Page:Sketches of representative women of New England.djvu/235

174 large capacity for work. To these traits were added soundness of judgment, strength of will, cheerfulness, unselfishness, and deep and unaffected piety. Thus it will be seen that she had the qualifications of the ideal teacher, and naturally she was soon sought for by the best private schools in New England, having first served an apprenticeship in the public schools. Everywhere she met with signal success. In the autumn of 1884 she opened the now well-known Gilman School, which rapidly outgrew its original quarters, and in 1890 was transferred to its present location, 324 Commonwealth Avenue.

In this work she was ably assisted by her sister Julia, who resigned a position in the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind, South Boston, where she had taught for nine years, in order to engage in this larger service. She, too, had studied at the Foxcroft Academy, also with her aunt. Miss Rebecca I. Gilman, who for many years was principal of a large private school in Boston. It is interesting to note how strongly marked is the predilection for teaching in the various branches of this family.

Both sisters have given substantial proof of their attachment to the place where they received their early education by the assistance which they have lately rendered to the trustees of Foxcroft Academy in raising an endowment fund for that institution. Evidence of the hold of these women upon the affection of their former pupils is seen in the fact that, when they solicited the money from this particular circle of friends, girls who had no personal interest in the small village in Maine, the letters which came in reply to their appeal for gifts were full of love and loyalty.

To the strong influence for good which they exerted upon their pupils another testimonial, among hundreds which might be adduced, appears in this extract from a letter, dated March, 1903, written to Miss Julia Gilman by Mary Chandler Lowell, perhaps the only young woman in America who has taken a degree in both medicine and law: "The other morning, when I stood in the court room and took the solemn oath of office of an attorney at law, my mind turned toward you. ... It was my good fortune in early youth to have several excellent teachers, but I think that none played so important a part in moulding my character and inspiring within me a desire to press forward and make the most of my abilities as did you. . . . But for your Words of encouragement and cheer I might never have been able to hold, as I do to-day, certificates which entitle me to the privileges of both the medical and the legal profession."

Such letters give an insight into the motives which control these teachers. When Miss Julia Gilman left South Boston, Mr. Anagnos, the director, paid a high tribute to her as "one of the most efficient and conscientious teachers ever employed by the Institution," and laid special emphasis on the way she had helped to "enlarge its ethical atmosphere to a very gratifying extent."

In this last sentence is revealed the secret of their power. Neither of the sisters could ever be satisfied simply to impart instruction. The ethical has been the dominant note in their teaching. Their aim is to provide "a home life which shall secure the development of true womanhood." As one means to this end they have secured as lecturers at the school from year to year men and women who are eminent in various walks of life, and who, in particular, are exponents of the finest Christian ideals. Among representative women they have had Julia Ward Howe, Mary A. Livermore, Amelia Quinton, Lillian Nordica, Mary E. Wilkins, Amelia E. Barr, and Pundita Ramabai. The list of lecturers of the other sex includes many prominent clergymen, artists, and authors.

The Home and Day School of the Misses Gilman stands to-day as a witness to the value of personaiity as a factor in the education of youth. With the old Phrygian philosopher, Epictetus, these women have felt that " the formation of the spirit and character must be our real concern," and this is the basic principle of their school. Its success demonstrates the truth of Emerson's words: "In my dealing with .my child, my Latin and my Greek, my accomplishments and my money, stead me nothing ; but as much soul as I have avails."