Page:Oread August 1891.djvu/25

Rh Mrs. Ara Ingalls Morgan is using her artistic skill in dressmaking and her mental training in carrying on an extensive business in shopping and dressmaking in Chicago. Though applied differently from what, perhaps, was the school-girl plan, she finds all her seminary training useful in her chosen occupation. If her friends desiring her services will address her at 666 West Adams street, they will receive prompt attention.

Rev. E. Wells, who was Mr. Phillips' successor as pastor of the Baptist Church in Mt. Carroll, and who has been teaching in Benedict College since leaving Illinois, has lately accepted a call from a Baptist church in Charleston, S.C., and entered at once upon his labors.

In a report of the Cedar Valley Seminary Commencement, Osage, Iowa, as given in a late Standard, we find: "Special mention should be made of the music, which was under the direction of Miss Mabel Abernethy, and which added in no small degree to the interest of each evening's exercises."

Some of the Seminary "boys" have received merited honors lately. J. W. Seymour has been transferred from Cairo to Chicago by the Illinois Central, where he is Superintendent of the Chicago Division of that road.

V. S. Ferguson, of Sterling, is one of the worthy Senators of Illinois.

A testimonial reception was tendered in May to Hon. H. H. C. Miller by the citizens of Evanston in recognition of services rendered as president of the village. An immense audience greeted him, and Evanston's most cultured men and women sought to honor their faithful, efficient leader. All who knew the youth in his school life can readily believe that he has proven to be "a Christian gentleman whose atmosphere is well defined and salutary," who merits praise for his " loyalty and friendship," and for his help in all "higher activities."

From a private letter from Miss Elia Campbell, written in Ka-yiu-chu, China, we quote : "It was most enjoyable at Swatow resting and becoming acquainted with the missionaries, but my brother had succeeded, after many vain attempts, in renting a Chinese house up here. So, three weeks after landing, on Thanksgiving Day, we came here in a native Hakkah boat. It took us ten days to come one hundred and sixty miles, seven of us living during that time under a mat roof, about nine feet by fifteen, sleeping in the bottom of the boat. The house we live in is the upstairs of a store—the only habitable part for foreigners —and consists of four small rooms. There is a window at each end of the house, but no ceiling, and I do not think I could make you realize how completely shut in we are."—"I study four or five hours a day on the language. If we had but a Hakkah Grammar and Dictionary, it would simplify matters." Miss Campbell's address is Swatow, China. We hope the old friends will cheer her in her work by frequent letters from her native land.

Miss Emma Myers, who has been teaching vocal music in Howard College, Tenn., writes: "I am getting wedded to my work." Miss Myers was unable to take part, as expected, at Reunion this June.

Mrs. Clara White Robinson sends greetings from her home in Greenville, Ill. Her little Ward and Clara often speak of what they call "Mamma's Seminary."

Kind words of remembrance have been received from Miss Mabel Abernethy, who has been teaching in the school at Osage, Iowa, of which her father is president.

Miss Angie Benton writes from Denver, Col.: "I am still in the cycle business, in a branch house which the Overman Wheel Company has established here, of which Mr. Miles, my sister Emma's husband, is manager."—It is a great regret to me that I have for so long lost all knowledge of the old friends, and if there are any here would be I glad to know of it."

Miss Fanny Midaugh sends her annual greetings from Ogden, Utah, and writes: "So great comes my desire to be with you every year when June comes, and my inability to do so causes such an oppressive and weighty feeling, that it is long after the exercises are over before the feeling ceases to exist. I can not help but picture the busy, bustling throng of these days, and wish myself in it."

Miss Helen Eacker has been in charge of the Delphos (Kan.) schools for some time past, and fitting private pupils for college. She took part in the State Teachers' Convention last Christmas time, by furnishing a paper on "Growth of Language." Miss Eacker is devoted to her profession. She attends State and National Conventions, and this summer expects to add to her trip to Toronto a few weeks' study at Martha's Vineyard.

Miss Andrea Hofer writes from No. 84 Twenty-fifth street, Chicago, in answer to a request to take part at Re-union: "it is very kind to ask me, and to accept would be indeed a pleasure, but the early summer, so far as I know now, will be spent in the East, in Toronto, Boston, New York. I am doing the active editorial work on The Kindergarten, and find myself full of work and projects, so much that I can hardly even offer to send a paper to be read by proxy."

Miss Margaret Powell, teacher in the Ottawa (Kan.) public schools, writes: "The temperance people of this place are anticipating another skirmish with the liquor party. Last year, when we were threatened with an O. P. shop, the citizens met, appointed a committee to keep an eye on things, subscribed twenty-five hundred dollars for possible law suits, rolled up their sleeves and waited. Several liquor men from abroad decided that Ottawa was not the place for them. On one occasion some of the stuff was landed here, and a building hired to sell it in. As it was being hauled up the alley, the committee met it. When the driver alighted, some of them argued gently with him, but so forcibly he couldn't get back to his wagon. Some others unhitched the horse, turned the wagon around, took it back to the depot, and Ex-Governor Anthony shipped it back to K. C. in his own name. Before the summer was over, it was positively unsafe for a strange man to remain in town ten minutes without declaring his intentions; for that committee would hound him until it found him out, and many suspicious looking characters were hauled up to see if they had any connection with original package shops. I have about made up my mind that if the people of a town insist on not having saloons, they needn't have them. There have been none in Ottawa for nearly thirteen years."

Miss Hallie Metcalf writes front her home in Washington, D. C. (435 Florida Ave.), in regard to the Re-union this year: "It would afford me much pleasure to be numbered among the Seminary visitors, but it is impossible to be there. Had we remained in Iowa I should have made a great effort to attend the exercises, but am too far away now to admit of so doing. I can say, however, that I look forward with very pleasant anticipation to that time when I will visit my former home and then find a way or make one to reach Mt. Carroll. The year I spent with you, as I look back upon it, sometimes seems more like a dream than a stern reality, yet the teachers and students I claim as friends can never be forgotten. I am delighted with Washington, but who is not? At present the city is in its glory, and one must search far and wide to find more beautiful parks, private grounds, avenues and thoroughfares."

Miss Rose Weinlander has had a successful year as teacher in Iowa.

In a letter from a patron we find: "My wife, who is unable to write on account of illness, desires me to thank you for your kindness to her little daughter, and to say that she now more than ever is satisfied that Mt. Carroll seminary is a most desirable home for young girls."