthly toil and pain. 
 
 But brighter are the skies since thou art there, 
 Warmer the welcome after parting tears. 
 The farewell that we breathe uplifts the prayer 
 That soon may dawn for us God's golden years.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 group on the opposite page comprises all but five of 
 the officers of the Ann Arbor Meeting of the American 
 Association for the Advancement of Science held August, 
 1885. Resolving the group into two lines, standing and sit- 
 ting, for convenience, and beginning with those seated, pass- 
 ing from the bottom to the top of the page, we have, 
 
 Permanent Secretary, . . Prof. F. W. PUTNAM, Cambridge, Mass. 
 General Secretary, . . . Dr. C. S. MINOT, Boston, Mass. 
 Past-President, .... Dr. T. STERRY HUNT, Montreal, Canada. 
 
 President, Prof. H. A. NEWTON, New Haven, Conn. 
 
 Past-President, .... Prof. JAMES HALL, Albany, N. Y. 
 Secretary of Section G, . Mr. W. H. WALMSLEY, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 " H, . . Mrs. ERMINNIE A. SMITH, Jersey City, N. J. 
 
 " D, . . Mr. C. J. H. WOODBURY, Boston, Mass. 
 
 Those in the standing line, taken in the same order are : 
 
 Vice-P resident of Section I, Mr. EDWARD ATKINSON, Boston, Mass. 
 
 Secretary of " C, Prof. F. P. DUNNINGTON, University of Va. 
 
 Vice- President of " C, Prof. N. T. LUPTON, Nashville, Tenn. 
 
 Vice-President of " A, Prof. WM. HARKNESS, Washington, D.C. 
 
 Secretary of " A, Prof. E. W. HYDE, Cincinnati, Ohio. 
 
 Vice-President of " D, Prof. J. BURKETT WEBB, Ithaca, N. Y. 
 
 Secretary of " /, Mr. C. W. SMILEY, Washington, D.C. 
 
 Vice- President of " G, Prof. S. H. SAGE, Ithaca, N. Y. 
 
 " //, Rev. J. OWEN DORSEY, Washington, D.C. 
 
 " F, Prof. T. J. BURRILL, Champaign, 111. 
 
 Secretary of " F, Prof. J. A. LINTNER, Albany, N. Y.
 
 44 In Memoriam. 
 
 The officers not included were unable to attend at the hour 
 appointed, owing to other engagements. 
 
 It is with pleasure I make acknowledgment to Major J. W. 
 Powell, Director of the Bureau of Ethnology, and to Prof. 
 F. W. Putnam of the Peabody Institute, the Perpetual 
 Secretary of the " American Association for the Advance- 
 ment of Science," for their kind assistance ; and particu- 
 larly to Mr. Eugene M. Smith (Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith's 
 youngest son), who, having possession of his mother's manu- 
 scripts and notes, generously placed them at my disposal. 
 
 The results of Mrs. Smith's labors may be found in her 
 Dictionaries, and at the Smithsonian Institute. The papers 
 here presented were intended for the ^Esthetic meetings, 
 and occasionally read elsewhere, and although prepared with 
 her usual care, were somewhat of a pastime ; for with this 
 Society she sought relaxation from her more serious duties, 
 and in imparting to her " Daughters " the knowledge she 
 so readily acquired, found the rest she so much needed. 
 The article entitled "The Significance of Flora to the Iro- 
 quois," will have an additional interest from being the paper 
 she was reading to Sorosis when touched by the hand of 
 death. 
 
 This memorial being a " love-token," the beautiful woman- 
 liness of Mrs. Smith's character and social life is delineated 
 rather than that of the scientist save as the two blended ; 
 and those who would have other particulars, are referred 
 to Appleton's Annual Cyclopaedia for 1886, and the Cyclo-
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 45 
 
 paedia of American Biography, where among people of note 
 Mrs. Smith takes her proper position as belonging to sci- 
 ence, and where the statistics of her birth, life, works, and 
 death are ably tabulated. There, however, they will be con- 
 fronted by the statement that Mrs. Smith was born in 1836, 
 while herein her birth is stated as having occurred in 1837. 
 The eminent encyclopaecfist prepared the sketches under diffi- 
 culties, and undoubtedly with great care, so that it is with 
 reluctance this correction is made ; but as it comes directly 
 from Mrs. Smith's family and her sister, Mrs. Little, of 
 Ravenswood, 111., this date should be considered reliable. 
 
 Mrs. Smith's particular branch of Indianology was a thor- 
 ough study of the language and folk-lore of the Iroquois 
 Indians, better known as the Six Nations, who have become 
 widely dispersed. The Tuscaroras are at Lewiston, N. Y. ; 
 the Senecas, at Cattaraugus, near Buffalo, N. Y. ; the Oneidas 
 are separated, some being at Oneida, N. Y., (where the res- 
 ervation is practically destroyed,) at Green Bay, Wis., and 
 at St. Thomas, Canada ; the Cayugas are scattered among 
 the other tribes ; the Mohawks are in Canada, as they fol- 
 lowed the fortunes of the British after the Revolution ; and 
 the Onondagas are at their reservation near Syracuse, N. Y. 
 
 She was peculiarly fitted for this task, having been born 
 and brought up within three miles of this last reservation. 
 In fact, she almost grew up with them, associated with the 
 Indian children, learned something of their language, and 
 occasionally attended their celebrations and dances ; but of
 
 46 In Memoriam. 
 
 late years her time has been principally devoted to the 
 Tuscaroras, as heretofore least has been known about that 
 tribe. Besides passing the summers with the tribes, and 
 taking constant charge of two or three Indians that she 
 might become sooner acquainted with their habits and 
 dialects, the chief interpreter of the Six Nations, the inter- 
 preter for the Canadian Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 
 many head chiefs, and a number of the most intelligent and 
 best educated Indians were frequently at her home. Mrs. 
 Smith was full of interesting reminiscences of her life in the 
 forest, and had a profound belief in and affection for the 
 Indian' people, asserting that among the Tuscaroras were 
 some legendary traces of their Asiatic origin, and intended 
 after her duties for the Bureau of Ethnology were completed 
 to follow up and develop these clues. 
 
 Although through the Indians, according to a poem read 
 before the ^Esthetic Society, 
 
 " Broken on progression's wheel, 
 Converted at the point of steel, 
 And fed on ruin, rum, and rapine, 
 Horrid deeds of vengeance happen, 
 At which we lift white hands of wonder, 
 And sigh and legislate and plunder /" 
 
 yet these tribes had such faith in her that she acquired 
 over them considerable influence, for (as the poem continues) 
 she
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 47 
 
 " Gained their thoughts, and then their fancy ; 
 Till, by loving necromancy, 
 Her thousand deeds of noiseless worth, 
 Like good seeds hid in the silent earth 
 Bedewed with tears in grateful showers, 
 Do fructify in fourfold flowers ; 
 That even the dusky Indian chief, 
 Who, brooding o'er his dark belief, 
 Asks bitterly the bitter question, 
 ' Is robber synonym for Christian ? ' 
 Why ! he will turn to her and listen 
 With softened face and eyes that glisten ; 
 And her wise words and silken speech, 
 Far deeper than loud sermons reach." 
 
 The following letter will show how Mrs. Smith's Chris- 
 tian influence was felt by one of the Indians who resided 
 with her. 
 
 BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY, WASHINGTON, D. C., 
 March 15, 1890. 
 
 MRS. SARA L. LEE, 
 
 The Brunswick, Boston, Mass. 
 
 DEAR MADAM, In a letter to Major J. W. Powell, Director of 
 the U. S. Geological Survey and of the Bureau of Ethnology of the 
 Smithsonian Institution, you express the desire that I should write 
 you a letter containing some reminiscences of Mrs. Erminnie A. 
 Smith. 
 
 To comply with the wish thus expressed is both a duty I owe to 
 the memory of Mrs. Smith, and a pleasure to me who was for more 
 than six years so closely and confidentially connected with her in the 
 capacity of amanuensis, and assistant in all her Indian work.
 
 48 In Memoriam. 
 
 It was in May, 1880, that I first had the pleasure of making the 
 acquaintance of Mrs. Smith. She had come to the Tuskarora Reser- 
 vation to study the language, customs, and myths of this people. 
 
 Learning that I was conversant with the Iroquoian tongues, she at 
 once engaged me to assist her in making investigations in the line of 
 her work. 
 
 The Tuskaroras, one and all, were captivated by Mrs. Smith's 
 womanly kindness, intelligence, tact, and nobleness of soul. During 
 the first week of her stay on this Reservation, she was serenaded 
 at her stopping place, first by one, then by the other, of the two 
 Cornet Bands on the Reservation. On one of these occasions, at 
 which over two hundred of Tuskaroras were present, Mrs. Smith, with 
 appropriate ceremonies, was adopted into the White Bear Gens of the 
 tribe, being by adoption made the sister of the venerable Head Chief, 
 John Mountpleasant, at whose hospitable house she was a guest. 
 Her name of adoption, which of course is hereditary in this gens 
 only, was Ka-tcf-tcis-ta'-kwa'st, " The Beautiful Flower." The be- 
 stowal of this name was intended to express the high esteem and 
 sincere regard in which she was held by the tribe. 
 
 When Mrs. Smith completed her season's work on this Reservation, 
 she engaged me to travel with her on all of the principal Iroquois 
 Reservations in New York State and Canada. 
 
 From this Reservation our first visit was made to the Senecas on 
 the Cattaraugus Reservation in Western New York. Then we went 
 to the Grand River Reservation in Canada, where remnants of the 
 Six Nations now reside, and in after years various other Reservations 
 were visited. On all of these the same welcome for and appreciation 
 of the charming and noble-hearted woman were manifested by the 
 Indians, who were always ready and willing to assist her. 
 
 The peculiar and unwritten phonology, the vast and complex sys- 
 tems of verbal and nominal conjugations, and the polysyllabic and
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 49 
 
 polysynthetic word-forms, common to the grammar of these tongues, 
 are obstacles to the knowledge and acquirement of these languages 
 which would have daunted a less brave, earnest, and gifted scholar. 
 
 Mrs. Smith had set herself no less a task than to collect sufficient 
 linguistic material to enable her to master these languages, with all 
 their wealth of forms and peculiarities. The measure of her success 
 in this undertaking is to be estimated by the numerous linguistic and 
 other manuscripts and publications which have emanated from her 
 versatile pen. As a part of this undertaking, Mrs. Smith collected a 
 vast amount of material preparatory to the compilation of nothing less 
 than a grammar and a dictionary of the Tuskarora tongue. One less 
 gifted and less devoted to the interests of science and truth than 
 she, might well hesitate before beginning either of these works ; but, 
 alas ! ere she had the long-cherished pleasure of completing them, 
 the Divine Father called her to rest. 
 
 In the six years of our confidential relations, this noble woman 
 never uttered one harsh or unkind word of reproof to me, whatever 
 may have been her provocation so to do ; but among her thousand 
 cares and anxieties she was always the kind-hearted friend, with an 
 ennobling and womanly soul radiant with hope and faith in a blessed 
 immortality. 
 
 Yours with respect, 
 
 J. W. B. HEWITT, 1 
 
 Ethnologist. 
 
 1 Tuskaroran name, Nd-ka-yen'-t?^, referring to the branched antlers of the 
 buck of the fallen deer, and one of the hereditary sachem names in the White 
 Bear Gens of the Tuskaroras.
 
 THE CUSTOMS AND THE LANGUAGE 
 OF THE IROQUOIS. 
 
 T7ROM the days of the early Jesuit Fathers to the present 
 *- time, the general history and customs of the Iroquois 
 tribes have been so faithfully chronicled that I may be par- 
 doned if I present these people to you to-day only through 
 their own medium of thought, their language. 
 
 It has been said, "A dead language is full of all monu- 
 mental remembrances of the people who spoke it. Their 
 swords and their shields are in it; their faces are pictured 
 on its walls, and their very voices sing still through its 
 recesses." 
 
 While the above has special reference to languages which 
 have left a written record, it applies with even greater force 
 to our aboriginal tongues, in which nearly every word con- 
 tains its own little legend. Extremely interesting and 
 important is the word-study of the Iroquois dialects, and 
 through this study alone can we arrive at a correct knowl- 
 edge of the people who used them. 
 
 Vocabularies giving a general interpretation are useless in 
 comparison with a list of dissected words containing original 
 Indian thought and Indian etymology.
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 51 
 
 Much time, I regret to say, has been lost by those who 
 have analyzed these words simply to trace their resemblance 
 to words from Oriental families. Concerning this branch of 
 investigation, I will venture to quote the conclusion of the 
 celebrated etymologist, Skeat : " Mere resemblance of form 
 and apparent connection in sense between languages which 
 have different phonetic laws or no necessary connection are 
 commonly a delusion, and not to be regarded." A closer 
 study of these dialects proves, in most instances, the fallacy 
 of striving to trace such analogies ; e. g., in a late work the 
 Iroquois word eh-ta-ke, lit. "on earth," is compared with 
 roots from tongues very far apart said to signify " inferior." 
 The Iroquois word in its applied sense means " down," and 
 in its literal, " on earth," from o-he-td, field, earth, and ke, 
 on, o-he-ta-ke, " on earth ; " in no sense does it signify " in- 
 ferior." Again, Professor Skeat says, " The whole of a word, 
 and not a portion only, ought to be reasonably accounted 
 for." In nearly all Iroquois work we find an almost total 
 disregard of this important rule. Even Pere Cuoq, who has 
 done so much through his publications, fails in his Lexique, 
 under the portion " Racines Iroquoises," to explain why he 
 retains the incorporated pronouns and prepositions in the 
 list of roots. Why not call them " words," and not " Iroquois 
 roots " ? And when these pronouns are dropped in com- 
 position, why not explain that fact ? Why should he in the 
 the verb I-kcks, " I eat," say that the first k is servile, instead
 
 52 In Memoriam. 
 
 of calling it the first personal pronoun ? In Bruyas's Dic- 
 tionary, also, we find that when roots are given they are not 
 separated from their pronouns, nor oftentimes from their 
 tense signs. In the Dictionary of Pere Marcoux he has given 
 as the root the third person singular of the Indicative, but 
 neither of the authors above referred to has adhered to any 
 such rule. 
 
 The literal meaning of many Iroquois nouns is extremely 
 interesting. The names of animals in very many cases 
 refer to some peculiarity of the object. The rabbit, Te-yo- 
 hon-ta-ne-ken-ha, " It has two little ears together," alludes 
 probably to the fact that when running the animal keeps its 
 ears thrown backward and close together. 
 
 Te-yo-ti-nd- kd-es . 
 
 ox 
 
 It has (two) long horns. 
 
 ( Te-yon-nhos-kwaint. 
 
 A cow < 
 
 ( It is pouch-mouthed. 
 
 Rhu-^u n n-' rhu^rit. 
 
 Rattlesnake 
 
 He has to him a tassel. 
 
 ( Rhu- skwa -na n . 
 
 Snake 
 
 f He squirms. 
 
 ( Te-wd-hon" -tes . 
 
 Mule 
 
 (. It is long-eared. 
 
 Lizard Td-tis'-td-tis, its note. 
 
 Wd$'-kwd-rhu. 
 
 immerses its mouth (lips). 
 ( Te-yo-ti-nd-kd-ron-ton-hd . 
 \ They have two little horns. 
 
 / Wd 
 H g {iti, 
 
 Sheep
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 53 
 
 The goat and some other animals are named from their 
 odor. Birds generally from their note ; as, the yellow-bird, 
 kd-tci-kd-u\ the whip-poor-will, kwaF-kurh-yc!' 1 *. The 
 oriole is called tcd-kwi-yu, meaning " large-thighed ; " and 
 the goose, wti-te-ma" n -ny&ks, " It breaks its voice." Nearly 
 all trees are named from some quality : 
 
 ( Wa-rh n -nd-tcu n n-wd'-ti. 
 
 Buttonwood 
 
 ( It is a self-smoothing tree. 
 
 ( Wdt-u"*-rhu n n'-ih-tha. 
 
 Poplar \ _ . . . 
 
 ( It swings its leaves. 
 
 'd- wa"-rhyds- kd"-rh u"n. 
 
 Alder 
 
 ( It is hollow-hearted. 
 
 ( Rhuhs-na"-'ya" n c. 
 
 Ironwood - 
 
 (. He is becoming lean. 
 
 Tears translate as " eye-juice," sugar as " tree-juice." The 
 feelings and passions are even more strikingly descriptive : 
 
 ( Rhu-lu"-nha"-kdrh-'ya" n . 
 He is in agony . . . \ ...,.< 
 
 ( He eats his life. 
 
 A thing that is wonderful is " scalp-raising ; " anything 
 tempting, alluring, or captivating, is said to " unhook the 
 mind." 
 
 Many homonyms occur, and some cause can generally be 
 discovered to account for them, as in the case of the word 
 " dandelion," which is the same as that for " sturgeon ; " for 
 when the flower makes its appearance in the spring, it is the 
 sign for the Tuscarora to take down his spear and go to the 
 capture of the sturgeon. The word Rhu-na- kii n nt, " wood-
 
 54 In Memoriam. 
 
 chuck," is applied to the Irishman, who, through Central New 
 York, was first seen engaged in digging canals and throwing 
 up earth for railway embankments. The interpreter for a 
 person, or for a tribe, is sometimes called " Ear." Different 
 peoples are named after the same fashion. The English, 
 who were first seen coming from the direction of the dawn, 
 received that name with the suffix -&-k<t y which may be inter- 
 preted ites ; whence we have, 
 
 Nyurh-hu* 'f '-aka\ It dawns-ites. 
 
 The first regular hatchets were imported by the French, 
 and furnished the name "axe-makers" to the people who 
 bought them. The word Boston, which the Iroquois 
 softened into Wds-lfi? t plays no mean role in Iroquois 
 nomenclature. As Boston in the early days was an impor- 
 tant rallying place for those Americans who first became 
 identified as a nation, the Iroquois .added to Wds-lff* the 
 d'-k, which gives us Wds-l$ Ci -&'-ka , or Bostonites, which 
 thereafter represented to them the whole American people. 
 The most important of all the dissectible or connotive words 
 are those in which we find buried an extinct custom. Of 
 such we have the word for hunting-dress, ya" n -nya" n -td- 
 rhti?-kw$ , " what she puts on wood," from o-ya"*-t, wood, 
 and Rhu-rhfi' -, " He is arrayed in ; " this alludes, no doubt, 
 to the skeleton framework of wood worn by the hunter, over 
 which he could throw the skin of whatever animal he wished 
 to imitate, as he went forth with his concealed bow and 
 arrows to the chase.
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith . 55 
 
 Another study is the Tuscarora, or rather Turquois, word 
 for " warrior," which analyzed yields " bone-bearer." What 
 may this signify ? The Indians can no longer give an expla- 
 nation. The word has become simply denotive. We can 
 only surmise. Did the warriors of that olden time bear 
 away from their conflicts the bones of their fallen comrades ? 
 Or did they superstitiously carry about themselves some 
 charmed bone to insure their victory ? l 
 
 Another suggestive word is the one for burial-ground, 
 
 Wd-'nu n n-nu n -frhu n ' n i They are sunk as to their trunks, 
 
 implying the sitting posture as the manner of burial. I 
 might continue enumerating such modern words as, 
 
 Whiskey, Deformed liquid, 
 
 Brandy, Real medicine, 
 
 and the word for renown, which is, in one of the dialects, the 
 note of a bird which is constantly calling. But I will pass 
 on to a short study concerning the pronouns in Iroquois, in 
 the hope of obtaining an intelligent opinion upon certain 
 points where I have ventured to differ from accepted forms. 
 Allow me here to observe, that I had already compiled 
 chrestomathies in four of these dialects before having seen 
 any of the valuable contributions of the French missionaries 
 to this branch of Indian linguistics. 
 
 1 Since this paper was written and read, Mr. Gushing has explained that it is 
 still the custom among some Western tribes for the warriors to scrape the bones 
 of their slain, and carry them home for burial.
 
 56 In Memoriam. 
 
 Two years since, when at Caughnawaga, I obtained, 
 through the courtesy of the Rev. Father Antoine, the Supe- 
 rior of the Order Oblat, and the most obliging missionary, 
 Pere Burtin, both celebrated Mohawk scholars, access to 
 the invaluable Dictionary and Grammar of the late Pere 
 Marcoux, which books belong to the Mission. Upon exami- 
 nation of this Grammar, I perceived that our principal point 
 of difference was in the use of the pronouns, or rather in 
 their distribution or nomenclature. The Mohawk Grammar 
 of Pere Marcoux follows the division made of that dialect by 
 the early French Jesuits into two genders, a noble and an 
 ignoble, a division of course necessitating a corresponding 
 classification of the pronouns, which, however much it might 
 facilitate a knowledge of the Iroquois to their own country- 
 men, would be folly for us to accept as a model for English 
 students. The noble, or masculine, gender of these pioneers 
 included men, angels, and God ; the ignoble, or feminine, 
 included Satan, demons, evil spirits, animals both male and 
 female, things, and women. Modelled as nearly as possible 
 after the French, and with this sweeping feminine gender, 
 there was consequently no use for an //, which is not made to 
 appear, but the indeterminate on of the French finds a place. 
 
 Mr. Hale, who has followed this classification, expressly 
 says, " There is no neuter form in these dialects," etc. 
 Against such weighty opponents my simple assertion would 
 count for very little ; I will therefore present my reasons for 
 assuming my position.
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 57 
 
 The use of the pronouns and their relations to one another 
 may be considered as the greatest difficulties which the 
 student of the Iroquois dialects has to encounter. The 
 peculiarity of different words requiring unlike pronouns for 
 the same person and number, and the great number of these 
 arbitrarily used pronouns, have undoubtedly greatly puzzled 
 most pioneers in Indian languages. Instead of the two gen- 
 ders "noble" and "ignoble," we find in these dialects the 
 masculine, the feminine, and the neuter genders, three 
 instead of two. The simple proclitic pronouns of the third 
 person singular are the only words of the singular number 
 that specify the gender of the objects to which they refer. 
 
 The simple third person masculine (he) has one form of 
 the prefixive pronoun. It is always incorporated, and in 
 Tuscarora it is r/id- t which, in some of the dialects, is aspi- 
 rated into ha-. The sound rh- is a simple trill of the tongue ; 
 hence rha- is nearly equivalent to r-r-r-d, or r-r-hd, or hd-. 
 
 The simple third person feminine (she) has three forms, 
 ydk, K-,yc-> or yd- ; these are always found incorporated. 
 
 The simple third person neuter also has three, wd-, kd- t 
 yo-, or yu-, which are also always incorporated. 
 
 The indeterminate or indefinite pronoun is expressed 
 separately, is indeclinable, and is never compounded with 
 verbs, or their equivalents. The Tuscarora Sd-kd-na is 
 equivalent to, or is an exact synonym of, the Mohawk oti'-ka, 
 some one, somebody. This pronoun in the singular, when 
 followed by its verb, which has no incorporated objective 
 
 8
 
 58 In Mentor iam. 
 
 personal pronoun, expresses its gender through the verb's 
 incorporated nominative ; as, " Some one works " becomes 
 "Some one, he, or she, works," thus: 
 
 Sd-kd"-na rhu-yu-na . . . Some one, he knows. 
 Sd-kd"-na kd-yu-na . . . Some one, she works. 
 Std-d-wu^n -ta yu-yu-na . . Some//fo'", it works. 
 
 The last form is used in speaking of animals or senseless 
 things, but never when speaking of persons. The following 
 are examples of the preceding rule, taken from the Mohawk 
 dialect : 
 
 O-thd-non wd-tho' -rate . . . Something, it makes cold. 
 
 On-kd ok Rd-non'-wes . . . Some one, he likes. 
 
 On-kd-ok ye-non'-wes .... Some one, she likes. 
 
 O-the-non kd-non'-wes . , . Something, it likes. 
 
 On-kd Rd-tkdh'-tos .... Some one, he looks. 
 
 On-kd yon-ikdh'-tos .... Some one, she looks. 
 
 O-the'-non wd-tkdh'-tos . . . Something, it looks. 
 
 This is the only method of expressing in these dialects the 
 indeterminate " on " of the French, in words which have the 
 infixed object pronoun. In these words we are obliged, by 
 the very nature of the Iroquois pronouns, to express clearly 
 the gender of the "some one" or of the "something." 
 
 Upon pages 21 and 130 of the Grammar of Pere Marcoux 
 we find the following: " On is the third person indefinite, 
 and is found in all verbs and in all time;" and in the conju- 
 gations of that Grammar the feminine elle, or she, is applied 
 to all words representing things to which in English we
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 59 
 
 would apply it, and the indeterminate on is made to serve 
 under exceptions (for with his " Principes Fixes " Pere Mar- 
 coux is ever consistent) for what I feel convinced is the 
 feminine ; therefore I conclude that his feminine pronouns are 
 in fact the neuter, and his indeterminate the real feminine 
 pronouns, which I trust will appear. 
 
 Upon page 81, "Essential Remarks upon the Use of 
 Verbs," we find that " the third indefinite should be used 
 in place of the third feminine, out of respect and politeness, 
 when alluding to women." 
 
 Thus by an exception he would allow us to use for the 
 feminine what according to our table is the real feminine. 
 Under this remark we find the following examples : 
 
 A"/-&z" n ' riis'-ten-ha . . . I see a person, my mother, 
 for 
 
 K-ka"* nis'-ten-ha .... I see it, my mother. 
 
 Ye'-te-ron ....... She abides, is at home, 
 
 for 
 
 Ken'-te-ron ...... It abides, is at home. 
 
 (Under the general rule, this last form would still stand for a woman.) 
 
 Te-sd-ko" -snie ne ro-sof-ha . He attends one, his grandmother, 
 for 
 
 Te-ho-snie ne ro-sof-ha . . He attends it, his grandmother. 
 
 Ya -kd-wen-he 1 -yon .... She is dead, 
 for 
 
 ..... It is dead. 
 
 In these examples Pere Marcoux enforces the use of his 
 indeterminate pronoun (which is our feminine) in the place
 
 60 In Memoriam. 
 
 of his feminine (which is our //), and in reality brings all 
 womankind under their own pronouns, thus separating them 
 from the surrounding of beasts male and female, demons, and 
 things, with which he first environs them. 
 
 To- what an emergency Pere Marcoux was reduced to 
 uphold consistently his division of gender appears in the 
 appended list of idioms, in which he says (page 132), "It has 
 been said in the first part that men alone were of the noble 
 gender, and that the feminine gender belonged to women, 
 animals, etc." 
 
 It is for this reason that Ra-tcin, " He is male," must be 
 feminized when speaking of animals. Therefore one says, 
 Kd-tcin, " She is male." It is necessary to say that the 
 translation which our classification of gender would allow 
 for the latter, rendering the Kd-tcin " It is a male," is the 
 correct one. 
 
 Again, upon page 56, under " Impersonal Verbs," Pere 
 Marcoux remarks that these verbs have but one person to 
 each tense, and that this person is always the third person 
 feminine. For instance, where in the French one would say, 
 // pleut, which in English must be translated It rains, not 
 recognizing an it, he gives his feminine, which appears on 
 our table as the neuter, thus : 
 
 Yo-ka" a -no'-res It rains. 
 
 Yo-ka"*-no'-res It rained. 
 
 A" n -yo-ka" n -no'-res .... It will rain. 
 
 Ka" n -he'-yons It is dying. (M.) 
 
 Wd-ke'-ra" n s It snows. (M.)
 
 Mrs, Erminnie A. Smith. 
 
 61 
 
 Wu n n'-tutc It rains. (T.) 
 
 Ka-wV-frhfrf It frosts. 
 
 Kd'-tkwu n q It snows. 
 
 Ka-tca- tus 1 -tha It makes it cold. 
 
 Yu-huks It is light. 
 
 Wu-ndtc It blows. 
 
 I will remark here that I have found no impersonal verbs, 
 and that in each of the foregoing examples the full conju- 
 gation of each person, in the various moods and tenses, may 
 be given as follows : 
 
 K-ke-ra" n s . . 
 
 S-ke-ra" n s . . 
 Ra-kera" n s . 
 
 Ye-ke-ra" n s . . 
 
 Wa-kf-ra"*s . 
 
 K-u-ndtc . . 
 S-u-ndtc . 
 
 Rh-u-ndtc . . 
 Ydk-u-ndtc . 
 
 W-u-ndtc . . 
 
 K-tca-tus'-tha . 
 
 S-tca-tus'-tha . 
 Rhd-tca -tits' -tha 
 Ya"-tca-tus'-tha 
 Kd-tca-tus-tha 
 
 K-u n n!-tutc . . 
 
 S-u*n'-tutc . . 
 
 Rh-u n n-tutc . . 
 
 Yak-OPrt-tutc . 
 W-u n n!-tutc . 
 
 I snow. (Lit, pile.) 
 
 Thou snowest. " 
 
 He snows. " 
 
 She snows. " 
 
 It snows. " 
 
 I blow. 
 
 Thou bio west. 
 
 He blows. 
 
 She blows. 
 
 It blows. 
 
 I make it cool, cool, I cool it. 
 
 Thou, etc. 
 
 He, etc. 
 
 She, etc. 
 
 It, etc. 
 
 I rain, wet by sprinkling. 
 
 Thou, etc. 
 
 He, etc. 
 
 She, etc. 
 
 It, etc.
 
 62 In Memoriam. 
 
 Upon page 69 Pere Marcoux says : " The personal verbs 
 may be used impersonally; as, ioidnere, 'it is good,' from 
 ivakidnere, ' I am good ; ' ioteriwison, ' it is a finished matter,' 
 is a contract, an order, from wa-ka-te-ri-wi-son, ' I made a 
 contract/ etc. ; io-iiwe'-sUn, ' it is pleasant,' from wd-k-onw/- 
 sen, 'I am agreeable,' pleasant, etc. ; io-tsa-nit, 'it is terrible,' 
 from wd-kJ-tsd-nit, ' I am terrible," etc." 
 
 The necessity which Pere Marcoux here finds for imper- 
 sonalizing all verbs in order to give to the pronoun he has 
 denominated she its proper neuter sense, in a manner divides 
 gender into the three divisions which we have claimed for it. 
 Furthermore, by thus impersonating all verbs, causing the 
 she always to represent the English it, and the indeterminate 
 on to represent by exception the she, we find ourselves really 
 occupying the same ground, Pere Marcoux's arrangement 
 suiting better the understanding of the French student, and 
 the other certainly simplifying the language to the English 
 student. 
 
 In the valuable Dictionary of Pere Bruyas, no indeter- 
 minate on is recognized, and that author translates i-wds 
 by the French cela, or that; i-wd, "that is as large as," and 
 says that form is used de rebus inanim. 
 
 The old Onondaga Dictionary published by Mr. Shea 
 does not in its numerous conjugations give any indetermi- 
 nate pronouns. From the very best native authority in each 
 one of the dialects, I have received the confirmation of the 
 existence of the pronoun it.
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 63 
 
 On page 399 of Morgan's "League of the Iroquois" we 
 find the statement of the existence of three genders ; also 
 in the writings of Mr. Ashur Wright, who was so long a 
 missionary to the Senecas. In conclusion, I will say, that, 
 although I have given these pronouns exactly as I have taken 
 them down from the best native authority in each tribe, yet 
 it is not to be supposed that they are invariably used cor- 
 rectly ; the most notable exception being the use of each of 
 the singular third personal pronouns in place of the plural. 
 This has probably arisen from the influence of the facts, 
 first, that Philosophy has never directly aided in the forma- 
 tion or establishment of the general laws of language ; and, 
 secondly, that in Iroquois there are no fully differentiated 
 nouns which should correctly represent, regardless of sex or 
 gender, a collection or community of persons or things, 
 animate or senseless, that form from common interests, 
 conditions of being, customs, or habitation, or all of these 
 combined, a single being, or individuality, so to speak. I will 
 say that when the force of the singular feminine pronoun she 
 is governed, or restricted, by the article, or by a noun of 
 multitude, or by a plural suffix, as iti-yon or ;/"', or by all 
 of these conjointly, it is, and may then be, employed with 
 its predicates as non-wholly differentiated collective nouns 
 whose gender or sex is not necessary to the strength and the 
 clearness of the context in which they occur. The pronoun 
 ya" of the Tuscarora, and ye of the Mohawk and the other 
 dialects, are, I believe, the only forms of the feminine 
 pronouns used -in these curious substantive predicates.
 
 64 In Memoriam. 
 
 The following examples will serve, with slight or no 
 changes of pronunciation, for any one of the dialects of the 
 Iroquois : 
 
 Ya" She, is Tuscarora. 
 
 Ye She, is common to the other dialects. 
 
 The names, or appellatives, of a tribe, people, or race are 
 " nouns of multitude." 
 
 -ti-yon (-ni-yoit) and nf (/z2 n ) are plural distributive suffixes, 
 having a peculiar force, etc. 
 
 Ya"-ta-krha" c She inhabits, dwells, etc. 
 
 ffd"-ya"-ta-krha"' The people, nation, inhabitants. 
 
 Ya"-ta-krha"' -ti-yon The peoples, nations, inhabit- 
 ants, etc. 
 
 Tu-ci-ka!* Senecas. 
 
 Tu-d-ka ya"-td'-krha"' .... Seneca people, the S. people. 
 Ha'' Tu-a-kd f ya"-td'-krha" f -ti-yon . The various peoples, tribes, 
 
 etc. of Senecas. 
 
 The feminine singular does not include the regular plural, 
 and in correct speaking is not much used. The masculine 
 singular he is frequently used, for emphasis probably, instead 
 of the pronoun s/ie; the masculine dual and plural are often 
 used when only one man is included. 
 
 Rather than be astonished at these apparent inconsist- 
 encies, let us wonder that there are so few in connection 
 with the vexed question of pronouns. I have purposely 
 avoided drawing any analogies or comparisons with the 
 construction of other languages, or noting such parallel
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 65 
 
 coincidences as the use of sie in the German for the pronouns 
 she, yon, and they, or alluding to the various vicissitudes of the 
 English pronoun. I have taken the language just as I found 
 it, independent of any fixed principles, neither noting nor 
 recognizing any resemblances ; and trusting that this paper 
 will at least illustrate the diffiulties in the way of conforming 
 these fundamentally different dialects to the exact rules of 
 any modern language, I offer it to the consideration of those 
 interested in the languages of the American aborigines.
 
 o 
 
 TO A LIZARD IN AMBER. 1 
 
 W. A. CROFFUT. 
 
 From "Echoes of the ^Esthetic Society." 
 BRIGHT- EYED swimmer from the unknown seas, 
 
 Thou little cousin of the Ichthyosaurus, 
 What mocking sylph, beneath the cypress trees, 
 Discarding flies and fleas and bugs and bees, 
 Embalmed thee for us? 
 
 Dwelt thou with man primeval in his lair 
 On hills Carpathian or desert Lybian ? 
 Or didst thou with the gods Olympus share, 
 'Mid such high state living unnoticed there, 
 Thou small amphibian? 
 
 Say ! didst thou rest on Agamemnon's grave 
 
 When Troy's renowned unpleasantness was over, 
 Or did glad Neptune fling thee from his cave 
 When sweet Calypso kissed beside the wave 
 Her Spartan lover? 
 
 How different from the death thou livest here 
 
 Amid the gay and social, wise and witty, 
 With dulcet music melting on the ear, 
 And Poesy's sweet voice discoursing clear, 
 In Jersey City ! 
 
 1 In the cabinet of Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith.
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 
 
 Thy lucent coffin hath a splendid nook : 
 
 Above, with saucer eyes and claws retractile, 
 An owl sits gazing with an anxious look ; 
 Around are gems ; beneath, that limestone spook, 
 The Pterodactyl. 
 
 Who pinioned thy grotesque and uncouth frame 
 Within the sunshine of this golden chamber ? 
 Is this the fountain whence the nectar came ? 
 Or is it star-born, this undying flame 
 Which men call amber? 
 
 Or is this jewel formed of sweet tears, shed 
 By fair Heliades Apollo's daughters 
 When their rash brother down the welkin sped, 
 Lashing his father's sun-team, and fell dead 
 In Euxine waters ? 
 
 Splay-footed sprawler from the unknown seas, 
 
 O tawny cousin of the Ichthyosaurus, 
 What sportive sister of Hesperides 
 In the ambrosia of celestial trees 
 Embalmed thee for us ? 
 
 6 7 
 
 THE LIZARD IN AMBER.
 
 AMBER. 
 
 history of amber illustrates most clearly, not only 
 the slow and tedious growth of civilization, but also 
 the seeming perversity and obtuseness of human nature, 
 which, especially in former times, so retarded the advance- 
 ment of science. 
 
 Exhuming this history from the dim, far distant prehistoric 
 past, we find that, from first being used as fuel by the almost 
 barbaric Northern hordes, among the more refined Southern 
 peoples, amber, like bronzes and their other articles of luxury, 
 took the place of coin, and had its economical and financial 
 import. The oldest written documents that have come to us 
 mention it as one of the chief articles of luxury of the ancient 
 civilized world, an object of greater request than fine gold. 
 Three thousand years ago it was well known among the 
 ancient inhabitants of Hellas, that amber would attract light 
 bodies, and Thales, one of the seven wise men of Greece, 
 adduced that circumstance in support of his theory that 
 inanimate objects possessed souls ; but two and a half thou- 
 sand more years passed before it was discovered that it was 
 this selfsame power which, flashing amid the roar of thunder, 
 illuminated the wide canopy of heaven, bound iron to iron, 
 and directed the silently recurring course of the magnetic 
 needle. Tamed and chained as we have considered this all-
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 69 
 
 pervading element, still, as day by day we are startled by new 
 discoveries, and while awaiting the result of investigations 
 which may transform the night of our great metropolis into 
 day, are we not as puzzled that these problems should have 
 remained so long unsolved, as astonished at their solution ? 
 
 Americans can complacently pardon the inexplicable fact 
 that Dr. Wall, the English scientist, when succeeding in 
 drawing the electric spark from amber, and hearing the crac- 
 kling sound accompanying it, compared the two to thunder 
 and lightning, left the discovery of their being identical to 
 our Benjamin Franklin, with his kite and key. Nearly two 
 thousand years ago Pliny wrote that amber was the fossil 
 resin of the extinct Conifer succinum pinates, and yet to-day 
 the subject presents many unsolved problems. It is true the 
 modern geological column has assigned it an approximate 
 geological place, and modern chemistry has given it a for- 
 mula, and its principal scientific value as the source of suc- 
 cinic acid and varnish. A brief review of some established 
 facts in regard to amber, as also some of the erroneous but 
 popularly received ideas which, if unimportant, still remain 
 uncorrected, will perhaps show that for a substance ever pop- 
 ular, coveted as a luxury, even ranking as a gem, both useful 
 and ornamental, with a name in every language expressive 
 of its many qualities, it has scarcely received the attention 
 it deserves. 
 
 Probably the oldest of these names is Bernstein, or its 
 equivalent in the old Teutonic, from its combustibility. Its 
 two Latin names are snccinum (juice) and lyncitrium.
 
 70 In Memoriam. 
 
 In Persian it is called Kornbu, or straw-robber ; in French 
 the trivial name is also tire depaille, from its attracting straw. 
 
 In Italian, Spanish, and English, nearly the same name is 
 given for amber, signifying cluster or mass. The first Greek 
 name applied to it was a term signifying the rays of the sun, 
 either from the color or some relation to the Sun-god. 
 
 The popular Greek name was Electron, or the attractor, 
 and thus our substance can boast of having added a word to 
 nearly every language, as even the mother-tongue-loving Ger- 
 mans find Electricitdt more euphonious than their harsher 
 synonym, Beagsteinkraftigungrustzeng. 
 
 Italy, Spain, France, Switzerland, and England are given 
 as amber-producing countries ; but it must not be forgotten 
 that under this name are included many fossil resins, the 
 differences in which have as yet been hardly determined. 
 In Lemburg, in the tertiary sandstone, with giant oysters, 
 amber is found in immensely large pieces, clearer than the 
 Prussian, and producing a most delightful odor when burned. 
 In the pitch coal of Bohemia, Rentz found specimens con- 
 taining sulphur, and also with the foraminifera of the Vienna 
 tertiary. Daubr6 found amber in Alsace, and Schubert in 
 the Alps, but these were of a different quality from that of 
 the Baltic Sea. But there is no doubt that from Holland, 
 over the German coast, through Siberia and Kamtschatka, 
 even to North America, reached the amber conifer forests ; 
 and from the abundance of amber found in some localities 
 those conifers must have been as productive as is at present
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 71 
 
 the Dammara Anstralis of New Zealand, the twigs and 
 branches of which are so laden with white resin as to have 
 the appearance of being covered with icicles. 
 
 One of the great deposits of amber is in the Hauptvater- 
 land, where, on the plains of Pomerania, the peasants dig in 
 the surface clay for it. In the vicinity of Brandenberg, pieces 
 have been found weighing four pounds. From this abun- 
 dance of amber in the drift clay, and also from the fact that 
 branches of arbor-vitae (Thuja occidentalis) occur in the Baltic 
 amber, and have been found in the stomach of the mastodon 
 in the United States, Goppert concluded that the Diluvial, 
 or time of the mammoth in the Old World and Mastodon in 
 the New, was the age of amber. This theory has since been 
 entirely disproved. 
 
 By far the most celebrated locality for its richness in 
 amber, and one which still possesses great stores of this 
 valuable fossil, is the peninsula of Samland, a portion of 
 Prussia nearly surrounded by the Baltic Sea. 
 
 The northern part of this region, which constitutes the 
 promontory of Briisterort, is very hilly, and the coast banks 
 are often from one hundred and fifty to three hundred feet 
 high. Formerly this was all owned and worked by the 
 German government and watched by gendarmes ; all amber 
 found even by the peasants in ploughing being claimed, the 
 finder, however, receiving one tenth of its value. For the 
 piece in the Berlin Museum weighing eighteen pounds, the 
 finder received a thousand dollars. Until ten years ago,
 
 72 In Memoriam. 
 
 during stormy weather, when the waves were beaten against 
 the banks of this coast, the amber was thrown up in quanti- 
 ties, entangled in the seaweeds, and a hundred hands were 
 ever ready to intercept it with their nets, a trying occu- 
 pation, as the roughest storms yielded the richest booty. 
 
 Of late years the diving apparatus has been used so suc- 
 cessfully that the marine deposit has been greatly diminished, 
 and systematic mining is now carried on inland, where the 
 amber is much finer. The price of amber has increased 
 during the last year, and this advance is caused by the dim- 
 inution of the yearly product, many of the Pachters or renters 
 having thrown up their contracts, and abandoned the business 
 of mining on that account. It was in this famed locality, so 
 favorable for a geological survey, that Professor Zaddach of 
 the University of Konigsberg pursued his investigations relat- 
 ing to the birthplace of amber, and his report throws great 
 light on this vexed question. Taking a section of the cliffs 
 where the geological structure is exposed, he finds that wher- 
 ever the tertiary formation crops out it always comprises two 
 different deposits ; the underlying, consisting of thick beds 
 of glauconitic sand, which sometimes attains a height of sixty 
 feet above the sea level, and upon this rest the beds of the 
 brown coal formation, from sixty to one hundred feet thick. 
 Under the greensand lies the so called amber earth, only 
 from four to six feet thick, and underneath this the " wilde 
 erde," so called because containing no amber. 
 
 Sometimes the beds of greensand are cemented by hy-
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 73 
 
 drated oxide of iron into a coarse sandstone, which often con- 
 tains well preserved fossils representing the Tertiary Period ; 
 but as this glauconitic sand is a marine formation, it follows 
 that the amber it contains does not lie in its original bed, 
 that is, not in the soil of the old forests in which the amber 
 pines grew, but that the amber was washed into the sea in 
 which crabs and sea-urchins lived. - 
 
 In the sand of the amber beds are found numerous pebbles 
 or pieces of compact stone, which is evidently the parent rock 
 of the greensand, as it is composed of exactly similar granules 
 of quartz bound together by a marly cement. The amber 
 earth also abounds in fragments of rock known as chalk marl, 
 which contains cretaceous fossils. The same rock is found 
 on the island of Bornholm in the Baltic, and belongs to the 
 Cretaceous. 
 
 It is therefore proved that the tertiary glauconitic sand 
 has been made up of the greensand of the cretaceous for- 
 mations. Therefore the trees yielding the amber resin must 
 have grown upon the greensand beds of the Cretaceous, 
 which then formed the shores of the estuary where the 
 lower division of the Tertiary accumulated. 
 
 Zaddach assumes that at that time the coast sank slowly, 
 and, the forest soil being washed by the waves, the amber 
 was carried into the sea. Immediately over these amber- 
 producing strata rest the beds of the brown coal formation, 
 the fossil plants of which differ entirely from the amber flora. 
 Finally, Prussia was laid dry by an upheaval of the rocks,
 
 74 In Memoriam. 
 
 and this ended for a time the recorded history of the country. 
 Now ensued a new period in the geological history of Sam- 
 land, when the climate and all the conditions of the country 
 were changed. The mountains of the north, which projected 
 out of the sea, were covered with glaciers that extended down 
 to the water. Icebergs, laden with the finer debris of rocks 
 and blocks of stone, were detached from these glaciers, and 
 drifted to the south, passing over land formed of cretaceous 
 strata. Without doubt there remained a considerable deposit 
 of amber upon this greensand bed of the cretaceous forma- 
 tion where the old forest soil still existed. By the icebergs 
 this soil was now broken up, and the amber brought down 
 and scattered in every direction. 
 
 Thus the fact is explained that amber nests are found in 
 the quaternary deposits over all the plains of Northern 
 Europe. 
 
 This epitome of Professor Zaddach's report seems to settle 
 the question as to the birthplace of amber in Germany, and 
 contradicts entirely the generally received opinion that it is 
 a product of the brown coal formation, and also the theory 
 of Dr. Feuchtwangers, that marine amber was a later deposit 
 or formation than the terrestrial. 
 
 It is apparent that the gum of the amber trees flowed out 
 as a viscid sap, to which all small objects, leaves, twigs, 
 insects, etc., that came in contact with it adhered. Subse- 
 quent exudation covered these, and preserved them more 
 perfectly than was possible by any other method. In this
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 75 
 
 way, vast numbers of insects were hermetically sealed up, 
 over eight hundred species having been discovered, and 
 many groups yet remaining to be studied. 
 
 These give us much interesting information in regard, not 
 only to the insect life of the amber age, but also in regard 
 to the history of many of our living groups and species. 
 (See Heere's description of amber insects.) These species 
 are now mostly extinct, but have affinity with tropical forms. 
 
 A very interesting collection of these ancient mummies 
 can be seen in the British Museum ; a classic spider is at 
 Amherst, and in my own collection is a lizard, so perfectly 
 embalmed that the animal tissues can be distinctly seen, as 
 also the liquid contents of the stomach. This little curio has 
 the honor of having been christened by Professor Agassiz. 
 
 Prof. H. R. Goppert has made a study of the remains of 
 plants found in amber, and has identified one hundred and 
 sixty-three species, all of which are now extinct. Mr. Kal- 
 denberg of New York has specimens of amber containing 
 bark, water, and various insects. 
 
 After mining, amber is kept temporarily in vaults near the 
 amber localities. Rosa narrates that he entered one of the 
 vaults of the Pachter Douglas, where he saw the yearly 
 products, arranged according to their size and quality in 
 chests and baskets, and saw records containing the yearly 
 results back to 150x3. The worth of the pieces varies accord- 
 ing to the size and perfection. 
 
 For the trade it is divided into classes, the best pieces
 
 76 In Memoriam. 
 
 being generally sent in the rough to Constantinople, where 
 they are used for the mouth-pieces of pipes, as it is still 
 believed there that amber possesses properties preventing 
 contagion ; and as the pipes of this ease-loving people are 
 lighted by domestics, the amber tips to the long stems are 
 considered a prudent caution. This trade with Constanti- 
 nople is very ancient, and still continues over the same route 
 as a thousand years ago. The smaller-sized pure pieces are 
 used for beads, and the very impure for the distillation of 
 succinic acid ; the residue or refuse is the Colophonium suc- 
 cinic, employed in the preparation of varnish. The varnish 
 made from amber has long been considered the finest, but 
 other resins are now its rivals, and varied are the secrets of 
 this prosperous trade. With amateurs at work all over the 
 land, we may hope that even the secret of Stradivarius may 
 yet come to light. 
 
 The chemical analyses of all resins, both fossil and recent, 
 differ very slightly ; certain varieties of amber, copal, mastic, 
 etc., giving nearly the same atomic ratio, as will be seen from 
 the following table. 
 
 Amber. Carbon. Hydrogen. Oxygen. 
 
 10 8 I 
 
 Retinite 12 9 i 
 
 Copal 10 9 i 
 
 Mastic 10 8 i 
 
 Eliminite . . . . 10 8 i 
 
 Fichtelite .... 8 6 i 
 
 Ambrite 16 13 i
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 77 
 
 The conclusion is, that their differences consist in the 
 arrangement of their molecules, and not in their composi- 
 tion, or even age. 
 
 Amber may be distinguished from the other resins by its 
 hardness, its lesser brittleness, and the much higher tempera- 
 ture required to reduce it, and also its greater electric action ; 
 but the difference is quickly discovered in the attempt to cut 
 and polish, as the ordinary resins become in the process so 
 heated and softened as in a measure to prevent their use for 
 ornamental purposes. Copal jewelry is, however, occasion- 
 ally made, but soon loses its lustre. 
 
 A property of amber not generally known is its flexibility 
 at certain temperatures. Formerly, when amber required 
 bending, it was softened by placing it in warm linseed oil, 
 and it could then be bent into any required form. For 
 changing the form of amber, the method at present used in 
 an extensive manufactory in New York is simply to hold the 
 amber over a lamp, and draw it out slowly by hand. 
 
 Although this process is very tedious and difficult, the 
 results are marvellous. A pipe-stem nineteen inches long 
 has been in this manner drawn out of a coil of amber 
 about six by four inches in size, or fifteen inches in 
 circumference. 
 
 At the same factory can be seen the process of working 
 amber, which, owing to its low degree of hardness, is wrought 
 with the turning lathe, after having been cut with a knife and 
 file into something approaching the form required. It is then
 
 78 In Memoriam. 
 
 polished in the lathe, or by hand, with pumice-stone, whiting, 
 and alcohol. The chippings and amber dust left from the 
 cutting are used for varnish or incense. 
 
 The Orientals, especially the Chinese, consider the burning 
 of the odoriferous amber the highest mark of respect possible 
 to pay a stranger or distinguished guest, and the more they 
 burn, the more marked is their expression of esteem. 
 
 We find in King's work on Gerns, the following: "A large 
 amber cup, holding half a pint, has lately been discovered 
 deposited in a tumulus in Ireland, which, from its size, could 
 hardly have been cut out of a single block of that substance. 
 It has been ascertained that bits of amber boiled in turpen- 
 tine can be reduced to a paste, reanimated, and moulded into 
 any form desired." 
 
 In Feuchtwangers on Gems, we also find similar assertions 
 regarding the melting and reforming of amber. Both King 
 and Feuchtwangers are in error on this point. If amber were 
 ever thus melted and moulded, the art has certainly been lost. 
 Repeated experiments fail to produce such a result, although 
 a recent German scientific journal informs us that a patent 
 for such a discovery has been applied for. 
 
 An art so valuable, if successful, will surely secure a fortune 
 to its inventor. But to account for the cup exhumed from 
 the Irish tumulus it is not necessary to have recourse to any 
 theory. 
 
 Alexander, Czar of all the Russias, owns a tea set cut 
 from blocks of this precious material ; and I have seen rough
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 79 
 
 specimens in both the Berlin and Vienna Museums larger 
 than would have been required for the cup alluded to. 
 
 The imitations of amber are various. Glass paste is some- 
 times used ; another composition is of turpentine and caout- 
 chouc ; still another, linseed oil, gum mastic," and litharge, to 
 which finely powdered copal is added to give the appearance 
 of veins. Add to this ants of decalcomania, and we have 
 the material of the cigar-holders which so deceived the unin- 
 itiated during our Exhibition at Philadelphia. 
 
 The most perfect imitation is the uncolored celluloid. 
 Abbe" Haiiy gives the following mode of detecting or identi- 
 fying amber : " Attach a fragment to a knife, and when 
 inflamed the amber will burn with some noise and ebullition, 
 but without liquefying so as to flow, whereas all other resins 
 and compositions melt and drop." A better method is per- 
 haps the electrometer. 
 
 Very little amber has as yet been found in the United 
 States. Gay Head, Martha's Vineyard, Camden, N. J., and 
 Cape Sable only, are mentioned as its localities. A barrel- 
 ful of small pieces was taken years ago from the greensand 
 of New Jersey, which through some mistake was burned. 
 Let us hope for the accident which may yet reveal to us 
 hidden stores of this interesting substance, with a less primi- 
 tive fate in reserve for it. 
 
 While the color of amber is generally yellow, it occurs in 
 all shades from pure white to black. The Falernian, from 
 the wine of that name, was the favorite color among the
 
 80 In Memoriam. 
 
 Romans. Dice of the white variety are hardly distinguish- 
 able from ivory. At Constantinople, a pipe-stem of the 
 milk-white variety is prized by the Turks at from forty to 
 a hundred dollars. The action of sulphuric acid on the 
 yellow changes it to red. A beautiful specimen of green 
 amber has been found on the American coast. 
 
 " Black amber," which was a vexed question in the Middle 
 Ages, returns to question us again to-day. Monsieur le 
 Conte de Borch, in his letters from Sicily within the last 
 decade, says that " black amber is common." Stretter, the 
 latest English authority on Gems, also gives black amber ; 
 but a careful analysis of the black amber which has recently 
 been imported from Spain to be manufactured in New York 
 gives: Carbon, 82.57; Hydrogen, 7.70; Oxygen and Nitro- 
 gen, 9.08 ; Ash, 0.65. 
 
 A result so different from true amber, and on distillation 
 yielding no succinic acid, is therefore not true amber, but 
 either a superior variety of jet, or a highly oxidized bitumen. 
 In chemical composition it seems to occupy an intermediate 
 position between cannel coal and torbanite. Subjected to 
 the microscope by Professor Julian of Columbia College, a 
 woody fibre was visible, replaced in part by resin. Its elec- 
 tric power is great, and, admitting as it does of a remarkable 
 polish, its lightness well adapts it for ornamental purposes. 
 
 As the cold, dreary portion of Germany where amber is 
 principally found would have had little attention from the 
 Southern peoples except for this valuable product, are we not
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 81 
 
 impelled to inquire respecting the influence of the amber 
 trade on the development of civilization ? For among the old 
 accounts of journeyings in search of amber we find the first 
 mention of the Teutons as a race. As the search for an 
 "El Dorado" led to voyages of discovery in later times, so 
 we find that voyages and pilgrimages to the land of amber 
 were made, dating back to 1500 years before Christ. 
 
 Peschel says, " Preach aloud the fact that the migrations 
 of nations depend on the existence of the substantial treas- 
 ures of the earth." So this Prussian paradise had been 
 visited by Pythias of Massilena, four hundred years before 
 Christ ; also by Theophrastus, the naturalist and philoso- 
 pher, and by Philomen, the Greek poet. Nero sent there 
 his Roman knights, who brought back quantities of amber 
 to enrich his treasury ; and a small image in this precious 
 material was valued higher than a human slave. 
 
 Amber was intermingled with the myths and religion of 
 the Greeks, their legends ascribing its origin to 
 
 " The sweet tears shed 
 By fair Heliades, Apollo's daughters, 
 When their rash brother down the welkin sped, 
 Lashing his father's sun-team, and fell dead 
 In Euxine waters." 
 
 Amber literature is of great interest to the virtuoso. 
 Books in all languages refer to its many supposed qualities, 
 and the insects contained in it have given rise to many 
 quaint metaphors which still exist. Martial (A. u. 43) wrote
 
 82 In Memoriam. 
 
 in Latin: "The bee is enclosed, and shines preserved in a 
 tear of the sisters of Phaeton, so it seems enshrined in its 
 own nectar. It has obtained a worthy reward for its great 
 toils ; we may suppose that the bee itself would have desired 
 such a death." 
 
 Thomas May (1640) thus translates this: "Here shines a 
 bee enclosed in an amber tomb, as if entombed in her own 
 honeycomb. A fit reward fate to her labors gave ; no other 
 death would she have wished to have." 
 
 Hay, in the same century, translates it thus : 
 
 " The bee inclosed, and through the amber shown, 
 Seems buried in a juice that was her own. 
 So honored was a life in labor spent, 
 Such might she wish to have her monument." 
 
 " Admire," says Claudian, " the tomb of a vile insect ; no 
 sovereign can boast one half so splendid." 
 
 "Non potuit tumulo nobiliore mori." 
 Sir John Denham (1640) wrote of streams, 
 
 " Whose foam was amber, and whose gravel gold." 
 
 Eastern poets say that amber is a gum from the tears of 
 certain consecrated sea-birds. To this fanciful origin Moore 
 alludes in his "Araby's Daughter": 
 
 " Around thee shall glisten the loveliest amber 
 That ever the sorrowing sea-bird hath wept, 
 And many a shell in whose hollow-wreathed chambers 
 We Peris of ocean by moonlight have slept."
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 83 
 
 Domitius Nero, among other extravagances, had in a 
 poem called the hair of his wife, Poppaea, "amber-colored." 
 This elegant name, given to red hair, brought the color into 
 fashion ; and every device was resorted to, even to the wear- 
 ing of wigs, by the Roman ladies to give this amber-colored 
 ornament to their heads, in lieu of their own natural dark 
 locks. 
 
 In the Nibelungen Lied, we find Hagentrouze with his 
 amber-colored girdle; the dragon's blood armor of Siegfried 
 is also supposed to have been amber, and Brunhilde mentions 
 the amber-colored flower. 
 
 Byron alludes to amber in the " Island," and Pope speaks 
 of Sir Plume, "Of amber snuff-box justly vain." Also in his 
 Prologue to the " Satires" : 
 
 " Pretty in amber to observe the forms 
 Of flies and ants and bees and bugs and worms ; 
 The things we know are neither rich or rare, 
 But wonder how the De'il they got there." 
 
 Milton apostrophizes a bee in amber, and modern authors 
 have written of the "Amber Witch" and of "Amber Gods," 
 and to-day a " Lizard in Amber " is thus addressed. 1 .... 
 
 So questions the poet, but if we might invoke this "ancient 
 mariner " from out his crystal coffin, more serious would be 
 the questions we would bid him solve. 
 
 But, though speechless, he bears a silent witness ; for as 
 
 1 This poem, having been written for the /Esthetic Society, is given complete 
 at page 66, instead of only giving the quotation here.
 
 84 In Memoriam. 
 
 one of the many hieroglyphics of the language of geology, 
 underneath its Rosetta wand he helps to reveal the history 
 of our earth. Thrice happy he, the gifted mortal, who, 
 wielding this magic wand, can lift the veil, and translate 
 these mystic symbols of the too long "dusky past"!
 
 I 
 
 Mrs. Ertninnie A. Smith. 85 
 
 THE PETRIFIED FERN. 1 
 
 MERY L. BOLLES BRANCH. 
 
 From ll Echoes of the ^Esthetic Society" 
 
 N a valley, centuries ago, 
 Grew a little fern-leaf green and slender, 
 Veining delicate and fibres tender, 
 Waving when the wind crept down so low. 
 
 Rushes tall, and moss, and grass grew round it ; 
 Playful sunbeams darted in and found it ; 
 Drops of dew stole down by night and crowned it ; 
 But no foot of man e'er came that way ; 
 Earth was young and keeping holiday. 
 
 Monster fishes swam the silent main ; 
 
 Stately forests waved their giant branches ; 
 
 Mountains hurled their snowy avalanches ; 
 Mammouth creatures stalked across the plain. 
 
 Nature revelled in grand mysteries ; 
 
 But the little fern was not like these, 
 
 Did not number with the hills and trees, 
 Only grew and waved its sweet, wild way ; 
 No one came to note it day by day. 
 
 Earth, one time, put on a frolic mood, 
 
 Heaved the rocks, and changed the mighty motion 
 Of the strong, dread currents of the ocean ; 
 
 Moved the hills, and shook the haughty wood ; 
 1 In the cabinet of Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith.
 
 86 In Memoriam. 
 
 Crushed the little fern in soft, moist clay, 
 Covered it, and hid it safe away. 
 O the long, long centuries since the day ! 
 O the changes ! O life's bitter cost, 
 Since the little useless fern was lost ! 
 
 Useless? Lost? There came a thoughtful man, 
 Searching Nature's secrets far and deep ; 
 From a fissure in a rocky steep 
 
 He withdrew a stone, o'er which there ran 
 Fairy pencillings, a quaint design, 
 Leafage, vein ing, fibres, clear and fine, 
 And the fern's life lay in every line. 
 
 So, I think, God hides some souls away, 
 
 Sweetly to surprise us the last day.
 
 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF FLORA TO 
 THE IROQUOIS. 
 
 HPHERE are many circumstances which help to prove that 
 ^ in the distant past a certain large stock of Indians, 
 either for their protection in establishing outposts for the 
 acquisition of hunting facilities, or for other reasons, became 
 so dispersed as finally to receive at least six different tribal 
 names, and to speak the several dialects known as the Mo- 
 hawk, the Oneida, the Onondaga, the Cayuga, the Seneca, 
 and the Tuscarora. What may have been the original name 
 of their mother tongue, if we may use that affectionate ex- 
 pression, we cannot yet decide. I see no reason why it may 
 not have been their own appellation of themselves at the 
 present time, a name which with slight dialectical differences 
 of sound is common to them all, namely, " Ho-ti-non- syofi- n? " 
 or " Extended House," referring to their style of architecture 
 and manner of living. Most writers upon the Iroquois, how- 
 ever, consider that name to date from a confederacy, reunit- 
 ing this family, supposed to have been originated by the 
 mythical Haia-hwaY-tha". 
 
 From the easily distinguished resemblances between these 
 dialects, the early French grouped them as the " Iroquois," 
 a word supposed to mimic two very frequent endings com- 
 mon to all the different tribes. Under the system of Indian
 
 88 In Memoriam. 
 
 nomenclature lately adopted by the Bureau of Ethnology, the 
 term " Iroquoian " has been applied to this group. In a 
 paper which I had the honor of reading before the American 
 Association for the Advancement of Science some years ago, 
 I endeavored to explain some of the differences between the 
 dialects composing this group, and some probable causes of 
 the same; but in this brief study I shall have occasion to 
 note more particularly their marked resemblances, confining 
 my examples within the limited scope of my subject. 
 
 In a list containing forty names of trees and plants, which 
 I procured from each of the six tribes, more than half have 
 the same name in each one of the dialects. The differing 
 names are nearly all confined to the Seneca and Cayuga 
 dialects. 
 
 Among the marked resemblances are the following : 
 
 ENGLISH. TUSCARORA. 
 
 Beam Tree Na-rhdJ-kwi. 
 
 Beans U-d-hd-rha, or d-ha. 
 
 Beech Tree U-tckd n rh'-ha. 
 
 Corn U-nif-ha. 
 
 Cranberry Tuks^wa"-na ti \ 
 
 Cypress U-na-tu'-ya. 
 
 Hemlock t7-na""-af. 
 
 Hops U-tcF-tca. 
 
 Mulberry ^lui-yaq. 
 
 Raspberry Tsyu-ta-kwa-ka!ya n . 
 
 Raspberry, Red U-na-tcti-kwa. 
 
 Rice .... . U-na-tca.
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 89 
 
 Spruce U-tai-ku -na n \ 
 
 Tamarack Ka-na?"-t tl a<;. 
 
 Tobacco Tcdrh-hu. 
 
 White Pine U-na n -ta '. 
 
 White Cedar U-fu-rhd"-ta. 
 
 Wild Cherry A'-rKt. 
 
 Winter Green Kd-nd-ka^sd^-krhd^. 
 
 Turnip U-bcT-kwa. 
 
 These then are pure Iroquoian words, souvenirs of pre- 
 historic forests where the crack of a rifle was unheard and 
 unknown, and of a time when special uses and qualities, 
 fanciful ideas, or supposed resemblances, were the science of 
 nomenclature. 
 
 Though unwritten, can this Iroquoian language properly 
 be termed " prehistoric," when even its isolated words rep- 
 resent beautiful thoughts and images, and are in themselves 
 a history, and representatives of the mode of thought in that 
 distant age when they were spoken ? 
 
 Let us decipher a few of these ancient words, and compare 
 them with as many in English, and they will reveal to us at 
 least the sameness in the underlying structure of languages, 
 whether they be high up or low down on the rounds of the 
 ladder of development. 
 
 To the native Iroquois the white ash was the bow tree, and 
 the black ash the canoe tree, implying that from these two 
 trees were fashioned those indispensable articles. 
 
 The elm tree was the symbol of grace, and happy the
 
 90 In Memoriam. 
 
 Iroquoian maiden who in her childhood had drunk of its sap, 
 and was therefore destined to be as stately. 
 
 The spruce was named from its erect cones ; the apple was 
 the large fruit. The original meaning of the strawberry is 
 unknown, but a pine-apple is now termed " large strawberry." 
 
 Water-melon translates " It sheds its blush," and musk- 
 melon " Ripening fruit." Corn means seed, marking it as 
 having been at some period their only agricultural product. 
 This is further proven from the fact that corn has in the 
 Iroquois a verb " to plant" of its own, which is in reality the 
 name of the famous Cornplanter, the word " corn " not being 
 present in that proper name. Wintergreen translates pleas- 
 ant odor, and the word for cranberry imitates the sound 
 which is made when picking this fruit. 
 
 We may not find in this nomenclature the poetry of many 
 of our own floral names, such as " eyebright," " bluebell," 
 " maidenhair," " lady's-slipper," and some others. But may 
 there not be many Iroquoian words whose literal meanings 
 are as beautiful, though now as unknown to those who use 
 them as is Chaucer's "day's-eye" to many English speaking 
 people who to-day find no sentiment in the word daisy ? 
 
 We find in Iroquois many homonyms the explanations of 
 which are very curious. Our dandelion Anglicized from the 
 French dent de lion (lion's tooth), alluding to the shape of 
 its petals, is in Tuscarora Ka-rJia, and, coming simulta- 
 neously with the sturgeon, is said to announce its arrival, 
 and is therefore called by the same name as that fish. Cor-
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 91 
 
 respondingly in English we have the " cuckoo-flower," so 
 called because this orchis blossoms about the time that the 
 cuckoo is first heard. 
 
 The Iroquois find a resemblance between the cucumber 
 and the warty toad, and they have the same name ; and the 
 words for turnip and fist are alike. 
 
 Many homonyms in English arise in the same manner, 
 from similar resemblances ; for examples, dock is from the 
 Icelandic docke, a tail, to cut short, and dock is a tap-rooted 
 plant, or plant with a tail ; also flag, to grow weary, from 
 moving to and fro ; so flag, an ensign which moves in the 
 wind, and flag, a plant from its waving motion. 
 
 The witch-hazel in Tuscarora is named from its pith, 
 the alder from its lack of it. Oats in Mohawk are named 
 from their drooping tendency, which reminds us of the 
 poetical German name " golden rain," given to our drooping 
 laburnum. 
 
 The quantities of blueberries growing upon the Allegha- 
 nies gave their name to those mountains. The word Erie is 
 also Iroquoian, named from its being the locality where wild 
 cherries abounded. 
 
 The reflection of the trees in the lake at Toronto gave that 
 city the Iroquois name which it still bears. How familiar is 
 this system of nomenclature to those interested in the origin 
 of names ! 
 
 Madeira was named by the Portuguese from its great 
 forests ; the classic name Peloponnesus was changed to Mo-
 
 92 In Memoriam. 
 
 rea, from the resemblance of that region to the shape of 
 a mulberry leaf, and the meaning of Florida is familiar 
 to all. 
 
 The synonyms of the Iroquoian group probably date from 
 their separation into tribes. Words occur among the differ- 
 ent tribes which are radically different, but which have the 
 same literal meaning. Thus, in Tuscarora a head of cab- 
 bage is u-ta'-rha , while in Mohawk the word o-non'-tci means 
 literally the same thing, head. 
 
 In Tuscarora wat-ci? -rha "' -ih-tJia , signifying the poplar, 
 translates literally, " its wings (its leaves) up and down, " 
 while in the Mohawk wd-ne-rd-ton'-t/id signifies the same 
 thing. 
 
 That the Tuscarora name for the pear is quite modern, is 
 amusingly apparent. The word for bear in that dialect is 
 ti-tdF -rk&*\ having no labials in Tuscarora, and mistaking 
 the / for a , thus supposing the English called the 
 fruit a bear, they applied to it their own name for that 
 animal, u -ttf' -rhiff* . 
 
 The Iroquois appellations for flowers are often used for 
 feminine proper names ; as, A-won-ne-ont, hanging flower ; 
 Kd-tct'-tct'-std'-kwdst, beautiful flower ; while trees and their 
 qualities often serve for masculine proper names. This prac- 
 tice of surnaming girls after flowers and beautiful objects 
 is quite common to us, and is of very ancient date. But it 
 is noticeable that in modern times more plants have been 
 named after men than contrariwise. As the Gentian from
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 93 
 
 Gentius ; Dahlia after Dahl, a Swede who introduced its culti- 
 vation ; Fuchsia, named after Fuchs ; Magnolia after Magnol ; 
 while the Camellia received its name from being introduced 
 from Japan into Europe by Camellus, a Moravian Jesuit. 
 
 That an original name in Iroquois has often been trans- 
 ferred to other than the original object is verified by 
 examples like the following: 
 
 U-narF-f'a .... Potato in Tuscarora. 
 
 O-non-sa Onion in Onondaga. 
 
 WT-sifnt .... Strawberry in Tuscarora. 
 
 Wis Plum in Onondaga. 
 
 Something corresponding to this is the case with the 
 German word tartnffle, given to the potato on account of its 
 resemblance to their tartoffle or truffle. They have since 
 changed the t into a k, making kartoffle. 
 
 These analogies might be carried much further, if the 
 subject were extended outside the chosen limit of Flora ; but 
 I doubt if any other subject would be as fruitful in producing 
 examples capable of comparing favorably with those selected 
 from a language into whose treasury all civilized nations have 
 lavished their contributions. 
 
 There was much in nature incomprehensible to the Iroquois 
 mind, but not so were the forest trees. They were his guide, 
 his friends and companions, and all vegetation served to 
 supply so many of his wants that we find the six religious 
 festivals of the Iroquois principally devoted to giving thanks 
 for the maple, strawberry, green corn, bean, and squash,
 
 94 In Memoriam. 
 
 calling them " Our life, our supporters," whilst tobacco was 
 continually thrown upon the fire, that their prayers might 
 ascend in its cloud of smoke. 
 
 The most striking metaphors of the Iroquoian orators 
 were those in which they likened themselves to the forest 
 trees. To a friend who called upon the great Oneida chief, 
 SkcP-na?' -don , a short time before his death, he expressed 
 himself thus : " I am an aged hemlock ; the winds of a hun- 
 dred winters have swept through my branches. I am dead 
 at the top. The generation to which I belonged has run 
 away and left me. Why I live, the Great Spirit knows. 
 Pray to him that I may have patience to wait my appointed 
 time to die." 
 
 A lady, who knew the fondness of the famous Red Jacket 
 for children, inquired of him if he had any living, as she 
 knew that several had been taken away. Fixing his eyes 
 upon her with a mournful expression, he replied : " Red 
 Jacket was once a great man, and in favor with the Great 
 Spirit. He was a lofty pine among the smaller trees of the 
 forest. But after years of glory he degraded himself by 
 drinking the fire-water of the white man. The Great Spirit 
 has looked upon him in anger, and his lightning has stripped 
 the pine of its branches." 
 
 The early youth of this great orator was spent in the 
 beautiful valley of the Genesee. There were his favorite 
 hunting-grounds. There his memory loved to linger. During 
 the strife of wars, and the more bitter strife of treaties, he
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 95 
 
 had indulged very little in his favorite pastime; but when a 
 day of comparative quiet came, he took his gun and went 
 forth in the hope of finding a deer. He had gone but a 
 short distance when a clearing opened before him ; the old 
 man turned aside, and wandered in another direction, but 
 soon came to a place where the white man was turning the 
 earth up in dark furrows over a large field. It was then that 
 he sat down upon a fallen oak and wept bitter tears, that the 
 haunts of his youth were being despoiled of all that had 
 rejoiced the heart of his childhood and manhood. 
 
 The medicinal properties of plants and roots were under- 
 stood by the Iroquois, and although the knowledge was prin- 
 cipally confined to the " medicine-men," we find in the myths 
 many allusions to the wonderful cures produced by the use 
 of even the simplest vegetable remedies. 
 
 The origin of medicine among the Tuscaroras was related 
 to me as follows by Chief John Mountpleasant of the Bear 
 clan : Once upon a time a sickly old man, covered with 
 sores, entered an Indian village, where over each wigwam 
 was placed the sign of the clan of its possessor; for in- 
 stance, the beaver-skin denoting the Beaver clan ; the deer- 
 skin, the Deer clan. At each of these wigwams the old man 
 applied for food and a night's lodging; but his repulsive 
 appearance rendered him an object of scorn, and the Wolf 
 and the Tortoise and the Heron had bidden the abject old 
 man to pass on. At length, tired and weary, he arrived at 
 a wigwam where a bear-skin betokened the clanship of its 
 owner. This he found inhabited by a kind-hearted woman,
 
 g6 In Memoriam. 
 
 who immediately refreshed him with food, and spread out 
 skins for his bed. Then she was instructed to go in search 
 of certain herbs, which she prepared according to his direc- 
 tions, and through their efficacy he was soon healed. Then 
 he commanded that she should treasure up this secret. A 
 few days after, he sickened with a fever, and again com- 
 manded her to search for other herbs, and was again healed. 
 This being many times repeated, he at last told his bene- 
 factress that his mission was accomplished, and that she was 
 now endowed with all the secrets for curing disease in all 
 its forms, and that before her wigwam should grow a hemlock 
 tree, whose branches should reach high into the air above all 
 others, to signify that her clan should increase and multiply, 
 and that the bear should take precedence of all other clans. 
 
 The origin of medicine among the Senecas is as follows : 
 Nearly two hundred years ago, a man went into the woods 
 on a hunting expedition. He was quite alone. He camped 
 out in a field, and was wakened in the night by the sound of 
 singing and a noise like the beating of a drum. He could 
 not sleep any more, so he arose and went in the direction of 
 the sound. To his surprise, the place had all the appearance 
 of being inhabited. On the one hand, there was a large 
 squash vine with three squashes on it, and on the other, a 
 hill of corn ; and three ears of corn grew apart from all the 
 others. He was unable to guess what it meant, but started 
 off on his hunting once more, determined to return some 
 evening, being both curious and uneasy. In the night, as 
 he slept near by, he heard again a noise, and, awaking, saw
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 97 
 
 a man looking at him, who said, " Beware ! I am after you. 
 What you saw was sacred ; you deserve to die." But the 
 people, who now gathered around, said they would pardon it, 
 and would tell him the secret they possessed. " The great 
 medicine for wounds," said the man who had awakened him, 
 " is squash and corn ; come with me, and I will teach you." 
 
 He led him to the spot where the people were assembled, 
 and there he saw a fire, and a laurel bush which looked like 
 iron. The crowds danced around it, singing and rattling 
 gourd shells, and he begged them to tell him what they did 
 it for ; then one of them heated a stick and thrust it right 
 through his cheek, and then applied some of the medicine to 
 prove to him how quickly it could heal the wound. Then 
 they did the same to his leg. All the time they sang a tune, 
 they called it the " medicine song," and taught it to him. 
 Then he turned to go home, and all at once he perceived 
 that they were not human beings, but animals, bears, 
 beavers, and foxes, which all flew off as he looked. They 
 had given him directions to take one stalk of corn and dry 
 the cob and pound it very fine, and to take one squash and 
 cut it up and pound that, and they then showed him how 
 much for a dose. He was to take water from a running 
 spring, and always from up the stream, and never down. 
 He made up the prescription, and used it with very great 
 success, and made enough before he died to last over one 
 hundred years. 
 
 This was the origin of the great medicine of the Senecas. 
 The people sing over its preparation every time the deer 
 
 '3
 
 98 In Memoriam. 
 
 changes his coat ; and when it is administered to a patient, 
 they sing the " medicine song," while they rattle a gourd shell 
 as accompaniment, and burn tobacco. Burning tobacco is 
 the same as praying. In times of trouble or fear, after a 
 bad dream, or any event which frightens them, they say, 
 " My mother went out and burned tobacco." 
 
 The medicine is prepared now with the addition of meat. 
 
 Numerous are the Iroquois legends regarding the Flora 
 surrounding them. 
 
 I will close with the origin of the pond lily from the 
 Huron-Iroquois, to which Aldrich in poetizing has added, if 
 possible, another tint. 
 
 Young Wa'-wah had been killed in the war. Miantowona, 
 his love, stoically heard of his death, and meekly continued 
 her care of an aged father. But when the old man died, she 
 wept not, and while the mourners were chanting the dirges 
 she stole from among them toward the bright water; but 
 Na-ha'-ho, who had long loved her in secret, quickly pursued 
 her to the river bank : 
 
 " What did he see there 
 Could so appall him? 
 Only a circle 
 Swiftly expanding, 
 Fading before him. 
 But as he watched it, 
 Up from the centre 
 Slowly, superbly, 
 Rose a Pond Lily."
 
 NEW-YEAR GREETING. 
 
 REV. PHEBE A. HANNAFORD. 
 
 From " Echoes of the ALsthetic Society" 
 
 'T N HE morning broke bright as an angel's pinion, 
 
 The winter diamonds sparkled on the boughs, 
 We, who had feared the storm-king's dark dominion, 
 
 Smiled at our dread, and lifted heavenward brows 
 Serene as starlight, hopeful on that morning 
 
 For all events that to our lot should come 
 When the new year that thus so bright was dawning 
 
 Should be with us for twelve long months at home. 
 
 We hoped, nor hoped amiss, that eighteen-eighty 
 
 Would far outstrip the joys of seventy-nine ; 
 And did we not reach this conclusion weighty, 
 
 That we would patient be, nor once repine ? 
 Though storms should come, we 'd look for sunny weather 
 
 When from our paths the mists should roll away, 
 And trust th' unfailing love of that All- Father 
 
 Who sees in shadow more than we by day. 
 
 Then as we gave to those frost-jewels fleeting 
 
 Our admiration, and our welcome too, 
 So let me give to these ^Esthetics greeting, 
 
 Who blaze with genius, beam in friendship true. 
 Here, where we read a truth that needs no proving, 
 
 We Ve sought to learn of Nature's works and ways, 
 Our knowledge leading to a deeper loving 
 
 Of Him whose thought expression finds in these
 
 ioo In Memoriam. 
 
 Strange forms of rock -from distant vale and mountain, 
 
 Symmetric crystals from the quarry's heart : 
 A chalice each, with draughts from wisdom's fountain, 
 
 We quaff with eagerness ; for they impart 
 The life-elixir that the spirit needeth, 
 
 The panacea for many an earthly woe, 
 The knowledge that, once gained, the spirit speedeth 
 
 Still more and more of God's great works to know. 
 
 Surely the new year opens with a gladness 
 
 The spiritually wise alone can know, 
 When, as a balm for all the old year's sadness 
 
 We upward look, and see the morning glow 
 Which faith affords, as we, His works beholding, 
 
 God's wondrous power and equal goodness see, 
 Which tell, while His grand purpose is unfolding, 
 
 How firm in His great love our trust may be. 
 
 Then blessings on the kind and wise provider 
 
 Of feasts so welcome for both heart and mind, 
 Who bids us sit in wondering trust beside her, 
 
 And, listening here, a pure enjoyment find. 
 " A thousandth part we know not of the wonders," l 
 
 The Infinite alone can know them all ! 
 But louder than the cataract's echoing thunders, 
 
 We hear, through her, the wonder-worker's call ; 
 
 And we will study through the coming seasons, 
 Of rock and shell, of gem and fern and flower, 
 
 With hope that as we question Nature's reasons, 
 Her why and wherefore shall be beauty's dower, 
 
 1 Referring to an inscription over one of the mineral cabinets.
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 101 
 
 To make us fair in spirit, e'er reflecting 
 
 The mind of Him who mirrored love divine, 
 
 Till the great glory which we were expecting 
 
 In Life's grand new-year round our path shall shine. 
 
 Then will those object-lessons still be given 
 
 To students who are veiled in flesh no more, 
 While music sounds amid the bliss of heaven, 
 
 Whose echoes sweet oft reach this earthly shore ; 
 And there, we trust, this band will yet assemble, 
 
 Teacher and taught, within that city's wall 
 Whose flashing gems she told us but resemble 
 
 The glorious attributes of Him we call 
 
 Both God and Father, in His Son revealing 
 
 The Sovereign and the Sire ! till we obey, 
 His love our summons, till we, reverent kneeling, 
 
 Gladly resign ourselves to His dear sway. 
 Then shall we hail Eternity's glad morning, 
 
 The new-year that shall break beyond the tomb, 
 The untold, unknown gladness of that dawning 
 
 That knows no more bereavement's night of gloom. 
 
 Then shall we range the universe of glory, 
 
 Turn the great pages of creation o'er, 
 Soar 'mid the stars and list their wondrous story, 
 
 The Elder Scriptures not unread before : 
 And ever as we rise new wisdom gaining, 
 
 The Gospel-spirit we shall make our own, 
 The loftiest truth behold, our crown attaining, 
 
 Love amid law, the Lamb amidst the throne. 
 
 1880.
 
 IO2 In Memoriam. 
 
 "STILL ACHIEVING." 
 
 BY WILL CARLETON. 
 Written for this Memorial. 
 
 OHE walked upon the mountain-tops 
 
 Until her day was done ; 
 To earth the wearied body drops ; 
 But that great soul no longer stops, 
 Than does the setting sun.
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 103 
 
 SUMMERVILLE, S. C., May 2, 1890. 
 
 MY DEAR MRS. LEE, Thank you for writing the letter which 
 was forwarded to me through the kindness of my friend, Mrs. Olive 
 Thorne Miller. Mrs. Smith was worthy better tribute than any of us 
 can offer her, and our best attempts do but mock the feeling which 
 we who loved and admired her cherish for her memory. 
 
 In the Meridian Club, of which we were fellow members, I said 
 a few awkward but deeply sincere words, one day, in memory of her ; 
 but not being aware until entering the room that the hour was to 
 be devoted to talk of her, I did not do my heart justice. Again, in 
 Sorosis, I was asked to write a poem to read on " Science Day " fol- 
 lowing her death, as that day was to be given up to memories of her, 
 and tributes to her virtues and graces. The verses were afterward 
 printed in the Boston "Woman's Journal," I think in a letter of 
 Kate Sanborn's. 
 
 When your letter came, my brain seemed so numb with ceaseless 
 and overwhelming anxiety, that it seemed useless to attempt to spur 
 it into any sort of exertion. I think of nothing, know nothing, but 
 the dear and only child whose life depends upon our watchful care, 
 and who has not improved as we had hoped and expected under 
 Florida skies. Shall I tell you what warmed heart and brain to the 
 effect of writing some brief tribute to this sweet and dear dead friend ? 
 It was the memory of the last time I saw her face, when she had 
 brought with her from Jersey City to the Brunswick Hotel, where our 
 Meridian Club met, a box of heavy minerals for my dear Clare, because 
 "she had promised them," and she "would not for the world dis- 
 appoint a child " ! How the tears come as I remember that action 
 and her white face ! for she was even then very near that grave which 
 to-day enfolds her.
 
 IO4 In Memoriam. 
 
 My time is much broken and absorbed, and only a little can 
 be snatched, now and then, to write ; but will try to do it when the 
 rest are asleep. For I am often so restless, so anxious, so feverish 
 with dread and apprehension, that I cannot sleep until far into the 
 morning. This is Friday noon, it may not be possible to send the 
 verses before Sunday night ; but I think I can promise to do so then, 
 and wish my pen were tipped with eloquence to say what I would 
 have it ! .... 
 
 Meanwhile, rejoicing in the beautiful wreath you have undertaken 
 to weave, and thanking you for permitting me to add my poor leaf, 
 believe me, my dear Mrs. Lee, 
 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 MAY RILEY SMITH. 
 
 This letter is so appreciative of one of " our dear dead friend's " beautiful 
 traits of character, in considering a promise to be sacred, though given only to 
 a child, and so eloquent with gratitude to the woman " who would not for the 
 world disappoint " one of these little ones, that I trust the writer will accept 
 my apology for not first seeking her permission (occasioned by lack of time), 
 and will pardon the publishing here of what was a private letter ; but this prose 
 of a gifted poet, which is in itself a poem, should be entwined in this wreath. 
 
 S. L. L.
 
 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 BY MAY RILEY SMITH. 
 Written for this Memorial. 
 
 f~\ WHAT, grim Death, hadst thou to do with her ? 
 ^ > ^ Thou hast no friend ; for even Misery 
 
 Doth hide her face and shudder back from thee ; 
 In all the world thou hast no worshipper. 
 
 Each host doth greet thy face with sullen fears ; 
 And when at length thou turnest from his roof, 
 And at his gate thy pale steed lifts his hoof, 
 
 The stirrup-cup is brimmed with bitter tears. 
 
 What, niggard host, had she to do with thee, 
 Whose narrow house admits one prostrate guest, 
 Whose grassy paths thy tenants ne'er have pressed, 
 
 And past whose doors the frightened children flee ? 
 
 The wide rooms of her hospitable heart 
 Gave to its eager guests such royal fare, 
 That of the company she summoned there 
 
 Not one who entered ever did depart. 
 
 And now, while our warm tear-drops fall like rain 
 On the low hut where death hath laid her prone, 
 We say, *' Until this hour, when was it known 
 
 That one who loved her tried her latch in vain?" 
 '4
 
 io6 In Memoriam. 
 
 O thou marauder, Death ! thy anodyne 
 
 Hath drugged a regal brain, at whose rich inn 
 Full many a good and noble guest hath been 
 
 To share its feast, and taste its matchless wine ! 
 
 And yet we wrong thee with our foolish breath. 
 For it was thou who led her to that shore 
 Where thou canst never touch or hann her more, 
 
 And thou didst give her Life, whose name is Death !
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 107 
 
 HOW FAIR SHE IS. 
 
 BY HILLARY BELL. 
 Written for this Memorial. 
 
 TTOW fair she is, we know not. Nor shall know 
 When all the seeds she scattered are in blow. 
 She wandered hidden paths, down separate ways, 
 Whereto we followed slowly, in amaze 
 To note the desert bloom beneath her tread, 
 And vacant minds by her inhabited. 
 The reaping was not hers ; but hers to sow 
 The harvest that in after days shall show 
 How fair she is. 
 
 Yet we, with whom the kindlier memories flow 
 Of that unselfish friendship which we owe, 
 Shall hold our truer knowledge but begun 
 Till God's calm angel, standing near the sun, 
 Uplifts his wings to teach us in the glow 
 How fair she is.
 
 io8 In Memoriam. 
 
 TO ERMINNIE A. SMITH. 
 
 BY MARY E. BRYAN. 
 Written for this Memorial. 
 
 OPRING comes to wake the Earth from Winter's sadness, 
 
 To quicken too, our memory of One 
 Whose Spirit of electric life and gladness 
 Shone on us with an influence like the sun. 
 
 A Spirit that Death's cloud too quickly shaded, 
 
 Though but to us it suffered an eclipse ; 
 For us awhile thy tender smile has faded, 
 
 And hushed the music of thy eloquent lips. 
 
 A soul like thine we know must be eternal, 
 
 Strong to inspire, and quick to thrill and warm ; 
 
 It still must live whether on shores supernal, 
 Or re-incarnate in some noble form 
 
 We cannot know ; our souls thrill with emotion 
 And yearnings high ; yet lie we on Time's shore, 
 
 Shut in this mortal shell, while the great ocean 
 Of Mystery pulses round us evermore. 
 
 But even here thy Spirit is immortal : 
 
 It echoes like sweet music through our days ; 
 
 It beckons to us from some mystic portal, 
 
 Through which stream on us clearer, purer rays.
 
 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. 109 
 
 It still sounds for us the key-note of thy spirit, 
 Love for all things, love> strong to help and save ; 
 
 Love even for the sad races that inherit 
 
 Defeat and shame, far by the Western wave ! 
 
 O deathless soul of love and fire and beauty, 
 
 Who faded from our sight one day in spring, 
 As that sad day rolls round, our loving duty 
 
 Bids us dear memories and fresh flowers to bring 
 
 Votive to thee ! the thought of thee comes o'er us 
 Sweet as a breath of perfume mixed with song 
 
 Blown from some tropic island where a chorus 
 
 Of song and sweetness breathes the whole year long, 
 
 And all life's little cares fade in a vision 
 
 Of vast wide splendor, safe from all eclipse ; 
 Where bright we see thy face in light elysian, 
 
 And catch the smile of thy sweet, tender lips.
 
 no In Memoriam. 
 
 " BECAUSE "... THOU ART. 
 
 BY MARGARET E. SANGSTER. 
 Written for this Memorial. 
 
 "DECAUSE, dear friend, you were so sweet and strong, 
 
 So tender, so benignant, and so true, 
 So tolerant to all except the wrong, 
 
 So wise to win, so fearless to pursue 
 The dangerous quest, if science, learning, art, 
 Allured or dared your peerless woman's heart, 
 
 Because of what you were, we count you still 
 A presence in our lives. You are to-day ! 
 
 You animate in us the conquering will, 
 Your thought from ours is never far away. 
 
 How can we scatter flowers upon your grave ? 
 
 You, living ever, strong and sweet and brave.
 
 University of California 
 
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