Miss Ellis

“ No one knowing Miss Ellis could read the touching little story of "Miss Toosey's Mission" without being struck by a resemblance in the characters, though a resemblance with a marked difference. As one said, "I never saw her going up the church aisle Sundays, with her audiphone, her little satchel, her bundle of books and papers, and her hymn-book, without thinking of Miss Toosey." In both lives a seemingly powerless and insignificant personality, through the force of a great yearning to do a bit of God's work in the world, achieved its longing far beyond its fondest dreams. ”

“ She was able to be a very active worker for the cause which lay so near her heart, and was at the same time so perfectly willing to let others believe what they can. I will send all I have of hers and let you select what you desire. There is not even a postal card among them on which there is not some small or large trace of her noble, generous, kindly nature."
A young man in Ohio, writing Miss Ellis about some revival scenes in his town, makes this comment, which is good and true enough to settle the "leaven" idea once for all. ”

“ It was daylight still, and Lady Ellis stood for a minute at the window, open to the evening's loveliness. The sun had set, but some of its golden brightness lingered yet in the sky. Lady Ellis leaned from the window and plucked a rose from a tree within reach. Mademoiselle stood near; Mary Anne sat down on the music stool, her back to the room and her eyes busied with an uninteresting page of music, striking a bar of it now and again.
"Are you fond of flowers, miladi?" asked the simple little Frenchwoman. "I think there's nothing so good hardly in the world." ”

“ Pray, my dear, in what manner did you set out in life? A great deal of one's pity depends upon what people are used to.'
'What most concerns me for poor Miss Ellis,' said Miss Arbe, 'is her having no instrument. I can't think how she can live without one. Why don't you hire a harp, Miss Ellis?'
Ellis quietly answered, that she was not very musically inclined.
'But you must not think how you are inclined,' said Miss Bydel, 'if you are to go out for a companion, as Mrs Howel wants you to do; for I am sure I don't know who you will get to take you, if you do. ”

“ He is a lovely little boy. He looks as if he wanted to know "Miss Ellis;" but I doubt if he does, without his mother to call attention to her. Hope you all passed pleasant holidays at Meadville. I must close to write to Aunt ——, who always looks for a Sunday letter from me. [This was an aged blind aunt.]
Miss Ellis's first Post Office Mission correspondent was a young man in Ravenna, Ohio, Mr. Julius Woodruff. His first letter to her said:
"Thank you for your kindness in sending me the 'Christian Register.' I am much pleased with the paper, and may become a subscriber at no distant day. ”

“ It will be sufficient for you to know that some one on earth feels interested in your life at home, with a kind mother to lead you so well.... I will say good-by now, and hope you will learn to write to me. With love to all of you, very kindly your friend.
Miss Ellis corresponded frequently with a young man in Canada (living in a city where, so far as known, he is the only Unitarian) , beginning in 1882, and loaning him many books. He, too, was in a state of religious doubt and despair, when chance threw the little advertisement in his way. ”

“ Why should not Miss Ellis know how to dress herself as well as any other young lady?'
'Why, indeed,' said Miss Bydel, 'it makes a prodigious change, a young lady's turning out a young lady, instead of a common young woman. I've seen a good many of the Ellis's. ”

“ Howsomever, it am all right now, and jest as soon as I kin git out of this ar' infernal scrape we'll travel to whar we kin build er wigwam and live in peace."
"The pale-face is a great chief, brave and handsome," she replied, looking into his face with bashful confusion, though making no effort to conceal either her great admiration or love.
"Wal, I don't know erbout ther handsome part," he replied with a laugh, "but I do know you have become very dear ter me. And do yer love me so much?"
"He has become the Manitou of her heart."
"That's lovin' most mighty well, Cloud. Give me ernuther kiss. ”

“ Received your postal. Have also received Unitarian papers, and Miss Ellis's memorial, which last I will store among my treasured mementos. How beautiful her life was! Though never having seen her, she will be treasured in my memory as a dear friend. She has sent me almost all the pamphlets, I suppose, that have been written for the purpose of distributing. Having a large family, they have been read and reread, and handed to neighbors and friends. One has no idea how many they will reach, or how much they influence ”

“ Alice was too young fully to understand the peril in which Ben was placed. She had kissed him goodbye when he ran to take his place with the others, and, with a light jest on his lips about her and Linna, he had snatched a kiss from the little Delaware's swarthy cheek.
The mother added a few cheering words to the children, and it was a striking sight when they and a number of others, about their age or under, began playing with all the merriment of children who never dream that the world contains such afflictions as sorrow, woe, and death. ”

“ Until deafness prevented, she always taught in Sunday school. She was a devoted attendant on all church services, and worker in all church causes. The perfection of her handiwork made it in great demand. Knowing now Miss Ellis's possibilities, one almost grudges the Unitarian children, and the innumerable but beloved little nephews and nieces, the years of "Aunt Sallie's" life that went into dainty embroidery and perfect mittens for their wearing. [Pg 13] The church fairs were always liberally aided by her willing hands. ”

“ It was not Ellis alone who felt the contemptuous haughtiness of this speech; the men all dropt their eyes; and Lady Barbara expressively exclaimed, "Miss Ellis can't help looking as beautiful and as elegant as an angel, let her dress how she will!"
All obstacles being now removed for continuing the rehearsal, the willing Lady-artists flocked around Miss Arbe; and songs were sung, and lessons upon the piano forte, or harp, were played ”

“ Smith,—As I have had the pleasure of a little correspondence with dear Miss Ellis, our Society have asked me to express to you our deep sympathy in your loss. She must have been a remarkable woman to have accomplished so much when so feeble. ”

“ There were suggestive depths of tenderness, too, in the curl of her lip, the droop of her long lashes, the glance of her blue eyes,—depths that Ellis had long since divined, though he had never yet explored them. She gave Ellis a friendly nod as she came in, but for the smile with which she greeted Delamere, Ellis would have given all that he possessed,—not a great deal, it is true, but what could a man do more? ”

“ Ellis has been here a number of years; she has had everything her own way, and is not used to young people. She felt, when you came, that it was bringing new care and trouble upon her, and it is not strange that when things go wrong she should sometimes think you in fault. ”

“ He went into business in Leadville, Colorado, and from there wrote Miss Ellis (in 1881) :—
"Sunday is almost entirely ignored in the business portion of the city, very few men closing their places [Pg 84] of business. Every saloon and theatre is open on Sunday, and brass bands fill the air with their inspiring music. I attended the Methodist Episcopal Church Sabbath School last Sunday, and found quite a respectable crowd in attendance. ”

“ And I don't much think Lady Ellis liked my going."
"My dear Clara, you must not take up vague fancies," spoke Mrs. Chester, after a pause. "One would think you were growing jealous, as the boys and girls do. Nothing can be in worse taste for a lady, even when there may be apparent grounds for it. In this case the very thought would be absurd; Lady Ellis is ten years older than your husband."
And so, what with one thing and another, Clara was subdued to passive quietness, and Mr. Lake and Lady Ellis had it all their own way. ”

“ The little band who are engaged in spreading the light of a higher faith, in lifting the load of crude ideas in regard to our relations to God and humanity, may surely feel that though our friend "has joined the choir invisible," yet her work "lives on in lives made better by her presence," still keeping alive the union with us who remain behind,—a help and incentive to continued progress.
No better key-note of Miss Ellis's life can be given than in the words of a poem copied by her into [Pg 198] her diary, January, 1881. ”

“ She has found her way through the same clouds of prejudice and prudery that surround us, and to us of Chicago she has given the great privilege of sharing with her what she called the proudest moment of her life and of listening to what, for the first time in her life, she could freely say. Those looking for cheap sensations will not find them in Mrs. Ellis. Those trying to limit human action by passing laws will receive no help from her words. ”

“ I feel that we women of the South are to be seen at home and known to be understood by our Northern sisters."
The following are some of Miss Ellis's letters to a radical of the radicals, an old gentleman in Boston, one of Theodore Parker's old congregation, who sent much literature out under her direction, and contributed Theodore Parker's "Prayers," and his new volume of sermons, to her loan library. ”

“ As she passed my bed I saw out of the corner of my eye that Ellis was watching feverishly. An inspiration seized me. I stopped her, and in a low voice asked if she had fed her rabbits. Sister isn't allowed to keep rabbits, but she does. As I hoped, she put a finger to her lips, nodded and walked away.
"Poor old man," I murmured vaguely to the ward in general. "A hundred-and-seven and still rising! Poor old Ellis!"
Ellis gave a little moan and collapsed under the bedclothes.
An hour later Burnett went his round. Burnett isn't the doctor, at least not the official one. ”

“ Her intention, when she left school that afternoon before the session closed, was to keep on in the direction of Dunbarton until she met Nick returning.
She turned off at the forks, and did not lessen her gait until she reached the woods. Her rapid walking caused her to feel quite warm, and the cool shade of the woods was refreshing.
She began wandering aimlessly forward, swinging her hat in her hand, singing snatches of school songs, and feeling just as happy as a little girl can feel who is in bounding health, high spirits, and without an accusing conscience. ”

“ Ah, my friend! if you have been wronged, deeply is the wrong repaid! Such a wreck! I could scarcely believe my eyes. Ellis! I read at a single glance her countenance, marred by long suffering, and found in it only the sad evidences of patient endurance. She is changed. I am bold to say that. If she erred, she has repented."
"But not atoned for a wrong that is irreparable," said Ellis in a dogged tone, while his heavy brows contracted.
"Ah! how changed you are, Ellis: once so kind-hearted, so forgiving and forbearing!"
"And what changed me? Answer me that, John Wilkinson! ”

“ Ellis went down-stairs. Better thoughts were in her mind, and she was inwardly resolving to act towards her husband in a different spirit from that just manifested. On entering the nursery, where she had left him, she was not a little disappointed to find that he was not there.
"It isn't possible that he has gone out!" was her instant mental ejaculation; and she passed quickly into the adjoining chamber to see if he were there. It was empty.
For some time Mrs. Ellis stood in deep abstraction of mind; then, as a sigh heaved her bosom, she moved from the chamber and went down-stairs. ”

“ She is quite an enthusiast, and feels that Unitarianism is a great boon and comfort to her now in the midst of her troubles. [The sister had recently lost her husband.] She, like myself, could not conscientiously subscribe to the old Orthodox creeds and requirements, and so remained outside the Church; but now she feels that she may be a Christian without stultifying [Pg 179] her sense of reason. When she returns home, she expects to subscribe for the 'Register.'"
After Miss Ellis's death she wrote:—
"I received the memorial of Miss Ellis. ”

“ There was a little throbbing of the heart, when she reflected that she had several miles to travel, most of which was through the gloomy woods; but there was no hesitation on the part of Nellie, who, but for the sturdy teaching of her parents, would have crouched down beside the log and sobbed in terror until she sank into slumber through sheer exhaustion.
"I have been a bad girl," she said to herself, as she reflected on her thoughtlessness; "and mother will whip me, for I know she ought to; and mother always does what she ought to do." ”

“ Hour after hour wore away; still Rosalind remained at the window. As there was no inclination to sleep, she determined to remain in her position until morning. She knew that it must be far beyond midnight, and at the thought there sprung up a faint hope within her breast. But she was startled by the dismal hoot of an owl. She sprang up, with a beating heart, listening intently and painfully; but no other sound was heard. Trying to smile at her trepidation, she again seated herself and listened; in a moment that cry was repeated, now in an opposite direction from which the first note was heard. ”