The Story of a Life Part 18

[17] Now, 1910, he and his good wife are in a most efficient ministry in Pittsburg, Pa. O. A. C.

CHAPTER XV.

LADY PRINc.i.p.aL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI.

During the ten years of Mrs. Carr's connection with the University of Missouri, we find her busy mind occupied by three entirely distinct sets of interests.

In the first place, of course, there was the University work, into which she threw herself with tireless energy and splendid success. The position she occupied was Professor of English, and Dean of the Young Ladies' Department,--a two-fold work, which threw her into contact with both s.e.xes in the cla.s.sroom, and called for the exercise of rapid judgment in the government of the young ladies.

As Lady Princ.i.p.al, she not only preserved order in the study, looked after the health of its occupants, shaped the literary exercises of the various organizations, and gave as much energy to procuring new students as if she were conducting a private school; but she strove to win the confidence of her girls, that she might lead them to higher spiritual planes of life; and we find her making the same religious impress upon the minds of the young men.

We need but refer to two letters written to Mrs. Carr in later years, leaving the reader to judge of the positive results of such a character as that of Mrs. Carr; results too significant and lasting, to excuse a lack of appreciation, or to palliate the breach of unkind criticism. One is written by a distinguished citizen who states that he was on the eve of committing suicide, when he came under Mrs. Carr's influence; and that she, unconscious of his darkened mind, saved him by the clear radiance of her daily life. The other tells of a young man who entered the University with no ambitions and no purposes in life.

"All that I am now," he writes, "I owe to the time spent with you in the cla.s.sroom." He occupies a high government position.

In 1882, Mrs. Carr, writing to Hon. J. S. Rollins, states what she regards as her most important duties at the University: "The subject of my salary was thoroughly discussed last year by your Executive Committee, and it was reported to me by Eld. J. K. Rogers, that my salary of $1,500 should remain unchanged. The avenue to my highest success in my supervisory work (which is indeed, my chief work), is my social intercourse with the young ladies under my charge; and this can be best secured by having a home in which I am free to invite them at any time. My cla.s.sroom work, as Adjunct in the English Department, and as teacher of calisthenics, ent.i.tles me to $1,200, and the cla.s.swork is the least important, and the least embarra.s.sing, of all. My supervisory work demands the most constant and hara.s.sing thought and involves great responsibility."

The following from Mrs. Carr, to the Board of Curators, will show how thoroughly she threw herself into the interests of her young friends: "I hereby testify that the appropriation asked by the Philalethian Society, is needed to complete the furnis.h.i.+ng of their Hall. I need not tell you that the work for girls in our University is yet in its infancy, and needs especially, therefore, your guardians.h.i.+p and helping hand. I have encouraged the young ladies to appeal to you, through President Laws. If you hesitate to grant the pet.i.tion on the grounds of financial pressure, will you please allow $138.60 of my salary to be deferred, until after the next appropriation by our Legislature?"

Mrs. Carr began to lay great stress upon the physical developments of her pupils,--a neglected branch of education in her own case. Her entire work at the University was destined to strengthen those powers of government, already highly developed, for the future scene of her greatest usefulness; and, in after years, we find her views on physical culture, carried out in concrete form. In addressing the young ladies of the University, she said:

"If you will stand for one day at the corner of Was.h.i.+ngton Avenue and 4th Street, St. Louis, or Broadway and Fulton, New York, and watch the pa.s.sing mult.i.tude, you will see scarcely one in ten who is erect, or well-built. The large majority of Americans are born of imperfectly developed parents. After six years' a.s.sociation with the robust women of England and the Continent, the physical degeneracy of American women appeared more marked to me than ever before. In London, the broad feet of robust women make the flags resound in the early morning; in New York, the tiny feet of pale-faced ladies trip along Broadway at stated fas.h.i.+onable hours. An Englishwoman thinks nothing of walking from six to ten miles a day. After climbing and descending the Cheops of Egypt, I was unable for three days to ascend an easy flight of stairs. An Englishwoman who went up the Cheops as I did, rowed up the Nile, the following day, to the Boolak Museum, enjoyed a donkey ride back to Cairo, returned to the hotel, and spent the evening in nursing my aches and pains. Physical tendencies, whether toward beauty or deformity, like gentle dispositions and moral obliquities, are inherited; remember that you are the coming mothers of the nation."

It is not our intention to dwell upon Mrs. Carr's daily life in Columbia. Any young lady desiring to attend the University, is asked to correspond with her. She delivers lectures in the University Chapel; she contributes to the Missouri University Magazine; she corresponds with Miss A. M. Longfellow, daughter of the poet, concerning their work--for Miss Longfellow holds at this time, practically the same position at Harvard, that Mrs. Carr does at Columbia; she advises with Representatives concerning the pa.s.sage of bills at Jefferson City; she is in frequent consultation with Dr. Laws regarding the perplexing problems that are always arising in University life.

In presenting the portrait of Dr. Laws to the young ladies of the Philalethian Society, in 1886, she compares the ladies department with its status ten years before--the year before Dr. Laws became president.

It was natural for her to attribute the secret of the great development to the doctor's labors. Whatever may have caused the wonderful growth, there can be no doubt that much of it was due to Mrs. Carr. She says: "In the catalogue of 1876, all announcements concerning the young ladies are restricted to 33 lines. It records 39 lady students, only four of whom lived outside of Boone County. The catalogue of 1885 records a special service for young ladies; generous provisions for their physical education; a Girls Academic Course, equivalent in honor to any other academic course of the University; a neatly furnished and convenient study, on the first floor, and another in our elegant library room; a handsomely furnished society hall, lighted by electricity; and many other conveniences, and luxuries. We have 73 young ladies now attending the University. They represent 28 counties of Missouri, and four states.

In 1875, no girl took a degree. In 1885, four received academic degrees, four, professional degrees, and one read the Mca.n.a.lly English Prize Essay. On Commencement, 1886, one read the Astronomical Prize Thesis, and another delivered the valedictory of the Normal graduates."

A large and interesting volume could be filled with the lectures of Mrs.

Carr. For biographical purposes, they need be simply referred to, as an indication of one form of her activity. The preparation of such discourses, replete with cla.s.sical and historical ill.u.s.trations, must have consumed many of these late hours s.n.a.t.c.hed from the rightful claims of repose and relaxation. One might suppose that this woman, always frail, always wakeful, liable at any time to fall the victim to headache, would have found the University work with its many-sided life, much too great for her strength. For her physical strength, it was, no doubt; but that untiring mind found leisure, after its thousand details, to turn in another direction. As we have said, she had three separate sets of interests, during the ten years at the University. We are now to consider the second--her connection with the women's missionary work of her church.

We have a threefold purpose in dealing with Mrs. Carr's work for the Christian Woman's Board of Missions. In the first place, it formed a large part in her life; in the second, the work in itself is interesting; and in the third, it proves how erroneous were the circulated reports that Mrs. Carr was opposed to organized missionary work. Concerning these reports we shall speak at another time. At present our difficulty is to select from among the many appeals to Mrs.

Carr to speak at conventions; from reports of her addresses; from accounts of money sent in by her for the missionary magazine--the _Tidings_; and from the various conferences held by her with the members of the board,--lest our narrative be overburdened with a ma.s.s of similar instances. It seems almost incredible that one so absorbed as she in the University work, could have given not only her vacations, but special days during the school year, to the labor of organization, and platform addresses, appeals for money to the missionary cause, and for subscribers to the _Tidings_.

That strangers to the Christian Woman's Board of Missions may understand just what it was, and that its friends may know how much it had accomplished at this time, we present a condensed account of the organization, delivered by Mrs. Carr at the Annual Convention, at Carthage, Mo., in 1885; by this means we are not only enabled to introduce the subject, but to give an adequate conception of Mrs. Carr as a public speaker:

"I want to talk to you directly about our mission work, giving a historical sketch of the Christian Woman's Board of Missions from its incipiency to the present time.

"In July, 1874, Mrs. Cornelia Neville Pearre suggested the desirability of effecting a missionary organization among the ladies of the Christian Church. The sisters were exhorted to consecrate monthly little sums of money from their allowances, or salaries, as individual means to the spread of the Gospel. The idea at once became popular. A little Aid Society in Indianapolis seized upon the thought, and discussed it. At their meeting a stirring letter was read from Mrs. Pearre setting forth the purposes and basis of the proposed society. At the same meeting, a brief article of incorporation was drawn up, to which eight names were signed. A president, secretary and treasurer were elected, and a meeting appointed.

"The women composing the new society were inexperienced in the work. Not one of them had ever lifted her voice in a convention; all of them were wholly unskilled in parliamentary address. They were simply housekeepers, wives and mothers; but their hearts burned to do more for the Master, and they had the rare sense to know that organized effort is the surest and shortest road to success. Not long after, Brother Isaac Errett espoused their cause, and sounded forth the entreaty, 'Help these women!'

"This led to a ma.s.s meeting of Christian women, held in Cincinnati at the same time as the General Convention of the Christian church. About seventy-five composed the meeting, over which Mrs. Pearre presided; in a most earnest and prayerful manner, she presented the purposes and plans; and then and there, the Christian Woman's Board of Missions a.s.sumed an organized form, and entered quietly upon its humble yet glorious career.

"Indianapolis was made headquarters for the general officers. Five States were represented, and a vice president, a secretary and managers, were elected for each. After a full and free discussion it was resolved that Jamaica should be the first object of their care. The unanimous vote for the revival of the Jamaica Mission, which Brother Beardsley had been forced, in sorrow, to abandon, and whose resumption had long been postponed, brought delight to many hearts; though some present had hoped that a field nearer home would be chosen.

"The following December the Executive Committee held its first meeting at Indianapolis, and determined to make an effort to establish Auxiliary Societies in every State and Territory of the Union. The following January $1,500 was in the treasury, and Brother W. H. Williams of Platte City, Missouri, sailed with his wife and child, for Jamaica.

"The day after his arrival in Kingston, though debilitated from the rough voyage, he preached to about thirty, in a dilapidated Chapel. His audiences increased. He established prayer meetings, Sunday-schools, teachers' meetings, and carried the Gospel from house to house. Through his instruction, several native young men were soon prepared to render valuable a.s.sistance. When, in 1879, Brother Williams was forced to resign on account of his wife's ill-health, he was succeeded by Brother Isaac Tomlinson, under whom the work steadily advanced.

"In 1882, Brother W. K. Azbill was appointed. Through his a.s.sociation with the Baptist ministers, he soon ascertained that the differences between their doctrine and his was merely nominal. His proposal that the name 'Christian' be subst.i.tuted for 'Baptist' was joyfully accepted by several of the oldest and most intelligent ministers, who, with their entire congregations, planted themselves upon the Bible, and the Bible alone. A building-fund was established looking toward the permanent establishment of the work in Jamaica.

"We are especially anxious to put our schools upon permanent basis, for the educational work is, after all, the best and most lasting missionary work. It is our earnest prayer that we may see, after a few more patient years, the desire of our heart fulfilled,--the cause of Jamaica, the oldest born of our love, self-supporting, under the exclusive management of native talent.

"Brother and Sister DeLauney have, for several years, been supported by the Foreign Christian Missionary Society, at Paris, France. In the summer of 1879, the Christian Woman's Board of Missions, with hearts stirred by their success in Jamaica, determined to contribute to the French mission. At the Bloomington convention they pledged $500 to the salary of Sister DeLauney's a.s.sistant. Immediately after this, our beloved Brother Timothy Coop of England, without any knowledge of our purpose, presented us with 100. G.o.d put it into our hearts to promise $500, and He put it into Brother Coop's heart to pay it, so that the following year we were able to give $500 more to the French mission.

"In 1881 we enlarged our mission by establis.h.i.+ng a mission among the freedmen of the South. At Jacksonville, Mississippi, Elder R. Faurot is carrying forward the evangelical and educational work, among a large colored population.

"In 1882 the Christian Woman's Board of Missions became a happy stockholder in the India Mission. The Foreign Christian Missionary Society sent Brother Albert Norton and Brother G. L. Wharton and their wives; we sent Miss Mary Greybiel, Miss Ada Boyd, Miss Laura Kinsey and Miss Mary Kingsbury. These offered themselves for that remote corner of the Lord's vineyard, without any stipulated salary. There is a work there which only women can do. In Oriental countries, the home must first be captured for Christ; and in these homes, men cannot give instruction to the hedged-in women.

"Missouri had the honor to suggest the next field to be occupied--the far West. In June, 1883, Brother J. Z. Taylor a.s.sumed control of this department, and in a short time Brother M. L. Streator was established at Helena, and Brother Galen Hood at Deer Lodge. These two congregations were at that time the only ones in Montana. The Western field is immense, and the sooner it is occupied, the less the difficulty of occupation.

"As I spent six years of my life 10,000 miles from home, helping my husband in his labors for the Master, I will not be thought sectional or narrow, though I say that I regard the Western mission as our most important one. Indifferentism, skepticism, Mormonism, and almost the whole catalogue of _isms_ are growing rank in the busy, rus.h.i.+ng, money-loving Western heart; if the children of G.o.d do not eradicate these poisonous weeds, American civilization must inevitably deteriorate, for the character of a country's civilization depends upon the character of its people.

"In the midst of infidelity at home and heathenism abroad, the Christian Woman's Board of Missions is pus.h.i.+ng forward, in a quiet, womanly way, without the sound of trumpets, or the gleam of arms, its blessed work for the Master. We are doing something; but a completer organization will help us to a completer work. The best results can be accomplished only by a systematic plan, a comprehensive grasp and a disposition of forces: We must organize ever new auxiliaries; we must strengthen the weaklings, revive the dying, and, by the power of the living Christ, bring the dead from their graves of idleness. Let us have more and better societies. The gifted Mrs. Browning says:

'The world wails For help, beloved. Let us love so well, Our work shall be the better for our love.

And still our love be sweeter for our work.'

"Daily, we pa.s.s into the likeness of that which we believe. Very soon, Faith hangs out a label, and the whole woman becomes a confession of its truth. If you have faith in G.o.d to save souls, you will certainly be transformed into the perfect likeness of the missionary woman. You may have much to discourage you; it may be better for you, if you do. Those from whom you have the best right to expect sympathy, may be those who will misinterpret the truest purposes of your heart. He who engages in any work worth the doing, must antagonize somebody. But what of that? Is not woman the best burden-bearer? Can you not weep tears of bitterness,--yet press on, in the midst of all discouragements, to the beautiful likeness of the Great Missionary, who left the solemn injunction, 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature?'

"We scatter the seed. But when we are old and feeble, who will gather in the golden sheaves? Where are the future reapers and sowers? They are in the Children's Bands. In them you will find the sure prophecy of the future of the Christian Woman's Board of Missions. Whether that prophesy be radiant with promise, depends upon how we are educating the girls of to-day, to be the women of tomorrow. Some time, our brains will grow dull, our hands helpless. Shall not the daughters receive the torch of truth from the hands of the mothers?

"In conclusion, let it be felt as inevitable that we should often feel tired by the way; that we should hunger for human sympathy; that our best efforts at times prove barren of results, through the indifference of G.o.d's children; that the purest purposes of our hearts be impugned by those we love best; for a public work, however un.o.btrusively performed, and painful criticism, cannot be divorced. It is said that there is a grape which, transplanted from its native soil, loses its taste; but possesses the flavor of the soil, when grown upon the banks of the Rhine. It is only when our lives are planted in the aromatic soil of the love of humanity, that our lives shall be identified by the richness of Christianity; and no human hand, however unkindly strong, shall be able to transplant our affections into an alien soil, or take from our lives their flavor of piety and devotion."

Having now placed before the reader the object and accomplishments of the Christian Woman's Board of Missions, in Mrs. Carr's own words, thus showing her att.i.tude toward it, we come to speak of the third great purpose that influenced her life during the ten years' work at the University.

It was none other than the same central idea of her life which we found developed in the Daughters College days of her girlhood. She realized that in her present position at Columbia, she had reached the highest step in her educational career; the highest, because she was thrown into touch with the greatest number of young lives which it became her privilege to shape toward lofty aims.

Indeed, her entire history shows advance steps. The tentative experiment of her first school at Lancaster was fortunately relinquished for her work among the girls of Australia, with its broadening experiences.

Having acquired that broader view of life that comes with the extended horizon of foreign lands, it would have been unfortunate, had she not returned to America to communicate the fruits of her observations.

Hocker College was, accordingly, an advance upon the Melbourne work, just as Floral Hill, where she was sole authority, hence better able to carry out her original ideas,--was an advance upon Hocker. Her keen foresight, and unalterable determination to sacrifice personal feelings for the development of wider aims, led her to merge Floral Hill into Christian College, thus losing her ident.i.ty in swelling the general good. As we have seen, the promotion from the Christian College to the State University was one of far-reaching importance.

And yet, Mrs. Carr was not content. She had not reached that ideal toward which she had directed her gaze when a mere girl; and, in the elements of her nature, there were traits that refused to be satisfied by anything but the great object in view. Success did not for an hour swerve her aside from her fundamental purpose; to establish a college for girls in which she might develop her original ideas of government and tuition.

Hence, all during the Columbia days, we find her seeking a promising opening. Her eyes were turned toward many fields. Her caution and prudence prevented her from relinquis.h.i.+ng a great responsibility for an uncertain experiment; but her indefatigable mind, while rejecting one expedient after another, never wearied in the quest. Hence it is that during those years, we find her absorbed not only in University work, not only in missionary interests, but always, as well, in the great object of her life.

It was particularly in the latter that her husband proved of invaluable a.s.sistance. Called to preach in many diverse scenes, it was his pleasure, and his care, to look about for a suitable opening where a college for girls might be established; a college whose foundation stone should be the Word of G.o.d, and whose every day's instruction should be permeated with the love and power of its truth.

CHAPTER XVI.