Page:Frances Wood Shimer 1826-1901.djvu/21

 profits to provide a way for deserving girls to obtain an education. The general public viewed her lifework as one watches a gallant vessel breasting the waves; but how few saw the pilot whose hand, nor night nor day, left the helm, but steered right onward in darkness and in storm, or the captain with chart, compass, and line, making soundings to find a path mid hidden rocks and treacherous whirlpools, or the one who fed the fires and controlled the machinery. Those in her employ knew that she exacted faithful service with the least waste of time and labor; but they did not realize that it was the conservation of these forces, and making one thing help another, which was the secret of her success. They knew that, when misfortune came, no time was wasted in regret or delay in restoration; but even though they saw the Phoenix rise, they did not know with what heart-agony the ashes of disappointed hopes were fanned into flame. Teachers knew and pupils felt that the atmosphere of the school was charged with her enthusiasm and earnestness; but they did not know to what extent the supply was kept up by the sacrifice of leisure, recreation, and intellectual pursuits. For fourteen years she performed her share of class-room duties, and as a teacher her influence was especially felt. An enthusiast herself in study, she possessed a gift of imparting and drawing out the best in others, an influence undoubtedly greater than pupils realized at the time.

It is not an easy thing to estimate her influence; for that which goes into character and home life is less likely to be made a matter of record than many less important impressions in education, for they touch silent and unobserved forces, and are too subtle to be traced. Mrs. Shimer knew that much of her influence was “far from the madding crowd,” that her returns were not sight drafts, that her books could not be balanced until succeeding generations should audit the accounts, but she was content to wait for the fuller recognition that time would bring.

Only those who knew her most intimately were cognizant of her extreme reticence in matters relating to herself. Her sister died with cancer, and for more than thirty years Mrs. Shimer watched the approach of what she supposed was the same disease. An abscess on her side increased the fear. In later years she told