Barton, Clara, 1821-1912; Nurses -- United States -- Biography
Mr. Fowler replied that these characteristics were all indicated; that,
however much her friends might suffer from them, she would always suffer
more. “They may be apparently outgrown, but the sensitive nature will
always remain. She will never assert herself for herself—she will suffer
wrong first—but for others she will be perfectly fearless.” To my
mother’s anxious question, “what shall I do?” he replied, “Throw
responsibility upon her. She has all the qualities of a teacher. As soon
as her age will permit, give her a school to teach.” I well remember how
this suggestion shocked me. I should not have remembered all these
advices, but years after they were found with much more among my
mother’s carefully preserved papers; some correspondence must have
followed. The depth and faithfulness of the interest felt, was shown in
the fact that the great reader of human character, through his long life
in foreign lands as well as his own, never forgot the troublesome child.
Occasional correspondence and valued meetings across the sea marked the
milestones of life, till one road came to an end. A great and true man
and friend of humanity had gone, and the world was better for his having
lived in it.
At the close of the second term of school, the advice was acted upon,
and it was arranged that I teach the school in District No. 9. My sister
resided within the district. How well I remember the preparations—the
efforts to look larger and older, the examination by the learned
committee of one clergyman, one lawyer and one justice of the peace; the
certificate with “excellent” added at the close; the bright May morning
over the dewy, grassy road to the schoolhouse, neither large nor new,
and not a pupil in sight.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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