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Show SHE CAN HOLD HER OWN. WOMAN'S RECORD OUTSIDE THE REALM OF DOMESTICITY. Quern, of Nation, ami Qiirmi. of Finance. Amazon. Who Have Mi-t l n In Deadly t'niifllet Uiciiit Inntunro of Women In Iiilnea. Whenever woman achieves success outside the domestic circle, for some unexplained un-explained reason she obtaiik a notoriety greater than that of a man who has been equally fortunate in business, literature, art or management. To many peoplo it seems nu ever recurring wonder that representatives of the "weaker 6ex," bo ever Mown showed pi miiseof a "boom," or wherever it seemed probable that some railway might extend its line, Mrs. Houghton was to Ik found taking advantage, ad-vantage, of the situation, and as a result she has tiov t'ie reputation of being the wealthiest i;tn in the state, although not yet 30 )i...s of age,. It is not as a financier that Mrs. C. 11. Foss has renown, but as a stage driver sho is said to bo nnequaled on the Pacific coast, She is an old woman now and lives at Calistoga, (al. Despite her age she retains the ability to manage t ho most spirited six horse team that ever pulled a coach down a mountain side, Iler husband was famous in the old days as a "king of the box," and she is the mother and mother-in-law of the most cxjM'rt drivers in the west. Not long ago Mrs. Foss, who is now 70 years of ago, had an experience on what is known as the "Hog's Back road" to the geysers which added to her already well earned renown. She was guiding a pair of fiery horses, and had reached a point on her journey where the road ! seemed hardly wide enough, to the ordi- nary eye, for a single carriago to pass in as e?W')V mw' mm ;. ' "ill l5 1 safety. On one hand towers a cliff, and i on tho other is a precipice extending to ; the valley, 500 feet below. At a sharp i turn, and while going at full speed, she ! encountered her son Charley Foss com-; com-; ing np tho grade in charge of a four horse stage. Tin ro was no chance to stop, no opportunity to turn around, ami j but one thing to dothe vehicles had to j pass each other. j The stago hugged the cliff, the wagon shivered on the edge of the precipice, and the hubs of the two conveyance clicked against each other, but the perilous peril-ous passage was made, and made in safety. ! While proud of her own ability as a horsewoman ami of tho titlo by which sho is known, "Tho Mother of Stage Drivers," Mrs. Foss delights more than anything else in dwelling on the achievements achieve-ments of her deceased husband. She tells, among other things, of how on one occasion he caino tearing into a town holding the lines over eight horses, which were going at breakneck speed. One of the leaders suddenly succumbed to tho blind staggers. Foss swerved tho other animals sharply to tho left, threw the lines holding the leaders from his hands, broke the link by the shock, left them standing in the street and with mi-slackened mi-slackened gallop dashed up to the hotel. What is written above has had to do with the successes of women. It is ouly proper to add the story of a misfortune, for sex is no bar to disaster, and not MUS. H. E. IIOt'fillTON. called, are able to undertake enterprises Ix-yond those limitations which range in degree from that of servant girl to that of society leader. Within certain bounds woman is an acknowledged queen, but when she oversteps over-steps them and proves her power to cope with man in his own field of enterprise and activity the feat is thought worthy of particular and favorablo comment. Yet about this there is nothing phenomenal, phenom-enal, for in all ages and under all conditions condi-tions the female has been fOXind able to hold her own if environment or emergency emer-gency demanded. Even as far back as tho days of Solomon she occupied a commanding com-manding position; for it is a matter of record that Israel's greatest king was glad to meet on equal terms the haughty and beautiful queen of Sheha. Indeed the world's history teems with examples of woman's intelligence and ability. There, for example, was Zo-nobia, Zo-nobia, the gifted and unfortunate ruler of I'aluivra. who roitrntd over a irreat Mi and powerful nation; who had for her chief counselor the wise Longinus, and who swayed tho destinies of Asia until she came in collision with the stern majesty of Rome. Her power and kingdom king-dom melted away before the resistless charge of Aurelinn's legions; but site met misfortune with dignity and spent in honored retirement the last days of a glorious life. Catherino of Russia is another name which illumines the chronicles of tntio. fhe was cruel, immoral and capricious, but she showed capacity unequaled by any of her line save Peter tho Great. Elizabeth of England also swayed with firmness and wisdom tho vast affairs of an imperiled realm, and dying left behind her the fragrant memory mem-ory of stupendous undertakings magnificently mag-nificently accomplished, Tho story of her reign is the story of Britain's Brit-ain's greatness. She had Burleigh for her adviser; Raleigh and Essex were among her soldiers, and Drake commanded com-manded her fleets when tho Armada was swept away, and the frce menaco of Spanish dominance received its death blow. Such were some of the women who have ruled. It may be urged that all of them save Catherine were born to the purple, and that they found circumstance circum-stance and opportunity ready to their hand; but it is not alone as sovereigns that women have achieved success. That they make good soldiers under certain conditions is amply shown by tho recent contest in Dahomey, where the army of France barely held its own against tho Amazons of a barbarian king. That they have business ability ; is demonstrated by the manner in which ! the Baroness Burdett-Coutts has con-I con-I ducted the great banking business which ! sho inherited, and by tho way in which I the noted American woman, Mrs. Hetty 1 Green, has triumphed for years in finan-; finan-; cial contests with the shrewdest capital-, capital-, ists of the New World; and in the do-1 do-1 main of litigation no male suitor can be I named who has mado a more plucky i fight against apparently insurmountable ' obstacles than Mrs. Myra Clark Gaines. I To these examples of woman's ability ! to reach tho front rank outside the limits MRS. ANOfXINE KIJZABKTII CONRAD. every female, nor every male either, for that matter, who seeks -wealth finds it. It was 110 fault of her own that the ill luck of Mrs. Angeline Elizabeth Conrad was minimized by tho vigilance of the police. She is. a resident of Bracken county, Ky., and the widow of a soldier. By hard work and the hoarding of her pension money she accumulated 1;0 in cash. This sum she recently took with her to New York city, intending to invest in-vest it in what is known to the criminal classes and the credulous people upon whom they prey as "green goods." She had been offered $'2,000 of this commodity commod-ity in exchange for her savings, and under un-der the direction and guidance of a man familiar to the police as "Big Walter" was about to make the exchange when detectives stepped in and saved her from financial, ruin. They sent the widow back to her southern homo repentant and rejoicing. She gained large experience experi-ence at small cost, for sho lost nothing save her railway faro and a big revolver, which t'ae authorities confiscated. So it will be seen that woman's activity extends to almost every field in which man is conspicuous. She governs nations, na-tions, sho fights battles, she wins her way in the business world, and is even thought worthy tho attention of the most urtistic sort of modern swindler. F. X. White. MIW. C. II. POSS. of her acknowledged domain of domesticity domes-ticity and fashion may bo added a few cases recently brought to public attention. atten-tion. Mrs. II. E. Houghton, of Spokane Falls, in the state of Washington, has gained fame of late because of her success suc-cess in the manipulation of real estate. While her husband, who is a lawyer, haa busied himself with politics and offico getting she has devoted her time to , money making. Three yers ago sho I made her original investment of $100. The modest peculation proved a fortunate fort-unate one. and she continued her "deals" with almost unvarying success, until now she is said to be worth half a j million dollars. Wealth has not come to her through luck, but because of her energy, enterprise and foresight. Wher- |
