Cortland Evening Standard, Wednesday, January 18, 1899.
FUNERAL OF MRS. KENYON
And Memorial Tribute Prepared for Publication by Her Husband.
The funeral of Mrs. Kenyon, wife of the Rev. John Kenyon, formerly pastor of the Universalist church in Cortland, was held yesterday afternoon at 2 o'clock at the home of Dr. L. A. Strowbridge on Monroe Heights, where she died, and was attended by many friends of the deceased. The floral tributes were very numerous and beautiful. The services were conducted by Rev. U. S. Milburn, pastor of the Universalist church. A quartet consisting of Misses Ruth McNett and Jessamine Ellsworth, Messrs. J. B. Hunt and T. N. Hollister, sang "Lead Kindly Light,'' and then Mr. Milburn read the Twenty-third Psalm and some selections from the New Testament, following them with an appropriate poem written by Rev. M. J. Savage of New York. Prayer was offered by Rev. O. A. Houghton, D. D., pastor of the First M. E. church, and the choir sang "We're Going Down the Valley."'
Mr. Milburn then made some remarks of a fitting character, in which he spoke of the resurrection, of the beauty of the life of the deceased, of the fact of her continuing to live in the thoughts and incentives of those who had known her. He carried out in detail somewhat the wish of George Eliot which he quoted, "Oh, may I live again."
After the chant, "Thy Will be Done," by the quartet, the benediction was pronounced.
The remains were taken on the 4:15 train, accompanied by Mr. Kenyon and his little 5-years-old son, to Hope, Me., Mrs. Kenyon's old home, for burial.
The following memorial tribute was prepared by Mr. Kenyon to be read at the funeral, but he afterwards decided to have it published instead of reading it there:
MY TRIBUTE TO MY WIFE.
A little over seven years ago I first met my wife. I was then preaching at Hope, a little hamlet in the Switzerland of America. One day in the month of July I met the most charming one in the world, the one, whose loveliness is continued even beyond death, as all can witness here.
I had wandered about in Australia, England, Canada, and the East and West of the United States for many years, without finding my long-sought ideal of womanhood, and just where I least expected to find it, I saw it. At that memorable hour I could only worship afar off. Homage was mine to give, and hers to receive, but I could show it only by a look. I did not allow my admiration to develop into desire. I was content to nurture my love in silence and secrecy.
The months passed, and Bertha returned to Waltham to resume her avocation. I stayed in Hope, and daily grew more ambitious. I fancied the world was ignorant of my state of heart, but now I know every one who met me more than once, knew what was the matter with me then.
There is no deception except to the enslaved. Love has, at least, once in its existence only one eye, and that is turned in only one direction. Daily my soul grew too large for its body, and it longed to fly away from its trammels to its affinity, but the courage of expression slowly came, by degrees, and there was an eternity to be suffered before the first word was penned.
At last the suspense became more unbearable than utter failure, and I wrote for the privilege of correspondence. It was granted almost reluctantly, and the maidenly modesty found many difficulties; but I felt confident that my heart of fire would triumph over the limitations of ink and paper, and warm the royal nature of my queen. My aspiration was a prophecy, for my love succeeded in kindling hers, and the union took place in September, nearly six years ago. Since that time, I have lived with an angel, robed in all the comely garments of womanhood made refined and sweet by contact with a presence not of this world. I have not for a moment been disappointed by any of her characteristic revealings, and my love has continued to be as loyal, as fresh for her, as it began. For in all my wanderings, before and after marriage, my eyes have never seen a woman for whom I could exchange my wife.
We two have been in all sorts of trouble; we have been confronted by all kinds of dark prospects; we have weathered adversity, sorrows and failure together, over and over again. Yet I can truly say that in all of it she has never been found wanting. Her natural goodness has always burst the bands with which bitter experience has tried to fetter it. Her sweetness has never turned sour. When most of women would return a frown for a scowl, she always remained the same, the most beautiful smiler who ever transformed gloom into sunshine. She never learned the art which the cruel world so speedily teaches her competing protégés of striking back. So true is this that all but just and generous persons continually imposed upon her burdens which she could ill carry.
She helped her parents more than I can tactfully confess. She aided her sisters and assisted her brothers, in a self-assumed responsibility far beyond her strength. And in all her church life, she has been as unstinting of her precious energy as if she had all the resources of omnipotence at command. In Waltham, Mass., where her longest residence was made, she was the most beloved woman in the city. Her winsome, gladsome and serene presence attracted all strangers, and her permanent sweetness, and her enthusiastic friendliness in a moment, changed them into faithful friends.
Whatever she was, and all that she had was always at the disposal of the needy, and she never refused a request she could grant. And when she said "no," it pained her far more than it did the unsuccessful applicant, for her refusal was never blunt or pointed; it was always framed in reluctance, and presented with a charm, that left an abiding image of her personality upon the mind. As a result of her friendliness with the world, Bertha could not antagonize a single soul, and she died, without an enemy to jubilate over her sudden departure.
Beautiful enough to be a model for classic sculpture; true enough to remain a standard for my own fidelity; sweet enough to abide forever in the world's recollection with a fragrance that nothing can diminish, this woman has gone to the sphere best fitted for her better work. I count those who knew her most intimately the happiest of mortals; and those who did not know her at all are to be pitied. For she was something more than an entity, an individuality, a mere human person; she was so much divinity encased in matter thin enough to be transparent; she was endowed with heavenly graces and they were improved by constant exercise; she was God incarnate in woman.
As I look back to her career, I see her moving in a limited environment, but unlike a slave of circumstances, she moved about everywhere like a queen of gracious presence and loving instincts. And though her worldly learning was not marked by scholars, her heavenly culture has to be openly acknowledged wherever she has walked on earth.
Her spiritual intuitions were true guides, for they never failed us. Her religion was love enlarged to include everybody. And all her actions were filled with the wisdom of her pure heart.
The thing that I regret above all is that she was not permitted to educate her children so that they would grow up like her. The regret next in intensity is that she gave me no notice of her dying state, so that I was not at her deathbed to record her last counsels, and hold her in my arms before the gentle messenger from God carried her away. And as I think, I regret many things, for what might have is teeming with pictures of what has been, and I cannot copy them for any one, because they will form the furniture of my future.
On Sunday night as I lay on my sleepless bed wondering when slumber would again ease the eyes so tired with watching for the loved one who never came I suddenly became aware of the wished for presence. I put out my arms, and into them my Bertha glided as of old, and for a few, but so very few, moments my whole being was thrilled with ecstatic sensations that first taught me the difference between earthly and heavenly embraces. She could not resist the persistent call of the love to which her nature always had responded. And I was happy, supremely happy, in the assurance my beloved could and would return to me.
Time may reduce the dear body to dust; it may erase her name from the tombstone; it may so obscure this sad day that we shall search for it in vain; but as long as we love the memories of the past that reflect hope for our present; as long as we build our future with the ideals of to-day; as long as true motherhood is beautiful, or rich friendship is rare, or men worship the divine woman, Bertha Payson Kenyon will be remembered, and her influence will not abate, till having widened out in circles ever growing larger, her nobility and fidelity, her unselfishness and spirituality shall have accomplished the will of God upon an earth, that in this way is to be made another paradise.
JOHN KENYON, Cortland, N. Y., Jan. 16, 1899.
And Now Comes a Butterfly.
Cortland can boast of having Florida weather in December and singing robins in January, but the first instance of a real, live butterfly flitting through the air in this latitude at this season is now on record, and it comes from no less a place than Little York lake. A. A. Jennings was on the ice-covered lake one day early this week, and while there captured a butterfly that was flying about. He brought it to Cortland and the insect is now possessed by Earl J. Stillman, who carries him between the leaves of his diary and proudly exhibits him to all anxious inquirers.
The STANDARD's robin reporter will have to get on a hustle to beat this story.
JUDGMENT SET ASIDE.
And New Trial Ordered in Case of Santee Against Syracuse Standard.
The general term at Albany has just handed down a decision setting aside the judgment and ordering a new trial with costs to abide the event in the case of Ellis M. Santee against The Standard Publishing company of Syracuse. The action was brought to secure damages claimed by reason of an alleged libelous article which appeared in the Syracuse Standard relative to Dr. Santee's treatment of his little daughter. The amount claimed was $5,000 and the case was tried in supreme court last winter resulting in a verdict for the plaintiff of $600. The defendant appealed, the appeal was argued some time ago and the decision just handed down reverses the judgment and orders a new trial. Bronson & Davis appeared for the plaintiff and Jerome Cheney of Syracuse assisted by J. & T. E. Courtney and O. U. Kellogg for defendant.
MAY CONSOLIDATE.
A Persistent Rumor Relative to the L. V. and P. & R. Railroads.
(From the Ithaca Journal.)
If the report originating at Philadelphia is true, and there is reason to believe it is, the Philadelphia & Reading will absorb the Lehigh Valley road. Philadelphia papers have been filled with reports of this deal for some time, and now it comes from a rather high source that plans are in progress looking toward the consolidation. Reading and Lehigh Valley interests have been affiliated more or less in traffic arrangements because J. P. Morgan controls both companies, and the natural trend of reducing expenses as far as possible has led Mr. Morgan to consult the owners of the two roads in regard to inaugurating this retrenchment policy. Old railway men will remember that about four or five years ago an effort was made to combine these two railway properties under one management, and the papers were all made out, but the laws of Pennsylvania, it is asserted, prevented the signing of the documents. There will be no hitch in the present proceedings. The Reading is the natural southern outlet of the Lehigh Valley, and as the interests of both roads are more or less identified, the consolidation will have no other effect than a shake up in the managerial and traffic bureaus.
King's Daughters' Election.
At the recent annual election of officers of the Loyal Circle of King's Daughters, the following officers were chosen for 1899:
President—Mrs. H. Relyea.
First Vice-President—Mrs. W. G. McKinney.
Second Vice-President —Mrs. Homer Smith.
Third Vice-President—Mrs. M. K. Harris.
Fourth Vice-President—Mrs. George Watson.
Secretary—Mrs. Arthur Holt.
Treasurer—Mrs. Dewitt Rose.
Superintendent of Local Charity—Mrs. Lyman Jones, 50 North Main-st.
Mrs. Jones will be assisted in the work of this department by the following ladies:
First Ward—Mrs. A. S. Brown, Mrs. Edwin Robbins, Mrs. W. D. Coburn.
Second Ward—Mrs. E. D. Parker, Mrs. J. H. Kennedy, Mrs. S . Doyle.
Third Ward—Mrs. Homer Smith, Mrs. Wright, Mrs. Ella A. Hillock.
Fourth Ward—Mrs. A. McElheney, Mrs. M. K. Harris, Mrs. Frank Watson.
Superintendent of Employment Agency—Mrs. S. Rindge, 57 North Main-st.
Chairman of Flowers and Fruit Mission—Mrs. Lewis Bouton.
Chairman of Finance Committee—Mrs. E. D. Parker.
Chairman of Sewing Circle—Mrs. Coburn.
Chairman of Hospital Committee—Mrs. J. E. Hyatt.
Literary Committee—Mrs. Birdlebough, Mrs. Ella Hillock, Mrs. Edwin Robbins, Mrs. Grant Thomas.
Entertainment Committee—Mrs. Brownell, Mrs. S. N. Holden, Mrs. David Wesson, Mrs. Fred Thompson, Mrs. W. G. Mead, Mrs. H. Palmer.
SUPERINTENDENT MOONEY
Resigns Local Charge of the Cortland & Homer Traction Co.
A rumor, reached the ears of The STANDARD this morning that Mr. F. P. Mooney had resigned the superintendency of the Cortland & Homer Traction Co., and of the Cortland & Homer Electric Co. A STANDARD man at once sought Mr. Mooney and found him at the office of the Traction company. In reply to questions Mr. Mooney acknowledged that the report was true and that the resignation was to take effect Feb. 1. Mr. Mooney did not think it wise yet to say anything more in regard to the matter and said he had no idea who his successor would be. He has several positions in view any one of which would be very desirable, but he has not yet settled upon a definite plan for the future.
This announcement will be received with genuine regret. He has been here for nearly three years. He had a difficult position to fill in following so popular and so capable a man as Mr. Dunston, but he has filled it well. He has been zealous in watching out for the interests of the [electric] railroad and has also tried to accommodate the public in every way possible and in consequence has given very general satisfaction. He has shown his capability and efficiency in many ways. He has made a host of friends here in Cortland, all of whom will be sorry to have him leave and will follow him with their best wishes in his departure.
BASKET BALL SATURDAY.
Features to be Introduced in the Game Saturday Night.
Miss Wright, physical director at the Normal school, is training nine girls of the Young Ladies' Basket Ball club to play three of the larger men in the school. This game will be played between the halves of the Cortland-Elmira game and the novelty of it is arousing much interest. Every one will undoubtedly cheer for the girls.
The senior team is working harder than ever before, being a little apprehensive in that the Elmira team won a hard game from Towanda last week by score of 16 to 14.
The Cortland team is not picked yet and all the men, new and old, have a birdseye view of some one of the five positions.
BREVITIES.
—The Scott Republican caucus is called for Friday, Jan. 27, at 1 o'clock P. M. at the town hall.
—An important meeting of the Red Men is to be held to-morrow night in the wigwam of Pecos tribe.
—New display advertisements to-day are Palmer & Co., January Thaw, page 6; McGraw & Osgood, Marked Down Sale, page 4.
—The Supervisors' Journals for 1898 have been printed and delivered, and residents of the town of Cortlandville who desire a copy can obtain one by calling at any one of the banks in Cortland.
WILL USE HIS VETO.
Governor Roosevelt Has Placed a Guard on Legislation.
All Bills Must Be Introduced Within the Next Eight Weeks—Local Option Tax Bill Introduced—Women's Suffrage, Canal Appropriations—A New Election Bill Introduced—Other Legislation.
ALBANY, Jan. 18.—Governor Roosevelt has undertaken to remedy a long existing evil and abuse which has been continually growing in Albany. The number of bills introduced each year runs up into the thousands and a brief consideration of half of these measures by the legislative committees and by the two houses would necessitate a continual session all the year around. Last winter nearly 3,000 bills were introduced and but a small proportion became laws. A great many died in committee and some, which had neither the good faith of the introducer nor the support of his constituents, were quietly dropped when the object for which they existed had been attained. These last mentioned measures are more commonly known as "strikes."
The closing weeks of each session have witnessed a deluge of bills handed in by members and many a vicious measure has slipped through unnoticed. The assembly and senate document rooms become choked with these proposed laws and it is a common occurrence to see from 100 to 150 new, and amendments to old bills, placed on the files of the members in one day for them to consider.
All this rush of legislation centers about the closing weeks of the session and it is utterly impossible for the legislator to examine but a small per cent of the bills placed before them. Consequently, when these come up for final passage the word of the introducer is generally taken for the need and justice of the legislation embodied in the bill whose passage he desires. In this policy of believing all legislators honest and conscientious, the unprincipled representatives of corporations find an easy road by which to rush through desired legislation. The indiscriminate manner in which bills are passed during the closing sessions of the legislature tends to demoralize the members for too often one member relinquishes an objection to a measure which he views with suspicion, if the introducer of the same will extend a like courtesy to a certain bill he "is trying to get through."
After a conference with Senator Ellsworth, the Republican leader in the senate, Speaker Nixon and Mr. Allds, leader in the assembly, Governor Roosevelt stated that all local and special bills must be in his hands by March 15. In connection with this matter he further said that all bills not introduced within the next eight weeks, except in emergency cases, would meet his disapproval. Another phase of this question which the governor will try to right, is the common habit for bills to be printed with no marks to indicate the proposed changes in the old law. The governor himself has stated that he is aware that unscrupulous legislators have sometimes put in a harmless word and underlined it to make it appear that the bill has been carefully prepared, while at the same time new text in other portions of the act of the greatest importance has not been marked. Though this is sometimes done unintentionally, the governor will in the future instruct the board of statutory revision to keep copies of bills as they were piled on members' desks, and report to him omissions of underscoring of bracketing where needed. All such bills will certainly be vetoed notwithstanding their merits unless some very plausible excuse can be offered for the mistake. The governor holds that a legislator's plea of ignorance is no argument. He will consider members responsible for all measures presented by them.
A bill introduced by Assemblyman Kelsey, which increases the salary of the private secretary of the governor from $4,000 to $6,000 has the governor's sanction.
Local Option Tax Bill.
Assemblyman B. G. Brennan of Brooklyn has introduced his home rule or local option tax bill again this session. Last winter Mr. Brennan succeeded in getting the bill out of committee but failed to advance it to a vote. The bill provides that assessors, in assessing real property of any kind, shall assess the value of land separately from all buildings, fences, structures, drains, crops, plants, trees and other improvements thereon, and shall state in separate columns the assessed value of each piece of land and of the entire improvements thereon. The bill leaves to the discretion of the board of supervisors of each county, the levying of taxes (except for state purposes) exclusively upon the assessed value of real estate alone, including land and all improvements thereon, or upon the assessed value of land alone, exclusive of improvements and of personal property or upon the assessed value of land, improvements and personal property, taken together.
It also allows the exemption of personal property from taxation in counties and cities so desiring. Mr. Brennan, in advocating his bill, said: "During the year it has been endorsed by several Farmers' granges, the Buffalo Merchants' exchange and Rochester chamber of commerce and that influential men in all parts of the state are urging its passage. The bill was unqualifiedly endorsed by the noted economist David A. Wells, who wrote the most important report ever made on taxation in this state.
Superintendent of Public Buildings.
The first setback to which Governor Roosevelt has been compelled to submit so far, is in the appointment of superintendent of public buildings. Though the machine carried the day and the governor's candidate failed to secure the appointment, the strong arguments of the executive had the effect. Harry H. Bender, who has been slated for the position ever since it was rumored that Superintendent Easton was to be retired, had the endorsement of Republican Leader William Barnes of Albany county. Governor Roosevelt had selected former Excise Commissioner Joseph Murray of New York for the superintendency and hoped to carry his point by a determined stand in the matter. The Capitol trustees, composed of the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the assembly, had the appointment of a superintendent of public works and Leader Barnes had obtained the support of the two latter members for Mr. Bender. The governor, although in the minority in the board, is a strong fighter and made an earnest plea for his friend Murray. So determined was he to carry his point that as a compromise the other two trustees agreed to make it a condition of Bender's appointment that he agree to name Bender as his deputy. In consequence of this attitude of the governor's, Deputy Superintendent Murray will have nearly as much power as Superintendent Bender himself. Murray is a man after the governor's heart and if there are indications of any politics dominating the bureau, the governor will be promptly advised of the fact and take prompt action in accordance with his determined declaration when Mr. Bender's appointment was first announced.
Women's Suffrage.
The advocates of women's suffrage have already appeared in the legislative halls and the executive chamber. The representatives of the Women's State Suffrage association, whose theory is that women should be given equal franchise with men, have decided to adopt the recommendations incorporated in Governor Roosevelt's annual message. A bill will be prepared and introduced in both houses providing that women residing in the cities be allowed to vote for school officers the same as their sisters residing in the country districts.
Another bill relative to women, but of a vastly different nature from the above, will in all probability be passed by the legislature. The recent revelations in the Teall divorce case, where an innocent woman's name was dragged before the public to suit the purposes of one of the parties to the suit, is the ground for this legislation. Two bills have been introduced in the assembly on this line. Both are based on the old English law in similar cases, requiring an attorney for the plaintiff in an application for divorce where a co-respondent is named, to file an affidavit that, on the facts as presented, there is reasonable ground for belief that the person named is at fault. One bill presented by Mr. Schreneck of Kings gives the co-respondents named the right to appear and defend, so far as the issue affects them, and in case the charges against them are not sustained, to cover costs against the persons making them, and to be entitled to an execution for the collection of the same.
Canal Appropriation.
A canal improvement bill has been introduced by Assemblyman Lyman W. Redington, which provides for the immediate enlargement of one tier of locks in the Erie and Oswego canals and to widen and deepen the channel thereof. Also to complete the improvements of the channel of the Champlain canal. It is favored by the New York Produce exchange.
No stated appropriation is made but the amount is left blank to be filled in after estimates of costs are made. It directs the superintendent of public works to enlarge one tier of locks in the Erie and Oswego canals from tidewater at Albany and improve the channel of the Champlain canal before May 1, 1901.
The locks shall be 260 feet long and 26 feet wide in the clear. Where practical locks can be combined and where advantageous the number of lock-lifts can be reduced. The channels of the Erie and Oswego are directed to be widened to a width of not less than 80 or 100 feet at the surface. A depth of nine feet is also demanded. No contract to exceed $500,000 shall be let. The Champlain canal shall have a width of 40 feet and a depth of seven feet. The changing of alignment of the canals is authorized. All work must be done by citizens of the United States. The comptroller is authorized to borrow money to meet expenses of the improvement.
New Election Bill.
A new election bill has been introduced in the senate by Senator John Raines, which amends the law enacted at the extraordinary session last summer. The new bill provides for an inspector of election so as to retain Superintendent of Elections John McCullagh in office. But his powers will be curtailed, as the new bill will provide that a state bi-partisan commission be appointed to consist of two members of each leading party. The members are to be appointed by the governor upon nomination of the state committee of each party, certified to by the chairman of the respective committees.
The bill will do away with the present state board of canvassers. The state commission will take the power of appointing supervisors of election from the inspector, the commissioners making the appointments. The commissioners of election will hold office for five years and until their successors have qualified, unless sooner removed from office for cause.
Immediately upon the qualification of the members, they shall meet in the office of the governor and organize. The board may elect, by a majority vote, one of its members as president, but if they cannot agree upon a choice they shall choose by lot for such office. The members shall receive a salary of $3,000 per annum, payable monthly. The commissioners shall appoint four commissioners of election for each county, two electors from each party, and shall constitute a county board of election. Their term of office will be for two years. The members will be chosen upon the recommendation of the county committees of the political parties. This commission will canvass the vote instead of the supervisors.
Pure Food Congress.
The governor has designated the following to act as delegates representing the state of New York at the National Pure Food congress, to be held in Washington, beginning Feb. 18: Arthur A. Downs and James R. Rowland of New York; John C. Hoxie, Utica; Robert D. Grant, Clayton; J. P. Clark, Falconer; Elliott B. Norris, Sodus; Oscar F. Hale, North Stockholm; Charles Fitts, Dresserville, Rufus E. Boschert, Syracuse; George L. Flanders, Albany; Frederick H. Kracke, Albany, and Frank E. Dawley, Fayetteville.
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