Memories of Jane Cunningham Croly, Jenny June by Various
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Various >> Memories of Jane Cunningham Croly, Jenny June
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Sincerely yours,
J. C. CROLY.
From a Letter to Mrs. E. S. Willard
BELLA-VISTA, BOSTON HARBOR, MASS.,
August 28, 1901.
... As yet I think I am still in London; or at least still in England.
Crossing the Atlantic is not so much of an undertaking; less than
taking a "trip" with "crossing" changes. Packing and unpacking, and
the harassing "customs" are the worst features. There were only
fifty-six passengers on the _Minneapolis_, but it took us from 8 A.M.
to 1 P.M., in a pouring rain, to pass the argus-eyes of one hundred
and eight inspectors, about two to each passenger.
In my case it seemed a bit ironical,--one of Thomas Hardy's "Little
Ironies," for a _rapid_ American trustee had lost my whole capital
during my absence... The necessity for tying up the ragged ends and
applying a test brought me home. But it is a trial, though I seem to
have lost the power to be unhappy. Do you know what that means? Is
that unarmed neutrality the serenity of Heaven?
I am as yet living in England. My thoughts are there, and my desire. I
see you and a few others whom I love come and go, and I exchange the
loving word, the kindly smile, the sympathetic look.
I am waiting for an indication of where I am to end my days. If my
steps turn towards the isles of the sea, you will be a magnet to draw
me, you with your spiritual beauty, and your constant, unfailing
goodness. God bless you, and grant that I may see you again, and that
we may gain the love, as well as the peace, that passeth all
understanding.
Yours always,
J.C. CROLY.
Resolutions of Protest Offered by Mrs. Croly Through the Woman's Press
Club
(From the Recording Secretary's Report)
At a special meeting of the Governing Board, held in the club rooms,
126 East 23rd street, Dec. 26, 1892, the following resolution
proposed by the president was adopted.
_Resolved_: That the Woman's Press Club has learned with deep regret
of the backward action of the Columbian University of Washington, in
deciding to exclude women from its Medical Department, after ten years
of co-education.
_Resolved_: That we unite with Pro-Re-Nata of Washington, D. C., in
expressing an emphatic protest against this retrograde movement; that
we earnestly hope that better counsels will prevail; that, at a time
when so conservative an institution as the British Medical Association
has voted to open its doors to women, the stigma of retrogression will
not be allowed to rest upon the foremost school in the Capitol of the
Nation.
Tributes of Friends
Jane Cunningham Croly
An Appreciation from Miriam Mason Greeley
In the joyful Christmas-tide of 1829, into the sweet influence of an
English country home there came to life a blue-eyed, brown-haired
maiden, whose sunny nature was destined to laugh with gladness of
heart, or smile through falling tears, for more than seventy eventful
years. "Jenny June" while yet a child came with her family to New York
State, entering here an atmosphere well adapted to foster her
activities and her power to work for the good of others. Her breadth
of vision and her genial sympathy would have been evinced in any land
or clime, but in the stimulating freedom of American thought her
abilities developed to their best.
She found opportunity to plant the seeds of earnest thought, of which
later she was to gather such a rich harvest in the confidence of her
fellow-women. Her eager mind was a rich soil for the growth of ideas
springing from her fertile brain; which led her to be both
conservative and impetuous, grave or vivacious, ever fearless and
versatile, all pervaded with the wholesome balance of quick
penetration.
To her is due the tribute of praise for having borne the heat and
burden of the day in the early development of women's clubs. Friends
tried to persuade her to abandon her plans for organizing woman's
varied abilities, ridicule assailed her most cherished hope, and the
sarcasm of opponents barred the way. She lived to triumph in seeing
her aims successful, and after thirty-five years of club life to be
honored by one of the highest gifts in the power of the General
Federation to offer--the honorary vice-presidency.
Mrs. Croly formulated in 1890 her well-matured plan for a general
federation of women's clubs, and with the cordial assistance of the
"Mother Club, Sorosis," issued the first call for representatives of
women's clubs of all the States to meet.
Stimulated by the success of the General Federation, Mrs. Croly urged
the formation of the New York State Federation, and assisted by
Sorosis as the hostess, an invitation was issued to all the State
clubs to be the guests of Sorosis at Sherry's, November, 1894.
[Illustration: MRS. CROLY at the age of 18.]
Mrs. Croly's life-work as a writer had gone forward hand in hand with
her club interests, and, having finished the foundation work of the
two federations, she devoted her time to the preparation of her
massive volume on the "Growth of the Woman's Club Movement," which is
a monument to her patient industry, and the only permanent record of
the development of women's clubs in America.
She sleeps--but each woman who to-day shares the benefit and the
responsive pleasure of club life, should place a leaf in the garland
for "Jenny June."
From Marie Etienne Burns
"Work is a true savior, and the not knowing how is more the
cause of idleness than the love of it."--MRS. CROLY.
The idea of a State Industrial School for Girls originated with Mrs.
Croly, and at a spring meeting of the Executive Committee of the New
York State Federation of Women's Clubs, held in 1898, she suggested
that the first work of the Philanthropic Committee for the year be an
endeavor to establish a State Industrial School for wayward, not
criminal, young girls of tenement-house neighborhoods. Soon after this
Mrs. Croly met with a serious accident and was obliged to give up all
active work. She decided to go to Europe, hoping to be benefited by a
stay abroad. Just before her departure Mrs. Croly wrote asking me to
present the proposed industrial-school plan to the Convention for its
endorsement. The next day I called upon her to discuss matters. I
found her confined to her sofa with, a crutch beside her, and
evidently suffering much pain; but she seemed to be thinking less
about herself than about the work that was so close to her heart. She
urged me to take up the work which, she was regretfully obliged to
abandon, and was most enthusiastic over it.
Mrs. Croly said: "Those who have worked among the poor in large cities
are aware of the value of orderly and systematic industrial training
for girls of irresponsible parentage, between the years of twelve and
eighteen. These girls are often bright and attractive, but they are
usually self-willed, lacking in judgment, and ignorant of every useful
art, as well as of all social and domestic standards that lend
themselves to the development of a true womanhood. Their homes are
usually unworthy of the name, often scenes of disorder, not
infrequently of violence, from which their only escape is the street.
Their vanity and unbridled desire for low forms of pleasure expose
them to all kinds of evil influences, and the first steps in a
downward career are taken without at all knowing whither they lead.
The most dangerous element in the lives of such girls is their
ignorance. It bars all avenues to respectable employment and deprives
them of self-respect, which grows with ability to maintain oneself and
one's integrity in the face of adverse circumstances. In putting the
knowledge of the simplest art or industry in possession of the
untrained, unformed girl you supply an almost certain defence against
that which lurks to destroy."
I fully agreed with Mrs. Croly. My many years of experience as a
worker among the poor of New York City had taught me the importance,
and indeed the necessity of just such a school, and I gladly promised
to carry forward the good work.
Mrs. Croly said in parting: "I can truly say that during the whole of
my working life in New York, a period of more than forty years, my
heart has bled for these poor neglected, untrained girls, who yet have
the elements of a divine womanhood and motherhood within them, though
undeveloped and hidden by the rankest weeds and growth."
At the Convention in New York City, held in 1901, I presented the
Industrial School project, and the plan received the unanimous
endorsement of all those present. It was, however, deemed wiser to
omit the word "wayward," as the school was to be preventive and in no
sense reformatory. A Committee was formed, of which Mrs. Croly was
made Honorary Chairman; and the work upon a State Industrial School
for Girls was begun.
It was my desire as Acting Chairman of the Committee that the movement
should carry at all times the banner bearing the name of its inceptor,
a name that would always suggest not failure but success. While
seemingly insurmountable obstacles at once arose, they were more or
less overcome as the preparations and work of the Committee
progressed. And at the time of Mrs. Croly's death the project had
reached a point more hopeful than assured, resulting in the
establishment of at least one school which should stimulate the State
Legislature into a realization of the needs of the young girls of the
tenement-house neighborhoods, so that some time in the future there
might be provided through State legislation, on a broad plan, the
State Industrial or Trade School for Girls, the idea of which was
conceived by Jenny June.
From Mrs. Croly's Letter to Mrs. Burns, Relative to the Proposed
Industrial School for Girls
222 WEST 23RD STREET,
Feb. 28, 1900.
My dear Mrs. Burns:
There is only one point that I would have emphasized, and that I do
not find included in your otherwise excellent statement. It is the
moral influence of a training for self-support. Ignorance and idleness
lead to vice and crime; and a Technical Training School would do more
to remedy the Social Evil and raise the standard of morals than all
other influences combined. The fact that work is the great purifier is
what I wish could have been embodied in the plan presented.
Yours with real regard.
J.C.C.
From Izora Chandler
How can one picture all that this one woman was to the hundreds of
other women who loved her: the gentle demeanor, the thoughtful
conversation, the high thinking evidenced not less in her choice of
subject than in the fitness of word and phrase which gave a
distinctive charm to all her utterances, whether public or private?
When first meeting Mrs. Croly one could hardly believe that so
gentle-voiced, slight a creature could have accomplished the
pioneering accredited to her in the enlargement of the mental life of
women. Drawn to her at the first greeting one was soon convinced of
the hidden forcefulness of her nature which could be likened to the
resistless, unyielding under-current, rather than to the wave which
visibly and noisily assails the shore.
Present or absent, the thought of her was magnetic. While charming the
heart she convinced the mind with argument. Her power did not absorb
and minify; it enlarged, enlivened, and became a source of
inspiration. After talking with her, impossibilities became possible
to the timid, the diffident were encouraged to dare, and those who
were strong at coming went away valorous. Her dignity and ready
decision when presiding over a public assembly were noteworthy. She
became a stateswoman in whatever concerned her sex; an earnest soul
pleading for love among co-workers, and for more and yet more of love,
for only in that atmosphere can the heart of woman come into its
rightful sovereignty, urging that slights be forgotten, aggressions
overlooked, and that the fair mantle of love be spread tenderly over
all.
An earnest devotee of the best and highest in art, she seemed to have
an insatiable desire after the beautiful; and was never more serene
and lucid of mind than when considering this scheme, and encouraging
with rich appreciation those who were in the field.
Her store of knowledge was phenomenal. She was a constant learner, an
unwearied seeker after wisdom. When those who had given special study
to any subject addressed the house over which she presided, they
received her most flattering attention, and in the brief afterword of
the chairman she indicated intimate knowledge of the matter in hand,
often giving comprehensive data and suggesting fresh lines for
consideration. No wonder that the finest minds were attracted to her;
that thinkers desired her acceptance of their thoughts; that active
workers sought her cooeperation and leadership. Quiet and forceful;
competent as a critic, but ready with encouragement; simple in manner,
easily approached; patient with those who appealed to her, seeking
rather than waiting to be sought; abundantly appreciative of others,
her memory becomes an abiding impulse towards high and generous
thought, towards simple, worthy living.
From Janie C.P. Jones
Before my friend's last trip to England I went to bid her good-bye,
and among her parting words were the following which I never can
forget:
"I dislike going so far from my friends. To me they are the most
precious things on earth, the greatest gift the world can bestow; to
me they have been like flowers all along my path, and their sweet odor
of influence has made me better every day. I cannot prize them too
highly, for all I am I owe to them."
To have known one who so highly appreciated the value of friendship,
who knew the true meaning of the word "friend," and who possessed the
rare gift of knowing how to retain friends, was an inspiration, and an
influence which added to the value of life. I think of her now as
having "gone into her garden to gather lilies for her Beloved."
From Catherine Weed Barnes Ward
My task is at once sad and pleasant: sad, because I speak of a dearly
loved and lost friend; pleasant, because I am asked to bear my
testimony as to her worth.
Mrs. Croly's friendship and unselfish kindness began with my entrance
over twenty years ago into club life, and from then onward she was
continually urging and helping me towards increased intellectual
effort. Through her active inspiration I joined Sorosis, the Woman's
Press Club of New York, and other American organizations, as well as
the Society of American Women in London, the Women Journalists of
London, and various English organizations, besides taking part in the
International Congress of Women held in London three or four years
ago.
Mrs. Croly lived constantly in two generations, her own and the next
one; her wonderful mental vitality setting the paces of many pulses,
besides those which stirred her own brain. I know much of the actual
labor she accomplished for her sex, both here and in England, but even
nobler than that was the high ideal she set them in her own life and
the inspiration of her personality to younger women.
To those she called special friends her loyalty was unswerving, true
as the needle to the pole, and as one blest with such friendship I
feel the influence of her beautiful, unselfish living will be ever
with me, though something has gone out of my life, never to be
replaced. Her daughter, Mrs. Vida Croly Sidney, worthily carries on
the traditions and work of her noble mother, and her friends feel that
in her there is a living tie between the untiring spirit laboring now,
we may well believe, in another existence and the work so loved by
that spirit while on earth.
A true heart, a generous nature, a broad mind, and keen mental acumen
are qualities that do not die with their possessor; they bless the
world to which she has gone and that she left behind.
We can best honor her memory by carrying on her work and by leaving
the world better and happier for our having lived in it.
From a Letter to the Memorial Committee from Sara J. Lippincott (Grace
Greenwood)
I feel Mrs. Croly's death very deeply. The sacred holiday season,
dedicated from time immemorial to household joy and mirth, and calling
for Christian gratitude and hope, was already saddened by
bereavements, and her death--absolutely unlooked for by me--made it
melancholy and mournful.
"She should have died hereafter." I did not dream when I saw her last
that she was to solve the great mystery before me. Though feeble,
there seemed so much of the old energetic, enthusiastic self about
her; and I parted from her hoping to see her soon in renewed health
and strength.
She always had a peculiar fascination for me: her soft, sweet voice;
her strong though quiet will; her unfailing faith in all things good;
her loyalty to her sex. I think her pass-word to the realm of rest and
reward must have been, "I loved my fellow-woman."
35 Lockwood Avenue, New Rochelle,
January 6, 1902.
From a Letter to the Memorial Committee from Jennie de la M. Lozier
Mrs. Croly was a woman of uncommon intuition and sympathy. She took
wide and far-reaching views of woman's possible development and
usefulness. She believed in organization as a factor in this
development, and spared no effort to form and maintain, even at
personal sacrifice, the woman's club or federation. She was always
generous and warm-hearted, of boundless hospitality, never more
genially herself than when her friends gathered about her in her
attractive home and she could make them happy. I shall always recall
with pleasure the rare moments when she talked with me of her real
life, her hopes and her plans. I believe that she constantly exerted a
noble influence, and that she stood for all that makes for woman's
unselfish helpfulness, courage and independence.
New York, February 10, 1902.
From Genie H. Rosenfeld
In the early days of the Woman's Press Club, when it was divided upon
the question of a suitable meeting place, and undisciplined members
were resigning in appreciable numbers, Mrs. Croly surprised me one day
by declaring that the club had never been stronger than it was at that
hour.
"Why, Mrs. Croly!" I exclaimed, "we have only a handful of women
left."
"My dear," she said, "we have lopped off all our dead wood. The
branches that remain may be few, but they are vigorous, and from them
will spring up a tree that will be a glory to us."
This little saying of Mrs. Croly's has come back to me and been of use
many times, and it has often enabled me to understand the benefit of
lopping off dead wood and starting anew.
Contributed to the New York _Tribune_ by S. A. Lattimore
The sad announcement of the death of Mrs. Jane Cunningham Croly
recalls a delightful incident of several summers ago when I had the
pleasure of meeting her at Long Branch.
In the course of a most interesting conversation I ventured to ask her
to give me the origin of her well-known _nom-de-plume_ of "Jenny
June." In her bright, sympathetic way, which all who knew her can
describe, she said:
"Yes, I will tell you. In my early girlhood I knew a young clergyman
who was in the habit of occasionally visiting our house. One day he
came to bid us good-bye, saying that he was going to a Western city to
reside. As he bid me goodbye he gave me a little book. It was a volume
of B. F. Taylor's poems, called 'January and June.' The little book
opened of itself at a page containing verses entitled 'The Beautiful
River.' An introductory paragraph read thus: 'On such a night, in such
a June, who has not sat side by side with somebody for all the world
like Jenny June? Maybe it was years ago, but it was some time. Maybe
you had quite forgotten it, but you will be the better for
remembering. Maybe she has gone on before where it is June all the
year, and never January at all,--that God forbid. There it was, and
then it was, and thus it was.' This stanza was marked in pencil:
'Jenny June,' then I said, 'let us linger no more
On the banks of the beautiful river;
Let the boat be unmoored, and muffled the oar,
And we'll steal into heaven together.
If the angel on duty our coming descries
You have nothing to do but throw off the disguise
That you wore when you wandered with me;
And the sentry will say: "Welcome back to the skies,
We long have been waiting for thee!"'
On the margin was written, 'You are the Juniest Jenny I know.'
"The years of my girlhood passed on, and with their passing faded away
all memory of the young minister. Later there came to me, as I suppose
there comes to every young girl, the impulse to write, and when some
early efforts of mine were judged worthy to be published, I was
confronted for the first time with the question of a signature.
Shrinking from seeing my own name in print, by some witchery of memory
the words 'Jenny June' suddenly occurred to me, and that, as you know,
has been my name ever since."
After a little pause Mrs. Croly said: "Now that I have answered your
question I must tell you something else. Thirty years after I had
assumed my _nom-de-plume_ a gray-haired stranger called at my house
one day and asked to see me. The name he gave recalled no one I had
ever known, and in meeting there was no recognition on either side.
But he proceeded in a straightforward way to explain the object of his
visit: 'For the last thirty years,' he said, 'since my removal from
this city, I have lived in the West; naturally, I have been a constant
reader of Eastern papers, and particularly have I read every article I
have ever seen bearing the signature of "Jenny June." I have made many
efforts, but always without success, to ascertain who she was, and
whether the name was real or fictitious. Somehow I have never
forgotten the little girl I knew before I went West, and to whom I
gave a little volume of poems with something written on a page that
contained a stanza that I greatly admired about "Jenny June." I have
wondered if she had become the famous writer, and upon my return to my
native city, after so long an absence, I have sought you simply to ask
if you are that little girl.'"
The Fairies' Gifts
_By Ellen M. Staples_
To an English home one bright Yuletide
While Christmas bells rang loud and wide
Came a babe with the gentle eyes of a dove
And a face as fair as a thought of love.
"Now, God be thanked," the old nurse cried,
"That the child is born at Christmas-tide;
"For the blessed sake of Mary's Son
God's benison falls on lives begun
"When Christmas music fills the air
And men are joyful everywhere.
"And as to Him came Wise Men three
Offering gifts on bended knee
"So to one born at the Holy Time
On land or sea, in every clime,
"Come three Good Fairies, and each one bears
A gift to brighten the coming years."
The pallid mother gently smiled
And looked upon her tender child.
"Good nurse, the legend is full sweet;
And I lay my babe at His dear feet
"Whose human Sonhood is aware
Of the painful bliss that mothers bear.
"I can well believe that heaven may
Send gifts to the child of Christmas Day."
Tired by her flight from Paradise
The baby shut her wondering eyes,
Nor knew that 'round the cradle stood,
To bless the babe, three Fairies good.
The First bent over the cradle head;
"These are my gifts to her," she said:
"A sunny nature, a voice of song,
And may faithful friends uncounted throng!"
The Second murmured in accents low:
"The path will be steep and rough, I know,
"So I give her a heart that is brave and strong,
That will patiently work, though the way be long;
"And though life may fill them with toil and care
Her hands shall weaker ones' burdens share."
Then stood the Third for a moment's space
To thoughtfully gaze on the baby face,
And over her own a radiance came
As she softly said: "My gift is a name.
"Though born while the earth lies spread with
snow
The babe is a summer-child, and so
"The sunny nature, the voice of song,
The helpful hands, true heart and strong
"With Nature's self should be in tune,
Sweet child, I name thee Jenny June."
From Margaret Ravenhill
Jane Cunningham Croly left upon the last century an ineffaceable
record. For industrious and successful work in journalism she probably
had no peer. In a speech before the Woman's Press Club not long since,
she said: "When a woman has written enough to fill a room, she feels
like burning it instead of preserving it in scrap-books." Probably no
woman of her day and generation has done more or better work than our
"Jenny June." No woman had more diversity of gifts; she was equally at
home in the editorial chair, or the reportorial office; as a speaker
she excelled. In the old days we who knew her best would sometimes
notice a hesitancy of speech that would occasionally cloud a brilliant
idea; but if she hesitated she was never lost, and the idea was worth
waiting for. She was always clear, logical, forceful in expression,
and exhaustive in argument. Thoroughness seems the word to express the
character of Mrs. Croly. She was quick to catch the meaning of the
uttered thoughts of others, keen in analysis, and executive in all
work. Witness the many organizations which she helped originate. Her
long years of rule as president of Sorosis were of inestimable value
to that "mother of women's clubs." Her great "History of the Club
Movement" should be in the hands of every woman in the land.
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