156 Rhodora [SEPTEMBER 
On November 23, 1853, Maria Tallant was married in Nantucket 
to Dr. Owen and they went at once to Springfield, Massachusetts. 
Her life here of fifty years or more was one of continued activity. 
For years a Shakespeare Society met at her house and it was her delight 
to read and discuss the works of the great poet and other writers of 
note. During a portion of her life in Springfield, Mrs. Owen was 
actively engaged in teaching and I am glad to give the testimony of 
Miss Caroline Gray Soule of Brookline, Massachusetts, who was one 
of her pupils at that time. She says, “In the ‘early seventies’ Mrs. 
Owen taught botany and French in one private school in Springfield, 
and, two years later, astronomy and physical geography in another. 
She was a most interesting and inspiring teacher especially in botany, 
astronomy, and physical geography, which were to her all alive and 
active, not mere masses of scientific facts to be committed to memory. 
“The growth and habits of a plant, its power of adaptation to envi- 
ronment, &c, were far more to her than the best mounted specimen, 
though she valued the herbarium for its practical uses. 
"She knew how to ask questions, as well as to answer them, and to 
answer her questions satisfactorily to her was training in accuracy of 
observation, exactness of description, and use of English. No slip- 
shod expression ever passed uncriticised, no careless observation or 
presentation of facts was left uncorrected in her class. She made her 
pupils really feel the scientific value of truth.” 
'The Women's Club, founded in 1884, was another organization in 
which she was a prominent and efficient worker, its president, and later 
its honorary president. She writes on November 9, 1893, “From 
November through April our Women's Club takes much of my time; 
anything to be done for that takes precedence of almost everything 
else. Iam president for the tenth year." 
It is, however, of her botanical work that I shall speak especially. 
She was a ready writer and contributed many articles on botanical 
subjects to various papers, while the journal Ruopora occasionally 
received contributions from her pen. The Springfield Botanical Soci- 
ety, founded in 1876, owes its existence to Mrs. Owen and she has 
written a very bright account of its beginnings in the Thirtieth Annual 
Report of the Society, published April 19, 1907. After holding for 
many years the office of president, she retired from that onerous 
position and remained its honorary president till her death. Its 
members can testify to her zeal and efficiency in promoting its 
interests. 
