ed all her life with great joy and
earnestness, rarely, if ever, baffled in her persistent learning
except by ill-health. She went on at a great pace in mathematics for a
young girl; every step seemed easy to her. She took everything
severe that she could get a chance at, in the course or out of
it,--surveying, navigation, mechanics, mathematical astronomy, and
conic sections, as well as the ordinary course in mathematics; the
calculus she had worked through at sixteen under a very able and exact
teacher, and took her diploma from W.H. Wells, a master who allowed
nothing to go slipshod. She was absorbed in studies of this kind, and
took no especial interest in composition or literature beyond what was
required, and what was the natural outcome of a literary atmosphere
and inherited culture; that is, her mind was passively rather than
actively engaged in such directions, until later. At the normal school
she led a class which has had a proud intellectual record as teachers
and workers. She was the easy victor in every contest; with an
inclusive grasp, an incisive analysis, instant generalization, a very
tenacious and ready memory, and unusual talent for every effort of
study, she took and held the first place as a matter of course until
she graduated, when she gave the valedictory address. This valedictory
was a prophetic note in the line of her future expression; for it
gave a graphic illustration of the art of teaching geography, to the
consideration of which she had been led by Miss Crocker's logical,
suggestive, and masterly presentation of the subject in the school
course. Her ability and steadiness of working power, as well as
singleness of aim, attracted the attention of Horace Mann, who was
about forming the nucleus of Antioch College; and he succeeded in
gaining her as one of his promised New England recruits. She had
attended very little to Latin, and went to work at once to prepare for
the classical requirements of a college examination. This she did with
such phenomenal rapidity that in six weeks she had fitted herself
for what was probably equivalent to a Harvard entrance examination
in Latin. She went to Antioch, and taught, as well as studied for a
while, until her health gave way entirely; and she was prostrate for
years with brain and spine disorders. Of course this put an end to her
college career; and on her recovery she opened her little school in
her own house, which she held together until her final