Page:Sketches of representative women of New England.djvu/168

Rh Returning to Manchester, she taught in the high school for one year French, EngHsh, Latin, and the higher mathematics. Asso- ciated with her at this school was Miss Caroline C. Johnson, who afterward came to Boston and established a school for girls on Bowdoin Street, which she kept for twenty years. Miss Johnson was a cousin of John G. Whittier. It was with her and her sisters that the jjoet in his later years made his home at Oak Knoll, Danvers.

At this period Miss Knowlton met Mr. Micah Dyer, Jr., then a rising young lawyer of Boston. After a short engagement they were married. May 1, 1851, and took up their residence in Boston. Ten years later they ])urchased the fine estate which for a generation had belonged to the Clapp family, at Upham's Corner, Dor- chester. The house is situated on an elevation, and is surrounded by carefully kej)t lawns, with shade trees, many of which are more than one hundred years old. It is an interesting fact that the first tulip bulbs brought U) America were planted in this garden.

Family duties occupied all of Mrs. Dyer's time during the first ten years of her married life; but as the children grew up — and she was blessed with three, two sons and one daughtei- — she found time for the demands of charitable work. During the Civil War she, with scores of other brave women, did what she could to alleviate the sufferings of the soldiers. An amusing incident recently appeared in the Boston papers, in which Mrs. Dyer figures as having fired a shot in the war — not a bullet shot, however, and, so far from doing any deadly injury, it saved a man's life. 'hil(> riding in a slow Southern train, she passed in the early morning through a strip of terri- tory picketed by I'nion men. It was a dan- gerous section, and the train was barely creep- ing along. Mrs. Dyer, all alert, was gazing out of the window on the lookout for danger, when she e.spied a soldier asleep at his post, an offence punishable by death if discovered. He had evidently been overcome by fatigue. Could nothhig be done to save him'' She was on her way to one of the hospitals with deli- cacies for the soldiers there. Among the.se were oranges. She seized one, and, with an accuracy of aim gained from a youthful fond- ness for archery, hit him scjuarcly in the chest, arousing him instantly. After a bewildered moment he sjirang to his feet, then, catching sight of his deliverer, who was waving to him from the dei)arting train, he bowed his heart- felt thanks, orange in hand.

The first |)ublic work of Mrs. Dyer was on the Board of Management of the Dedham Home for Discharged Female Prisoners, to which she was appointed in 1864. For twenty- eight years she never failed, except during serious illness, to pay her monthly visit, ^'llen the Ladies' Aid Society was formed to aid the Soldiers' Home, Mrs. Dyer was made its sec- retary, and the next year, 1882, its pre.'^ident, a position that she held for ten years. The military strain in Mrs. Dyer's blooil fitteil her peculiarly for this office. Under her gui<lance the numbers rapidly increaseil, and thousands of dollars were raised to give comforts to the home. The society has furnished rooms, pro- vided a library and all sorts of smaller luxuries. A fine portrait of the "right bowei' of the Sol- diers' Home" (as the trustees call Mrs. Dyer) hangs in the chapel of the home, and one of the rooms is set apart and named for her.

Her rare executive ability combined with an even temperament makes her a natural leader of large bodies. During her presidency of the Ladies' Aitl she comlucted several fairs, which netted handsome sums. The Ladies' Aid table at the Soldiers' Carnival under her direction cleareil nearly six thoasaml dollars. Later a kettledrum for the .same benefit netted four thousand dollars, and another fair for the Soldiers' Home netted ten thousand dollars. For this fair some one facetiously offered, when told they could give anything they chose, a live pig. Mrs. Dyer, readily .seeing a novel feature for her fair, accepted the offer. Piggy was comfortably ensconced in an improvi.sed ]X'n, presiding over a box inscribed with bright ver.ses from this lady's fertile brain, inviting contributions for his maintenance. Tliirty tlollars was realized from this exhibit. Then the pig was .sent to tiie Soitfifrs' Home, where in the cour.se of time he was served.

The Boston Educational and Industrial Union in 1885 asked Mrs. Dyer to take charge