THOMAS BRACKETT REED was born in Portland, Me., October 18, 1839. He
graduated at Bowdoin College in 1860, and then commenced to study law.
In 1864 he suspended his studies and joined the navy as Acting
Assistant Paymaster, serving until his honorable discharge at the
close of the war. Resuming his legal studies, he was admitted to the
bar and began to practise in his native town. He soon took an active
part in politics, and was a member of the Maine State Legislature from
1868 to 1869. In 1870 he sat in the State Senate. From that year until
1872 he was State Attorney-General, and in 1874-77 he served as
solicitor for the city of Portland. He was sent to Congress in 1876
and has been continuously re-elected since. When the Republican party
came into power in 1888, he was elected Speaker of the House of
Representatives. He is a powerful debater, an energetic politician,
and a leading authority upon parliamentary procedure.
FRANCES ELIZABETH WILLARD was born in Churchville, N.Y., September 28,
1839. She graduated at Northwestern Female College, Evanston, Ill., in
1859. She became Professor of Natural Science there in 1862, and
Principal of Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in 1866. After two years of
travel and study in Europe and the Holy Land, she became Professor of
Esthetics in Northwestern University, and, as Dean of the Women's
College there, developed her system of self-government, now generally
adopted. In 1874 Miss Willard identified herself with the Woman's
Christian Temperance Union. As secretary of the Union she organized
the Home Protection movement, and in 1879 was elected president. She
took a leading part in the establishment of the Prohibition party, and
in 1887 was elected President of the Women's Council of the United
States. She also accepted the leadership of the White Cross movement,
which has been successful in obtaining enactments in many States for
the protection of women. Besides being a director of the Women's
Temperance Publishing House, Miss Willard is chief contributor to "The
Union Signal" (Chicago) and associate editor of "Our Day" (Boston).
Her chief literary works are "Nineteen Beautiful Years," "Woman and
Temperance," "How to Win," "Woman in the Pulpit," and "Glimpses of
Fifty Years."
EDGAR WILSON NYE, who has become famous as a humorist under the pen
name of "Bill Nye," was born in Shirley, Piscataqua County, Maine,
August 25, 1850. His family removed to Wisconsin shortly afterwards,
and the boy was educated at River Falls, in that State. Early in the
seventies he went to Wyoming Territory; he there studied law, and was
admitted to the bar in 1876. While in Wyoming he served in several
public capacities, as postmaster of Laramie and as a member of the
legislature. He had early begun to furnish humorous sketches to the
newspapers, and for some time was connected with the press as
correspondent. He returned to Wisconsin in 1883. In 1886 he was
connected with the New York "World," and since then has been a weekly
contributor to numerous papers. As a lecturer and reader from his own
books Mr. Nye has been very successful. In 1891 he produced a play,
"The Cadi," at a New York theatre. His best-known books are "Bill Nye
and the Boomerang," "The Forty Liars," "Baled Hay," and "Remarks." Mr.
Nye has resided, for some time past, near Asheville, N.C.
GEORGE W. CABLE was born in New Orleans in 1844. He obtained an
ordinary public-school education. His early life was spent as a clerk
in a commercial office, varied by successful contributions to "The New
Orleans Picayune" under the signature of "Drop-Shot." In 1863 he
joined the Confederate Army, and served in the Fourth Regiment
Mississippi Cavalry, until the end of the civil war. His first
literary work to attract general attention was a short story, "Sieur
George," published in the old "Scribner's Monthly." To that periodical
he contributed numerous other sketches of creole life, which were
published in book form in 1879. Other stories and articles followed,
and Mr. Cable, after working up to a leading position in the
mercantile world, from that of an errand boy, devoted himself to
literature as a profession. "The Grandissimes," in 1880, "Madame
Delphine," 1881, "The Creoles of Louisiana" and "Dr. Sevier," 1884,
established him in a high place amongst modern authors. His knowledge
of the South, and his studies among the creoles and negroes, made him
an authority upon the questions relating to the past and future of the
negro and the southern States, and involved him in numerous and heated
discussions. "The Silent South," 1885, and "The Negro Question," 1890,
are the most prominent of his works on this subject. As a lecturer and
reader he is widely known.