The Washington Times -
Sunday Evening Edition, Feb. 15, 1914

• Mrs. Kate Sherwood, Writer and Patriotic Leader, Dead
• Legislator's Wife is Victim of Paralysis
• Son Losses Race From Ohio in Attempt to see Mother Before her Death
• Funeral Tomorrow at Congress Hall Hotel
• "Poetess of Congressional Circle" was Chief of Group who Studied Art and Letters

Mrs. Kate Brownlee Sherwood, seventy-two years of age, wife of Congressman Isaac R. Sherwood of Ohio and for many years prominent thru-out the country as a leader in patriotic affairs, died at her apartments in congress hall hotel this morning at 3:15 o'clock. Death was due to paralysis. She had been ill about a month. At her bedside were General Sherwood, who had remained by his wife's side ever since she had been stricken and Miss Lenore Sherwood, an only daughter.

In a race with death from his home in Ravenna, Ohio, to reach the side of his mother before the end came, James Sherwood, an only son, lost. He arrived five hours after his mother had breathed her last.

In Poor Health

Mrs. Sherwood had not been in good health for several years. she retained all her faculties, however, and was not forced to confinement to her quarters until the attack of paralysis, which caused her death. Ever since she was stricken, her death had been anticipated, those nearest her realizing that her years made her chances for recovery meager.

Brief funeral services will be held at Congress Hall Hotel for Mrs. Sherwood tomorrow at 2 o'clock. These services will be private.

The Rev. Paul R. Hickok and the Rev. Henry N. Couden, chaplain of the house, will officiate. The body will be placed in a vault at Arlington following the services and will be taken to Toledo, the former home of the deceased, later in a week, for internment.

Partly Recovered

Mrs. Sherwood suffered her first stroke of paralysis about Jan. 5, but partly recovered.

She was known as the "Poetess of the Congressional Circle" and was the center of a group of women who devoted themselves to art and letters, rather than to social activities. Mrs. Sherwood was known all over the United States as a writer.

Born in Poland, Ohio, the daughter of Judge James and Mrs. Rebecca Brownlee, she there married Isaac R. Sherwood, then a young officer in the Union army. After the war the Sherwoods moved to Toledo, Ohio, and Mrs. Sherwood was of invaluable assistance in helping her husband to political honors later in life.

Mrs. Sherwood was a contributor to newspapers and magazines for more than 25 years. she was the author of "Camp Fres," "The Flag That Makes Men True," "Dream Of The Ages" and many other contributions. She was honorary president of the Ohio Newspaper Women's Association, and for 10 years was editor of the Toledo Journal. She edited a page in the National Tribune for 20 years and wrote political satires for Charles A. Dana, of the New York Sun. For years Mrs. Sherwood was Washington's correspondent for a newspaper syndicate and also wrote Europeon letters for the American Press Association.

Prominent Socially

Socially, Mrs. Sherwood was prominent, despite her inclination toward writing. She was a national organizer of the Women's Relief Corps of the G.A.R., member of the National Council of Women, the Congressional Club, and the Toledo University Extension. She was a charter member of the New York Sorosis and a member of the National Committee of the Daughter's of the American Revolution, as well as being a prominent suffragette.

"Democractic Salad" was one of the best known writings of Mrs. Sherwood. This salad, she wrote, was composed of "a handful of hospitality, a heartful of good cheer, a headful of common sense; mix with the oil of joy, flavor with faith, hope and charity; serve liberally at the festive board, and keep the door wide open to all comers."

The Homing Heart

(Written by Mrs. Kate Brownlee-Sherwood, of Toledo, after a recent visit in Poland and dedicated to her favorite cousin, Mrs. Isabella Brownlee-Cochran of this city. In childhood days Mrs. Sherwood and Mrs. Cochran were neighbors in the section now known as Struthers.)

The flaring of the furnaces and the fretting of the forge,
The clamor of the fast express a-down the smoky gorge,
The growth of great endeavor pressing on from main to main.
Around the world and back again, a continental chain;
They all may fill the spirit with a ure possessive pride,
But give, O give, the homing heart the rushy river side,
And you and I, barefoot, among the runic rills,
That laughed along the ledges of our dear Ohio hills.

The ambling of the touring car, the rolling rubbert tire,
Are hastening from the haunts of men to meet our dear desire.
Beyond here tethered toilers wear their weary hours away,
In the soot and in the cinders, knowing neither night or day;
But give, O give, the home heart the cottage on the hill,
The Bob White in the morning, at night the Whipper-will,
And you and I, awakening, with childish throbs and thrills,
To see the morning beaming o'er the dear Ohio Hills.

There are gay and glad processions when a day feasting comes,
There is blowing of the bugles, there is rolling of the drums,
There is shimmering of uniforms and chorus strange and loud,
And cheering of the children and huzzaing of the crowd;
But give, O give, the homing heart the friends of long ago,
The tingling of the pulses and the happy cheeks a-glow,
And you and I, uniting in the songs whose echo fills
The shadowy aisles and arches of the dear Ohio Hills.