Page:Shimer College History 1853-1950.pdf/9

 her loved and revered by all. After the untimely death of Miss Mason, Miss Dearborn was made directing head of the Conservatory of Music.

In 1877 Isabelle Dearborn married her childhood sweetheart, Henry W. Hazzen, a New Englander, who joined the Seminary faculty, occupying the chair of literature and history with distinction for twenty years. He was beloved by his students whom he inspired to work hard, think independently and love the best in literature. A personal friend of Emerson and a proponent of his philosophy, he was also well acquainted with the great literature of all time. A brilliant speaker, he was much in demand as a lecturer on Dante, Shakespeare, Emerson, Browning, and other literary topics, while his Fourth of July oration has gone down as a great moment in Mount Carroll history. His library of 2500 volumes as left as a legacy to the Academy. At Mrs. Hazzen's death she left $2,000 to the school to keep in repair and to augment the Hazzen library.

In 1872 Miss Adelia C. Joy, a native of Kennebunk, Maine, was invited to come to the Seminary as Associate Principal for one year and stayed twenty-five. A graduate of Shephardson College ('69), Granville, Ohio, she received an added degree there in 1893. A woman of cultivated mind, lofty ideals, sound judgment, queenly dignity and fine Christian character she aimed to train each student to make the most and best of herself. Her stately bearing and wealth of auburn hair made her an unforgettable figure. As Mrs. Shimer's health failed she leaned more and more heavily on her keen-minded, utterly loyal and capable associate, whose executive ability and tireless devotion to the school well nigh matched her own. Miss Joy is remembered for developing a broader policy of modern education at the Seminary.

A Fine Arts Department flourished in those days, under Miss M. Burt, later under the excellent instruction of Miss Mary Clare Sherwood, assisted and later followed by her most talented pupil, Miss Grace Bawden.

Extra-curricular activities of Seminary girls included croquet, tennis, picnics, skating parties, singing groups, literary societies, and special celebrations, particularly Founder's Day.

The first literary society, the Lyceum, active in 1856, presented public programs to which townspeople were invited: "Admittance 25 cents. Doors open at 6 1/2 o'clock. Exercises commence at 7." In 1861 the Philomathean Society and later the Neosophic club played an important part in the life of the student body. Some of the boys, who later became state legislators and members of Congress, learned their parliamentary law in these societies.

In 1859 appeared "The Seminary Bell," a monthly news sheet, which continued up to the Civil War. In 1868, when girls only were in attendance, the Oread Society was formed and continued successfully to the close of Mrs. Shimer's regime. Oread embers soon branched out into the journalistic field, editing and publishing the Oread Magazine, filled with original poems, essays and short