HOWE, Julia Ward, American author and philanthropist: b. New York, 27 May 1819; d. Middletown. R. I., 17 Oct. 1910. She was care fully educated and in 1843 she married S. G. Howe (q.v.) of Boston and immediately be came active in philanthropical work. Their home quickly became a centre of the best in tellects of Boston. With her husband she ed ited the Boston Commonwealth, one of the ablest anti-slavery papers, to which she con tributed leading articles, essays, poems, etc. At the same time she also wrote for the New York Tribune and the Anti-Slavery Standard. She also was editor of the Woman's Journal. After the Civil War she was active as writer and speaker in social and philanthropic work, par ticularly in the agitation for woman's suffrage and for prison reform. She was one of the founders and for many years president of the New England Women's Club, the first organ ization of its kind in America; she was also one of the organizers and for a number of years president of the Association for the Ad vancement of Women; she was delegate to the World's Prison Reform Congress in London (1872) and at that time founded the Women's Peace Association, being an ardent believer in international peace•, and was president of the women's branch of the New Orleans Exposi tion (1885). She preached occasionally in 'Uni tarian pulpits and was president of the Boston Authors' Club from its foundation in 1899. Her writings include 'Passion Flowers> (11354) ; (Words for the Hour' (1856) ; 'The World's Own> (1857) ; 'Later Lyrics' (1866) ; 'A Trip to Cuba' (1860) and 'From the Oak to the Olive) (1868), two books of travel; 'The World's Own' (1855), a drama; 'Sex and Edu cation' (1874) • 'Modern Society' (1881) • Polite Society Polite?) (1895) ; 'Life of Mar garet Fuller' (1883) ; 'From Sunset Ridge' (1898) ; and 'Reminiscences> (1899). Her
best-known poem is 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic' (in 'Later Lyrics)), written early in the Civil War, while she was visiting the camps around Washington. It was set to the music of 'John Brown's Body,' and immediately be came popular with the soldiers. As a writer she was best in her lyrical poems, most of which show a strong religious feeling. As a speaker she was successful as much by the strength and clearness of her arguments as by her eloquence. She kept her mental and to a great extent her physical abilities up to within a very short time of her death and throughout the many years of her active life was a strong power for the advancement of women and the improvement of mankind. Consult Ad ams, E. C., and Foster, W. D., 'Heroines of Modern Progress' (New York 1913) ; Bos ton, Mass., City Council, 'Memorial Exercises in Honor of Julia Ward Howe' (Boston 1911); Chapman, J. J. (Memories and Mile stones' (New York 1915) ; Elliott, M. H., 'The Eleventh Hour in the Life of J. W. Howe' (Boston 1911) ; Hall, F. H., ed., 'Julia Ward Howe and the Woman Suffrage Movement, etc.' (Boston 1913) ; id., Story of the Battle Hymn of the Republic' (New York 1916); Higginson, T. W., 'Julia Ward Howe' (in Tarlyle's Laugh and Other Surprises,' p.
285, Boston 1909) ; Richards, L. E., and Elli ott, M. H., 'Julia Ward Howe' (2 vols., Bos ton 1915); Stedman, E. C., 'Julia Ward Howe) (in 'Genius and Other Essays,' p. 254, New York 1911) ; Townsend, H. A., 'Reminiscences of Famous Women' (Buffalo 1916).