 Chapter 17 of When They Were Girls. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Betty B. When They Were Girls by Rebecca Deming Moore. Chapter 17. Alice Freeman Palmer, the girl who guided college girls. Mr. Freeman lifted his five-year-old daughter to the platform to speak her peace. Little Alice had been allowed to go comfortably to sleep during the earlier part of the village entertainment. However, as soon as she was on her feet, all traces of drowsiness disappeared. She loved the bit of poetry that she had taught herself. With rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes, she declaimed it so enthusiastically that the whole room full of people burst into delighted clapping. Seeing smiling faces all about her, Alice smiled too and put her little hands together and clapped as vigorously as anyone. She did not realize that it was she herself who had given the audience pleasure. Because these friends and neighbors were happy, she was happy with them. When she grew up, Alice Freeman could still forget herself and enter into the moods of others. She seemed to know exactly how the other person felt. That was one of the reasons why, when she became the president of Wellesley College, she was able to help the students make the very best of their lives. This first public appearance of Alice Alvira Freeman was in the country village of Colesville, New York, where she was born February 21st, 1855. Her father was a young farmer, high-minded, and hard-working. Her mother was a farmer's daughter and had been a school teacher. Both parents were very deeply religious. Mrs. Freeman was so busy cooking and churning and washing that five-year-old Alice helped her all that she could. She washed dishes, gathered eggs from the barn, and looked after the three younger children. Two years later, there was even more need of Alice's help. Mr. Freeman had decided to become a doctor, and his young wife had bravely undertaken to carry on the farm alone while he was studying. The two little sisters and the brother depended on Alice to fasten their buttons and to amuse them. Thus, from a very early age, Alice Freeman had to think for others as well as for herself. Such training was of great value to her when she had to care for a large family of Wellesley College girls. When Alice's father began to practice medicine in the village of Windsor, New York, Alice loved to drive with him and hold the horse during his visits to patients. She was interested in hearing about his cases, and she enjoyed the shady roads and wayside flowers. Throughout her whole life, she rejoiced that she had been a country child. At ten years of age, Alice Freeman became an eager pupil at the Windsor Academy. One of her teachers, who had taken a great interest in her throughout her course, inspired Alice to go to college. When Alice talked the matter over with her father, he said that he could not afford to send her to college. He felt that as there was only money enough for one college education in the family, the boy must have it. Alice begged very hard to go. She promised to send her brother through college and to give to her sisters whatever education they desired. Dr. Freeman at length consented to her entering the University of Michigan. As for her promise, she kept it to the letter. At the university, Alice was confronted with her next big problem. She failed to pass her entrance examinations. The president had already talked with the earnest, intelligent, seventeen-year-old girl. He realized that her school, though a good one, had not prepared her for college. Therefore, he asked the examiners to allow her to enter on a six-weeks trial. At the end of that time, there was no doubt of Alice Freeman's ability to lead her classmates. This frail girl made up all the studies required for entrance. She had excellent work in her classes and took an active part in the college clubs. She went to church twice on Sunday and attended a midweek service. She taught a Sunday school class and put new life into the Christian Association. She was never too busy to be friendly, cheerful, and joyous. Alice Freeman received her bachelor's degree after four years of college work. Three years later, after having taught successfully in the Middle West, she was asked to become the head of the history department at Wellesley College. In 1881, when she was only twenty-six years old, Miss Freeman was made its president. As college president, Miss Freeman led a very busy life. The college was young and needed to be guided carefully. She worked so lovingly and enthusiastically for it that more students applied than could be admitted. Wealthy people gave money for scholarships and many new schools were started to prepare students for college. Miss Freeman was a real mother to the large family of Wellesley College girls. They were free to go to her with all their problems and they never went in vain. She had a way of seeing the best thing in a girl and of making her feel that she must bring the whole up to this level. After six years of this devoted service to Wellesley College, Alice Freeman was married to George Herbert Palmer, then professor of philosophy at Harvard University. Happy years followed for them. Mrs. Palmer was as successful a homemaker as she had been a college president. She was a delightful hostess to the many interesting guests that were welcomed at their home. Mrs. Palmer still found plenty of work to do for others. She was a trustee of Wellesley College, a member of the Massachusetts State Board of Education, and the president of the International Institute for Girls in Spain. She always could find time for any cause which was to make the world wiser and better. From all over the country, Mrs. Palmer's advice was sought on whatever had to do with education. Many colleges and universities conferred degrees upon her. In 1920, her name was greatly honored by being selected for the Hall of Fame. Alice Freeman Palmer, college president and great educator, never lost the child Alice's gift of sympathy. She cared very deeply what people did with their lives. That was why she could inspire them to be of real service. End of Chapter 17 Chapter 18 of When They Were Girls This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Jen Broda When They Were Girls by Rebecca Deming Moore Chapter 18 Maude Powell, the girl whose violin spread afar the message of music. The sweetest strains of one of Mozart's violin sonatas filled the room. One of the players was a bright-eyed little girl. The other it was easy to guess from the proud and tender look that she gave her little companion was the child's mother. Both mother and daughter loved these hours together with their violins. Music meant much to this mother. She enjoyed composing as well as playing. She was very happy to know that music gave pleasure to her little daughter also. The hope was in this mother's heart that some day little Maude would be a great musician. It was a hope that was realized. Four in later years Maude Powell became known as the foremost American violinist. Maude Powell was born in Peru, Illinois, August 22, 1868. When she was two years old the family moved to Aurora, Illinois where for several years her father was head of the public schools. From the time that little Maude was a baby she loved music. When she was only four years old she was taught to play simple pieces on the piano. At an early age she showed such fondness for the violin that Mr. and Mrs. Powell decided to have her study in Chicago with Mr. William Lewis. Twice every week little Maude had to travel on the train forty miles each way to take her lessons. She had to go alone too because money could not be spared to pay the fare of a companion. The little musician enjoyed these lessons very much. After she grew up she did not forget this teacher and often said that he had given her a splendid foundation for her work. Before she was ten years old the little violinist played in public as a soloist with the Chicago ladies vocal quartet. By the time that she was twelve years old it was quite evident that Maude Powell had real talent for the violin. Then her parents decided that their little girl must be given the best possible music education. They fully realized that this would be very expensive and would necessitate a long absence from home. One day Maude said goodbye to her dear father and all her young friends and sailed away to Germany with her mother to study music. Mr. Powell missed his little girl and her mother very much but he was proud when he received letters telling of his daughter's success. The good news helped him to work harder so as to be able to send them the necessary money. After studying at Leipzig the little American girl passed a brilliant examination and was chosen to play at a public concert. Later Mrs. Powell was anxious to have her daughter study with a distinguished French teacher Charles Donkla at the Paris Conservatory. Maude learned that there were only a few new pupils to be admitted and that she would be one of eighty applicants. The examinations were made especially severe for foreigners but Maude Powell was the first to be admitted. This Frenchman delighted in teaching the eager young American girl. He took great pains with her and was always just and fair. After having had but three lessons on a selection on which a class of eighty-four was to be examined Maude Powell passed above everyone else. One of the pupils had been studying this selection for six months. It was not only Maude Powell's greater talent but she also knew her general knowledge of music that made it possible for her to grasp new work readily. The lonely father at home was cheered by his messages of his young daughter's success and popularity in London where she was playing in drawing rooms and at concerts. Joachim, a distinguished German violinist, was so impressed by Maude Powell's playing that he wanted her to join his class in Berlin. He said that she was more than a mere talented child, that she would, with training, make a great artist. She passed the examinations for his class without the usual six months preparation and worked hard with him for a year. Then came the longed-for return to America and the reuniting of the family. Maude Powell was eager to show her father that his sacrifices had not been in vain. Many people thought that the violin was an instrument for a man only. Nevertheless, at the age of seventeen this young girl made her debut as a violin soloist at a concert of the New York Philharmonic Society conducted by Theodore Thomas. From that time on the fame of Maude Powell's violin grew. It was heard throughout the United States and in many foreign lands. Miss Powell did not play merely for a livelihood or for fame. Music had meant so much to her that she felt that she must bring it into the lives of others. She was especially eager to give the inspiration of her music to people who had few opportunities of hearing great artists. That's why she gave recitals in hundreds of small towns and was always glad to play for schools and colleges. Miss Powell never slighted her programs even though she was playing in the smallest place. She gave her best, thinking that someone in her audience might not have another opportunity to hear good music. In fact, Miss Powell never gave anything but her best at any concert. She would memorize a long selection perfectly even if she knew it were to be played only once. She took great pains to have her programs varied and delighted in introducing American compositions to her audience. In 1904 Miss Powell married H. Godfrey Turner. He assisted her greatly by attending to the business arrangements for her concerts. Great praise and appreciation came to Maude Powell for the marvelous music that she brought forth from her violin. However, the road from gifted childhood to finished artist was a long, hard one. She pushed aside every obstacle by her tireless work. The long hours of practicing and the years of homelessness and loneliness were endured for the sake of her beloved music. Maude Powell will always be remembered, not only because she played the violin remarkably, but because she carried the message of music to out of the way parts of the world. LibraVox.org Recording by Betty B. When They Were Girls by Rebecca Deming Moore Chapter 19 Ellen H. Richards A scientist who helped homemakers A half pound of Salaratus, please, demanded a customer. I never can cook with soda. Give me baking soda, another woman insisted. I cannot use Salaratus. The bright-eyed young girl behind the counter of the country store supplied them both from the same package, rather amused that they should not know that baking soda and Salaratus are alike as two peas in a pod. I should like to know more about the nature of the things that I am selling, thought Ellen Swallow. Little did she dream that her future years were to be spent in making life easier and happier for women by enabling them to learn about these very things. On December 3, 1842, Ellen Henrietta Swallow was born near the village of Dunn Stable, Massachusetts. She was an out-of-door girl and loved to follow her father and uncles about the farm. She drove the cows to pasture, rode horseback, and often pitched hay. She made a little flower garden, too, and tended it carefully. Little Ellen was also quick and skillful at indoor tasks. Her mother, who had a deft hand at any kind of housework, taught her to sew and cook. Ellen's dolls, bed had sheets and pillowcases daintily hemstitched by her own hand. At the country fair one year two prizes fell to 13-year-old Ellen Swallow, one for a beautifully embroidered handkerchief and another for the best loaf of bread. Ellen's mother and father were well educated and had been teachers. They taught Ellen at home until she was ready for the academy. Mr. Swallow gave up farming and opened a country store in the village of Westford, Massachusetts, so that Ellen could attend the academy there. Ellen enjoyed her studies and mastered them thoroughly. She was such a fine Latin student that later she was able to earn money for her college expenses by teaching that subject. Ellen Swallow was as active and energetic out of school as in school. She was a capable little businesswoman. She waited on customers in her father's store and kept his accounts. She even made trips to Boston to buy goods for the store. This early training was very helpful when in later years she had to handle large sums of money for many philanthropic and educational purposes. At home Ellen was often the housekeeper for weeks at a time during her frail mother's illnesses. She not only cooked and washed, but she cleaned house, papered rooms, and laid carpets as well. What she learned of managing a house in her schoolgirl days was a very valuable addition to what science taught her later about good homemaking. Ellen Swallow was very quick and capable. In addition to her school, home, and store duties, she had time for reading and for working in her precious flower garden. After her academy days, Ellen Swallow's hours were filled by teaching a country school, helping in the store, and at home, and caring for sick friends and neighbors. But she was not satisfied. She felt a great longing to learn and to do more. There was no college in New England at that time which admitted women. Ellen Swallow therefore decided to enter Vassar College at Poughkeepsie, New York, which had only recently been founded. College days were very happy ones for this active-minded young woman. She wrote home to her mother, glowing accounts of her new life, and told her all about her schoolwork and the books that she was reading. Science was her favorite study. One of her teachers was Maria Mitchell, who took a great interest in the young girl. After graduating from Vassar College, Ellen Swallow was eager to go on with the study of chemistry that she had begun there. After some difficulty, she gained admittance to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as its first woman student. In fact, she was the first woman to enter any strictly scientific school in the United States. One of the teachers thought that this young woman looked rather frail to be taking such difficult work. The president answered, Did you notice her eyes? They are steadfast and they are courageous. She will not fail. Not only did she not fail in her studies, but she also supported herself. She did tutoring, took charge of an office for a friend, and temporarily ran the boarding house where she lived. It was feared about this time that the water near many towns and cities in Massachusetts was becoming unfit for drinking. The newly organized State Board of Health decided to have samples of the water examined to see whether it contained impurities. Ms. Swallow had proved herself to be so accurate and dependable that the chemist chosen to analyze the water handed over most of the work to her. Often she had to work far into the night when many samples came in at a time. She analyzed 40,000 samples of water. This careful work meant the prevention of much disease. For ten years she was assistant chemist for the State Board of Health and then chemist for ten years. When Ellen Swallow was married to Professor Robert Hallowell Richards, head of the Department of Mining Engineering in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she did not give up her public work. Yet she maintained a real home in which she carried out her ideas about building and furnishing, cleanliness and fresh air, and labor-saving devices. Many guests were welcomed to this busy woman's home and all founded a place of restfulness and peace. Mrs. Richards' great desire was that girls should have the same opportunity to receive a scientific training as had boys. Largely through her efforts, a woman's laboratory was opened in connection with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This laboratory was established for the purpose of giving scientific training to women. Mrs. Richards gave generously to the laboratory, teaching without salary and contributing to its support as well. Soon after women were admitted to the Institute on the same footing as men, Mrs. Richards was made instructor in sanitary chemistry in the Institute, a position which she held for the rest of her life. Mrs. Richards might have spent her time in scientific research, however she preferred instead to put her knowledge of science to practical use. She tested wallpapers and fabrics to see if they contained arsenic and staple groceries to detect impurities. She studied oils to discover how the danger from explosives could be lessened. Mrs. Richards wrote many helpful books about homemaking. She organized a society of people interested in promoting right living in the home, the school and the community. The name of this organization is American Home Economics Association. Because of her influence, home economics is now taught in schools throughout the land. To Ellen H. Richards, sanitary chemist, the facts of science were never just facts, but the means of making people healthier and happier. When they were girls by Rebecca Denning Moore. Chapter 20. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the girl who helped draft a woman's declaration of independence. What a pity it is she's a girl. Four-year-old Elizabeth heard this remark over and over again from the visitors who had come to see her baby sister. She thought that she ought to feel sorry for the baby too. When she was a little older, Elizabeth Cady realized what a pity it was that girls and women could not have the same privileges and advantages as had boys and men. Elizabeth Cady was born in Johnstown, New York, November 12, 1815. When this little girl grew up, she called the First Woman's Right Convention and worked all her life to gain more privileges for women. As a child she felt the disadvantages of being a girl in the early days of the 1800s. When her only brother, a fine promising college graduate, died, eleven-year-old Elizabeth realized that her father loved his son far more than all his five daughters. Longing to comfort him, Elizabeth climbed on his knee. Oh, my daughter, would that you were a boy, was all that he could say. From that moment Elizabeth resolved to equal boys. To be learned and courageous she decided was the way to accomplish her purpose. Before breakfast the next morning she went to her dear friend and pastor and asked him to teach her Greek. She insisted on beginning that very minute. To prove herself courageous she learned to drive a horse and to leap offence and ditch on horseback. Within a short time she began to study Greek, Latin, and mathematics with a class of boys at the Village Academy. She did so well that she won the second prize, a Greek Testament. Joyfully Elizabeth rushed home expecting to hear her father say, Now you are equal to a boy. However his kisses and praise failed to take away the sting of his remarks. Ah, you should have been a boy. Elizabeth's father was a distinguished lawyer and judge. His officer joined the house and there his little daughter spent much of her time talking with his students and listening to his clients. Often his clients were widows who wept and complained that the property which they brought into the family had been willed to their sons. Elizabeth could not understand why her father, who was wise and kind, could not help these poor women. Then Judge Keddie would take down from the shelves a big volume and show her the law. The students seeing how interested she was in the laws about women, amused themselves by reading to her the most unfair laws they could find. They often teased her too in order to hear her bright remarks. Little Elizabeth was so distressed by the unfairness of the law, in regard to women, that she made up her mind to cut them all out of her father's law books. She refrained from doing this upon learning that it would not help the situation. Much to her disgust Elizabeth Keddie could not go to college, as did her boy classmates, for at that time girls were not admitted. However she entered the Willardwood Seminary for girls in Troy, New York where she studied for some time. Later she went on with her studies at home, never losing her interest in laws for women. In her twenty-fifth year Elizabeth Keddie married Henry B. Stanton, a lecturer on anti-slavery, who later became a lawyer. After several happy years in Johnstown and Boston, the young couple settled in Seneca Falls, New York. By this time the champion of women's rights began to know by experience something of a woman's home problems. She had a big house to manage with very little help, and her lively girls and boys needed constant care. In her round-of-everyday duties, however, Mrs. Stanton did not forget the wrongs to women. She, together with Lucretia Mott and some others, called the big meeting the First Women's Right Convention at Seneca Falls in 1848 to talk over this question. At this meeting Mrs. Stanton and her co-workers presented a declaration of sentiments based upon the Declaration of Independence. They also presented eleven resolutions, one of which demanded the vote for women. Mrs. Stanton was entirely responsible for this resolution, and plays great emphasis upon it. She believed that through the ballot for women, all other rights for women could be secured. The newspapers made a great deal of fun of all the reforms discussed at the convention, particularly the proposal that women should vote. In those days most people were quite ready to admit that a woman could manage her home capably and be bright and entertaining in company. However, they thought it very unwomenly that she should dream of helping to make laws to secure better schools or cleaner streets. Mrs. Stanton was surprised and distressed to have her very serious purpose treated so lightly, but ridicule did not prevent her from upholding women's rights whenever she had an opportunity. Three years after this she met Susan B. Anthony, the woman who was to be her lifelong friend and fellow worker. Except for their lectures in the cause of temperance and anti-slavery, Mrs. Stanton and Mrs. Anthony gave their whole lives to gaining more freedom for their fellow women. The two friends were very different in characteristics, but they were of one mind on the question of women's rights. Mrs. Anthony had not at first thought it necessary for women to have the vote, but she was soon won over to her friend's opinion. Year after year these two earnest workers endeavored to arouse the country to do something for women. Never a jealous thought as to which one should have the glory for anything accomplished marred this fifty years of friendship. Mrs. Stanton and Mrs. Anthony lectured in big cities and all sorts of little out-of-the-way places. Together with their friend Mrs. Gage they wrote a very complete history of what had been done to gain the vote for women. Of Mrs. Stanton's children a daughter, Mrs. Harriet Stanton Blatch, has followed directly in her mother's footsteps as a public speaker for the cause of women. She has also written several books about women's place in the work of the world. Theodore Stanton, one of the sons, also writes on behalf of women. Throughout a long lifetime Elizabeth Cady Stanton courageously and steadfastly pleaded the cause of women. She lived to see them enjoying better property rights and educational privileges and in four states helping to make the laws. Eighteen years after her death the 19th Amendment gave the vote to women throughout the United States. CHAPTER XXI Harriet Beecher Stowe, the girl who's story of slavery aroused the whole world. It was the night of the annual Ecclesiastal Festival of Women. The night of the annual Ecclesiastal Festival of Women. It was the night of the annual Ecclesiastal Festival of Women. Harriet Beecher Stowe, the girl whose story of slavery aroused the whole world. It was the night of the annual exhibition of the Lichfield Academy. Twelve-year-old Harriet Beecher waited eagerly for a certain part of the program. Presently she heard read before all the learned people assembled the familiar words of her own composition, one of the three chosen for this great occasion. As Harriet listened to the sentences that she had composed with so much care, she watched the face of her father who sat on the platform. It brightened. She knew that he was interested. At the close of the entertainment she heard him ask, Who wrote that composition? Her teacher replied, Your daughter, sir. It was the proudest moment of Harriet's life. When this little Academy student became a woman, she wrote a book which set the whole world to thinking of the evil of slavery. It was Uncle Tom's Cabin. Harriet Beecher was born at Lichfield, Connecticut, June 14, 1811. Her father had only a country person's meager salary to provide for the wants of eleven children. What a father he was, grave and serious enough in the pulpit, but full of fun and enthusiasm at home. There was mere play for Harriet and the boys to pile wood when their father super-intended. Harriet was very rich in sisters and brothers. She loved them all dearly, especially the merry, energetic big sister, Catherine, and the chubby little boy two years younger than she, Henry Ward Beecher, who grew up to be a famous minister. Little Harriet had only a sweet memory of her mother who had died when she was a small child. Wherever she went she was told of her mother's beautiful life. It made her very happy to know that she had a mother whom everyone loved. There were no expensive toys in the Beecher family, but Harriet was well content without them. She played with her glass-eyed wooden doll and a set of cups and saucers made by her own hands out of codfish bones. In the wood pile she found treasures in the moss and lakens on the logs. From them she fashioned little pictures using the moss for green fields, sprigs of spruce for the trees, and bits of glass for lakes and rivers. Some of Harriet's happiest hours were spent curled up in a corner of her father's study surrounded by her favorite books. It was a peaceful, restful place, she thought. She liked to glance up at her father as he was writing or thinking over his sermons. She enjoyed looking at the friendly faces of the books on the shelves. Very few of them, however, were books that she could understand. One day while rummaging in a barrel of old sermons in the attic, Harriet came upon a copy of the Arabian Nights, how she and her brothers poured over its pages. Another precious treasure discovered in a barrel was Shakespeare's play, The Tempest. Harriet's delight in stories was satisfied in another way. Every fall it was the custom to make enough applesauce to last for the winter. It took a whole barrel full for the Big Beecher family. All the little fingers were pressed into service to peel or quarter apples. Mr. Beecher would then ask, who could tell the best story? As the apples bubbled and hissed in the big brass kettle, story after story went around. Mr. Beecher himself recited scenes from Sir Walter Scott's novels, which were then new. In the unheeded, barn-like meeting house where Mr. Beecher preached, Harriet also spent many happy hours, although she was cold and cramped from sitting through the long sermons. Usually she did not understand her father's big words, but one day spoke so earnestly and simply about God's love that Harriet never forgot it. When Harriet grew up, she married Kelvin Alice Stowe. He was a professor in the Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio, of which her father had become the president. In Ohio, adjacent to the slave state of Kentucky, everybody was thinking and talking about slavery, the Fugitive Slave Law, whereby runaway slaves must be returned to their masters, was causing heated discussions. Mrs. Stowe and her husband used to be a very unjust law and they helped a colored girl. The Eliza of Uncle Tom's Cabin to escape from her pursuers, Mrs. Stowe opened a school for colored children in her house and raised money to buy the freedom of a slave boy. Ever since the days of her school compositions, Mrs. Stowe had enjoyed writing and some of her stories had found their way into the papers when Professor Stowe went to Bowdoin College to teach. His wife tried to do a little writing to add to his small salary. However, the work of looking after a large house and her family of small children left her little time for writing stories. Sometimes with her paper on the corner of the kitchen table and her ink on the tea kettle, she managed to write a story, super intend the making of pastry and watch the baby at the same time. One day Mrs. Stowe received a letter from her relative urging her to write something that would stir the country against the evil of slavery. She earnestly declared that she would. Soon thereafter the plot of her story, Uncle Tom's Cabin flashed across her mind. She wrote a chapter as quickly as possible and sent it to the national era an anti-slavery paper. Chapter after chapter followed written rapidly as the scenes of the story presented themselves as a book. In a few days ten thousand copies were sold in a year three hundred thousand copies. Mrs. Stowe wrote many other books though none of them attained the prominence of Uncle Tom's Cabin. This book is considered to have been one of the most influential and widely read novels and literature. From distinguished people all over the world came letters of congratulation to Mrs. Stowe. What she had written just because she felt that she must have brought her both. Harriet Beecher Stowe was further honored by being elected to the Hall of Fame in 1910. Harriet Beecher Stowe's gift of expression which she had been cultivating for many years under all sorts of difficulties made it possible for her to draw a picture of slavery that aroused the whole world. End of Chapter 21 Chapter 22 of When They Were Girls This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Jen Broda When They Were Girls by Rebecca Deming Moore Chapter 22 Kate Douglas Wigan who put the joy of living into her books. Although Katie Smith loved all the books on the page, the ones she took down the most often were some fat volumes by Charles Dickens. So much did she enjoy these stories that she named her yellow dog Pip after a character in one of them. And across her sled and big scarlet letters were painted the words The Artful Dodger. One day Katie's mother read in the paper that Mr. Charles Dickens had come to America. When Katie heard that he was going miles away she was very excited how she longed to see and hear the wonderful man who had created so many delightful characters. Katie and her mother had planned to go to Charleston, Massachusetts for a visit stopping overnight in Portland. Now Katie's mother decided that they would leave home so as to be in Portland on the night of the reading. But alas a grown up cousin instead of little Katie her disappointment is best she could and the next day after the reading she received her reward. Who should be writing on the very same train with Katie and her mother but the great Charles Dickens himself. While Katie's mother was talking with an acquaintance the little girl slipped into the empty seat beside her favorite author. Where did you come from? Inquired Mr. Dickens in a surprised tone of voice. I came from Hollis, Maine with Katie Smith. Presently the little girl and the famous author were chatting away like old friends. Mr. Dickens chuckled when he heard about the naming of Katie's dog and her sled and his eyes grew moist when she spoke of the characters that made her cry. This nine year old admirer of Dickens had not the slightest idea that one day she would be an author herself. Years later however when she was known as a story about another little state of Maine girl entitled Rebecca a Sunnybrook Farm she also wrote many other enjoyable books. Kate Douglas Smith was not a state of Maine girl by birth. She was born in Philadelphia September 28, 1859 when she was six years old her family moved to the village of Hollis, Maine. Little Katie Smith had her own little corner of it on the banks of the Soco River. What fun she had with her little sister Nora and her playmate Annie. Nora is better known to us as Nora Archibald Smith the author of many charming stories for children. These little girls gathered velvety pussy willows hunted for our Buddhists in the early spring and picked wild strawberries and raspberries in the summer. This quiet pool where lived her favorite frogs she knew them all by name and twice a week she arranged them very gently in a row on a strip of board for a singing lesson. In the winter she enjoyed coasting and snowballing. She also liked to be in the house where she could play with her orphanage of paper dolls and read her beloved books. To little Katie Smith and Nora Archibald Smith and Nora Archibald Smith and Nora Archibald Smith and Nora Archibald Smith to make milk toast for supper to water the plants to iron the handkerchiefs and to go for the milk just to be alive to run along the riverbank to help about the house was enough for this joyous child. No dream of authorship had come to her though she was filling her mind later she went to a boarding school in Maine after which she attended Abbot Academy and Andover, Massachusetts from which she was graduated. When Katie Smith was 17 years old she followed her family to Santa Barbara, California where they had gone several years before as there was very little money in the family treasury the elder daughter of the house felt that she must begin to help at once a girl story which she had written merely to amuse herself to send to a magazine editor. What was Katie's delight to receive and payment for the story at check a hundred and fifty dollars which came just in time to pay some taxes the proud young author however did not think of writing for a living she decided that she did not yet know enough to write she realized that she must live a little longer and learn more in the meantime she decided years later after she had become a successful author she said that this decision was the most sensible act of her life Katie Smith soon found the work that she sought kindergarten's were still very new in America Miss Smith studied the system and organized a free kindergarten in San Francisco the first one to be established west of the Rockies this young woman was very successful in bringing happiness into the lives of the little children who flocked to her kindergarten it was for the purpose of raising money for kindergarten's that this young teacher wrote two stories the story of Patsy and the birds Christmas Carol she had them printed and sold at twenty five cents a copy Miss Smith thought that the only reason they sold well was because so many friends were anxious to help the good cause of free kindergarten's and later bring her fame in eighteen eighty Kate Douglas Smith married Samuel Bradley Wigan who was a California lawyer it was not until several years later that Mrs. Wigan thought of sending a paper covered copy of the birds Christmas Carol to a publisher this charming story of the Ruggles family was accepted at once and more stories requested from that time on was herself to writing girls and boys of today all over the world love her Rebecca Carol Patsy and Timothy just as the little girl of Hollis Maine loved the children and Dickens stories Kate Douglas Wigan wrote often for children because she loved them and never forgot what it was like to be a child she has also written many very entertaining books for older people have thought small Katie Smith herself however the school district where Rebecca wrote her famous composition was the one that the author attended and Kate Douglas Wigan's books are many pictures of the life that she lived as a child she put herself into her books but not as a character in her stories you will find something of her own quick wit her cheerfulness her satisfaction in doing something of living end of chapter 22 recording by Jen Broda chapter 23 of when they were girls this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org when they were girls by Rebecca Deming Moore she wrote a book called Dragon Drink Francis called her brother Oliver's attention to the new law that she had written the previous night for Fort City it read we will have no saloons or billiard halls and then we will not need any jails this little girls favorite game was to plan a play city a place where everyone in the city was only play but in this game as well as in all others Francis Willard showed her remarkable ability as an organizer little did she realize that years later this ability would make her a valuable leader of the temperance cause Francis Elizabeth Willard was born at Churchville, New York September 28, 1839 when she was but a tiny child her parents moved to Oberlin, Ohio in order that they might study at the university after a few years of happy student life Mr. Willard was obliged to give up his books and his dream of becoming a minister for a life outdoors in the west what an adventure the journey was for the three little Willards there were no fine Pullman trains in which they could travel for there were no railroads in that section of the country and the most clumsy prairie schooners carried them to their new home Francis and her little sister Mary rode in the third perched comfortably enough among the questions on the top of their fathers old fashioned desk for three weeks they traveled over the prairies stopping only to cook their meals gypsy fashion and to rest on Sundays Forest Home was the name given to the pretty rustic cottage Mr. Willard built among the oaks and hickory groves by the banks of the Rock River near Jamesville, Wisconsin it was a delightful place in which to spend a happy childhood to be sure the Willards only callers at first were the chipmunks and birds but there were no dull days every minute was filled Francis did her share of the household tasks and far more than her share in planning the family games although the lively Francis was the leader in all the fun there was one sport in which she was not allowed to join this was horseback riding confiding to her brother that she must ride something she tried the cow her father laughed when he saw her on her clumsy steed and allowed her to have a horse after that this simple way of disposing of difficulties served her well all her life active and full of fun as Francis Willard was she liked to be quiet and thoughtful too a black oak in the garden bore the sign the eagles nest beware high up in the leafy branches Francis would sit for hours making up bits of verse or editing the Fort City newspaper on Sunday afternoons the children would wander with their mother in the orchard while she talked to them about the beauty they realized that God was very near Francis was quite young when she first heard from her parents of the unhappiness that drink brings with the other children she signed Pledge written in the Big Family Bible and ending so here we pledge perpetual hate to all that can intoxicate for some years Mrs. Willard took charge of the children's lessons but later a young woman from the east went to teach them and some of their little neighbors no child was ever more hungry for knowledge than little Francis Willard she often declared that she wanted to learn everything there came a day when Francis was very happy and excited a little schoolhouse had been built in the woods about a mile away it was so small and brown and plain that she called it a sort of big ground nut but it was a real schoolhouse with a Yale graduate for a teacher later on Francis and Mary went away to college they attended Milwaukee Female College and then Northwestern Female College at Evanston, Illinois from which they were graduated at these two schools energetic High Spirited Francis was a leader both in and out of the classroom Francis Willard was the same earnest, hungry minded determined girl when she became a teacher that she had been as a student she began to teach in her own brown nut schoolhouse during her first college vacation after her graduation from college she spent a number of years in the teaching profession during this time she was at the head of several important schools she concluded her teaching career as Dean of the Woman's College in Northwestern University about this time many people were becoming alarmed at the amount of drunkenness throughout the United States they were distressed by the misery caused by drink in the small towns in the Middle West women often marched through the streets singing, praying and begging saloon keepers to give up their business in Chicago a band of women marching to the city council to ask to have the Sunday closing law enforced were rudely treated by the mob and had never forgotten the pledge that she had signed in the family Bible the insults to these women aroused her fighting spirit she felt that she must help one day the male brought her two letters one letter offered her the Principalship of a prominent school in New York City which would pay her a large salary the other letter asked her to become president of the Chicago branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union because of the meager funds of this organization no salary was offered her although she had no means besides her earnings Ms. Willard chose the latter position later discovering that she had no private income this organization provided a sufficient salary for her Francis Willard felt sure that she should devote her life to the cause of temperance the Woman's Christian Temperance Union needed a leader badly with which she had planned her play city Ms. Willard developed this organization from that time on Francis Willard gave her whole life to the cause she pleaded eloquently for temperance in every large city in the United States and in many small ones she became the president of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union and later of the world's Woman's Christian Temperance Union which was organized through her efforts in the National Capital there is a hall where each state may place the statue of two of its most beloved leaders Illinois erected there the first statue to a woman a marble figure of Francis E. Willard in the year 1910 Francis E. Willard's name was selected for the Hall of Fame today we have that for which Ms. Willard dreamed and worked a nation in which the sale was prohibited by law the passing of this milestone on the road to temperance has greatly benefited the world to Francis E. Willard who contributed so much to the success of this movement humanity is indebted end of chapter 23 chapter 24 of when they were girls this is a LibreVox recording all LibreVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibreVox.org when they were girls by Rebecca Deming Moore chapter 24 Ella Flag Young who's slogan was better schools for girls and boys what does that mean Ella the boy lifted his eyes from his weeding as he put the question to his sister Ella seated on a chair then choosing her words carefully she explained what she had just read aloud oh I see now the boy exclaimed go on Ella resumed the reading Ella flag was in poor health as a little girl so her mother chose gardening as the best means of keeping her outdoors Ella found that while her fingers were busy pulling weeds and gardening the plan worked well for these two children as it relieved the weeding hours of monotony Ella then made the discovery that whatever she tried to explain she must first understand very clearly herself it was in this way that Ella Flag Young who became a famous educator did her first teaching for the first 13 years of her life Ella Flag lived in Buffalo, New York where she was born January 15, 1845 on account of ill health she was not allowed to go to school with her sister and brother her mother and father believed that there would be plenty of time for regular lessons when her body had grown stronger she was 8 or 9 years of age before she learned to read and then she taught herself one morning Ella's mother was reading in a newspaper an account of a fire Ella was so much interested that she took the paper with some help however she was finally able to read the entire article even though this little girl did not have regular lessons there was much to be learned in a home such as hers Mrs. Flag was an energetic capable woman she was skillful in managing household affairs and much in demand among her friends and neighbors when there was sickness or trouble in their homes from her mother she was able always to look squarely in the face the big problems that confronted her when she was at the head of the Chicago school system little Ella could learn a great deal too merely from hearing her mother and father talk for they were thoughtful, intelligent people Mr. Flag had had to leave school when he was only 10 years old to be apprenticed to the sheet metal trade however by reading and study he had educated himself sometimes Ella used to go to her father's shop and sit for hours watching him at work at his forge she asked questions about all the processes that he followed so that she really understood what he was doing from these pleasant hours in the shop came her love of hand work and her interest in having it taught in the public schools when Ella began to go to school her father took a great interest in the way in which she studied he had always done his own thinking once Ella discussed with her father a drawing in her textbook of an hydraulic press that she was studying she realized that he was displeased with what she said so she immediately decided to study the drawing more thoroughly soon she discovered that an important part had been left out in the examination on the press the next day the papers of all the other students who had blindly followed the book were marked zero Ella Flagg graduated from a Chicago high school and also from the Chicago normal school this ambitious girl began to teach when she was 17 years of age she first taught in a primary grade for six weeks and then in a higher grade where some of the pupils were larger and older than she in a year she was made head assistant at the school and in two years principal of the practice school Ella Flagg married William Young in 1868 however she did not give up her work she climbed steadily up the ladder of the teaching profession even though she had become very successful she felt that she needed more education consequently she studied at the University of Chicago from which she received the degree of Ph.D. Mrs. Young became assistant superintendent of the Chicago schools then professor of education in the University of Chicago later she was made principal of the Chicago normal school and finally superintendent of schools in Chicago as soon as Mrs. Young became superintendent of the Chicago schools she began to work for the children she ordered the windows to be opened top and bottom in the school rooms to do away with the foul air produced by a poor system of ventilation she organized fresh air classes for pupils who needed an extra amount of oxygen she asked the teachers to help her improve the course of study which the hours of her father's shop had given her an interest she introduced into every grade a new study which she called Chicago brought the children into closer relation with their own city teaching them its geography, history and government the fame of Mrs. Young's work in education spread beyond her own city the national education association which had never had a woman in office made her its president in many books about education when Mrs. Young was asked how she managed to accomplish so much she always said that it was through systematic work the first year that she began to teach she planned to devote three evenings a week to study three to seeing her friends and Sunday evening to church for a long lifetime Ella Flag Young worked to solve the problem of educating the girls and boys of Chicago and the nation the clear and independent thinking that she had cultivated as a girl helped to give her a place as one of the great educators of our day End of chapter 24 End of When They Were Girls by Rebecca Deming Moore