Mrs. President, Members of the National Association, and Friends:We are met together this afternoon to pay the tribute of respect and affection to the memory of Mrs. Anne M. Purvis. We have turned aside from the hurrying events of the world's daily life--on the one hand, wars and rumors of war, aggression, conquest, the overmastering love of money and power, and all the evidences of man's inhumanity to man; on the other, the vague and illusory dreams of universal peace, the approach of the millennium, that era of good-will to men that after two thousand years is yet visible only to the eye of faith. We have paused amid these tremendous realities to consider for a moment the mystery of a single human life, its inward growth and the effect of its development on those brought within the sphere of its influence.

It was nearly a year ago, when the earth, as now, was filled with the beauty of early summer, that Mrs. Purvis passed away. Happily for her and for those who loved her, her last illness was not marked by extreme suffering. The terrible agonies that so often rend the hearts of relatives and friends and make death a blessed relief were absent. Here all was peace--only a gradual weakening of the physical powers, the inner light becoming clearer and stronger as cares and responsibilities fell, one by one, away. Apart from the pang of separation, the sense of deep personal loss, there remains only a tender memory, like the delicate fragrance of flowers, evanescent, yet leaving a lasting impression.

Of the many and varied relations sustained by Mrs. Purvis to our complicated modern life--to the family, the church, to society, to works of mercy through other organizations and by other means-the one that naturally occupies our attention today 00075day is her two-fold relation to this institution--to her associates and co-workers and to the inmates, for so many years the object of her solicitude.

More than twenty years of continuous service were given as a member of the National Association; for several years she held the responsible and laborious position of Secretary. She was one of a special committee appointed to urge upon Congress the need of the present building to replace the old frame structure that was a source of constant apprehension on account of danger from fire. She was often appointed by the Executive Board to go before the Committee on Appropriations and plead for the means to sustain the Home; but it was as chairman of the Committee on Admissions and Dismissions that she was most effective, and displayed truly admirable qualities, qualities that would have fitted her for a place of greater distinction in the eyes of the world. To this important and useful work she brought a vigorous intellect, keen insight into character, sound judgment, and thorough conscientiousness. She was indefatigable in her efforts to reach the facts in every application for admission to the Home. With a heart open to every appeal, she was not easily deceived by misrepresentation; ever willing to afford relief, yet desirous to protect the Home against imposition.

At the meetings she was always greeted with a smile of welcome. Her entrance brought the feeling that accompanies a rush of fresh, pure air; there was something stirring, rousing, invigorating, and the opening of her budget filled one with agreeable anticipations. The subject was dull, indeed, that could not be enlivened by Mrs. Purvis' witty comments. Her playful humor could invest even a committee's report with an interest entirely apart from its possible importance. She possessed the power of clear and forcible presentation, cleaving to the core of a matter, reaching the real question at issue. Quick to arrive at her own conclusions and zealous to maintain them, she was ever tolerant of the opinions of others. In debate, while her remarks were frequently trenchant, they were never discourteous; her fairness and good feeling were too apparent ever to arouse resentment. 00086To the difficult duty of finding homes for the children when they had arrived at the prescribed age she gave a full appreciation of the importance of her task, realizing how fateful were the next six years to the helpless objects of public charity. Would there be a gradual struggling toward the light, or would the light of intelligence be entirely obscured by the hard conditions of the life to which they are condemned?

Mrs. Purvis was never satisfied with a mere assurance that a child would be kindly treated, but she sought every possible guarantee that the school life should be continued; that some opportunity for mental growth should be given. She vigorously supported the view, advanced by some other members of the Association, that it was wrong to place them in communities where public sentiment was adverse to them as members of a proscribed race, and she endeavored very earnestly to secure homes in the North and West, where their progress was not, at least, barred by proscriptive laws. Too often the visitor sent to examine into their surroundings brought back a report of a boy or girl on a lonely farm, sitting solitary in the kitchen during the long winter evenings, while the family enjoyed the light and warmth of the sitting-room and the pleasure of companionship. I remember hearing Mrs. Purvis read a letter from a lady in a New England town to whom one of our little girls had been sent. The child had proved worthy and her services were valued. She went to school with the other children and to church with the lady herself, and there her social life ended. The letter suggested that a home in the same neighborhood for another little girl might be sought in order that the two might be company for each other. To some members of the board it seemed a trivial matter; the child was well housed and fed, and it was all that could be expected; but Mrs. Purvis' ready sympathies enabled her to enter with intense realization into the isolation, the terrible loneliness that would oppress the heart of a child under such circumstances. It was this quick sympathy that endeared her so greatly to all the inmates of the Home. I can conceive of nothing more depressing than to be regarded as merely one of a body of dependents, one atom of an indistinguishable 00097human mass; but to Mrs. Purvis each one was an individual, with an individual history. She knew each one by name; she knew his age, how long he had been in the Home, and his personal characteristics. She never forgot them, no matter how long they were away, and rejoiced with sincere rejoicing when reports came of their health and general well-being. She was particular about the fashion of their dress. She was always in favor of increasing their privileges and adding to their happiness. She wanted their taste educated by agreeable and beautiful surroundings, and believed in cultivating their self-respect rather than in severe discipline. She acknowledged their manhood, and felt with earnestness their equal right to live, to grow in mental stature, to aspire. With the intuitive perception of childhood, the little ones recognized her as well-wisher, helper, friend.

I rejoice that the features of this good woman--surely no nobler appellation could be bestowed upon her--are to be ever in their sight. I hope they may be taught to hold in grateful remembrance the name of Mrs. Purvis, the brightest, most vividly interesting, and original personality among all the women who for the last quarter of a century have given service of love and labor to this work for the uplifting of mankind.

00119We have met here today for the purpose of receiving a picture of one who was long identified with the Association having this institution in charge. In participating in this service, it is but natural for us to think of her--of her personality, of her qualities of heart and mind, and of her work. It is not my purpose to make any extended remarks. The understanding was that the address would be made by Mrs. Helen Cook, and that I would add only a word. I am sure we have all been delighted with the beautiful tribute to which we have just listened. With all my heart I say amen to it.

Mrs. Purvis, as we all know, was an exceptional woman. Life to her was real, life was earnest. She was inspired by a noble ambition to be useful in her day and generation--to be helpful to others. George Eliot's noble words, I believe, expressed the deepest yearning of her soul: "O may I join the choir invisibleOf those immortal dead who live againIn minds made better by their presence; liveIn pulses stirred to generosity,In deeds of daring rectitude, in scornOf miserable aims that ends with self,In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars,And with their mild persistence urge men's mindsTo vaster issues."

Nothing could more beautifully express the aim, the purpose of her life. She had many noble qualities. How conscientious she was! Duty to her was the voice of God. It was to her the "inward must," as Lowell expresses it--the great imperative from which she never shrank; and hence she had an inward 001210peace and quiet of soul which come only to those to whom duty is supreme. "Stern law-giver! yet thou dost wearThe Godhead's most benignant grace;Nor know we anything so fairAs in the smile upon thy face.Flowers laugh before thee on their beds,And fragrance in thy footing treads."Well, she knew that this meant. She had seen and felt and had been thrilled again and again by this "benignant grace," by the noble consciousness that she had been true to this inner voice.

She was a courageous woman. There was nothing of the craven, of the coward, in her make-up. She had convictions and she dared to express them. She was never afraid to be on the unpopular side of any question, or to express freely, frankly, what was in her mind.

She was a woman of sterling integrity of character. She could be relied upon; she could be trusted. She never sought to deceive or to mislead any one, or to produce a false impression. Truth lay at the very foundation of her character. Upon truth she rested, and in an atmosphere of truth she lived and moved and had her being.

She had also a very strong sense of justice. She respected the rights of others herself and was always quick to interpose in behalf of those who were wronged. I remember the case of a girl who went West from his Home. News came back that she was being cruelly treated by the woman to whom she had been indentured. At once Mrs. Purvis became interested, wrote the police authorities to have the case investigated, and had the girl sent back. Nothing stirred her more quickly than acts of injustice, especially when committed against those we were weak and defenseless.

She had many noble qualities, but the one, it seems to me that was most characteristic of her was her great sympathetic nature. She had a heart full of love; and in that, perhaps, 001311more than anything else, is to be found the secret of her power. And there is a lesson here for us all. Whatever else we may possess--wealth, culture, learning, great intellectual endowments--if we have not the power which comes from a loving, sympathetic heart, we cannot hope to do much good in this world. Only as love, unselfish love comes in and takes possession of the soul and dominates it can we hope to so take hold of people, to get that power over them that will enable us to be a real blessing to them. You may touch them on the outside, superficially, but you cannot get on the inside, deep down to the inner springs of their being, without it. What the world needs today more than anything else is this element of love. It is the loving sympathetic heart that holds the key of the future in all the relations of life, whether philanthropic or otherwise. That is the lever which you need and which I need, and which we all need in order to lift humanity. In nothing, perhaps, was the Lord Jesus Christ so wonderful as in this very element. He spoke as never man spake. The power which he exhibited over all forms of disease was wonderful, but it is not until we come to the sympathetic side of his nature that the climax in that wonderful life is reached. What a great heart he had! How love seem to fill his whole being. How sensitive he was to every appeal, to every outstretched hand, to every cry for help. How utterly oblivious to self he was in his eagerness to be of service to others. "He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life for others." And this spirit Mrs. Purvis possessed. She was sympathetic, she was kind-hearted. Her sympathies were not only genuine, but they were broad, they took in so much. She was interested in the little children, she was interested in the old people, she was interested in the poor, in the sick, in the unemployed, even the dumb animals excited her interest. You, who have known her, who have been associated with her, who have talked with her, know how great was her interest in the special work of this Association, how her very soul seemed to be wrapped up in the welfare of these children. We never will know in life how much time, and thought, and sympathy, and earnest effort she gave 001412to this work. She was not only interested in these dear children while they were here, but her loving sympathy followed them even away from here, in the new homes where they were sent; and no one knew better than the children how deeply, profoundly interested she was in them. If anything went wrong with them, they always knew where to write; and so she was constantly hearing from one and another. When things went well with them, how it rejoiced her heart, and when things went ill with them, how it saddened her, and how readily she set herself to work to rectify the evil, to right the wrong.

I never think of this Home without thinking of her. I never come to our meetings without thinking of her. It seems so natural for her to be present, so natural to see her face, and to hear the tones of her voice. It seems that she must be somewhere, only waiting to come in, with the same, sweet, pleasant smile upon her face. Longfellow's words come to me: "Lo! in that house of miseryA lady with a lamp I seePass through the glimmering gloom,And flit from room to room."And slow, as in a dream of bliss,The speechless sufferer turns to kissHer shadow as it fallsUpon the darkening walls."As if a door in heaven should beOpened, and then closed suddenly,The vision came and went,The light shone and was spent."

And so the vision of this good Samaritan, this Santa Filomena of our Association and Home, will come and go as long as this work lasts, as long as one of us remains. We can never forget her. She will always be to us "the sweet presence of a good diffused."

A word more, and then I am done: Some day our places in this Association will be vacant, as hers is today. May we do 001513our work so well; may the same noble spirit which animated her, the same earnestness, the same unselfish devotion, so characterize us that the same sense of loss shall be felt by those who remain when we are gone as we feel in regard to her. It is sweet to be missed, especially when it arises from the fact that we have been of service; that we have been a help, a blessing, to others. To be so missed is your privilege, and mine--is the privilege of us all.

Remarks of Dr. PurvisON PRESENTING THE PICTURE OF MRS. PURVIS TO THE HOME.Mrs. President and Friends:If affords me pleasure to comply with your request to present to this institution a picture of Mrs. Purvis. I feel with you that her likeness should be upon these walls. For twenty-seven years she was closely identified with all this Home represents. To make these little unfortunates happy, to help these fatherless and motherless children, to ameliorate their condition, to plant one ray of hope in their little hearts, to prepare them in a measure for the bitterness that is to creep into their lives, so that they might be patient with the wrongs that will be heaped upon them, was her earnest desire. Their struggle to live, to exist, she knew would be great, for there were but few to extend to them a sympathetic hand.

She was a woman of convictions, of courage, the possessor of a superb moral nature. She was not afraid of the truth, nor afraid to do right. Accept this picture of a friend to the orphan and the unfortunate old, of a devoted wife and mother.

In accepting the picture presented by Dr. Purvis, Mrs. Hatch, President of the Association, said:"Dr. Purvis:"In behalf of the Association of which Mrs. Purvis was for so many years a member; of the Executive Committee, with whom she was brought into closer contact; of these children, in whom she took so deep an interest; indeed, of all who are in any way connected with this Home, I acknowledge most gratefully your precious gift, and may this speaking likeness of our dear friend be to each and every one of us an inspiration and encouragement to follow in the path where she has led."

In the history of institutions, as well as in the lives of individuals there is a time when afflictions enter, checking their energies and lessening their strength and usefulness. This is common to all.

Such an affliction has been specially felt by the Committee on Admissions and Dismissions of this Association, for there has passed away during the present year our honored Chairman, Mrs. A.M. Purvis, who was so full of love for the poor dependents of the "National Home;" who worked so indefatigably in its interests; who was so untiring in her effort to relieve the discomforts of all under its care; whose cheerful smile and kindly words for the children, as well as for the old women, brought forth a responsive smile from many a dull face and brightened many a sad heart. She was actuated by principle. That principle was deep love for friendless, unfortunate humanity.

Her example of unselfish devotion we can never forget. Her irreparable loss will long be felt, and her memory will ever be cherished in our hearts.