Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 5.djvu/90

 72 THE GRANITE MONTHLY.

and practical wisdom held in due constraint an exuberant fancy and an incli- nation to dwell in the range of her own varying moods.

Her education was furthered at the well-known female seminary of Ipswich, Massachusetts, — then under the wise charge of Rev. and Mrs. J. P. Cowles, and where Mary Lyon did so much before going to South Hadley. There she formed friendships which lasted through life ; and there her love of knowledge and her tastes in its pursuit received an added impulse and a life-time direction. While quite young she united with the Congregational Church, and her simple and hearty faith in her Saviour was childlike to the end.

Among her marked characteristics were her keen sense of the beautiful ; her contempt for all shams ; and the strength of her likes and dislikes. Com- mon things had their poetic side to her, and whatever was beautiful in nature or art, in word or in work, or better than all in character, she was quick to see and sure to delight in. She had no tolerance for pretence or assumption ; nor could she find pleasure in that which was all on the surface. The artificial she could not endure ; the superficial she could not enjoy. She loved that which was real, and which was not all show. Her fidelity to her friends was as sincere as it was unswerving. One to whom she fairly gave her confidence, she would stand by on all occasions, and she could never forget an attachment. It was inevitable that her repulsions should be hardly less strong than her attractions. There was no half-way work in the sway of her opinions. All her impressions and all her convictions were positive. Yet there was no lack of kindly courtesy toward those whom she could not be drawn to. Her regard for the feeHngs of others forbade all show of her dislikes before those who excited them.

As a wife and mother, Mrs. Rollins was wrapped up in her home duties and her home enjoyments. She lived for those whom she loved. Society, in its ordinary sense, had few charms for her. Yet her home circle was so svidened as to include others than her immediate family ; and she constantly gave the benefit of her positive character and her refined tastes and her varied culture to more or less of the young people about her who sought her guidance, and who delighted in the inspirations of her enthusiasm. By the very characteristics, however, which made her so attractive to those who knew her intimately, she was shut off from being known and appreciated, at her best, outside of that limited sphere. It required the insight of sympathy to give a full understand- ing of her. She expressed a just estimate of herself on this point, when she said, in one of the closing days of her life : " I never thought very much of the world, as such. I have loved my friends, and have loved to have them love me ; but what is called the world never had any attractions to me."

Yet there was no selfish disregard of the welfare or the needs of others, outside of her immediate sphere. Her heart was quickly touched by any appeal of sorrow or want, and her hand was as quickly outstretched to minister for its relief. There are no sincerer mourners, — now that she has passed away, — than can be found among the many to whom she had spoken comfort or given help in their hour of need, and who knew her only through such experiences of her goodness of heart.

To the public Mrs. Rollins was best known under the pseudonym of " E. H. Arr," as the author of two charming books in reminiscent description of the scenes and scenery of her early life in New Hampshire : "New England By- Gones," pubhshed in 1880; and " Old Time Child-Life," published in 1881. These works most admirably illustrate her keen appreciation of the poetry of common life, her rare insight of mind and character, and the freedom and the graceful flow of her thought and diction. Akhough published anonymously, they at once commanded wide attention and unstinted praise. So competent and appreciative a critic as the poet Whittier said of them, unqualifiedly :

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