ABSTRACT
The pioneer pages of this Review 2 belong, of historic right, to the precursor; to that illustrious company of men and women of our State and Church who have in our midst been first, not only in point of residence, but of achievement. Eminently appropriate and gratifying, then, must be the purpose to here memorialize one, whose devotion to revealed Truth, and whose contribution to the sum of Educational service, have been distinguishably marked and felicitous. To Eliza Allen Starr, poet, artist, and educator, recognition to a foremost place in the patronage and interpretation of the Beautiful in Christian Art, must in all justice be accorded. Proof of title to this honored distinction is the evidence of half a century of life work here in Chicago, surpassing in achievement, and eloquent in appeal. If, with [Thomas] Carlyle [e.g., 1910], it may with truth be affirmed, that biography is at once the most interesting and inspiring of all forms of literature, what wealth of instruction and edification is to be found in the life story of this splendid woman! To indicate with any degree of justice her beauty of character, to portray even in miniature, her career so filled with surpassing accomplishment and high endeavor, would necessitate the magic of a pen, discerning as Bos well's, spiritual as Alban Butler's. It is not a finished picture, therefore, that we shall dare here attempt, but rather a simple, free hand sketch; confident in the conviction, that it will be the story itself, and not the teller, that shall inspire it.
