Mrs. Shaw is twenty-seven inches tall - only a trifle more than two feet. At the mature age of thirty-four she weighed only thirty-two pounds. She sits in a child's rocker and sleeps in a baby's bed, and even at that she is obliged to climb on her chair before she can tumble over the bed's edge. Nimble as she always has been, it would be difficult for Mrs. Shaw to get into an ordinary dining room chair without using a ladder.
There have been other small women in the world, but Mrs. Shaw is the world's smallest mother. She has had three children, one of whom still is living, and she has two grandchildren. Her married life was happy, and at the
Little Minnie Foster was born July 23, 1836 in Steubenville, Ohio. She was one of five children, and all of them were of normal size except Minnie. One of her brothers, James F. Foster, is a Government Agent in Oklahoma, and another, John A. Foster, formerly was a well-known St. Louis contractor, but now has retired to his farm near Moselle, Mo.
Minnie was a small child, though not unusually so. When she was a year old she stopped growing. Her parents took her to the family doctor and afterward consulted other physicians. All the doctors declared that the child was perfectly well. That they were right is proved by the fact that she has lived to be nearly 71, and has better prospects than most women of her age of becoming a centenarian.
Minnie was well, but she stopped growing and she never began again. When she reached school age she went to ____ ___ father, who always made a _______ ____ of her, carrying her to the schoolhouse in his arms. She was spry as a cat and would dearly have loved to walk, but they were afraid somebody would step on her, or that a dog would bite ____, she was so exceedingly small.
______ _____ children in school laughed at Little Minnie at first but they soon learned to love her, and she became the pet of the _____. She was brighter than _______ ________ as her books, and learned everything there was to be learned in the quickest way and with the least difficulty. She became a leader in the games and sports of school, and, notwithstanding her size Minnie was fleet of foot, and even the tallest girls had a hard time ______ her in a race.
At the age of 15 she joined the Methodist church and settled down to the normal country town life of a well-brought-up young girl. She had a strong and sweet voice and was one of the prized singers in the choir.
She was a curiosity, of course, and the world heard of her, and after awhile her family was unable to refuse the tempting offers that came from the showmen.
She joined Barnum's circus and afterward was a member of Tom Thumb's famous collection of little people. She was the smallest member of the troupe. For many years she was before the public in one capacity or another, earning much money, providing for her family, and saving something for her old age.
While little Miss Foster was with the old Cooper & Bailey circus she met her affinity. The man with whom the little woman fell in love was "Doc" Shaw, the famous bearded man. Shaw was a man of almost average height, being five feet five inches. He had a magnificent and beautiful beard, which swept the floor, and also was one of the curiosities of the circus.
Why these two strange people should love one another is one of those mysteries that only Cupid can solve, but the attachment between them was real and lasting. They were married and lived happily together until Shaw's death, many years later. If they traveled, they found engagements together.
Their first child was born in 1865. It was a boy, seemingly sound, but it died in infancy. The second child, a girl, was born in 1869. She was named after her mother and also is a little woman, being barely 3 feet tall. The daughter married E. E. Williamson and now lives with her husband and two children at Richland, Mo. Mrs. Shaw makes her home with this daughter and is devoted to her grandchildren.
Mrs. Shaw's apartments in her daughter's residence resemble nothing so much as a doll's house where little girls play with their doll children. The tiny chairs and tables and beds - the mirror that stands upon the floor, the little footstools, the dresser and chiffonier that stand about as high as a man's knee - all these look like the furniture of a fairy palace or the home of Lilliputian.
Mrs. Shaw is a woman of great spirit. Her ony fear is of animals and dogs and not even her long life in the circus could enable her to conquer her dread of the beasts in the menagerie. Once she was in great danger from a python which escaped from its cage and entered her tent. It blocked up the doorway so she could not escape and seemed about to attack her when her screams brought the keepers to her rescue. Mrs. Shaw says that never before was she so thankful that heaven had given her a strong voice.
On another occasion the famous big elephant, Jumbo, caught up with her little carriage when she was being driven in a parade. She was eating something which the elephant wanted and he curled his proboscis around the tiny coach and lifted it high in the air before he could be controlled. Mrs. Shaw was not seriously injured, but she never again would take a place in the parade near the elephant, not even for the sake of one of those contrasts that so delighted Barnum's heart.
Chicago Tribune, 26 May 1907