NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES
3 3433 06251867 9
The New York
Public Library
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TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY COPIES
OF
THIS BOOK PRINTED
FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION
ENTITLED
LOUISE E. BETTENS
CONTAIN COPIES OF LETTERS REFERRING TO
THE PRIVATELY PUBLISHED BOOK
ENTITLED
MRS. LOUISE E. BETTENS
'. • . . » j
■ ■
"The Author's Book case in the Woodward Museum and Graduate Room (Woodward High School, Cincinnati, Ohio) has been enriched with a beautiful volume (the book Mrs. Louise E. Bettens) from the pen of Mr. Edward D. Bettens, class of 1868 (Woodward High School). This is the second work of Mr. Bettens' we have, and like the first, is a tribute of love. The first was a tribute to his brother, Thomas S. Bettens, class of 1870 (Woodward High School), who passed away some ten years ago. The one just received is a memorial as to his mother, Mrs. Louise E. Bettens. It was she who by her un- daunted courage and self-sacrifice made it pos- sible for her sons to attend Woodward and later to be graduated from Harvard. They in turn filled her later years with all that wealth could bring, not leaving out devotion and loyalty to her every wish. Indeed her wishes were antici- pated. Woodward, with its pleasant memories, has ever been dear to the household of Mrs. Bettens." (From The Oracle, November, 1917, published by the students of Woodward High School, Cincinnati, Ohio.)
: ,
130 West 87th Street New York, December 7th, 1917.
Miss Eleanor C. O'Connell, Woodward High School, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Dear Miss O'Connell: —
Thank you for The Oracle, and the Woodward Manual. Of course the appreciation in The Oracle, gratifies me. It indicates that the book, Mrs. Louise E. Bettens, may be read by some people.
If my Mother's life teaches anything, it is the joy of doing what is to be done, without repining, regretting, or wishing that something, in the past, might have been different.
To one of her disposition, poverty, work and other alleged handicaps, are not depressing draw- backs, but are conditions of life that may be changed for the better — and that struggle for something better is the salt of life.
Sincerely,
Edward D. Bettens.
PRESENTED
BY
EDWARD DETRAZ BETTENS
AS A COMPANION BOOK OF THE PRIVATELY PUBLISHED BOOK
MRS. LOUISE E. BETTENS
COPIES OF THE BOOK ENTITLED
MRS. LOUISE E. BETTENS
have been deposited in the libraries mentioned in the letters now published. That book is on deposit in the fol- lowing libraries :
The Harry Elkins Widener Library, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The I'ii ii. i.ips Brooks House, Cambridge, Massa- chusetts.
The Public Library of the City of Boston, Massa- chusetts.
The Public Lirbary of New York City, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.
The Grolier Club, New York City, New York.
The Harvard Club of the City of New York.
The Public Library of Cincinnati. Ohio.
Woodward High School, Cincinnati. Ohio.
The Library of Congress, Washington, District of Columbia.
The University of Wisconsin Library, Madison, Wisconsin.
The Leland Stanford Junior University, Stan- ford University, California.
CONTENTS
I
Letters
pace
Henry Adams, Class of 1858, Harvard College. . . 1
Bertha E. Blakely, Librarian of Mount Holyoke
College 2
William A. Neilson, President of Smith College.. 4 Charles W. Eliot, Class of 1858, Harvard College,
President Emeritus Harvard University.... 6; 21
Dr. George C. Williamson 7
Arthur T. Hadley, President Yale University. ... 10
Jacob S. Schurman, President Cornell University 11 John Grier Hibben, President Princeton LTni-
versity 12
Nicholas Murray Butler, President of Columbia
University 13
II The Louise E. Bettens Memorial 15
III
Quasi-autobiographical 23
IV Lake O'Hara 35
V
Letters
page
Mary E. Woolley, President Mount Holyoke Col- lege 41
1 kury C. King, President Oberlin College 42
Azariah S. Root, Librarian Oberlin College.... 43
H. M. MacCraeken, President Vassar College. ... 44 Eliza A. Blaker, President The Teachers College
of Indianapolis 45
Virginia C. Gildersleeve, Dean Barnard College. . 46 Ellen F. Pendleton, President Wellesley College. . 47 Le Baron Russell Briggs, President Radelirre Col- lege 48
Henry Lefavour, President Simmons College.... 49 William Coolidge Lane, Librarian Harvard Col- lege 51
Lois A. Reed, Librarian Bryn Mawr College 52
Charles S. Penhallow, Secretary Class of 1874,
Harvard College 53
Herbert Putnam, Librarian, Library of Congress. 54 Charles M. Merry, Principal Woodward High
School 55
E. Hodgkins 56
VI
Mrs. Louise E. Bettens 57
MRS. LOUISE E. BETTENS
DECEMBER 1907 FROM A PAINTING IN MINIATURE BY
ALYN WILLIAMS
FROM A PHOTOGRAPH OF A PORTRAIT
PAINTED BY
WALTER FLORIAN
i : i . • ' :.k BLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
LOUISE E. BETTENS
NEW YORK NINETEEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN
Beverly Farms, Mass., Tunc 11th, 1917
Dear Bettens:
Thanks for your charming volume (Mrs. Louise E. Bettens) which arrived yesterday and which I have read already with much interest and with a strong wish that all my old scholars might have shown as much appreciation of the education they have received at home and abroad as you have done.
The volume is a model. I wish I could claim ever to have done as good.
Sincerely yours,
Henry Adams
Mr. Edward D. Bettens.
THE LIBRARY
MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE
South Hadley, Massachusetts November 22, 1917.
Mr. Edward D. Bettens,
130 West 87th Street,
New York City.
My dear Mr. Bettens: —
The beautiful memorial volume, Mrs. Louise E. Bettens, which you sent to President Woolley has been put among the treasures in the library. All who have seen it have expressed great appreciation.
Under another cover I am sending you a copy of the Mount Holyoke Nezvs containing a de- scriptive note on this gift.
Very truly yours,
Bertha E. Blakely
Librarian
A volume of rare beauty and interest has been presented to the library, one copy out of an edition of twenty-six printed for private distribu- tion. The aesthetic distinction given to the book by a cochineal Levant binding of Stikeman's, by fine printing on Japan paper, and by reproduc- tions of paintings by Alyn Williams, La Farge, Whistler, Sargent, and Copley, enhances its quality as a personal memorial to Mrs. Louise E. Bettens, whose beautiful and forceful char- acter is here made real to the reader's imagina- tion. This is the same Mrs. Bettens in whose honor a devoted son has provided a foundation at Harvard. The gift will be placed for a time in the exhibition case in the Library of the Masters. (From the Mount Holyoke News, November 21, 1917.)
SMITH COLLEGE
NORTHAMPTON. MASSACHUSETTS
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
Oct. 3, 1917. Mr. Edward D. Bettens. Dear Sir: —
I have received from you the volume entitled "Mrs. Louise E. Bettens'', and wish to send you cordial thanks on behalf of Smith College.
During my long sojourn at Harvard, just con- cluded, I had become familiar with the fountain (memorial of Thomas Simms Bettens) in the Union and the other beautiful and original memorials of your mother and brother. Not until I read the sketch in the volume just re- ceived, however, did I realize the beauty of the character which had inspired such devotion. I will see to it that this book, so rich outwardly and inwardly, is guarded with care, yet made accessible to our young women. T hope to bring it to their attention when I meet the assembled college tomorrow morning. It cannot fail to help fulfil your purpose to bring the example of Louise E. Bettens before these two thousand girls.^
With many thanks, I am,
Very sincerely yours,
W. A. Neilson.*
♦Professor of English in Harvard University until in 1917 he became President of Smith College.
SMITH COLLEGE
RARE GIFT TO THE LI BRARY - Fl RST ART EXHIBITION OPENS OCTOBER 21
Northampton, Oct. 6 (Special) — At the last Smith College chapel exercises President Neil- son took the occasion to announce the presenta- tion to the Browning Room of the library of a new book entitled "Mrs. Louise E. Bettens." In characterizing the book President Neilson said: "It is one of the most valuable that we possess, as it is one of the most exquisite pieces of book- making in respect to its binding and illustrations ; but it is even more valuable than this because of its contents." The story is a tribute written by a son to his mother, who was left, while still young, a widow with three sons to support. As a teacher and newspaper woman she struggled and managed to put these sons through college. Blindness and paralysis overtook her, but she persevered, and became a woman of great cul- ture. Two of the sons died. The third, who did not marry, stayed with her to the end, and has published this volume as a memorial to her devo- tion. There have been published only one hun- dred and fifty copies of this book, which are for private distribution. (From Boston Evening Transcript, October 6th, 1917.)
Cambridge, Mass., 13 October, 1916. Dear Mr. Bettens:
It is an exquisite volume you have prepared about your mother, and I thank you heartily for sending it to me. One interesting fact which the portraits contained in this book bring out is the strong likeness between your mother and her children. It is a grievous reflection, however, that a family in which so much physical beauty was united with such high intelligence and char- acter is coming to an end with you.
In all of the Memorials you have designed of your mother and your brother Thomas, you have shown a fine sense of fitness, and an exquisite taste, in addition to strong family affection. May I hope that your interest in these Memorials will lead to your re-visiting the College Yard, and in other ways to your abandoning your too great seclusion in New York. You could exert a whole- some influence on your classmates and friends if you met them oftener in natural ways.
Your brother's life and your own have been determined largely by your unusual inheritances, and by the education which you received through your mother's sacrifice and labors. You have no children of your own; but you will probably be able by and by to give a like happy determina- tion to the lives of children in other generations, that otherwise might have missed your happy experience. Sincerely yours,
Charles W. Eliot. Edward D. Bettens, Esq.
6
Burgh House, Well Walk, Hempstead, London N. W. England,
November 11th, 1916.
Edward D. Bettens, Esq., 130 West 87th Street, New York City.
My dear Sir: —
Yesterday I received from you a charming little book concerning your late mother, sent to me, I take it, on the recommendation of my old friend Alyn Williams, who is responsible for many of the illustrations in the volume, and whose portrait of yourself, facing page 26, appears to me to be one of his best and most important works. Permit me to express to you my very hearty thanks for this delightful addi- tion to my library. May I say, in the first place, how delighted I am with the general effect of the volume. It is charmingly printed, delight- fully illustrated, and bound in the most sump- tuous fashion. It is quite a joy to peruse and to handle. Furthermore, as a tribute of affec- tion to your mother, who must have been one of the best and noblest of American women, the book is particularly valuable, and is a very grace- ful tribute, if you will allow me to say so, on
7
the part of a son to a mother. I am sure that it must have been a great joy to you to make all the necessary arrangements to the honour both of your mother and of your brother, and to pre- pare for your friends, and especially for those who knew and know you, this charming tribute to those who have passed away, and whose memory is so fragrant to those who survive. I shall value the precious little book very highly, and am extremely grateful to you for sending it to me, and to Alyn Williams for mentioning my name to you in this respect.
I hope that, if ever you are in England, you will allow me the privilege of meeting you, and should you issue any other privately printed book, you will not forget that a copy of it will be warmly welcomed in this house, will be much appreciated, and will be highly valued.
I myself have been the author of some few books, perhaps the enclosed list of them may be of some interest to you.
Yours very truly,
G. C. Williamson.
8
New York, November 30, 1917.
Dr. Arthur T. Hadley,
President of Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
Dear Sir: —
The life and character of Mrs. Louise E. Rettens, sketched in the book (entitled Mrs. Louise E. Bettens) which accompanies this letter, has had, through her son, Thomas Simms Bettens, some influence on some of the graduates of Yale, Columbia, Princeton and Harvard Universities.
The Fountain, and Inscription thereon, photo- graphs of which are in this book, were placed in the Harvard Union, Harvard University, by graduates of these four Universities, in memory of their teacher, Thomas Simms Bettens.
Perhaps this sketch, suggesting the life and character of Mrs. Bettens, may have a good in- fluence on some students at Yale University.
I offer that book, as a gift, to Yale University, and hope it will be reasonably protected from dust, and from indiscriminate handling.
Please let me know that Yale University accepts the book and oblige
Yours truly,
Edward D. Bettens.
YALE UNIVERSITY NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT
President's Office
Woodbridge Hall, 105 Wall Street.
November 22, 1917.
My dear Mr. Bettens: —
Let me acknowledge, with cordial thanks, the receipt of the wonderfully handsome memorial volume of Mrs. Bettens, which I shall at once deliver to the Yale Library.
In accepting it I beg to express my grateful
acknowledgments both of the book itself and of
the influence of the life which it commemorates.
Please accept also my personal thanks for the
charming note with which you have accompanied
it.
Very sincerely,
Arthur T. Hadley.
Mr. Edward D. Bettens,
130 West 87th Street,
New York City.
10
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT CORNELL UNIVERSITY
Ithaca, New York, December 1, 1916.
My dear Sir: —
I received and read yesterday — Thanksgiving Day — the exquisite volume in Memory of your Mother which you were good enough to send me. I may add that I not only read it but re-read portions of it aloud and examined the pictures with the greatest care. The volume interested me to an extraordinary degree.
It is a record of womanly capacity and maternal self-sacrifice, happily rewarded by filial devotion, of which I can not recall a parallel. After the volume has been more closely examined by Mrs. Schurman and my daughters, I intend turning it over to the University Library where it can not fail to prove a source of inspiration to the young men and women of this University into whose hands the book may come in the course of this and future generations.
Thanking you for your very great courtesy in sending me the volume, I remain
Very sincerely yours,
J. G. Schurman.
Edward Detraz Bettens, Esq.
11
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRINCETON. N. J.
November 22, 1917.
PRESIDENT S ROOM
My dear Mr. Bettens
I have received your letter and also a copy of the memorial to Mrs. Louise E. Bettens. I greatly appreciate your thought of Princeton in sending us this beautiful book with its record of so beautiful and courageous a life. I am placing the book, as you desire, in our University , Library and I can assure you that it will receive the care which is its due.
With assurance of my high regard, believe
me,
Faithfully yours,
John Grter Hibben.
To—
Mr. Edward D. Bettens, New York City.
12
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK PRESIDENTS ROOM
December 4th, 1917.
Edward D. Bettens, Esq., 130 West 87th Street, New York City.
Dear Sir: —
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of December 1st and the accom- panying volume, which it will give me very great pleasure to place in the library of the University for permanent preservation.
Very truly yours,
Nicholas Murray Butler.
13
THE LOUISE E. BETTENS MEMORIAL
15
New York, April 10, 1917.
Dear Ware : —
Your letter received. I have always hoped that my Mother's character — one of aspiration under difficulties — might, if known, help and en- courage others when in trouble. How to call at- tention to that character was and is the problem. I am still working at it, and perhaps will continue to do so, as long as I live.
The poet has described her life of Aspiration :
Build thee more stately mansions, O
MY SOUL,
as the swift seasons roll?
Leave thy low vaulted past !
Let each new temple, nobler than the
LAST,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome
more vast, Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's
unresting sea !
For your consideration, and in answer to your letter, I enclose a statement of my Mother's Memorial in Harvard College. I prefer that my name be not mentioned in that statement except where it is unavoidable.
Sincerely,
Edward D. Bettens, Class of 1873, Harvard College.
Mr. Arthur L. Ware,
Secretary Class of 1873, Harvard College.
17
THE LOUISE E. BETTENS MEMORIAL HARVARD COLLEGE
Louise E. Rochat, born January 7, 1827, on a farm near Ghent, Kentucky, married January 31, 1843, in Vevay, Indiana, to Alexander Bet- tens, was the mother of Frank, Rose, Edward Detraz and Thomas Simms Bettens, naming the children in the order of their births.
Mrs. Bettens died March 23, 1914, in New York City, her husband and all of her children except Edward having predeceased her.
The book, Mrs. Louise E. Bettens, limited to 150 copies, printed on Japan paper, bound in Levant, with doublure and silk flyleaf, with illus- trations, was for private distribution only.
There is in Harvard College a foundation for a memorial of Mrs. Bettens. Beauty and Use- fulness have been controlling factors in establish- ing this memorial, and the Fogg Art Museum, the Phillips Brooks House Association and the Widener Library, have united in helping to establish it.
The Fogg Art Museum controls a sum of money, amounting at present to Twenty Thou- sand Dollars, as a principal fund, known as
THE LOUISE E. BETTENS FUND
ESTABLISHED BY HER CHILDREN
The income of this fund is to be used to en- courage and advance Painting by citizens of the United States, including women, as well as men.
The Phillips Brooks House Association has set aside a room in the Phillips Brooks House to be known as The Louise E. Bettens Room.
18
The Phillips Brooks House Association has Twenty-five Hundred Dollars, as a principal fund, to be kept intact and to be known as
THE LOUISE E. BETTENS FUND PHILLIPS BROOKS HOUSE ASSOCIATION
The income of that Fund is to further the ac- tivities of the Phillips Brooks House Association, but is not to be used for the maintenance of Harvard College buildings or for the expenses now met by Harvard College or by the existing Phillips Brooks House Fund.
The Widener Library, in its Treasure Room has Ten Books, to which the book, Mrs. Louise E. Bettens, is to be added, and also has seven miniatures painted by Alyn Williams, all the books and the miniatures contained in one cabinet.
The seven miniatures are as follows:
Rose and her Mother 1848
Mrs. Louise E. Bettens 1864
Frank Bettens 1864
Thomas Simms Bettens, Don and
Kebo 1906
Mrs. Louise E. Bettens 1907
The Reading of the Medea of
Euripides to Mrs. Louise E.
Bettens 1912
Edward Detraz Bettens 1916
Incidental to this Memorial, and helping to make it attractive and instructive, Harvard Col- lege has accepted the following paintings which are now in the following places, to wit :
19
In Room No. 790 of the Widener Library are :
The Head of a Girl, by A. Asti.
A Vestal Virgin, a copy on delft of the Vestal Virgin, by Angelica Kauff- man in the dresden gallery.
In the Louise E. Bettens Room, Phillips Brooks House, are :
Two portraits of Mrs. Bettens and one portrait of Thomas Simms Bettens.
A landscape in oil, by A. H. Wyant.
A landscape, water color, by Eugene Deszagg.
In the Fogg Art Muesum are:
Lake O'Hara, a painting in oil, by John
Singer Sargent. Bridle Path-Tahiti, a water color, by
John La Farge. Sunday Morning Domberg, a water
color. BY James McNeill Whistler. Monmouth before James II, refusing
TO REVEAL THE NAMES OF HIS ACCOM- plices, an unfinished oil painting, by John Singleton Copley.
It is not out of place in connection with this Memorial to mention the Fountain in the 1 far- vard Union, placed there as a memorial of Thomas Simms Bettens, by some of his pupils.
Nor should the Thomas Simms Bettens Fund, established in 1916 by the Harvard Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa Alpha of Massachusetts, be over- looked.
20
Cambridge, Mass., June 5, 1917. Dear Mr. Bettens:
I congratulate you heartily on the means you have used to commemorate your mother at Har- vard University. The Fund bearing her name to be administered by the authorities of the Fogg Art Museum is likely to remain useful for cen- turies. You of course have procured from the President and Fellows of Harvard College a statement accepting the Funds on exact condi- tions of trust.
The Fund for the benefit of the Phillips Brooks House Association will probably be long-lived and always useful.
The Cabinet in the Widener Library is a very appropriate memorial, but lacks of course the en- during usefulness of the two Funds.
The valuable pictures put into the Fogg Art Museum, if suitably marked, will be a good com- memoration so long as the pictures endure; for the Fogg Museum is an admirably secure building as regards fire.
The best memorial of a mother is, however, the work of her children. Your brother Thomas did first-rate work as a teacher, and the influence of that work is carried forward in his pupils. I dare say you have done work of like value. Will it be carried forward like your brother's?
I was interested to notice that you took a stanza from Dr. Holmes's beautiful poem called 'The Chambered Nautilus" to describe your mother's life. He, as you know, was a physician and a Unitarian.
Sincerely yours,
Charles W. Eliot.
Edward D. Bettens, Esq.
21
New York, June 6, 1917.
Dear Clarke:
You and Beaman* will, I am sure, be interested in Dr. Eliot's letter to me dated June 5th inst, a copy of which is enclosed.
The wise and experienced Dr. Eliot says in his letter to me :
"You, of course, have procured from the President and Fellows of Harvard College a statement accepting the funds on the exact conditions of trust."
Have I ?
I have been less interested in those funds (al- though they are of great interest to me and to what I am trying to accomplish) than I have been in the book "Mrs. Louise E. Bettcns", and what its contents suggest. It is particularly what that book suggests that I have had constantly in mind. Anybody who has the spare cash can give money to Harvard College, and buy pictures, and fur- nish rooms, all of which is very interesting. But to suggest a character and a life, omitting many details, is quite another matter. I do not know whether T have succeeded in producing that kind of a book.
Sincerely,
Edward D. Bettens.
Samuel B. Clarke, Esq.
♦William S. Beaman, Harvard Class of 1872.
22
QUASI-AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL
23
Grafton, Massachusetts,
October 27, 1916.
My dear Bettens:
T most sincerely thank yon for sending me a book which, beautiful and exceptional as it is, is not more so than the filial spirit which called it into existence. Tt is in both ways very impres- sive and indeed seems to me to be unique in the full and strict sense.
You have made a record of your Mother and her boys which is going to endure, and I do not see how you could add anything to make it any more perfect.
It is indeed a fine expression of a fine family spirit.
I congratulate you on your success in working out your idea.
\\ ith kindest regards, T am as ever.
Your classmate,
Edward P. Usher,
Class of 1873, Harvard College.
.-v
Edward D. Bettens, Esq.
25
New York, Oct. 14th, 1916.
Dear Bettens:
On returning to my office, after three weeks absence from New York, I find the very re- markable and beautiful book "Mrs. Louise E. Bettens".
It is a precious gift indeed. I doubt if another son ever lived who devoted more loving care and interest in a book memorial of his mother. A short and simple story of her life and her children, it is also a portrayal of your own character and qualities.
From your letters and from our interviews, I have been quite well informed as to the work which yon have done in completing this book and I marvel at the ability which you have shown in the matter.
For it you deserve the blue ribbon.
With many thanks, congratulations and best wishes, I am,
Yours truly,
Wm. S. Beaman.* Edward D. Bettens, Esq. *Class of 1872, Harvard College.
26
61 Brattle St., Cambridge, Oct. 3, 1916.
My dear Bettens :
The beautiful book has arrived. I feel deeply touched by this, not simply because you have sent me this book, as you did the earlier one on your brother, Tom, but because I see now — as I said earlier — the beautiful devotion which your immediate family steadily practiced among your- selves when here together on earth, and which you keep alive now that they have passed on, leaving you alone.
No one alive believes in that sentiment more than myself. It may move me to send you a sonnet.
Cordially,
Thomas Fenton Taylor.* Edward D. Bettens, Esq.
*Class of 1875, Harvard College. ,
27
16 Asit St.,
Cambridge, Mass.,
October 17, 1917. My dear Bettens:
This morning' 1 had your excerpt from Mr. Wilson's address to the Students at Smith Col- lege. It is pleasant reading, but T expected that he would touch, if not enlarge, upon the fine womanliness of the case; the mother never ques- tioning her heavy responsibility; the obstacles in her path in meeting what she knew to be her duty; and her winning out, single handed, till her sons were of age to be her allies, and then her supporters. All of which in case of your imme- diate family arc unquestionably exemplified — and arc matters which our educating young women need to know about, so that they may flourish always among women of culture on earth.
I shall carry with me the volume you gave me, and before my wind up comes, I intend to deposit it in the great library ( Victor Emanuel ) in Rome — as a memento to an American Mother, fit to be ranked with the Roman Mothers in the eternal city.
Cordially
Thomas Fenton Taylor. Mr. Edward 1). Bettens.
28
HOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES
GENEVA. N. Y.
December 17th. 1916.
My dear Bettens:
Your magnificent book came safely to hand yesterday. It is all that a son conld do as a beautiful memorial volume. I was quite as much interested in the means yon have devised to win your mother's (and brother's) memory the de- served gratitude of "those who come after", by foundations in Cambridge. I hope yon have still larger plans, and means to carry them out. which will point the way for the wiser general use of accumulated wealth, to save some such hardships as yon knew.
1 never knew, until now, what a heroic strug- gle, by your mother and by yourselves, carried you, both boys, to and thro' college. I did know, in a general way, that yon were earning- your own expenses by tutoring. Tn fact, more even than poor old Snow,* yon loomed up to me as a steadfast purposeful self-balanced man among us futile wind-swayed boys. Of them all, it seems to me 1 was about the most unripe. I had hardly earned a dollar, had no insight into music, art, social refinements or human character. Uncon-
♦Freeman Snow, Class of 1873, Harvard College.
29
s
sciously, no doubt, you a hundred times gave me a helping steadying hand: but I doubt if I was ready to go to any college, especially a big one, at 16, at all.
T remember perfectly the keen, whimsical, toler- ant comprehension of our childishness, in your big dark eyes and in your bantering half-phrased criticism on our confident arguments.
Your face is not even yet radically altered. I have no doubt you are still restraining youthful folly, pacifying instead of fomenting quarrels and litigation, in general contributing large humorous good sense to a hasty boyish world, which was never so hopelessly, suicidally, mad as today.
My life has been widely different from yours. Against my wish I have drifted thro' a score of wide-sundered "homes''. But in other ways I am deeper anchored than you. I have three children — all teaching, all with Columbia degrees! — five grandchildren, a lot of books, mostly out of print already, — and one or two more I would print if I had, to spend on such luxuries, a tithe the cost of your memorial ! In a thousand directions I have over-expressed myself in literary or scholastic forms, in these swift 43 years, — all which makes me admire the more hopelessly an unified, quiet, fruitful character and career like your own.
— "Fast falls the eventide", but it isn't too late, is it. for a renewal of handclasps and greetings before the dark ? We two are mostly alone again now. (My sons have their own families in
30
Brooklyn and Rochelle, my daughter teaches domestic science in Auburn.) We always have a spare bed at least. Our windows look out on either campus, — snow-covered today. Pack a grip, send a wire, and come up any night. The Lehigh "Black Diamond" is as convenient as possible, or you can get a sleeper on the N. Y. Central, only we are on the Auburn branch.
I think I never had but a single glimpse of your beautiful mother: but you have made her quite unforgettable. Of course, she has full credit for all your life has been, and for all you may accomp- lish to ease other tortured souls, to enrich other cramped lives struggling up to light and happi- ness. You see, I'm trying to resay what Eliot* has said better already : every heroic life is a link in an endless chain — whether you have a grand- son-namesake like me, or not !
Sorry I haven't written of tener !
Believe me always, dear Bettens, admiringly, loyally and affectionately yours,
William C. LAWTON.f
♦Charles W. Eliot.
fClass of 1873, Harvard College ; Professor of Litera- ture, Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
31
New York, September 5, 1917.
Dear Mrs. Warren :
Two young men, one born on a farm in Wis- consin about 1860, the other born on a farm, in Vevay, Indiana, in 1848, went, each of them, to Massachusetts. The latter entered Harvard Col- lege in 1869, with One hundred and thirty dollars as his total capital for a four years' course at Col- lege, with two more to follow in the Law School.
The other young man left Dakota, to which place his father had moved, having two hundred dollars for his support in Boston, in his pursuit of a literary career.
At the end of four years, in June 1873, the Indiana boy had with him, in Cambridge, Massa- chusetts, his mother, and his brother — the latter a Junior at Harvard College.
The Wisconsin boy during his six vears resi- deuce in Boston sent to his Mother a silk dress and to his father, the Memoirs of U. S. Grant — the Wisconsin boy being then a man about twenty-seven years of age.
Yesterday the Indiana boy — now a retired lawyer living at 130 West 87th Street, New York City, received from Stikeman & Co., 26 copies of a book entitled
MRS. LOUISE E. BETTENS
He placed a copy of that book on a table last night, and alongside of it placed an Autobi- ography, published August 1917 by Macmillan & Co. Its title is
A SON OF THE MIDDLE BORDER 32
Mr. William Dean 1 [owells, in a review of that Autobiography in the New York Times of Au- gust 26, 1917, said that he, Mr. Howells, now 80 years old. knew of no Autobiography that was its companion, or its parallel — not even Goldoni's, Alfieri's, Goethe's, Rousseau's, Alme. Roland's, Franklin's or Marmontel's.
The next morning the Indiana boy bought a copy of that Autobiography, and has lived with that Wisconsin boy (Hamlin Garland) on the farm, in the School, in the cars, in Boston.
In his poverty and loneliness a Mrs. Payne of 1 lyde Park, Massachusetts, invited the Wiscon- sin boy to her home, there to give a lecture, and he never forgot it, nor any other kindness, that man or woman, showed him, when he needed it.
About 1882 the Indiana boy (myself) — then no longer a boy — his Mother and Brother, were at the Belmont Plotel, Bar Harbor, Maine, utter strangers in that summer resort.
But a lady in that hotel (yourself) spoke to his mother, and she and you became very good friends.
Does the Indiana boy forget this kindness? Please do not again ask for a bill on account of the drawing of your will.
I think if Augusta read to you "A Son of the Middle Border" by Hamlin Garland, the War and all other troubles would fade from your mind.
Sincerely,
Edward D. Bettens.
Mrs. J. Kearney Warren.
Curtis Hotel, Lenox, Massachusetts,
September 19, 1917.
My very dear Friend :
I think it is worth living to receive such a let- ter as you wrote me. It went straight to my heart. I am a bankrupt in gratitude to you for your kindness to me for so many years, and, with all the many calls upon you, the valuable time you have given to me. Believe me I greatly appreciate all you have done for me, and I wish I could sit by your side and tell you all I would say, which I cannot express on paper.
Your dear Mother was a remarkable character, such a wonderful intellect, and such a warm heart. I loved her and honored her, and it was a privilege to have her for a friend.
I will certainly buy "A Son of the Middle Border" by Hamlin Garland, and have Augusta read it to me, and I hope "all other troubles will fade from my mind," but the book I value exceed- ingly is the one entitled
MRS. LOUISE E. BETTENS
It is so full of interest, and I am so glad to possess
it.
* * * * *
Your affectionate and grateful friend,
Susan L. Warren. Mr. Edward D. Bettens.
34
LAKE O'HARA
A LANDSCAPE PAINTED BY
JOHN SINGER SARGENT
A GIFT TO
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
FROM
THE LOUISE E. BETTENS FUND
35
Grafton, Mass., Jan. 8, 1917. My Dear Bettens:
I congratulate you on your ability to make such a distinguished gift (the landscape Lake O'Hara) to the (Fogg Art) Museum. It is not often that you could gain your object of getting an effective memorial and at the same time add so much to the resources of the Museum. For the picture must have pleased them as much in receiving it as it did you in giving it. I am sure that no one will visit the place without desiring to see the Bettens' gift. Your kind spirit is going to tie your family to Harvard pretty thoroughly, and I am glad you were able to do it, for I can appreciate the pleas- ure it must give you every day you live. Few mothers ever had such a son.
It is a long time since we were together in Stoughton (Harvard University). It is hard for me to realize that it is forty-eight years ago. It ought to gratify you immensely to feel that you are able to do what you have done. Harvard must always recognize you as one of her most loyal sons. You show that next to your own Mother your affection was for your Alma Mater. You have tied the two together so that they can never be separated. I thank you for remember- ing me and allowing me to know what you have done. It is fine.
Your old classmate,
Edward P. Us her, Class of 1873, Harvard College.
Edward D. Bettens.
37
Cambridge, Massachusetts,
December 22nd, 1916.
My Dear Bettens :
The Sargent picture (Lake O'Hara) from your Mother's fund is on exhibition — duly marked — at the Fogg Art Museum. It is a noble transcript from primeval nature, showing sky, earth, rock, verdure, barrenness, water, ice, snow, under all varieties of color, light, shade and level.
No one but a genius could have pictured such varied vastness in so small a compass and given to the spectator the impression of being present at this very vigorous scene.
I congratulate you and your family memorial here, and on that part of it, I congratulate you especially.
I do not doubt that this grand view of wild, calm nature would lend itself accurately to being photographed.
In its way this Lake O'Hara is the bright spot in the Fogg Museum.
Thomas Fenton Taylor,
Class of 1875, Harvard College.
38
LETTERS
39
MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE
SOUTH HADLEY. MASSACHUSETTS
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
November Twenty-second, 1917.
Mr. Edward Detraz Bettens,
130 West Eighty-seventh Street, New York City.
Dear Mr. Bettens:
Miss Blakely, our librarian, brought the beauti- ful book which you gave us to the annual meeting of our Library Committee held this week, and the members were enthusiastic in their admiration. Miss Blakely told me that it is on exhibition in our special exhibition case, where it is under glass and well kept, although every one has a chance to see it.
Believe me, with appreciation of your thought- fulness,
Very sincerely yours,
Mary E. Woolley.
41
OBERLIN COLLEGE
OBERLIN. OHIO
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
November 28, 1917.
Mr. Edward D. Bettens,
130 West Eighty-seventh St., New York, N. Y.
My Dear Sir:
Let me thank you for remembering Oberlin College with the very beautiful copy of the volume entitled "Mrs. Louise E. Bettens", prepared in memory of your mother.
It is an exquisite piece of work, and a most lovely memorial to a devoted mother.
I thank you again for your kindness in making Oberlin College a recipient of one of the twenty- six books distributed in this full edition.
Gratefully and sincerely yours,
Henry C. King.
42
OBERLIN COLLEGE LIBRARY
OBERLIN. OHIO AZARIAH S. ROOT. LIBRARIAN
December 4, 1917.
Edward D. Bettens, 130 West 87th Street,
New York City.
Dear Sir :
This Library has received from President Henry Churchill your gift to the Library, "Mrs. Louise E. Bettens", a memorial volume, New York, 1916. We are very grateful to you for presenting us with a copy of this very limited edi- tion and shall take pleasure in calling to the at- tention of our Faculty and Students this worthy memorial of such a triumphant life. No one saw what your Mother accomplished, surrounded by what this world calls handicaps, without being glad that such a person has lived. You have given her a worthy memorial and I am glad that we have for our Library this record of such honorable achievement.
With many thanks, I am
Sincerely yours,
Azariah S. Root,
Librarian.
43
VASSAR COLLEG E POUGHKEEPSIE. N. Y
November 15, 1917.
PRESIDENT S OFFICE
My dear Mr. Bettexs:
I enclose the usual formal acknowledgment of your volume ".Mrs. Louise E. Bettens", but I can- not refrain from adding a personal word of inter- est, after reading' the volume, in the very unusual memorial which you have succeeded in creating, which testifies to the deep sense of the love and honor upon which the American family is built.
With sincere regards to you I beg to remain,
Faithfully yours.
IT. M. MacCracken.
Mr. Edward Detraz Bettexs, 130 West 87th Street, New York City.
44
THE TEACHERS COLLEGE OF INDIANAPOLIS OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
WILLIAM N. JACKSON MEMORIAL
AND
ARMENIA B. TUTTLE MEMORIAL
December 3, 1917.
Mr. Edward D. Bettens, 130 West 87th Street, New York Citv.
My dear Sir: —
In behalf of the Faculty and students of the Teachers College of Indianapolis, I wish to thank you for the memorial volume entitled "Mrs. Louise E. Bettens". Your thought in presenting this book to the College is appreciated. Such a volume will be an inspiration to our young women who are beginning their life career.
We are fortunate in having the permanent record of a life so beautiful and full of inspiration as was the life of your mother. From the art of the bookmaker, it is a volume of unusual merit. We shall cherish this volume and care for it as 1 think you would wish us to do.
With sincere appreciation, I am,
Yours truly,
Eliza A. Blaker,
President.
45
BARNARD COLLEGE
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
NEW YORK
OFFICE OF THE DEAN
November 7, 1917.
Mr. Edward D. Bettens, 130 West 87th Street.
My dear Mr. Bettens:
Please accept my very hearty and sincere thanks for the beautiful bound volume dealing with the life and character of your mother, Mrs. Louise E. Bettens. I have read it with interest and with deep appreciation of the filial devotion which in- spired your publication. The book will be pre- served in our library. I trust that it may serve to bring before our students ideals of courage, affec- tion and high character, so touchingly exemplified in the life of Airs. Bettens.
Believe me,
Faithfully yours,
Virginia C. Gildersleeve,
Dean.
46
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
WELLESLEY COLLEGE
WELLESLEY. MASSACHUSETTS
November 20, 1917.
Mr. Edward D. Bettens, 130 West 87th Street, New York City.
My dear Mr. Bettens:
I have the honor to acknowledge the very beau- tiful book in memory of your mother, Mrs. Louise Bettens. I shall take pleasure in presenting- this book to the college library. We anticipate open- ing some time during the present year a Book- Lovers Room in memory of the late Librarian of the College, and this is just the sort of book we shall be glad to have in that room, since it will be especially attractive for students to examine in their leisure hours.
I regret that I have been so long in acknowledg- ing this beautiful gift; I took the book to my house to examine, and through inadvertence failed to realize that it had not been acknowledged.
With renewed appreciation of your generosity,
I am
Sincerely yours,
Ellen F. Pendleton.
47
RADCLIFFE COLLEGE
CAMBRIDGE. MASSACHUSETTS
October 8, 1917.
My dear Mr. Bettens:
The book is all that you say it is. My class- mate T. F. Taylor, spoke to me about it last night, and told me that you had heard from President Neilson. The letter from President Eliot is as fine as it is characteristic.
I, myself, will take the book to the Radcliffe Library. Thank you very much.
Sincerely yours,
L. B. R. Briggs.
Edward D. Bettens, Esq.
4*
SIMMONS COLLEGE
BOSTON. MASSACHUSETTS
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
November 1, 1917.
Dear Sir:
I beg to acknowledge the receipt of the copy of the beautiful volume which has been published in memory of Mrs. Louise E. Bettens. I shall take great pleasure in seeing that it is placed in the library and desire to express our grateful appre- ciation of the gift.
Yours truly,
Henry Lefavour.
Mr. Edward D. Bettens, 130 West 87th Street, New York City.
49
The Library (of Simmons College) has re- ceived from Mr. Edward D. Bettens the gift of a copy of the very beautiful book which has been prepared in memory of his mother, Airs. Louise E. Bettens, one of an edition limited to twenty- six copies. It is not only an unusually valuable example of fine printing, attractive illustrations, and beautiful binding, but it contains the record of a life of remarkable character and sweet- ness. (From the Simmons Quarterly, November 1917, published by Simmons College, Boston, Massachusetts.)
50
THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE
have received a copy of the book "Mrs. Louise E. Bettens" for use in the Treasure Room.
A GIFT TO THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY
from Edward D. Bettens, Esq., for which they return grateful acknowledgment.
William Coolidge Lane,
Librarian.
Edward L. Gookin, Registrar.
Harvard College Library,
Cambridge, October 30th, 1916.
Si
November 30th, 1917.
THE LIBRARY OF BRYN MAWR COLLEGE
To Edward D. Bettens, Esquire,
Dear Sir:
T am instructed to express the sincere thanks of the Directors, Faculty, and Students for your wel- come gift of Mrs. Louise E. Bettens — Memorial Volume, and to inform you that it will be placed in the Library.
Faithfully yours,
Lois A. Reed,
Librarian.
Brvn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
52
HARVARD COLLEGE
CLASS OF 1874
803 Sears Building
Boston, May 9, 1917.
OFFICE OF THE CLASS SECRETARY'
Dear Mr. Bettens: —
I received yesterday the beautiful memorial to your mother which I have read and reread with great interest. It is certainly a very lovely tribute to her memory; and I thank you very much for your kindness in sending me the copy.
I shall place this, together with the memorial of my classmate, your brother Tom, in the room of the Class of 1874 at the Harvard Club in
Boston.
Very sincerely,
Chas. S. Peniiallow,
Secretary.
Mr. Edward Detraz Bettens, 1 30 West 87th St. Xew York City.
53
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN
Washington,
December 4, 1917.
My dear Sir: —
There is on my desk this morning your letter of December 1st, and the copy of the volume entitled "Mrs. Louise E. Bettens". Let me hasten to acknowledge them, with appreciation of the inter- est which the book will have and our gratification that the Library has been made the recipient of it.
A formal acknowledgment for the gift will be sent to you under separate cover.
Very truly yours,
Herbert Putnam,
Librarian.
Edward D. Bettens, Esq., 130 West 87th Street, New York City.
54
WOODWARD HIGH SCHOOL
CINCINNATI
CHARLES M MERRY PRINCIPAL
October 4, 1917.
My dear Mr. Bettens :
Mr. Pliny A. Johnston, former principal of Woodward High School, turned over to me the beautiful copy of the book entitled, "Mrs. Louise E. Bettens". It is certainly a marvel from the standpoint of workmanship and book-craft.
I do not know whether you are aware that we have a graduates' room in which we are gradually collecting things pertaining to the early history of Woodward and accounts of people who were connected with the School in the early days.
We appreciate this book very much and we will assure you it will be given excellent care. We thank you not only for the book but for the fact that you remembered us.
Most sincerely yours,
C. M. Merry.
Mr. Edward D. Bettens, 130 West 87th St., New York.
55
New York, September 14th, 1916.
Edward D. Bettens, Esq.,
130 West 87th Street.
Dear Mr. Bettens: —
I must write and tell you how interested I am in the book you sent me to look at. You, with your modesty, have conveyed but a very slight opinion to me of your mother, but your book has shown me what a wonderful mother she was to her sons. There are such mothers, T know, but I do not think there are many sons like you who appreciate the hardships which are so lovingly endured. Tt warms my heart to feel that I know you, and if I may say so, it is your own beautiful simplicity that appeals to me.
I can only add that T feel honored that you should think I can assist you in carrying out your desire, namely, to perpetuate the memory of a really grand woman. Hoping that you will not fail to call on me at any time for any advice I may be able to give you.
Yours very truly,
E. Hodckixs.
56
MRS. LOUISE E. BETTENS
57
On a farm, near Ghent, Kentucky, there was horn, January 7, 1827, Louise E. Rochat, the daughter of Jacob and Nancy Rochat. A reader of books, this father usually had one with him, even when at his work. When this daughter was old enough, she became his companion, and not infrequently, he would unhitch the horses from the plow, or stop whatever work he was doing, and read aloud to his daughter.
The Book of Job, the Psalms of David, the poetry of Moore, Burns and Byron quickened the mind of the girl, and a strong desire for knowl- edge and wisdom early came to this child, from such a father, but, at the same time, the neg- lected farm work soon ended in the loss of the farm. With his family, Jacob Rochat went to Vevay, Indiana, and there on January 31, 1843, Louise E. Rochat, not yet seventeen years of age, married Alexander Bettens. From that mar- riage were born, in Vevay, Frank, Rose, Edward Detraz and Thomas Simms Bettens, naming the children in the order of their births. Rose, born A Fay 10, 1846, died June 28, 1849.
The girl, Louise E. Rochat, and the matron, Airs. Louise E. Bettens, loved nature and ani-
59
91 09 < <*
mals. In Vevay a crow became her friend and the two would go together into the woods, the crow flying off among the trees, but returning to its friend at her call.
At the expiration of about ten years of mar- ried life, Alexander Bettens' health failed. He never regained it, dying August 11, 1870.
That sickness, and financial embarrassment, brought Mrs. Bettens face to face with the prob- lem of supporting and educating her three young sons from her own earnings.
Teaching for a few years, in and about Vevay, gave her but a small and precarious income, and writing for the newspapers, none at all.
About 1857 she and her three sons were in Cincinnati, Ohio, and for about ten years she remained in that city, with them, supporting them with wages, never more than about twelve dollars per week.
Xo friendly bird visited her in her Cincinnati room. Xo books, except school books, were pur- chased by her during those ten years, but her boys entered and passed through the District Schools into the Intermediate Schools, Frank being in Woodward High School when he died March 10, 1864.
The poverty and grief of Frank's mother, the hopes, centered in him, shattered by his death,
60
at the age of twenty, did not interfere with the education of her two remaining sons. They passed through the Intermediate, and Wood- ward High Schools of Cincinnati, and entered Harvard College, and at the age of forty-six, their mother joined them in Cambridge, Massa- chusetts, in June, 1873.
In Appleton Chapel, she heard Edward speak on Hildehrand. and saw him receive, on com- mencement day, in June, 1873, his degree of A. 1). from Harvard College.
She remained in Cambridge, and in June, 1874, Thomas gave her his Harvard College diploma of A. B. received by him that month, and the next year she received from him his Harvard College diploma of xA. M.
From June, 1873, until she died she and Edward had one home.
Thomas was a teacher in Lake Forest Acad- emy, Lake Forest, Illinois, during 1875 and 1876. In 1877 he joined his mother and brother in New York City, where Edward was a lawyer, and there the three lived united in one home until Thomas died July 2, 1907.
In the Harvard College Library (Core HalH Mr. |ohn Kiske gave Mrs. Bettens an alcove and a special table, and talked with her about music and books. In Boston she attended the lectures
61
of the Reverend James Freeman Clarke. She absorbed the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Congenial friends met in her room to read books, and to discuss art, music and literature, and with some especial friends, she attended, in Bos- ton, the concerts of the Symphony Society. So passed about three years of her life in Cam- bridge.
The last thirty-eight years of her life she lived in New York City. She was in Bar Harbor, Maine, for the summer, for about thirty succes- sive years, up to and including the summer of 1911.'
She went to the Grand Opera in New York City and was a constant attendant at the Con- certs given in that city, by Theodore Thomas, Leopold Damrosch, the New York Philharmonic Society and the Oratorio Society. She did not neglect lighter music such as Gilbert and Sulli- van's. She heard Salvini, Booth, Irving, Mod- jeska and Sara Bernhardt; was delighted with the acting at Wallack's and Daly's Theatres and with that at Harrigan & Hart's and Tonv Pas-
's
tor's.
At weekly reunions of a few friends in her home in Xew York City, music, art and litera- ture, were, as in Cambridge, the subject of con- versation.
62
Surrounded by her books as her friends, and by a few men and women, and by her sons, until Thomas died July 2, 1907, and then with Edward, she passed into the evening of life, losing her eyesight in 1909, her optie nerve dying.
But even then she heard re-read the poetry of Byron, Browning, and other poets, and the novels of Dumas. She still went to the New York Philharmonic Concerts, and in the Sum- mers of 1909, 1910 and 1911, at Bar Harbor, she was an almost daily attendant at the Boston Symphony Concerts given at the Swimming Pool. This life continued until the evening of November 10, 1911, when, for the last time, sitting in her library, she listened to one of the glowing descriptions in Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. That night a stroke of paralysis made her helpless, from the effects of which she never recovered, dying March 23, 1914.
In the Treasure Room of the Widener Library, Harvard College, is a quarto volume of inlaid letters and illustrations, entitled Louise E. Bettens, bound in levant by Stikeman & Co., with no star on its back. These letters, written from her heme, during this last sickness, to intimate friends, describe her life of about two years and
6.^
four months in that sick room, and show that music, literature of the highest kind, and con- versation, sustained her and enabled her to for- get her age, and physical infirmities.
The Reading of the Medea of Euripides to her on November 25, 1912, described in that book, is but one of similar readings occurring almost daily during that sickness.
In March, 1864, she lost Frank, her eldest child, and her grief and poverty were then extreme.
But she rose superior to that grief and pov- erty, and in her last sickness she was superior to the infirmities of age and sickness, being sup- ported by the thoughts and visions spread before her by some of the world's great minds.
We may be living today in a materialistic age. but idealism is not dead when a Louise K. Bettens lives. The picture of the Reading of the Medea of Euripides shows that the mind and soul of such an idealist conquers even the grim visage of approaching Heath which ceases to have any terrors for her. Perhaps her life and aspira- tions may have a good influence upon some who see that picture and understand its meaning.
(A
READING THE MEDEA OF EURIPIDES
TO
MRS. LOUISE E. BETTENS
FROM A PAINTING IN MINIATURE BY
ALYN WILLIAMS
FROM A PHOTOGRAPH NOVEMBER 25TH. 1912. BY
ALMAN & CO.
MARIE M. THOMPSON EDWARD DETRAZ BETTENS
65
[iaiisiisibnisitgiisiisiisususngn^tgnsiigi1^ J "
THE ' PUBLIC LIBi .,.aY
ASTOR, LENOX TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
"EL***
*j&i;Vl*DWARD D. BUTTONS.
Edward Detratz Bettens, seventy- one, a well known New York lawyer, died Wednesday at hi* home, 130 West Eighty-seventh Street. Ho was a graduato of Harvard in the class of 187,'J and of the Harvard Law School. He retired from active practice several yearn ago after the death of his mother, to whose memory he dedicated a room at Harvard in the Phillips Brooks House. He was prominent in the art world as a connoisseur and in many articles he urged a policy of direct dealing hetween artists and connois- seurs. His brother, the late Thomas Bettens, was instructor of Greek in the Cutler School, which Theodore Roosevelt and other prominent men at- tended.
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