[MARY P. SHINDLER]
Mrs. Mary Palmer Shindler, poet and novelist, was born at Beaufort, South Carolina, February 15, 1810. She was the daughter of Dr. Benjamin M. Palmer, the celebrated Presbyterian preacher of New Orleans. She was educated in Charleston by the daughter of Dr. David Ramsey, the early historian of South Carolina. Her education was completed in the schools of Connecticut and New Jersey. In 1835 Miss Palmer was married to Charles E. Dana of New York; and in 1848 to Rev. Robert D. Shindler, an Episcopal clergyman. Two years after this marriage they removed to Maryland, and then to Shelbyville, Kentucky, where Dr. Shindler held a professorship in Shelby College. Shelbyville was Mrs. Shindler's home henceforth, save for short sojourns in other states, and in that town she died about 1880. She was the author of The Southern Harp (1840); The Northern Harp (1841); The Parted Family and Other Poems (1842); The Temperance Lyre (1842); Charles Morton, or the Young Patriot (1843); The Young Sailor (1844); Forecastle Tour (1844); and, Letters to Relatives and Friends on the Trinity (1845). Several of Mrs. Shindler's lyrics are well known.
Bibliography. Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography (New York, 1888, v. v); The Writers of South Carolina, by George A. Wauchope (Columbia, South Carolina, 1910).
THE FADED FLOWER
[From The Parted Family and Other Poems (1842)]
I have seen a fragrant flower
All impearled with morning dew;
I have plucked it from the bower,
Where in loveliness it grew.
Oh, 'twas sweet, when gayly vying
With the garden's richest bloom;
But when faded, withered, dying,
Sweeter far its choice perfume.
So the heart, when crushed by sorrow,
Sends its richest streams abroad,
While it learns sweet balm to borrow
From the uplifted hand of God.
Not in its sunny days of gladness
Will the heart be fixed on Heaven;
When 'tis wounded, clothed in sadness,
Oft its richest love is given.
[MARTIN J. SPALDING]
Martin John Spalding, seventh archbishop of Baltimore, was born near Lebanon, Kentucky, May 23, 1810. His forebears were Maryland Catholics who had emigrated to Kentucky. He was graduated from St. Mary's College when but sixteen years of age. Spalding then spent four years at St. Joseph's College, Bardstown, Kentucky, and the same number of years in Rome, at the conclusion of which he is said to have made a seven hours' defense in Latin of 256 theological propositions. This exhibition won him a doctor's diploma, and his ordination as a priest. From 1834 to 1843 Dr. Spalding was president of St. Joseph's College in Bardstown. And from 1843 to 1848 he was in charge of the cathedral at Louisville. In 1848 he was consecrated Bishop of Lengone; and two years later Bishop of Louisville. Bishop Spalding served in this capacity until 1864 when, in the presence of four thousand people, he was installed as the seventh archbishop of Baltimore. This high office he held until his death, which occurred at Baltimore, February 7, 1872. Bishop Spalding was the greatest Roman Catholic reviewer and historian Kentucky has produced. He was one of the editors of the Catholic Magazine, and the author of the excellent Sketches of the Early Catholic Missions in Kentucky (Louisville, 1846); The Life, Times, and Character of the Rt. Rev. B. J. Flaget (Louisville, 1852). He also published Lectures on the General Evidences of Christianity (1844); Review of D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation (Baltimore, 1847); History of the Protestant Reformation (1860); and a posthumous volume, Miscellanea (1885). There is also a uniform five volume edition of his works, which is fortunate, as his books, especially the Sketches, and Flaget, are exceedingly scarce.