Born: February 14, 1842, Rochester, New York.
Died: December 17, 1905, Washington, DC.
Buried: Warsaw Cemetery, Warsaw, New York.
Gates was a descendent of Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island; daughter of William S. Bishop of Rochester, New York; and wife of Merrill Edwards Gates, Secretary to the U. S. Indian Commissioners and later president of Rutgers and Amherst Colleges (married In 1873)
She was a faculty member of the Leroy Female Seminary.
Mary belonged to the Woman’s Board for Foreign Missions of the Reformed Church in America (Dutch Reformed), and contributed to numerous periodicals, including The Independent, The Atlantic Monthly, The Christian Intelligencer, and The Youth’s Companion.
The East is from the West, how far?
Sundered in space, are no bounds met?
Or ends the East at some bright star,
And to the West are sure metes set?
See! Two strong fire-winged angels leave
The throne of God, from left and right;
East, West, their tireless pinions cleave
A flaming path in endless flight.
They glow and speed when myriad years
Of earth-accounted time have flown;
They whirl by systems, suns, and spheres,
And worlds to ashen grayness grown.
Each spans the fringe of golden spray
Washing creation’s outmost shore.
Beyond, they light the blue-black way,
Flashing and flying evermore.
Yet part they still! Their wings of might
Gleam farther, farther, swiftly fleet.
An outbound course—how infinite!
For each no limit and no mete.
Far, far apart! Soul, hast thou proved,
With joy that sets all fear at rest,
God hath from thee thy sin removed
Far as the East is from the West
?
Mary Cornelia Bishop Gates
Hymns of Nature and Songs of the Spirit, 1908
If you know where to get a good photo of Gates (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),