In 1848, Clara's sister Ann went to Michigan to teach, making her home with the Aunt Post who had been so dear to the children of the Swain family. After two years of teaching she was married from her aunt's home to a worthy man who still survives her. Before Ann's marriage Clara had gone to visit this aunt and was persuaded to stay, and eventually she took a small school near the farm and taught for a year. "While she was teaching," wrote one of her cousins, "my mother broke her ankle and Clara cared for her almost a year. She was a grand nurse, even at that age, and was a great comfort to us all; she was so bright and cheerful that we were unwilling to have her leave us." Her talent for nursing was called into requisition soon after her return to Castile when the children of the Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Mr. Hurlburt, became ill with typhoid fever and she was called to assist in caring for them. It was an anxious time for the nurse as well as the parents, as one child after another fell ill. Two of the children died, and later the father succumbed to the fatal illness. The faithful nurse remained with the distracted widow and the remaining children can cared for them tenderly as long as they needed her services. In an old and well-worn Bible is this inscription in her handwriting: "This is the first Bible I ever owned. It was presented to me by Rev. and Mrs. Hurlburt." The sumer of 1855 found Miss Swain, then twenty-one years of age, teaching a few private pupils in the village. One of her scholars of that summer recently spoke of her loving interest in her pupils and her care for their welfare. The following year she went to live with some cousins in Pike and attend the school there. Mr. Swain had a sister living in Canandaigua, who, knowing of Clara's strong desire for self-improvement, invited her to come there for a year of study in the seminary, an invitation which she gladly accepted; and after a year of close study she obtained a position as teacher in the primary department of one of the public schools. "Clara was determined to get an education and make use of it if she could," wrote one of her cousins. TEACHING IN CANANDAIGUA