Girls -- United States -- Biography -- Juvenile literature
The girls were eager to tell her about themselves. Each one felt that
she could consider Miss Dodge as her personal friend. “The Irene Club,”
as this group was named after a beloved member, grew until it had to be
divided. Still the girls continued to come. In this way clubs for
working girls were started. These clubs have proved to be so successful
that they have never stopped growing.
At that time, there were no places where girls who were busy all day
could learn home-making. Miss Dodge, therefore, together with several
other young women, organized classes for these girls in various
household subjects. Miss Dodge and her associates soon discovered that
there were very few teachers who had been trained to teach in this
particular field. They later found that there was a lack of highly
trained teachers in practically all of the departments of teaching.
Miss Dodge began to think that there should be a school to train
teachers in the various branches of learning. It was not Grace Dodge’s
way to stop merely with thinking. She began to work for this school,
and, largely because of her efforts, Teachers College of Columbia
University rose on Morningside Heights in New York City.
Every year this college sends out thousands of men and women prepared to
teach all the school subjects. The wonderful work that Teachers College
is accomplishing is due, in a large measure, to the inspiration and
guidance that Grace Dodge gave to the college throughout her life.
In many other ways Grace Dodge carried on her work of helpfulness. She
was the first woman to serve on the Board of Education of New York City.
Because of her pity for women and children who were unprotected and
bewildered in travel, she organized the Travelers’ Aid Society. So firm
was her belief in what the Young Women’s Christian Association does for
girls that she worked to make it a strong organization. She was the
president of its national board for eight years.
Miss Dodge often called herself “a working girl whose wages were paid in
advance.” Her money meant to her merely a means for doing good.
Grace Hoadley Dodge was unselfish and determined to fill the need that
she saw. Through her efforts, school girls and boys now have many
opportunities to use hand and brain together. It was because of her
great interest in others that she brought joy into the life of many a
wage-earning girl and helped to fit her for her work of home-making.
[Illustration]
Alice Cunningham Fletcher—
The Girl Who Befriended The Red Man
Once upon a time there lived a little girl named Alice, who loved to sit
upon the shore and listen to the song of the waves. She also liked to
climb a high hill and look far off at the blue sky and the green slopes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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