Attic Angels

In October 1889, Elva Bryant, eldest daughter of General George E. Bryant, the Madison postmaster who was La Follette's political mentor, hears about local twins of a family so poor they weren't properly clothed. With her sister Mary, Elva starts sewing the necessary garments for these and other unfortunates. Enlisting friends like Ida Johnson and Mary Vilas, they soon move from sewing to collecting family clothes from storage for wide distribution. As the girls come down one day with arms full of clothes, Bryant greets them as the "attic angels." They adopt the name.