Page:Famous Living Americans, with Portraits.djvu/607

 584 FAMOUS LIVING AMEBICANS ship among men and women of her time. By what steps has she raised herself to the head of a great system of schools and to an international reputation as an educator t Was she won greatness by devotion and application to her profession t The story of her life reads like that of many another Ameri- can who has struggled with the forces of life and has succeed- ed in molding them to a definite purpose ; it thrills with such work and service as should stir us to our highest endeavor. From it may be constructed the real answer to these questions, and that answer will not attribute her success to chsjice or to accident Asked what secret lies concealed in her rise to her present position, Mrs. Young replies with characteristic brusqueness and pointedness, ** systematic work." The key to her life is this word systematic. One of the plans formulated by her when she first began to teach was for the disposition of her time outside of school. On three evenings of each week she studied; Sunday evenings she reserved for church; and the three other evenings she devoted to amusement and social pleasure. Her first task on each evening for work was an oral ,; review, made to herself, of the reading or study of the pre- vious night. This plan, to which she has adhered throughout her life, has made her efficient in a very high degree. She works with a minimum expenditure of energy because she has acquired the habit of dealing with problems in a systematic way. At the same time, as will be noticed, the plan includes association with people outside of her school work. This has added to her breadth of view of men and affairs. Ella Flagg was bom in Buffalo, New York, in 1845. Her parents were of Scotch descent. She is proud to tell that her mother came of the Highland clan of Cameron. She grew up and had her earliest training in an atmosphere of Scotch Cal- vinism. Because of delicate health during her early years most of her associations were with adults, which deprived her of the sturdy play activities of childhood, and her education was obtained mainly outside of schools. This fact probably accounts in part for her serious-minded attitude as a child and
 * ^bom great," was ^^ greatness thrust upon her," or has she