Excerpt from Mary Crawford Brown: A Memoir The aim has been to make the Memoir, as far as possible, a self-portraiture, that being the best way to secure perfect fidelity to life. Warm thanks are due to two of Mary's Parisian girl-friends and life long correspondents, Mlle. Helene Wehrlin, of Alsace, and Miss Ella Martin, of Newry, County Down, who had the wisdom to perceive the value of her letters, written to the one mostly, though not invariably, in French, and to the other nearly always in English. By preserving each a sheaf Of her intimate, self-revealing messages, and putting them all at the writer's disposal, they have considerably eased his onerous task. It is hoped that the numerous extracts from her French letters will read smoothly enough in English. Some fragments of her correspondence were also forwarded by Mary's Norwegian school-friend, Emma Thomas, now Mrs. Ramm. And after the Memoir was almost completed, some fifty letters written to her son Oliver during his period of service in Mesopotamia and convalescence in India came into the writer's hands. These are in some ways the most valuable of all. The other data which have been woven into the Memoir have been Obtained in the course of talks with Mary's kinsfolk in Belfast and at Donaghmore, with her comrades in Church and Zenana work, with her missionary friends at home on furlough, with her associates in musical and educational circles, and with young people whose Spirits were touched to finer issues by fellowship with her. Some of her friends, such as Dr. William Park and Dr. George Thompson, Mrs. R. H. Boyd and Miss Helen Waddell, have given their memories and impressions in letters as well as in conversation. In the use of the materials submitted to him the writer has, Of course, had a perfectly free hand, and he alone is responsible for the manner in which everything has been presented. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.