38998 rl Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031758125 ANISFA C. BRACKETT 3n iSemortem PUBLISHED By THE ASSOCIATION 6F collegiate alumnae ANNA C. BRACKETT In iWemortam MDCCCXXXVI— MDCCCCXI AN APPRECIATION BY ONE OF HER PUPILS EDITH KENDALL PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGIATE ALUMNAE /V CONTENTS PAGE Anna C. Bracketx: A Memorial Sketch ^ As an Educator and Writer 4 Extracts from Her WritiQgs 7 Anna C. Beackett Fellowship Fund ip Testimonials ^^ ANNA C. BRACKETT— A MEMORIAL SKETCH "Who educates a woman educates a race" are the words with which Miss Brackett opens one of her books. Anna Callander Brackett was born in Boston, May 21, 1836. She was the oldest of the five children of Samuel E. and Caroline S. Brackett and was of old New England ancestry. She attended both public and private schools in Boston, Somerville, and vicinity; among others Mr. Abbott's famous Academy. Later she entered the State Normal School at South Framingham, Massachusetts, and was graduated from there in 1856 at the age of twenty. Miss Brackett always referred to this school in terms of highest appre- ciation and it was, undoubtedly, at this great state institution that she acquired that training of her extraordinarily brilliant mind, which made her so easily recognized as an authority on education in after years. Her first teaching was at East Brookfield, Massachusetts; later she became assistant at the High School at Cambridge, Massachusetts. She was next called to be assistant principal at her Ahna Mater and remained at South Framingham in that position for two years. In i860 she accepted the vice-principalship of the Normal School at Charleston, South Carolina, and had been there only a short time when Fort Sumter was fired upon. Miss Brackett remained calmly at her post, however, until it was not safe to stay longer; in fact, she was almost the last northerner to leave before the blockade was established. So long had she tarried that she was obliged to get north by going west. She journeyed in safety to New Orleans and up the Mississippi to St. Louis where she remained to become, at twenty-five, the first woman principal who ever presided over a high school in America. This was indeed a great honor, and it demonstrated how far in advance Miss Brackett was in matters of education. She is said to have been fifty years ahead of her day and one of the foremost women in education that our country has produced. For nine years Miss Brackett remained in St. Louis, directing the schools, and making new standards for the education of our American girls. In 1870 Miss Brackett heard that there was need in New York of another private school. She came to New York with Miss Ida M. Eliot, who had been associated with her as assistant at St. Louis, and together they established a school at Nos. 9 and 11 West Thirty-ninth Street. Over 200 girls were enrolled, from the most representative families, and for twenty-five years it was one of the leading private schools of New York City. 2 ANNA C. BRACKETT: IN MEMOKIAM In 189s, after forty years of teaching, Miss Brackett retired. She continued the adult classes, however, which she had long held, in such subjects as art, literature, history, philosophy, and the Bible. Miss Brackett was a famous Bible student and teacher. She quoted it continually in all her writings; she frequently, and with apparent uncon- sciousness, used the words and language of the Bible; she seemed to think in Bible terms. As Miss Brackett's health gradually failed she withdrew from active life, spending more than half of each year at her home among the beautiful mountains of Vermont at Stowe. There she kept open house, and espe- cially loved to entertain those who needed rest, whether she knew them or not; often people she did not know personally were invited to spend the entire summer if they needed it. It is of no use to emphasize the date of her death. She herself used to say that the least important facts in the lives of people were when they were born and when they died; it was what they did and what they were that mattered. At the age of seventy-six years she passed on, her last thoughts as her earliest seeming to be to make her life useful to others — she knew that "in Thy service is perfect freedom." Miss Brackett was so wondrously human, so amazingly frank and sympathetic, so surprisingly filled with "understanding" that she was a constant revelation and inspiration. She begins a letter to one of her old pupils: "I am glad to hear from you, though you always provoke me, because you write so good a hand. Why don't you scrawl as I do?" — and, further, "A good siunmer here so far. Servants satisfactory — ^horses also — ^weather ditto — ^lots of rain and grass and clover — ^plenty of water in springs and reservoir — four agreeable women in the house as visitors. I am sorry that Julia is Julia. Could you not have her unbaptised as Pepys used to uninvite his friends to dinner if his servants left ?" The following letter was written to three girls at Vassar who came from her school so well prepared that they entered the Sophomore class: My dear Girls: I write to you together for lack of time. I was very glad to hear from you, as were all the upstairs room. So far you have done well. But don't forget what I said to you so many times that the getting in was very much a matter of luck and chance and of fortune, who favors the brave. Your standing in your class, and the steady everyday work which will determine that, is of far greater con- sequence. I did not care much how well you entered, provided that you only entered, but I do care very much how you maintain yourselves in your class work, day by day, for that is a real test which the examination is not — ^you know what it is to be thorough, though you do not always realize it, I mean in the active sense. Don't work for marks, but to satisfy your own highest ideal of ANNA C. BRACKETT: IN MEMORIAM 3 thoroughness. But be careful, too, that, while you are particularly accurate as to little points, you don't allow yourselves to be narrowed by your attention to little things. See that your power of thought and of concentration grows stronger every week, and then you may be well satisfied. "Make the good cheer of it that God thee sends," but remember that the main thing is work and not fun. And take care of your health in every way, and go to Dr. W. for advice at once if you are sick. You are none of you over- strong. So goodbye. Come to see us when you can. Truly your friend, Anna C. Brackett And again in different vein to another pupil: Nov. 27, 1887 Dear S.: Thank you for the reception card — but you see I am a working woman and can't afford to spend even one afternoon at a reception. I must look out that I feel bright and fresh to teach the next day, you see, and for that I must have fresh air and exercise. If I leave this to send a card Dec. 10, 1 shall forget it, so I had better acknowledge the invitation at once. This also is very unfashion- able. I think just as much of you as if I came. If you remember tell Katy to come and see me either between 11 and 11:45 school days or in the evening, as otherwise she will miss me, or rather / shall miss her. As ever your true friend, Anna C. Brackett And yet again: October 18, '86 Dear I am very glad to hear what a comfort you are to your brother now that he is not well. It is beautiful to feel, that we are of use in the world, because if we are doing the right thing, we are God's helpers and are really doing His work for Him. Did you ever think that because He is a Spirit He has need of human hands to do His work for Him in this world ? I am hoping soon to have you here, but the duty that lies nearest you now is to make more cheerful your brother's home and it is good that you can do it. It ought to make you happy. ANNA C. BRACKETT AS AN EDUCATOR AND WRITER The strongest way to show Miss Brackett's worth as an educator, to establish the title which she has enjoyed of being, in her day, the best woman educator in America, is to let her speak in her own words — to give extracts from the articles which she was continually publishing during all her years of ministry to American girls. The originality of her methods of teaching was what especially sig- nalized them. She had no examinations, no marks of any kind, no reviews, except the daily, never-ending review of going over everything every day that had been learned the day before; no stone was ever laid until she was positive that the one beneath it was solid. When asked one day what she herself would say was the characteristic of her school, she humbly replied that the one thing she had tried to teach was thoroughness. Others have said it was character-building and self-control. There was no credit system in the school, no self-analysis by her pupil^ giving rise to intro- spection, remorse, and kindred evils. There were no rivalries or jealousies. If a girl did not do what the teacher thought she should, she was simply asked to call at Miss Brackett's office after school. Ten or fifteen minutes usually sufficed. The girl came out convinced that she herself was losing what was of priceless value to her, and that Miss Brackett stood there, not to scold or to upbraid, but only to assure her that here was the best friend possible to help her in overcoming her own difficulties. Every girl knew what was expected of her and felt herself humiliated when she fell below the standard. A girl was ashamed not to know her lessons; she did not need to be told, she realized. It was in this school of life that we learned the truth of Carlyle's "The punishment of a man's sin is his realization of it." But what Is to be said of Miss Brackett's theories when one girl recently confessed that she used to be naughty on purpose so she would be sent in to Miss Brackett's office to have her talk to her! Yet while there was no discipUning visible in the school, neither was there visible any lack of it. The school seemed to run itself in perfect rhythm. Apparently no girl ever "hated to go to school." Rather she regarded the day as an interesting "series of events," one after the other, and hard work became a pleasure. The originality and freshness of Miss Brackett's mind was always inspiriting, and there was a pleasant exhilara- tion in the day's work. Miss Brackett was constantly bringing Incidents from her outer life into the schoolroom, always telling the girls something 4 ANNA C. BRACKETT: IN MEMORIAM 5 a little beyond their ken. It has been well said that a "leader is one who leads," and lead she did, keeping just one step ahead of each individual girl, ever luring her on. AH sorts of material were used to keep the pupils interested. Passages from her favorite books, magazines, and newspapers were lavishly poured upon the girls to lead them into the broader interests of a varied life. Girls were asked to ride with her, to visit her, to go with her to her country home in Stowe. All of her life that she could she shared with them, and gave ever freely of herself. The measure was always good, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. Respect, veneration, awe, admiration, devotion, and love were her rewards. With aU Miss Brackett's teaching, she yet found time to write con- tinually — and published several successful books. The secret of her success — her unbounded faith and love for the American girl — stands revealed in the Dedication to her first book — The Education of American Girls, published in 1874: "To the Schoolgirls and College girls of America, because we believe that their ideals are high and that they have strength to make them real, this book is dedicated." At the end of the first essay in this book we find the passage: "Only when we have accomplished such an education as this for our American girls, the best material the world has yet seen, may we safely trust the inter- ests of future generations to their strong, intelligent, and religious guidance." In 1876, feeling the need of a suitable collection of poems for her school, she and Miss Ida M. Eliot, who had long been associated with Miss Brackett, together edited Poetry for Home and School, which is extensively used and has gone into its many thousands. New editions, some hand- somely illustrated, are even yet being published. We quote the words of her Preface, "We have been desirous of impress- ing the children from their earliest school days with the exceptional beauty and richness of their own language, and the ease with which it lends itself in sound and rhythm, to the expression of the most varied emotions and the loftiest aspirations." In 1886 she published the Philosophy of Education, translated from the German of Rosenkrantz. It was the first volume of the "International Educational Series," edited by William T. Harris. In 1892 an article by Miss Brackett appearing in Harper's Magazine had aroused so much interest, and so many letters had been received by both Harper Brothers and Miss Brackett, asking for more of the same material, that the article was republished with additions in book form in New York and London, under the title of Technique of Rest. Even a year after she died, requests came from publishers for another book on the same subject. 6 ANNA C. BRACKETT: IN MEMORIAM In 1893 she published Women and the Higher Education. She contributed educational articles, poems, sketches, and stories innvunerable to magazines and newspapers for a period covering more than twenty-five years, from 1870 to 1898. Among the papers to which she contributed were New England Journal of Education, American Journal of Education, the Boston Transcript, Western School Journal, the Evening Post, the Countersign, the Times, Harper's, Educational Weekly of Chicago, Springfield Republican, Tribune, Commonwealth, the Academy, the Com- mercial, Home Journal, Christian Union, New England Syndicate, Inde- pendent, and the Century. For five years she edited the page in Harper's Bazaar called "The Acting Drama." In this she gave her thoughts on passing subjects, and all in so interesting a manner that one could scarcely lay it down. The charm of her mentality is shown by the very captions of her articles, "The Queemess of It," "Inclusion vs. Exclusion," "The Element of Uncertainty," "Active Nonsense," "The School vs. Insanity," "What's in a Name?" "This and the Other," "Concerning Faith," "Little Economies," "Out of Ghaos," "Creation," "The Ethics of Intellect," "Meat and Drink," "Who Is Responsible?" It seems hardly to have been appreciated that Miss Brackett was a poet, yet she has left about 150 poems, many truly exquisite. EXTRACTS FROM MISS BRACKETT'S WRITINGS "If you are not willing to teach with your might for two hundred dollars a year — ^provided you are willing to accept the positioni— then don't teach at all, for you never will get two thousand under those circumstances. If you do the work at all, do it as far as in you lies without grudging, and without reservation. Be willing "to die for it," if need be, and the Fram- ingham Normal School shall yet be more widely honored than she is today in the influences which she shall send out." "The School has had a hold upon those who have gone out from it, South, North, East and West, which no words can adequately measure. And yet as I seek for some appropriate word to send you today, I can do no better than to try to teach over again the lesson of Earnestness in life and work." "A Woman should begin her work with this thought, 'Of this, my work, I will make a success. I will count everything else secondary to it, nor will I consider any sacrifice too great to make for its sake.' "When every woman of us shall undertake and pursue her work in this spirit, we shall no more be sadly forced to acknowledge that opportunity wants women, more than women opportunities." "I have a genuine and hearty respect for even a bootblack who does his work well. Even the conscientious and thorough hostler has my glad appreciation. But to meet intellectually a good teacher is a pleasure 'whose price is far above rubies.' " "Our girls will not blindly obey what seem to them arbitrary rules, and we can rule them only by winning their conviction. In other words they will rule themselves, and it therefore behooves us to see that they are so educated that they shall do this wisely. They are not continually under the eye of a guardian. They are left to themselves to a degree, which would be deemed in other countries impractical and dangerous. We cannot follow them everjrwhere, and therefore, more than in any other country, must we educate them so that they will follow and rule them- selves. Our girls are more frank in their manners than their Eiiropean sisters. They combine the French verve and force with the Teutonic 7 8 ANNA C. BRACKETT: IN MEMORIAM simplicity and truthfulness. Less accustomed to leading strings, they walk more firmly on their own feet, and breathing in the universal spirit of free inquiry they are less in danger of becoming unreasonable and capri- cious. Such is the material, physical and mental, which we have to fashion into womanhood by means of education." THE RELATION OF SCHOOL AND HOME "The proper function of any school is to train character, not to produce cleverness, and all its studies are important only as means by which this end can be attained. This determines their comparative value, and con- sequently the relative time to be devoted to them. It is because schools have more and more realized this truth that within the last thirty years mythology, for instance, has been dropped as a separate study, and that history, language, and literature have come to occupy so much time. The foremost studies are no longer those which convey the greatest nimiber of facts, but those that have the greatest educative power. Teachers are learning that what they first, last, and always are to keep steadily before their attention is the mind of the pupil, and the effects produced on that mind by the facts or reasoning presented, not the facts themselves. What the child is and is becoming — that is the question today with the foremost teachers, not how much he knows. What the child carries away with him when he leaves school is not the knowledge he has acquired and has been examined on, but the trend of character which he has taken upon himself. It has been of little value to us to remember since 1870 the botmdaries of the German principalities which we learned. Our study of the two differ- ent kinds of electricity would not be much recommendation if we wished to assist Edison. Our laborious work at derivations and the rules of Latin grammar would stand us in little stead in a modern examination. Time has reversed many of the verdicts of history which once we thought fixed. Our whole theory of natural science has been changed — all that seems to us now of little use. But the lessons of justice or of injustice which we saw every day, the image of the beautiful sternness of truth or of the crin- ging and wavering falsehood which filled the atmosphere — those we remem- ber still. Those are the things which penetrated us, which laid their hands upon our innermost characters, which we bore away with us, and which have 'immutably survived.' "Every school is working either for cleverness or for character, and which of the two it is struggling for must necessarily determine all its demands on the pupils, whether of recitation or discipline. If we could know which one of these any school was working toward, we could be qmte sure as to nearly all its ways of conducting its routine and maintaining ANNA C. BRACKETT: IN MEMORIAM 9 order, for all questions of school policy must be determined by the test question: 'Are you working for character or for cleverness?' The answer to this question will penetrate every smallest detail of the school- room, and leave on the mind of every child in it an impression which cannot be measured. It will determine the conduct of every recitation, demanding accuracy, exactness, and clearness, or allowing inaccuracy, accepting half-truths, and leaving confused impressions. For truth is one, whether in the intellectual or the moral world. An intellectual falsehood or half-truth is as bad in its effects on the character of him who utters it as a moral falsehood. The child who says, when pressed for a clear answer to a question, 'I don't know what you want me to say,' or, when his example lacks one correct figure in the answer, asks, 'Shall I count it wrong?' betrays to the real teacher the fact that somewhere, either in some other school or at home, he has not been in the clear atmosphere of simple truth. "Either at school or at home; for it is not to be forgotten that probably more than half of his time is spent under the influences of home, and that it was from under those influences that he first entered the school. It is the province of the home first to civilize the child and to prepare him for the life of the school. If that be not done, the school is no place for him. But if the first six years of his life have so shaped and fashioned him that the school can receive him with benefit to him and with safety to itself the fact still remains that, unless the home and the school work harmoniously, there will be much loss of force and great uncertainty as to results. Under the guiding hand of a wise principal, all the teachers of a school ought to and may be brought to work in such harmony that almost no force is wasted, and that no child can resist the steady, combined pressure in the direction of order and truth. But with regard to the home and the school, there can be no such unification of directive force nor can their methods be similar. The home calls for more liberty of hours, more elasticity of all its arrangements, more protective agency over the child, more afiectionate forgiving of violation of duty, more consideration for individuals. The school is the first step of the child into the anteroom of citizenship. He finds himself held to duty, made responsible for the results of his own actions, dealt with according to his deserts. He is forced to compare himself with his fellows of his own age, and he learns punctuality, regularity, and obe- dience to law in a way in which the home cannot impress them upon him. His individual needs are of no more importance than those of another, and his requests are granted if they are right for all, and not from the personal affection of the teacher. As George Herbert quaintly exclaims — 'Lord, with what care hast thou begirt us around! Parents first season us; then schoolmasters Deliver us to laws.' lo ANNA C. BRACKETT: IN MEMORIAM The school and the home cannot resemble each other in methods. All the more necessary is it, then, for the sake of the child, for whose sake they both exist, that they should stand upon the same principles. It was not without the deepest moral significance that the mediaeval church named as the seven deadly sins, not murder, theft, and lying, and other deeds, but — I follow Dante's terminology — ^pride, envy, anger, sloth, avarice or prodigality, gluttony and lust, teaching thus the lesson, not often taken to heart, that it is what we are, not what we do, that determines our char- acter. Not until both school and home shall bend their efforts to pre- venting or destroying these mental states in the children can we look for harmonious characters as their joint product. The fault is often enough in our American schools, but it is quite as often in our American homes. The school should not bear all the blame, for without the co-operation of the home most of its best efforts are neutralized." "I send you twenty pieces of advice, which I made out for two girls just beginning their teaching in a country town. They may be of value to others. They are made by a practical teacher for young teachers, and, if followed, would save many troublesome days and much weariness. 1. Let nothing prevent you from thoroughly preparing every lesson — no matter how simple — that you are to give the next day. Never go into the school- room without knowing exactly, even to details, what you are to do. 2. No matter what happens, be sure you keep your temper. 3. Don't omit to visit all the families who send children to your school. Make a friendly call. Don't wait for them and show yourself really interested in them and their children. 4. If any trouble occurs with any child, or there is danger of any, best go and see the parents and get their co-operation. 5. Don't be in a hurry about punishing, if necessary. Waiting to think it over never does any harm. 6. Be sure everything about your dress, desk, and schoolroom is always in perfect order. 7. Try to make the room attractive, so that the children will find it pleasant. 8. Remember always that it is the best interest of the children and school — ^not your own that you are to work for. 9. Be sure that you carry out exactly all the directions you give. Think well before you give them; but then carry them out. 10. You must be entirely and wholly and always just. If not, you will not command respect — and not to have that means failure. 11. Be very careful in your dealings with other teachers m the town. Never give them occasion to think that you set yourself above them. Be always pleasant and friendly — ^you can learn from them. If you are working for the schools, there can be no jealousy — make them welcome in your rooms. Seek to know them. You can both give and get help, if you work in the right spirit. ANNA C. BRACKETT: IN MEMORIAM ii 12. Dress perfectly — simply. 13. For arithmetic classes. Do all the examples yourself at home before the time; then you will know what you are about and can tell where the error is. Keep ahead of your class. 14. Talk over all your dif&culties together. 15. Don't take any part in any village gossip. Don't allow yourself to talk about any one in the village, unless you have something good to say. 16. Try to make the children polite in school. 17. Try the plan of having a school housekeeper for each day. Try to get the children to feel interested themselves in keeping everything neat and in order. 18. Don't be afraid to say "Don't know" if you don't. 19. If you have made a false statement about anything in a lesson — don't be afraid to acknowledge it. 20. Correct all errors in English speaking that you notice." "Whenever we find real and conscientious-artistic work, there we find also these two characteristics of the artist toward it; a chivalrous devotion, born of a deep reverence, and a humility which ever demands servitude as the price of freedom." "'The object of civilization is not the improvement of the individual; it is the lifting of the State. In comparison with the safety of a nation — the embodiment of the ideas of a people, the life of one man, the lives of ten thousand men are no value. We recognize this truth in the time of war, though in seasons of peace we are not always ready to utter it." "Politeness does not consist in any outside mannerisms, nor is it simply kindness. It consists, as a wiser than I has said, in treating every person as if she were what she might be instead of what she actually is." "To learn how to utilize opposition is the key to success. We do it in mechanics over and over again. We drop the keystone into our arch and thereby force even the power of gravitation, which threatened to pull it down, to sustain it. The principle is a divine one, and expressed by the Hebrew well, when he says that God makes even the wrath of man to praise Him." "We shall begin to perceive truth in any line only when we take for our guide the word Inclusion, instead of Exclusion, when we learn to build our platform so large and so solid that we can push it under the feet of all our opponents, no matter how widely separated from us they may be." "We do not need women who, being pure, are only pure and nothing else. There is a higher purity born of knowledge than can ever spring from 12 ANNA C. BRACKETT: IN MEMORIAM ignorance; nor are such women able in any sense, even in their households, to cope with the problems of our American life in this age. The great prob- lem is not how to keep knowledge of the world and of men away from our girls; it is how to give them more of it, so that they shall not be blind but seeing. And our belief is that out of only such practical knowledge can come the women we need — strong, yet tender, more tender because of their strength and more womanly because of their wisdom." "In no other country than America are there such continual demands made upon the people for independent decisions. What with State, county, and town elections, a citizen has no sooner decided what to do in one emergency, than he is called upon to pass his judgment on another. He is not left in peace. Questions are pressing for settlement, some settle- ment they must have, and from the people of whom he is one." "When some one opposes us, we set ourselves against him, forgetting that we are thereby shutting ourselves in by an additional barrier. For every opponent is a limitation, and the man who continually makes enemies finds himself in isolation through his process of exclusion. He puts the world outside of him, and then complains that he is alone." "The woman of good character is she who, while she acts spontaneously, acts in all things consistently, the parts of whose life grow together, as it were, into one organic unity. We know what to expect of her. In her friendship we confide, on her love we safely rely, by her judgment, pro- vided she has been intellectually educated, we regulate our action in times of difficulty and distress. 'The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, and her children rise up and call her blessed,' and when she passes through the gate of death, her country should mourn, for it can ill-a£Eord to miss her." SELECTED POEMS Spring Ah! my beautiful violets, Stirring under the sod, Feeling, in all your being, The breath of the spirit of God Thrilling your delicate pulses, Warming your life-blood anew — Struggle up into the Spring-light, I'm watching and waiting for you. ANNA C. BRACKETT: IN MEMORIAM 13 Stretch up your white arms toward me, Climb and never despair; Come! the blue sky is above you, Sunlight and soft warm air. Shake off the sleep from your eyelids, Work in the darkness awhile, Trust in the light that's above you. Win your way up to its smile. Ah! do you know how the May-flowers Down on the shore of the lake, Are whispering, one to another. All in the silence, "Awake!" Blushing from imder the pine-leaves Soon they wUl greet you anew, — But still, oh — ^my beautiful violets, I'll be watching and longing for you. Madison Square (For the Evening Post, March 26, 1877) Oh trees all a-throb and a-quiver With the stirring pulse of the Spring, Your tops so rUisty against the blue With the buds where the green not yet looks through, I know the beauty the days will bring. But your cloudy tops are a wonderful thing! Like the first faint streak of the dawning Which teUs that the day is nigh; Like the first dear kiss of the maiden. So absolute, though so shy; Like the joy divine of the mother Before her child she sees — So faint, so dear, and so blessed Are your misty tops, O trees! I can feel the delicate pulses That stir in each restless fold Of leaflets and bunches of blossoms — The life that never grows old; Yet wait, ah wait, though they woo you — The sun, the rain drops, the breeze: Break not too soon into verdure, O misty, beautiful trees! 14 ANNA C. BRACKETT: IN MEMORIAM My Spring (For the Liberal Christian) I know where a living spring is hidden, Down deep below; When I list I hear its waves unbidden In perpetual flow. Round it greenest mosses lie and linger, Cool shadows sweep; Never comes the prying sunlight's finger Startling their sleep. Bluest violets purpling all the edges Sweetest and best. There it bubbles up from rocky ledges. Never at rest. And the restless music of its singing Forces a way. Out of life eternal pulsing, springing Ever to day. Very Simple (For the Commonwealth) How did I know that she loved me ? I opened the door. And sunlight flashed her o'er and o'er: Sudden it broke. Before I spoke. From forehead, and eyes, and trembling lips. From even the delicate finger-tips That she laid in my hand so free. How did I know that I loved her ? I opened the door, And music throbbed through me o'er and o'er Sudden it woke, Before I spoke. In head, and heart and bewildered brain, So sweet, so sweet, it was almost pain, As I gave my hand to her. ANNA C. BRACKETT: IN MEMORIAM 15 The Astor Libkary One blessed place midmost the city's roar, That saves the light, but bars the din of day, Its noise and discord dying soft away — Rote of a wUd sea on a distant shore; Where all the mighty toiling souls of yore Have left for us their harvest — toil-won peace. Perpetual benediction, and increase Of sight and faith, secure for evermore. A royal heart was his, who, faring down The slope of years, towards a far-off land, Left to his city for a glorious crown This great remembrance, fashioned by his hand, And daily blessing like God's sunlight free, For those he knew not and could never see. Benedicite "All Green Things on the earth, bless ye the Lord!" So sang the choir while ice-cased branches beat The frosty window-panes, and at our feet The frozen, tortured sod but mocked the word. And seemed to cry like some poor soul in pain "Lord, suffering and endurance fill my days; The growing green things will their Maker praise — The happy green things, growing in warm rain!" "So God lacks praise whUe aU the fields are white!" I said, then smiled, remembering southward far. How pampas-grass swayed green in summer light. Nay, God hears always from this swinging star, Decani and Cantoris, South and North Each answering other, praises pouring forth. The Protest of the Trees Along the low-built western wall there runs a cry of fear From aU the border of the Park we caimot choose but hear; From myriads of stirring boughs the hurrying northern breeze Bears down through aU the city's length the protest of the trees. High Poplar, Chestnut, Pine, and Oak, the Locust drooping, Spring white, The Alder, with its tassels green, swung now for our delight; Black-budded Ashes, Willows all in amber and in gray; The Apple trees, to spread their pink in coming days of May. i6 ANNA C. BRACKETT: IN MEMORIAM Gray Beach, and Maple blushing red, and Elms uplifting high Their sheaf of sweeping plumage against the sweet Spring sky. The quaint old Sycamore and Birch set white against the blue, Oh, men that hold the city's pride, they speak and plead with you. "Up to our topmost twigs to-day the sap is running strong; The blackbird and the robin here are choosing homes for song; Our buds are swelling mightily to shape our leafy crown — We haste to bring you beauty, and you will cut us down! "We draw our curving lines of green against the angles hard; Over your children's happy play we keep our watch and ward; Beneath our restful shade dies out the city's endless din; We break the stretch of human toil and let God's glory in. "WiU ye for trampling iron-shod feet our refreshing beauty spoil! Oh, homes of ease and luxury! Oh, homes of patient toil, — For once forget all else, and let the city's voice, as one Send up to Albany the word: 'This thing shall not be done.' " Wellesley College to Sherborn Prison (For the Boston Transcript) One day last Spring every woman at Sherborn found by her plate at the tea-table, a bouquet of wild-flowers sent by the students at Wellesley. Oh, never known, or aU too early lost The simple, sweet vmconsciousness of sin — On treacherous waves of want and sorrow tossed, No helping hand without, no strength within! Out of the nameless terror in our souls With which we see, but fail to understand. We who know not yet how Life's current rolls We stretch to you a loving grasping hand. Lift up your heads, O sisters! Take new heart! On pathless deeps our God can find some way. You shall not faint within the shade apart. Look up! Behold, we send you here to-day These glad blue violets, dripping with the dew Alike on just and unjust that is shed; All these sweet wUd-flowers we have sought for you. Take them from our strong love. Be comforted! ANNA C. BRACKETT: IN MEMORIAM 17 We are but girls. Our way lies all untrod; Life seems to you so false, to us so true — We are not wise — but our God is your God — You shall not think we stand apart from you. All we would speak, yet know not how to say. Let these blue blossoms carry as they go; Perchance their loveliness may find the way We blindly seek in tears, but do not know. Within To fail in finding gifts, and still to give, To count all trouble ease, all loss as gain To learn in dying as to self, to live — This dost thou do, and seek thy joy in pain ? Rejoice that not unworthy thou art found For love to touch thee with his hand divine; Put off thy shoes, thou art on holy ground; Thou standest on the threshold of his shrine. But canst thou wait in patience, make no sign. And where in power thou faU'st — oh, not in will- See sore need served by other hands than thine, And other hands the dear desires fulfil. Hear others gain the thanks that thou wouldst win Yet be all joy ? Then hast thou entered in. Sunset All beautiful things come out of the East — The blushing bride of the Sun, The Dawn, that fades from his eager sight Ere a single kiss is won. All beautiful things come out of the East — The flashing king of the day. Smiting the ranks of the shadow-giants That tremble and flee away. All beautiful things come out of the East — Dear to the weary sight, The sleep-bearing, dewy and odorous queen The thrice-beloved Night. i8 ANNA C. BRACKETT: IN MEMORIAM All beautiful things come out of the East — The silver-silent Moon, That sails up o'er the horizon's rim To her cool and perfect noon. All beautiful things come out of the East — The multitudinous stars, Cleaving the waves of the cloud-foamed sky With their fiery lines of cars. AU beautiful things must go to the West — The Dawn, to Twilight changed. And the weary Sun, that finds her there When all the heavens are ranged. AU beautiful things must go to the West — There vanishes Night so fair; A harbor sure, the sailing moon And the stars drop anchor there. No wonder the West shines bright, shines bright In a jubilant sky When it knows all the beautiful things of the world. Must come to its arms when they die. THE ANNA C. BRACKETT FELLOWSHIP FUND In April 1910, a cherished hope that had long lain in the heart of one of Miss Brackett's pupils came to fruition. This pupil went to see Miss Brackett, and urged that some way of honoring her might be permitted to the pupils of her school, some of whom had attended more than twenty-five years before. Miss Brackett's real greatness lay in her unfathomable humility. It took very great contriving to persuade her to agree to any plan of honoring her. "No! no speeches, no meetings, no entertainments!" Finally, when the Fellowship Plan was unfolded to her, she had the sweet smile of a child as she queried, "But what have I done that the girls should want to honor me ? " Then the innocent subterfuge had to be resorted to that it was not herself that we wished to honor but her work, and being beguiled, she con- sented. It became a real pleasure to her, and she looked forward eagerly to meeting each year the winner of the Fellowship, and telling her what she hoped for her. The plan was to raise a Testimonial Fund, the interest of which should be used to educate a girl along the lines that had been so successful in Miss Brackett's school. The following notice was sent to all her former pupils: The friends and former pupils of Miss Anna C. Brackett are requested to meet at the residence of Mrs. Frederick S. Lee, to consider a plan for raising a Fund in honor of Miss Brackett. This Fund is to be raised in recognition of her invaluable service, her self- sacrificing devotion to principle and her uplifting influence on the lives of her pupils. The twofold object of the Testimonial is to give Miss Brackett pleasure in her later years, and to commemorate what she has achieved. Miss Edith Kendall, Chairman, Miss Katharine Lambert, Vice Chairman, Mrs. Alice Foote MacDougall, Secretary, Miss Elizabeth Billings, Treasurer. Student Committee Mrs. George Agassiz (Mabel Simp- Miss Helen Brice kins) Miss Edith Bryce Mrs. Robert Bacon (Martha Mrs. Chas. Bxirlingham (Loxhse Cowdin) Lawrence) Mrs. Wm. H. Baldwin, Jr. (Ruth Mrs. Eustace Conway (Maud Allis) Bowles) Mrs. Carroll Dunham (Margaret Dr. E. D. Barringer (Emily Dun- Dows) ning) Mrs. Harrington (Ida Schwedler) 19 20 ANNA C. BRACKETT: IN MEMORIAM Mrs. Christian A. Herter (Susan Dows) Mrs. E. N. Herzog (Cora Bam- berger) Miss Louise Holmquist Mrs. Walter Jennings (Jennie Brown) Mrs. Fred Kamerer (Ida Knapp) Mrs. Otto C. T. Kiliani (Lillian Taylor) Mrs. Henry Kunhardt (Mabel Farnham") Mrs. C. Grant LaFarge (Flor. Lockwood) Mrs. Sam'l W. Lambert (Eliz. Willets) Mrs. Wilpred Lewis (Emily Sar- gent) Mrs. Fred. S. Lee (Laura Billings) Mrs. Gilbert Livingstone (L. Wheeler) Miss Carlotta Russell Lowell Mrs. C. W. Lowrey (Charlotte A. Rice) Mrs. Geo. R. Mosle (Katharine Kundardt) Miss Ruth Putnam Mrs. D. W. Richards (Sally Lam- bert) Mrs. Gustav Seeligmann (Marie Iclelheimer) Miss Katharine Sewall Miss Elsie Tiemann Mrs. Bayard Thayer (Ruth Simp- kins) Miss Louise von Bernuth Honorary Committee Protessor Felix Adler Mr. Henry M. Alden Miss May S. Bennett Mr. Samuel Bowles President Jeffrey R. Brackett Miss Eleanor P. Clarke Rev. Robert Collyer Miss Ida M. Eliot Miss Eugenia Geisenheimer Mrs. Richard M. Hoe Rev. Theodore Mrs. Frederick G. Ireland Mrs. Julia J. Irvine Mrs. Brayton Ives Miss Ellen E. Learned Mr. George A. Plimpton President Clark Seelye Miss Cora Small Miss Caroline Soule Mr. Everett P. Wheeler Miss Alice Williams C. Williams Meetings were later held at the residences of Mrs. Christian A. Herter and of Mrs. Frederick S. Lee. The foundation of a Fellowship in the Association of Collegiate Alumnae to be called The Anna C. Brackett Fellowship was proposed and decided upon. This fellowship, the income of $8,700 given by pupils and friends of Miss Brackett, is to be awarded by the Fellowship Committee of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae and is to be available for study in Europe or America. A candidate must fulfil the conditions prescribed by the Committee on Fellowships of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae. In general, preference is to be given to candidates who are teachers or who contemplate becoming teachers. ANNA C. BRACKETT: IN MEMORIAM 21 At the thirtieth annual meeting of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae held in New York, October, 191 1, it was voted: That the Association accept this Trust Fund for a Fellowship in memory of Anna C. Brackett, and are grateful for the opportunity of perpetuating the name of Miss Brackett in connection with the higher education of women; That the thanks of the Association be extended to the members of the Com- mittee who represent the raisers of the Fund, and that notice of the Fellowship be given to the press: That the members of the Committee be invited to attend any further meet- ings of our session in New York. In December, 1911, notice was received from the Chairman of the Committee Investing Trust Funds that the Association was ready to receive the gift. Thereupon the money in the hands of the Treasurer, consisting of the original contributions and accrued interest and amounting to the sum of $8,720, was turned over to the Bursar of the Association of Collegiate Alimmae. Justice, however, would not be done this subject, unless the feeling for Miss Brackett in the hearts of her "girls" could be shown, the faithful effort year by year and day by day, through long lives, to live up to her precepts. It would have pleased her if she could have known, and have had it told to her in words. How better can this be recorded than in the very letters of the girls, one after another, as they poured in bringing subscriptions: girls in varied positions in life, for the most part wealthy as the world counts riches, but wealthier far in their inheritance from this great teacher; some, wives of ambassadors to European courts, some possessing their millions, some teaching, some in professions, some bringing up children and even grand- children, some in business, some self-supporting, some living very plainly, but one and all trying to lead earnest, simple, thorough, painstaking, and conscientious lives, blessed by the inspiration of their training by this wonderful woman ? She loved simple virtues; she taught true values. To live in hearts we left behind is not to die. TESTIMONIALS FROM HER GIRLS AND FRIENDS "It is a privilege to help in any Testimonial to Miss Brackett. I feel a gratitude towards her that has been growing steadily year by year, as I myself have grown in understanding. She did more for me than any one else in the world has ever done. And I have often thought that I would like to write her this, only I suppose that she gets letters of that sort forever and forever. I will give $500 with joy to the scholarship fund, and more if necessary; so please let me know as soon as your plans are matured." "I think it an honor to be associated in any way with your plan for showing respect to Miss Brackett, and appreciation of her work." "To say that Miss Brackett knew how to do what she wanted done would be high praise, but it might be shared with many a fine teacher. Her power was unique in that she could distinguish essential elements in the boundless material of education and combine those elements into a vital whole." "I too, feel with her other pupils that her influence has been and is a very strong factor in my life. I wish my children also, could have the benefit of the influence." "Dear my Lassie: You niay have my name and welcome for the Testimonial to your teacher and friend Anna C. Brackett. Yes, I have known her more than forty years, from the time I first met her in St. Louis, a bright, eager, whole- souled maiden, and here in New York in the early years of my ministry, I knew her for the same eager and true woman, who gave herself to the work she loved to do, not as a profession but as one aU possessed. For some years, I have not met my good friend, but am sure the years have only found and left her, faithful to her mission. " (Rev.) Robert Collyer." "I do not know much, but the little I do know came from her patient struggles with me. And for this I am very grateful." ANNA C. BRACKETT: IN MEMORIAM 23 "I know the gratitude and affection her pupils have for her. As a teacher privileged to work under her for five years I share the same feelings and acknowledge an ever-growing admiration for her genius." "I think the idea of a scholarship in honor of Miss Brackett an excel- lent one, and I personally am so perennially and gratefully conscious of my debt to her as a teacher, that I shall be glad to add my mite to the fund. I wish it could be more, but it will be more democratic and more of a tribute if a great many take part." "It is absurdly small compared to the gratitude I owe Miss Brackett for that wonderful early training which she, better than any teacher of our time, knew how to give. Whatever of power our brains possessed, she understood how to stimulate and develop; and I seem to find a quality of alertness in the minds of her pupils greater than in the average woman's. This small sum of money she helped me make, for I am sure that I am a better painter than I should have been, had I never come under Miss Brackett's training. I wish I could give a siun which would better represent my everlasting and frequently remembered debt to this great teacher." "It will be a great pleasure to me to add my 'spinster's mite' to the scholarship fund, for, notwithstanding the many busy years that have passed since our school days, I have a very warm recollection of Miss Brackett's kindness to me, and of the encouragement and good advice which she always gave me, to say nothing of the fine scholarly ideas and ideals which, I hope, I have handed down to my own pupils." "I am sending a very small amount towards the Fund. I most sin- cerely wish it were more, but under the circumstances of my life, I feel I can do no more just now. Every year of my Ufe I bless Miss Brackett for what she did for me and in my efforts to act out her principles, I feel as though I could be a living Testimonial." Cornell University Library arW38998 Anna C. Brackett, In memoriam MDCCCXXXV 3 1924 031 758 125 olin.anx ^ '^^^M ^^ ®^