140.
Cairns, C. C. A Book of Noble Women. London and Edinburgh: Jack, [1911]; [1912]; 1913.

TOC: Saint Margaret, Queen of Scotland; Catherine of Siena; Vittoria Colonna; Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre; Lady Rachel Russell; Lady Grisell Baillie; Louisa, Queen of Prussia; Sarah Siddons; Jenny Lind; Louisa Alcott; Catherine Booth; Dorothea Beale.

British Library stamp 20 Oct 11. Acknowledges other sources in Preface (vii-viii). While some subjects are literally noble, Cairns uses “noble” in the sense that Chappell does in collections of "noble women", "noble work", or "noble workers", i.e. called to religious social service.

--Catherine of Siena, d. 1380, canonized 1461: “we cannot judge her by common standards, nor perhaps accept her example as a safe one to follow” (50); a beloved nurse of people during the black plague, a negotiator with Popes who sat “on a throne among princes” (51).

--Lady Russell at the trial: “the sternest hearts there softened for a moment” (125); “We wonder how this easy-humoured king could have resisted Lady Russell pleading on her knees for her husband's life. She left nothing untried” (126). “She gave [Lord Russell] no disturbance at their parting” (127).

--Compares Catherine Booth (of Salvation Army) and Dorothea Beale (pioneer educator): “both endowed with such great mental and spiritual force, looked at life from very different angles. Where the one held the lamp of Knowledge to trace the Presence of God in all he had made, the other saw a world lying in sin and wickedness.” Both sought “to make dead things live again. Their separate spheres met in their fellowship with Mrs. Josephine Butler. . . . What the womanhood of the future will owe to the powers, the devotion, the passion of these great women of the Victorian time can be measured in some degree by the awakening of women in our day.” Closing vision of procession of great women holding torches (367-68).

See also Pop Chart

Search OCLC WorldCat for this title.
Search Google Books for this title.