Page:Sketches of representative women of New England.djvu/270

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In perfect sympathy with her husband, Mrs. Emerson was of invaluable help to him in all his intellectual and spiritual work. After his death, in 1885, she taught school for several years in Reading, Monson, Somerville, and in the day and evening schools of Boston. In 1897 she was graduated from the Emerson College of Oratory, Boston, and in 1900 she accepted her present position as preceptress of Emerson College.

Mrs. Emerson's character is marked by high ideals and quiet but persistent aspiration. From her father and grandfather she inherits that faculty of judgment which enables her quickly to read individual character, a calm manner and firm will, with executive ability, through which she has handled many a difficult situation without friction or injustice, as plainly shown in her discipline in the grammar schools in which she taught. In her present position she has made herself both respected and loved, and is consistently known for the tonic quality of her sympathy, which holds the young people always to their best. Two other characteristics have helped to make her the confidante of young and old—the ability to keep a secret and her care not to give unsought advice. While she never fails to speak to the point when she does speak, it is often laughingly said of her that "she knows how to keep silent in seven languages." Like many other reserved people, she writes more easily than she talks. When time hermits, she lectures on subjects connected with elocution and physical culture, and writes short stories.

Mrs. Emerson's modest reserve, coupled with a natural dignity, might give a stranger the impression that she is possessed of a cold and indifferent nature, but this impression is dissipated by a glance at the merry eye and kindly mouth, even before one comes to note her many kindnesses.

Physically sturdy and active, intellectually keen and progressive, and spiritually wholesome and sweet, she is a type of the best product of New England womanhood, fostered by plain living and high thinking.

Mrs. Emerson is a member of the Congregational church, attending Berkeley Temple, Boston. Mrs. Emerson's daughter, Mary Alice, born in Grafton, Vt., August 3, 1865, is now a teacher in the State Normal School at Bridgewater, Mass.

ARAH BROWN CAPRON was born in Lanesboro, Mass., April 24, 1828. Her name until her marriage was Sarah Brown Hooker. Her paternal grandfather was Thomas Hooker, of Rutland, Vt., who was a lineal descendant of Thomas Hooker of Connecticut. Her grandmother, Mrs. Sarah Brown Hooker, was a daughter of Lieutenant Colonel John Brown, of Pittsfield, Mass., who retired from the army because he distrusted Benedict Arnold, but who afterward died in service at Stone Arabia, in New York, in 1780. Her father was the Rev. Henry Brown Hooker, D.D., a minister of the Congregational church in Lanesboro, afterward in Falmouth, Mass., greatly honored and beloved. He was a member of the State Board of Education, receiving his appointment from Governor George N. Briggs. His last work was as the secretary of the Massachusetts Home Missionary Society, where he was engaged up to the close of a useful life. Her mother, whose maiden name was Martha Vinal Chickering, resided in Boston before marriage.

Miss Hooker's education was received in Wheaton Seminary, Norton, Mass., and in the State Normal School at West Newton. In her vacations she taught two sununer terms and two winter terms in the district schools of Falmouth, on Cape Cod. The State Normal School was then in charge of Eben S. Stearns, the well-known and loved Electa N. Lincoln, now Mrs. George A. Walton, being the able assistant. Nathaniel T. Allen, afterward long identified with the Classical School of West Newton, was the principal of the Model School, and the pupils of those days well remember his generous estimate of their abilities as they passed under his three weeks' training. Lucretia Crocker was then a student at the Normal