A New Year's ReceptionA New Year's Reception
"After an hour's most exciting ride, we dismounted at the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. Here is a mummy coffin, whose hieroglyphics demonstrate that the ancient Egyptians had a conception of hell and heaven, and a belief in the immortality of the soul. There is an inscription proving that the Sphinx existed before the time of Cheops; and that even then, the people were rich and civilized. Here are ancient knives, scissors, needles, etc., but nothing is made of iron, which they thought a bone of their evil genius. Here on exhibition are the magnificent jewels found on the mummy of Queen Aoh-Hotep, the mother of the first king of the XVIII. dynasty.
"Here can be found the confirmation of many narratives of the Old Testament. The first great event in the Kingdom of Judah, after its separation, was the invasion of Shishak, king of Egypt. According to the sacred record, Shishak came against Jerusalem with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen, took the fenced cities, and was about to invest the capital, when Rehoboam made his submission.
"On the outside of the great temple at Karnak, hieroglyphics commemorate the success of Shishak against Judah, and records a long list of captured towns—the fenced cities of Scripture. The picture Moses gives of a Pharaoh ruling over an absolute monarchy, finds confirmation in the ancient Egyptian tombs. From vast numbers of papyri, we learn in detail of that old civilization—records which even Herodotus was not able to read.
"In these we find a counterpart of the picture of that country presented by Moses. After a slumber of 3,000 years, these records present the people prostrating themselves, the laborers storing away grain, the baker with his three baskets upon his head, the brickyards with Jewish laborers supervised by Egyptian taskmasters, etc.
"In the Museum of Antiquities are statues of kings and queens who lived in the era between Moses and Abraham. In front of them is an immense glass case in which is deposited their crown jewels, artistically executed. Among them is a massive gold chain, more exquisitely beautiful than anything I saw in the Tower, among Victoria's crown jewels, unless I except the Kohinoor. It was more beautiful than the jeweled swordhilt, breast plate or crown of the Shah of Persia, worn at his reception at Milan, though they represented nearly half the wealth of his kingdom.
"Thus it is proved that in the era in which Joseph received the chain of gold from Pharaoh, such chains, of rare workmanship, were already in vogue. Less than a century ago, critics were hurling their shafts of contempt against the so-called blunders of Moses; but monumental history substantiates his credibility. Truly, Egypt is one of God's historic books. His handwriting is on temple and tablet and tomb. Here dead men speak, and stones rise up to testify. Bricks of unburnt clay, torn up from the ruins of centuries, tell of Israel's bondage and labor.
"Of course we went to the bazaars andparks, cathedrals and mosques, the missionary schools, and the College of Cairo—the principal University of the East. And then to Alexandria—to which the ancient city has, indeed, bequeathed nothing but its name. Though earth and sea have remained unchanged, imagination can scarcely find a place for the ancient walls. Little vestige remains of the magnificent days of the Ptolomies and the Cæsars.
"One-fourth of the population is foreign; the city seethes with the scum of all the cities of the Mediterranean. Here luxury and literature, the Epicurean and the Christian, dwelt together; but now, in the Oriental part, one finds only dirty, narrow, tortuous streets, mud-colored buildings with terraced roofs, varied by fat mosques with lean minarets.
"Here once stood the renowned library of antiquity. Here the Hebrew Scriptures expanded into Greek under the hands of the Septuagint. Here Cleopatra, 'Vainquer des vainquer du monde' reveled with the Roman conqueror; here Mark preached the truth upon which Origen attempted to refine; here Athenasius held warlike controversy; here Amer conquered, and here Abercrombie fell.
"In company with our intelligent dragoman, we sailed from Alexandria on a Russian steamship, and, after a voyage of a day and a half, beheld the queer stone city of Joppa, with its fort-like houses rising tier above tier on the hillside.
"I cannot describe the enthusiasm we felt at the thought that we were at last to walk upon the soil hallowed by the feet of patriarchs, prophets and apostles and to visit the scenes where they lived, labored, and communed with God. We walked through the winding, slanting streets of Joppa, and called at the house of Simon the tanner.
"So well preserved were the vats of his tannery that one would hardly have been surprised to find the distinguished guest of Simon walking on the housetop in the twilight. But we must confess that we could not identify this house by the description given in the tenth chapter of Acts.
"Leaving Joppa early in the afternoon, in a German spring-wagon, and passing through the only gate on the land side, we set our faces toward the Holy City. Gardens and orchards, groves of orange, fig, and pomegranate, madethe country delightful. Our road lay directly across the plain of Sharon.
"Isaiah prophesied that Sharon should be a wilderness, and the black huts of the Bedouin tell the fulfillment of that prediction. We look in vain for the beautiful flower to which Solomon likened his beloved. But although man is no longer regaled by its fragrance, the true Rose of Sharon still unfolds its charms to every believer, whether he be a child of the plain, or the mountain.
"We passed by Ludd, and refreshed ourselves at the Arimathea of Joseph. We approached the hillside village of Kirjath-jearim, with its terraces of olives and fig trees. Leaving the valley of Ajalon, the rough macadamized road led us up the rocky sides of Judea's hills. We traveled nearly all night; and, just as we reached the highest point in the road, between the sea and the river, the rising sun unveiled to us the minarets and domes and massive walls of Jerusalem. I cannot tell you how inspiring, how deep, were the emotions that came crowding upon brain and heart.
"When we were about five miles from the city, a young man, mounted upon a beautiful Arab steed, brought us to a halt, with a courteouswave of his hand, and, in broken English, presented us with the card of the Mediterranean Hotel. We learned that the proprietor was a convert of Dr. Barclay, and decided to make his house our home during our stay. In a little while we entered the Joppa gate amid cries of squalid beggars, and, a few yards from that entrance, dismounted before our hotel. It stands on Mt. Zion, in the shadow of the Tower of David, and here we received that cordial welcome accorded to those willing to pay $3 a day.
"Standing on the heights of Mt. Zion with your face to the east, you have before you the Tyropeon Valley, now so full of debris as scarcely to appear as a valley. Looking a little to the north you behold Mt. Moriah where now stand the Dome of the Rock and the Mosque of El Akra. Beyond these to the east, is the deep Valley of Jehosaphat with the brook Kedron and the supposed Garden of Gethsemane, and beyond rises the beautiful summit of the Mount of Olives. Northward is Akra, and east of it Bezetha, two of the hills on which the city originally stood, and a part of which it still covers.
"We have lingered at Bethesda, whence theangel has departed; at Siloam's fountain; at the Wailing Place where the Jews, every Friday afternoon, lament in the language of their poets, the misfortunes of their people; at the Dome of the Rock with its marvelous Moslem wonders; at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, that centre of enslaving superstition, whose annual triumphs cast a ray of hope adown the narrow halls of the Vatican. Through a hole in the wall of the Chapel of Angelo, a torch is annually passed out, supposedly lighted by fire from heaven. The pilgrims wait in the darkness with wax tapers, to be lighted from celestial fire. The devotees bathe their hands in the flame, to secure a special blessing; and the extinguished tapers are carried to 20,000 distant homes, to be as devoutly reverenced as the pilgrims who carry them.
"There is nothing in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that is not saddening to the heart of the enlightened. Through our visit to this building we had the honor of making the acquaintance of the Bishop of Jerusalem, and receiving from him diplomas testifying to our Oriental travel. I fear I should forfeit mine could he know my unorthodox opinions of the 'sacred spots' of the Church.
Woman of BethlehemWoman of Bethlehem
"I loved to walk along the Via Dolorosa, to visit the home of Mary and Martha. I wept under the shade of Gethsemane's gnarled olive trees; I climbed to the summit of Olivet, and listened to the French prattle of the Countess de Bouillon; I took a donkey ride over the hills of Judea; I lunched in the shadow of the rock where the man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, fell among thieves; I tented in the valley of the Jordan with the Stars and Stripes and the Crescent and the Star waving above; I stood on the whitened shores of the Salt Sea, and gathered dead sea apples along the shady banks of the Sacred River; I had a cooling draught from Elisha's Fountain at the foot of the Mount of Temptation; and in the shadow of Mount Tabor, I thought I heard the angel of death calling me to another Canaan. The flowered slopes of cedared Lebanon, the snowy top of Hermon, the clear waters of Abana, the ivy of old Damascus, Tyre and Sidon, Mt. Carmel and Nazareth—in short, from Dan to Beersheba, we saw all.
"And for all the Holy Land, the most accurate guide-book the traveler can have, even to this day, is the Old Testament. So perfect is the agreement of the land and the Book, thatfrequently when standing upon some elevated spot in Palestine one could read the story of Joshua, Judges and Samuel, and follow accurately with the eye the movements from place to place, as readily as on a modern map.
Mrs. Carr in JerusalemMrs. Carr in Jerusalem
O. A. Carr Arab Gentleman's GarbO. A. Carr, Arab Gentleman's Garb
"Since the first siege of Jerusalem by Joshua thirty-three centuries ago, it has undergone twenty-six sieges, and in almost one-third of these, the city was utterly devastated. The great explorer, Captain Warren, has sunk shafts through the immense mass of debris accumulated at the wall penetrating stratum after stratum of debris of successive devastations.
"Descending eighty feet, he found the road that used to lead from the gate, in the time of Herod. Sixty feet farther down, was discovered the road of the time of Solomon. In the foundation-stones were found the marks of the quarries of Tyre. They came upon the arches of the viaduct, that, in the days of Solomon, connected the palace with the temple.
"There is no discord between the voice of the ruins, and the voice of inspiration. These wonderful voices of the dead, coming not alone from Egypt and Palestine, but from the exhumed capitals of Assyria and Babylonia,awakened after a score and a quarter centuries of silence, bear testimony in unmistakable tones that 'Jehovah is God, Jehovah is God alone.'"
The five years following the return to America were years of transition, of experiment. Mrs. Carr was, as always, bent upon devoting her energies to educational work, and Mr. Carr was content to preach in whatever surroundings might be best adapted to her talents.
Fortunate is he who discovers anywhere in the world, a situation which calls for the exercise of all his highest faculties; usually such a setting must be made, fashioned from a part of that energy which, might, if not thus deflected from creative work, have wrought the more.
It was so with Mrs. Carr. Endowed with gifts of high order, gifts that the world always needs, she had not, as yet, found the vantage ground for their full exercise; nor was she ever to find that highest development, until she had fashioned from her own heart and brain, the battle-ground of service.
As yet, she did not know this, but sought in various fields for a ready-prepared equipment, a sword sharpened, and a breast plate polished by other hands, with which she might fight forthe truth. Returning from Australia she naturally looked about in Kentucky for the background of her ideals. It was not to be found there, and she came presently to Missouri; first to Fulton, then to Columbia.
She entered into various school relationships, but we find her restless in association with presidents whose ideas of school-government were different from her own. We trust the following extracts from letters will prove of interest in themselves, and at the same time tell the story of these years in the words of those who were chief actors.
May 27, 1874, about eight months after the return from Australia, A. B. Jones writes to Mr. Carr from Madison Female Institute, Richmond, Kentucky: "If I should conclude to resign here, would it be worth while to nominate you and Mrs. Carr for the position?"—which shows that Mrs. Carr is making no delay in seeking her sharpened sword and polished armor.
She is in fact, impatient in the search, as witness this to her from Mr. Carr, May 27th: "I am having big audiences at Sycamore, Kentucky. At the conclusion of the sermon, last night, eleven came forward. You must try tobe reconciled with your lot until next fall. This constant moving about from place to place, is best for the present. As to Hocker College, they want you and I will hold myself liable to an engagement at Cincinnati, for my wife's sake. Do not worry over the matter. Teaching must be attended to, just as the institutions of baptism and the Lord's supper. I am sure you will be one of the happiest women in the world, if you are settled at work; and this shall be, if we are spared to see next fall."
He writes again, June 25th: "Your letter came yesterday. A man named Carr, opened it by mistake, and when he saw that ribbon and those flowers, he must have thought it from somebody's sweetheart,—and so it was! Brother Crenshaw has a flourishing Ladies' College at Hopkinsville. These institutions have sprung up rapidly in Kentucky. Here at Princeton is another. Warrendale College at Georgetown is to be sold for debt. From all I can see, these Colleges do not promise much. I am sure a certainty at Hocker is preferable to an uncertainty elsewhere."
Extract from theKentucky Gazette, Lexington, Ky., August 18, 1874: "On the secondMonday of September, Hocker College" (of which Robt. Graham was President) "will begin its sixth annual session. The immense outlay of more than $100,000 has made the building perfectly adapted to its purposes. To the faculty of the fall term has been added Mrs. O. A. Carr, a Christian woman of untiring energy, and zeal in the education of women. She is a graduate of St. Catherine de Sienna and Daughters' College and holds a Traveling Diploma from the Bishop of Jerusalem. She purposes delivering a series of lectures, extending through the collegiate year, upon the wonders of many lands. She is eminently qualified as an educator and disciplinarian for the position of Principal in Hocker College."
M. W. Green, writing from Australia, throws a confirmatory light on why the Carrs were obliged to return to America: "You say you are so busy you find it difficult to get time to write. It is to be hoped that in doing so much you will not again overtax yourself, and bring on another time of weakness. I am beginning to feel somewhat as you did, before you left Melbourne. Nature is beginning to wear out, and calls for a rest. I cannot get that rest on land, for if I see an opportunity topreach, I feel myself unfaithful if I do not avail myself of it. Sometimes I think I will never get a rest unless I take a long sea-voyage. It must be hard for you to have your study in Lexington, and your books in Hobart Town. Brother Earl writes me of his sorrow at hearing that protracted meetings are being introduced into Australia. 'They,' he says, 'often bring unconverted people into the church; and they are discouraging to the regular preacher, for the people get into the way of not uniting with the church, except at the exciting time of a protracted meeting.' We are pleased that Sister Carr has obtained so good a place for usefulness as the one at Hocker. We had Brother Magarey over in Melbourne to preach for us. I was much pleased with him, both as to piety and ability. His style much resembles your own, and I cannot tell his handwriting from yours." (This was the miller's son, Alex., whose brother practiced medicine and religion, as we have seen.)
While Mrs. Carr is teaching at Hocker, Mr. Carr writes to her from Vanceburg: "I cannot tell when I will be home; this is the time for work. I would be miserable hanging about Hocker College, doing nothing, and you hardat work. I will hold two or three meetings before I return. Miller is blazing away at Greenup; he is giving me a drumming, I hear; but he can't hurt me. I understand that Brother Sweeny has agreed to debate with Miller. I can assist your young ladies on the Argonautic Expedition as well from here, as if I were with them. I advise them to write sensible essays, and have their papers strictly original. This advice is all I could offer them, no matter where I am. This is an odd place. The farmers bring their produce to town every other day, which consists of a few bundles of hoop-poles for barrels, and these they trade for something to eat. They leave the city with a long slice of fat bacon under the arm, and a little bag of flour, enough to sustain their families for the next day. Then they come, and go again. I am amused at the merchants, who give their goods for poles, tar and tanbark, and then run cooper-shops in connection with their dry goods and bacon. One of our sisters here is a milliner. She says she doesn't take tanbark in trade for bonnets, but she has ladies' hats for ten cents a piece, and carries on a lively trade. Don't you want me to bring you up here, to do some shopping?"
Standing: Matt (Mrs. W. B. Smith), R. A. Carr, Mrs. O. A. Carr, O. A. Carr, Mrs. H. P. Carr, Owen Carr. Sitting: Mary (Mrs. Goddard), Wm. Carr, Mrs. Wm. Carr, Capt. H. P. Carr, Minnie (Mrs. Jno. W. Fox, Sr.) HOME AGAIN—ALL HEREStanding: Matt (Mrs. W. B. Smith), R. A. Carr, Mrs. O. A. Carr, O. A. Carr, Mrs. H.P. Carr, Owen Carr. Sitting: Mary (Mrs. Goddard), Wm. Carr, Mrs. Wm. Carr, Capt. H. P. Carr, Minnie, (Mrs. Jno. W. Fox, Sr.) HOME AGAIN—ALL HERE
We learn from the following that Mrs. Carr found one year at Hocker College (now called Hamilton College) enough to convince her that it did not afford the opportunities she sought; the letter is to the Trustees of the Midway Orphan School, and is written by Robert Graham, May 10, 1875: "Having heard that there will be a vacancy in the principalship of your institution, it gives me pleasure to say that Sister Carr has been associated with me in Hocker College during the session now coming to a close, and that she is a lady peculiarly fitted to have charge of girls in the classroom and in daily life. She is a lady of refinement, intellectual culture, and energy. I think her conscientiousness, experience, and religious devotion, point her out as one raised of God to do a great work in the intellectual world, and spiritual education of women."
September 9, 1875, Mrs. Carr, now at her old home town, Stanford, receives a letter from John Augustus Williams: "If you had consulted me as a daughter should consult a father, you would have saved yourself some trouble. I received several letters from the Missouri Orphan School recently; they wrote for my advice regarding teachers,—but I thoughtyou engaged at Hocker College. School must be in session now, so it is too late. But you and Ollie, having no children, ought to be in charge of that school. It is 150 pupils strong. What to do this session? Well, address yourself to study, and prepare yourself to take charge of your sister-women in any branch. Daughters College is full. Over 100 boarders have applied, and we cannot take them. You and Ollie come to see me. Yes, comehome, and let's have a talk!"
Mrs. Carr was never associated with the Missouri Orphan School, but she was convinced that Missouri offered her better opportunities than Kentucky. Accordingly, when in the fall of this same year, Mr. Carr was called to preach for the 17th and Olive Street Church, at St. Louis, it meant a final departure from the state of their birth, so far as permanent work was concerned.
At the St. Louis Church, Mr. Carr was the successor of Dr. W. H. Hopson, and the predecessor of T. P. Haley. It was an interesting and a critical time in the history of the St. Louis Churches. J. H. Garrison of the Central Church was laboring night and day to keep the infantChristianupon its feet. Thefaithful members of both congregations stood loyally by the little weekly, and took their turns in ministering to the mission churches, such as that at 13th and Webster.
Of the Church for which Mr. Carr preached, there were three elders, who were interested in this missionary work: John G. Allen, the father-in-law of Albert Myles; Dr. Hiram Christopher, former teacher of Chemistry at Bethany and author of "The Remedial System" as we have seen; and Dr. J. W. Ellis, who practiced law during the day, taught in Jones's Business College at night, preached on Sunday afternoons, wrote "Jarvis Jeems" articles for theChristianbetween times, and edited the St. Louis Ladies Magazine.
The matter of finding board for Mr. and Mrs. Carr was a difficult one. Albert Myles and his family lived with J. G. Allen, hence Mrs. Allen did not feel that she could receive an additional family, however congenial. In the end the Carrs went to her hospitable home, but for some time they lived with Dr. and Mrs. J. W. Ellis.
To this association of a month, the present writer owes his personal knowledge of Mrs. Carr. He had never seen her until the fall of1875, he never saw her after the spring of 1876. Inasmuch as his sixth birthday fell within those extremes of time, he cannot be expected to speak of Mrs. Carr's mental and spiritual characteristics, from his own observation. He remembers her, however, not as a mere name, or as a vague shadow of the past, but with clear-cut distinctness. Of all the women who flitted through his boyhood days never to reappear, Mrs. Carr's personality stands forth best defined.
Perhaps it was because she had no children of her own, that she was able to impress children, from the interest she had in the children of other people,—her absorbing thoughtfulness for youth itself. This was with her no transient pastime, but belonged to that deeper part of her nature which started the stinging tear at little bits of childhood-verses. Her manner with children was not gay and buoyant, but gentle and untiring.
The child felt that her interest did not spring from impulse, to pass with the hour, but that whenever he should be ready, he would find her. In that inherent dignity and seriousness of her natural character, kindliness for the young shone with a steady light which, if it didnot flash out in sudden radiant mirth, remained unclouded from any other interest.
Those who have proved restive under Mrs. Carr's unrelaxing discipline, those who may have opposed her in school management, those whom she has faced from the public rostrum in state addresses with logical argumentation, may have found in her a fearlessness that seemed at times the indication of an imperious and unyielding disposition. Doubtless those who opposed her were unable to understand the wounded heart behind the stern, accusing eye. But however brave and determined, there was one thing she feared,—to wound the heart of a child.
During Mr. Carr's ministry in St. Louis, Mrs. Carr devoted herself to study and travel. A large composition book, filled to the last page, shows her indefatigable labors with the German language, under the guidance of Dr. J. W. Ellis. In 1876, she went to the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, where we find her studying the exhibits with the same thoroughness she had shown in London and Cairo. While she is on the wing, Mr. Carr writes to her from Sedalia in June:
"I'm all right here, a little sick. Friday night I lectured at Mexico. Brother Hardinand I took the freight to Moberly; and then here, in time for the meeting. Dr. Hopson is in the chair and there are twenty-nine preachers present. I met Brother Longan last night, and he laughed as we shook hands. He and I will have a private dig. What do Brothers Wilkes and Rogers think of his 'One Word More' in the lastChristian? Do they think Longan is right on the ghost question? This is a charming city. The country around looks like the best part of Fayette County" (of course he is speaking of Kentucky.)
"The little I have seen, is bewitching. I am on for a speech tomorrow, and have been too sick to prepare it, and here I sit with my finger in my mouth! I hope I'll do as well as —— did last night, and I think I will! Brother Monser is my roommate, and we did talk last night! I think he likes my wife better than he does me. Well, I let him. He is a good man. He spoke of the time Brother Mountjoy conducted you to the platform at Mexico."
The following, from Fulton, Missouri, signed by three citizens, shows that while at the Exposition, Mrs. Carr was making plans for future work: "In compliance with your request, we report as follows,—We have interviewedthe members of the church in town, and find them quite favorable towards patronizing a school of our own; we think 30 or 40 may certainly be counted upon at the opening. We cannot do anything until we first ascertain that we are going to have a school taught. Desks, seats, etc., can be easily secured when we find there is to be a necessity for them. If preparations be commenced at once, we think a very good school can be founded here."
September 7th, Mrs. Carr wrote to Mr. Carr from Washington, D.C.: "I am writing in the celebrated Washington Post Office. I have learned a great deal during my short stay in Washington. I have made a pilgrimage to the American's Mecca,—but I boiled my peas,—and have visited all the places of interest in the city. I will reach St. Louis to-morrow afternoon. Tell Sister Childers I would rather have the room over the parlor, for you know how wakeful I am. The room over her room we can have for a study. May the Lord abundantly bless my dear husband, and grant me the happiness of seeing him once more face to face."
On the same day, Mr. Carr wrote to Mrs. Carr: "Brother Franklin preaches at Fulton to-day, so I have run down here to Louisiana,Missouri, to try to get a pupil for you" (for the prospective school, perhaps to be established at Fulton.) "You say you will be in St. Louis soon—then in Fulton, I suppose, about the 12th. Is it possible that I shall see my dear wife so soon? I do long to see you and have your encouragement, and enjoy your counsel, your comfort and your love. You say, 'I have just called on H. W. Longfellow. What a grand old man he is! His poetic soul flows through every word he utters. I wonder if heeverdid anything that was wrong?' I wish I could have accomplished more in our St. Louis work. I believe our new field at Fulton is promising."
Mrs. Carr's fourth experiment in the educational world was at Fulton, where she established Floral Hill College for girls. Her note book shows that her rules of discipline were as wise and as rigid, as if her attendance had been much larger. The attendance was not indeed large, but it was sufficient to place the institution upon a paying basis.
At this time the Orphan School was at Camden Point, and Floral Hill College had no rival in Fulton. However, at Columbia, not far away, Christian College proved a formidablecheck to any thought of future greatness. Christian College had long been established; it was handsomely equipped, and could make the appeal throughout the State, that Floral Hill College could not offer. Mrs. Carr found herself at the head of a college whose management depended solely upon her own wisdom; but as an offset to this advantage, she knew that her institution could never become a mighty force in Missouri.
"I Want to Educate you"—"Absorbing Thoughtfulness.""I Want to Educate you"—"Absorbing Thoughtfulness."
The spring of 1877 saw the close of her first year's work, and the following, written by Mr. Carr, in August, shows that she intended to open school in the fall; he writes from Maysville, for he is on a visit among the scenes of his youth:
"Mother and I went by Mill Creek, where Brothers Jno. I. Rogers and I. B. Grubbs are holding a meeting, on to Mt. Carmel. Thursday I dined with Brothers Grubbs, Rogers, Loos and Myall at Sister Mayhue's—she was one of my schoolmates at May's Lick. The meeting at Mill Creek closed last night with several additions. Everybody asks why I didn't bring you. Kate would 'give anything to go to Floral Hill College'. Grandfather is nearly 86 years of age, and has been very ill oflate. I talked long with him, as he lay there, and read 2 Cor. 5, and prayed with him. He wept for joy and simply said 'I am waiting for the Lord's will to be done.' I am so glad to find father and mother able to go about. They are still working for their children. You must be encouraged about your school. Brothers Grubbs and Rogers praise you for your work. But nobody praises you more (I meanprizes) than I!"[16]
Mrs. Carr had not been teaching long on her second year, when she received a request from Mrs. P. F. Johnson, President of the ChristianWomen's Board of Missions, to make an address at the St. Louis convention, to be held October 19, 1877. The subject given was, 'Children in Mission Work.' The request was seconded by Mrs. Sarah Wallace, who made this interesting comment:
"From the very beginning of our work as a Society, we have had to battle with the habit of 'giving nothing' among our churches. The people are not stingy, but they do not realize the necessity of systematic giving. When we wanted to add to the amount for Brother Darly's school (the mission school in Jamaica),it was asked, What can the children do? Our board advanced the amount, then issued an appeal to the Sunday-schools. We wanted the children to have a work of their own. Brother Darly's school proved more than a success, passed the examination in six months, and is now under the patronage of the Government. As a result of the appeals, the Sunday-schools gave, first quarter, $12; second quarter, $23; third quarter, $36; fourth quarter,—not yet reported. It is now decided that a school be established at Kingston. It will callfor about $250. The Board desires to continue this as children's work. Mrs. Jameson feels confident of meeting you in St. Louis, when she will tell you the whole story. Her illness is not violent, but lingering, as malignant fever usually is."
In the meantime, O. A. Carr had been preaching for the Fulton Church. The following from Geo. W. Longan of Plattsburg, Mo., shows the activity of both, and that "private digs" about ghosts had no place in public work for the Cause:
"March 6, 1878: Of course, I can't consent to take the burden on my shoulder! It falls of right on yours, and you can carry it as easily as any one. The objects of the convention are to discuss themes of living interest, and general utility as a sort of preachers' drill. We aim to assign subjects according to the known tastes of the individuals chosen. I suggest that no one be selected who was on the program last year. Of course, the country around Fulton will furnish most of the speakers. The subject, 'Phases of Current Unbelief' would be both interesting and profitable in the hands of the right man. I think J. Z. Taylor would write a good paper on that, or A. F. Smith,or President Geo. S. Bryant, of Columbia. Procter had nothing last year; you might get him to preach at night. Experience proves that two papers with discussions following, and a sermon at night, is the best division of time. I will try to compel my mind to think of other objects. Write to Edgar for suggestions as to men."
(We may state parenthetically, that the reason the present writer never again met Mrs. Carr, though she often returned on visits to St. Louis, is because Dr. Ellis moved from the city, first to take charge of Woodland College at Independence, later to assume the presidency of Plattsburg College at Plattsburg, Mo., where Geo. W. Longan was still preaching.)
Mrs. Carr had not finished her second year at Floral Hill College when a series of letters were exchanged between her and the President of Christian College at Columbia, Geo. S. Bryant. These letters show a consciousness on her part that Floral Hill College, if continued, was destined to remain overshadowed by larger institutions; and a conviction on his part that Christian College must inevitably suffer from the nearness of Floral Hill. President Bryant seeks to absorb Mrs. Carr's institution,and to employ Mrs. Carr as Associate Principal,—the same relationship she had held toward Robt. Graham at Hocker. This correspondence is interesting, and throws light upon Mrs. Carr's ability as a woman of business. Not only does she gain the various points for which she contends, such as the number of hours she is to teach, the amount of salary she is to receive, etc., but she is jealous of her official position, and will have none of its privileges abridged. President Bryant is a man who loves his joke, and is inclined to illuminate contested ground with the glow of good-fellowship; but Mrs. Carr will have none of his humor until all her propositions are definitely accepted. At last, May 23, 1878, President Bryant writes:
"The propositions of yours of the 21st—eight in number—are the propositions of our agreement, as I understand them. So Christian College and Floral Hill College are one! I congratulate Christian College upon the accomplishment of so desirable an end. Please allow me to say that your spirit of self-sacrifice has not gone unnoticed. Instead of assigning reasons to the 'Fulton Public,' would it not be better,—'To the Public?'—For Floral HillCollege was not an institution of Fulton simply. I will gladly publish in the catalogue a statement over your own name, of the reasons."
This agreement was reached after months of negotiations.
Floral Hill College was absorbed by Christian College, accordingly; but Mrs. Carr's personality was one that refused to be absorbed by any association, or institution. So definite were her ideas of the management of a school, particularly in regard to its discipline, that her position as associate principal could never have been satisfactory in any school. Mrs. Carr was a woman of intense conviction, and when attempts were made to persuade her from her principles, she felt that she was being persuaded to error. Those who are by nature fitted to lead, find their inborn talent curbed, when this leadership is clogged. In any school, there can be but one real head. Mrs. Carr would not look upon her position as associate principal as an honorary title; nor could she feel that she was doing all she could for the education of girls, when her ideas of education, which emphasized conduct, clashed with those of others who insisted rather upon grades in recitation. As at Hocker in Lexington, sonow at Christian College in Columbia, she grew restive before the year had expired.
In the spring of 1879, Mr. Carr again went to Kentucky to hold meetings, and we find him lingering among the scenes of his boyhood, and naturally thinking much of the past.
"March 17. As I walked about the streets at Mt. Carmel, many familiar objects met my gaze. There was the road along which you used to take your morning walks, and the woods in which the birds sang for you their best early songs. They put me to sleep in the parlor where you said to me, 'I will go with you!'—that room in which I first became acquainted with you, and asked you to go on an excursion with me to Æsculapia. I thought of the past and tried to sketch the future, and prayed that you may be happily situated. I expect to have a happy meeting at Carmel, for those old familiar faces inspire me. If you were here, I could preach much better.
"March 20, Stony Point. This is my sister's home, midway between Paris and Winchester" (the sister Minnie, now Mrs. John Fox, Sr., whom we heard of in the May's Lick days). "I am sitting at the old desk where, seventeen years ago, I conned my Greek grammarunder the instruction of my brother-in-law Jno. W. Fox, who is the head of this house, and the head of a school here, of eighteen years' standing. He has a family of ten children all of whom, except the infant, have been taught by him. One son, Johnnie, passed the Harvard examination last spring, and is now at Lexington. Professor Neville brags on him, and says he knocks '95' every time in his Greek class. His half-brother Jimmie, is one of the public school principals of Lexington, and is much respected there. He has taken Johnnie with him, pays his board and tuition, and assists him in his studies." (The reader will doubtless recognize in "Johnnie", the author of "Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come," and "Trail of the Lonesome Pine.") "President Graham was out here, and stayed one night. He enjoyed it! He says, in talking of us, 'Ollie and Mattie.' The children all fell in love with him, and gave him cakes. My father is able to walk, and my mother's general health is good. At Lexington, I saw many of your old friends: Grubbs, Cox, etc. Doctor Hopson and Brother Graham say that you ought to take a good rest.Now do you hear?That is from headquarters! My visitat Lexington was too short. I fell in with some Australian students who came near monopolizing my time. One young man, Charlie Thurgood, used to work in a baker's shop all week, and come to my house in Melburne, Saturday nights, to learn grammar. Now he is in Lexington, preparing to preach the Word.[17]The Bible College has 45 students, College of Arts 65, Agricultural and Mechanical 105. Professor Neville says it is the most pleasant session he ever had. Hamilton College" (formerly Hocker College) "has moderate success. I gave them a Bible reading at Broadway Church, Wednesday evening. The audience was very good. It was like old times."
When her first year's work ended at Christian College, Mrs. Carr, though dissatisfied with the restraints upon her, had not decided to relinquish her position as associate principal. However, she and President Bryant were unable to agree upon terms, and in July she definitely terminated her engagement. "I would not insult President Bryant," she wrote him, "by supposing for a moment that he expected Mrs. Carr to accept the propositions in his last letter."
She observes that she would have considered a re-engagement because of Mr. Carr's earnest desire to assist L. B. Wilkes, then in poor health at Columbia, and also because Mrs. Carr's work in the College had been greatly appreciated by patrons. But the curtailment of her privileges and authority, is intolerable; the matter of salary is of no moment, in view of this obstacle; nor will she hesitate to make the matter clear to all who seek enlightenment. As she remarks, "I do not know exactly what you mean by burying the past. In the course of the sad work, you may cast a few clods over the remains of Mrs. Carr's once prosperous school. If by burying the past, you mean, stop all discussion of our differences, I have only to say, it is impossible to bury that which is not dead. Be assured, I would not bury it alive if I could. When I am asked why I do not remain at Christian College, I am constrained to tell the whole truth, though I would rather be silent." Let us hope that President Bryant's sense of humor enabled him to enjoy this keen sarcasm.
About this time, Dr. S. S. Laws, President of the University of the State of Missouri, situated at Columbia, became desirous of associatingMrs. Carr with the University. He had been deeply impressed not only by her scholarship and wide experience, but by her reputation as a disciplinarian. As she was now free from Christian College, he expressed to her his hope that she would consider an offer. Such an association could not but be looked upon by her as a high promotion in her beloved calling.
September 1, 1879, Dr. Laws wrote to Mrs. Carr as follows: "I mentioned the case to our Local Board, and their favorable action I now send you. Your answer will, of course, be addressed to the Board, but I'd be obliged for a note by bearer, informing me of your acceptance—I should say, of youranswer, as I will then be able to leave on the evening train for St. Louis."
With this note, the present chapter properly terminates; it has been a chapter of changes, of rapid transitions. We have now reached a period of stability, of advancement, of growth,—the ten years of Mrs. Carr's connection with the University of Missouri.
During the ten years of Mrs. Carr's connection with the University of Missouri, we find her busy mind occupied by three entirely distinct sets of interests.
In the first place, of course, there was the University work, into which she threw herself with tireless energy and splendid success. The position she occupied was Professor of English, and Dean of the Young Ladies' Department,—a two-fold work, which threw her into contact with both sexes in the classroom, and called for the exercise of rapid judgment in the government of the young ladies.
As Lady Principal, she not only preserved order in the study, looked after the health of its occupants, shaped the literary exercises of the various organizations, and gave as much energy to procuring new students as if she were conducting a private school; but she strove to win the confidence of her girls, that she might lead them to higher spiritual planes of life; andwe find her making the same religious impress upon the minds of the young men.
We need but refer to two letters written to Mrs. Carr in later years, leaving the reader to judge of the positive results of such a character as that of Mrs. Carr; results too significant and lasting, to excuse a lack of appreciation, or to palliate the breach of unkind criticism. One is written by a distinguished citizen who states that he was on the eve of committing suicide, when he came under Mrs. Carr's influence; and that she, unconscious of his darkened mind, saved him by the clear radiance of her daily life. The other tells of a young man who entered the University with no ambitions and no purposes in life.
"All that I am now," he writes, "I owe to the time spent with you in the classroom." He occupies a high government position.
In 1882, Mrs. Carr, writing to Hon. J. S. Rollins, states what she regards as her most important duties at the University: "The subject of my salary was thoroughly discussed last year by your Executive Committee, and it was reported to me by Eld. J. K. Rogers, that my salary of $1,500 should remain unchanged. The avenue to my highest success in my supervisorywork (which is indeed, my chief work), is my social intercourse with the young ladies under my charge; and this can be best secured by having a home in which I am free to invite them at any time. My classroom work, as Adjunct in the English Department, and as teacher of calisthenics, entitles me to $1,200, and the classwork is the least important, and the least embarrassing, of all. My supervisory work demands the most constant and harassing thought and involves great responsibility."
The following from Mrs. Carr, to the Board of Curators, will show how thoroughly she threw herself into the interests of her young friends: "I hereby testify that the appropriation asked by the Philalethian Society, is needed to complete the furnishing of their Hall. I need not tell you that the work for girls in our University is yet in its infancy, and needs especially, therefore, your guardianship and helping hand. I have encouraged the young ladies to appeal to you, through President Laws. If you hesitate to grant the petition on the grounds of financial pressure, will you please allow $138.60 of my salary to be deferred, until after the next appropriation by our Legislature?"
Mrs. Carr began to lay great stress upon the physical developments of her pupils,—a neglected branch of education in her own case. Her entire work at the University was destined to strengthen those powers of government, already highly developed, for the future scene of her greatest usefulness; and, in after years, we find her views on physical culture, carried out in concrete form. In addressing the young ladies of the University, she said:
"If you will stand for one day at the corner of Washington Avenue and 4th Street, St. Louis, or Broadway and Fulton, New York, and watch the passing multitude, you will see scarcely one in ten who is erect, or well-built. The large majority of Americans are born of imperfectly developed parents. After six years' association with the robust women of England and the Continent, the physical degeneracy of American women appeared more marked to me than ever before. In London, the broad feet of robust women make the flags resound in the early morning; in New York, the tiny feet of pale-faced ladies trip along Broadway at stated fashionable hours. An Englishwoman thinks nothing of walking from six to ten miles a day. After climbing and descending the Cheops ofEgypt, I was unable for three days to ascend an easy flight of stairs. An Englishwoman who went up the Cheops as I did, rowed up the Nile, the following day, to the Boolak Museum, enjoyed a donkey ride back to Cairo, returned to the hotel, and spent the evening in nursing my aches and pains. Physical tendencies, whether toward beauty or deformity, like gentle dispositions and moral obliquities, are inherited; remember that you are the coming mothers of the nation."
It is not our intention to dwell upon Mrs. Carr's daily life in Columbia. Any young lady desiring to attend the University, is asked to correspond with her. She delivers lectures in the University Chapel; she contributes to the Missouri University Magazine; she corresponds with Miss A. M. Longfellow, daughter of the poet, concerning their work—for Miss Longfellow holds at this time, practically the same position at Harvard, that Mrs. Carr does at Columbia; she advises with Representatives concerning the passage of bills at Jefferson City; she is in frequent consultation with Dr. Laws regarding the perplexing problems that are always arising in University life.
In presenting the portrait of Dr. Laws tothe young ladies of the Philalethian Society, in 1886, she compares the ladies department with its status ten years before—the year before Dr. Laws became president. It was natural for her to attribute the secret of the great development to the doctor's labors. Whatever may have caused the wonderful growth, there can be no doubt that much of it was due to Mrs. Carr. She says: "In the catalogue of 1876, all announcements concerning the young ladies are restricted to 33 lines. It records 39 lady students, only four of whom lived outside of Boone County. The catalogue of 1885 records a special service for young ladies; generous provisions for their physical education; a Girls Academic Course, equivalent in honor to any other academic course of the University; a neatly furnished and convenient study, on the first floor, and another in our elegant library room; a handsomely furnished society hall, lighted by electricity; and many other conveniences, and luxuries. We have 73 young ladies now attending the University. They represent 28 counties of Missouri, and four states. In 1875, no girl took a degree. In 1885, four received academic degrees, four, professional degrees, and one read the McAnally English Prize Essay.On Commencement, 1886, one read the Astronomical Prize Thesis, and another delivered the valedictory of the Normal graduates."
A large and interesting volume could be filled with the lectures of Mrs. Carr. For biographical purposes, they need be simply referred to, as an indication of one form of her activity. The preparation of such discourses, replete with classical and historical illustrations, must have consumed many of these late hours snatched from the rightful claims of repose and relaxation. One might suppose that this woman, always frail, always wakeful, liable at any time to fall the victim to headache, would have found the University work with its many-sided life, much too great for her strength. For her physical strength, it was, no doubt; but that untiring mind found leisure, after its thousand details, to turn in another direction. As we have said, she had three separate sets of interests, during the ten years at the University. We are now to consider the second—her connection with the women's missionary work of her church.
We have a threefold purpose in dealing with Mrs. Carr's work for the Christian Woman's Board of Missions. In the first place, it formeda large part in her life; in the second, the work in itself is interesting; and in the third, it proves how erroneous were the circulated reports that Mrs. Carr was opposed to organized missionary work. Concerning these reports we shall speak at another time. At present our difficulty is to select from among the many appeals to Mrs. Carr to speak at conventions; from reports of her addresses; from accounts of money sent in by her for the missionary magazine—theTidings; and from the various conferences held by her with the members of the board,—lest our narrative be overburdened with a mass of similar instances. It seems almost incredible that one so absorbed as she in the University work, could have given not only her vacations, but special days during the school year, to the labor of organization, and platform addresses, appeals for money to the missionary cause, and for subscribers to theTidings.
That strangers to the Christian Woman's Board of Missions may understand just what it was, and that its friends may know how much it had accomplished at this time, we present a condensed account of the organization, delivered by Mrs. Carr at the Annual Convention,at Carthage, Mo., in 1885; by this means we are not only enabled to introduce the subject, but to give an adequate conception of Mrs. Carr as a public speaker:
"I want to talk to you directly about our mission work, giving a historical sketch of the Christian Woman's Board of Missions from its incipiency to the present time.
"In July, 1874, Mrs. Cornelia Neville Pearre suggested the desirability of effecting a missionary organization among the ladies of the Christian Church. The sisters were exhorted to consecrate monthly little sums of money from their allowances, or salaries, as individual means to the spread of the Gospel. The idea at once became popular. A little Aid Society in Indianapolis seized upon the thought, and discussed it. At their meeting a stirring letter was read from Mrs. Pearre setting forth the purposes and basis of the proposed society. At the same meeting, a brief article of incorporation was drawn up, to which eight names were signed. A president, secretary and treasurer were elected, and a meeting appointed.
"The women composing the new society were inexperienced in the work. Not one of them had ever lifted her voice in a convention;all of them were wholly unskilled in parliamentary address. They were simply housekeepers, wives and mothers; but their hearts burned to do more for the Master, and they had the rare sense to know that organized effort is the surest and shortest road to success. Not long after, Brother Isaac Errett espoused their cause, and sounded forth the entreaty, 'Help these women!'
"This led to a mass meeting of Christian women, held in Cincinnati at the same time as the General Convention of the Christian church. About seventy-five composed the meeting, over which Mrs. Pearre presided; in a most earnest and prayerful manner, she presented the purposes and plans; and then and there, the Christian Woman's Board of Missions assumed an organized form, and entered quietly upon its humble yet glorious career.
"Indianapolis was made headquarters for the general officers. Five States were represented, and a vice president, a secretary and managers, were elected for each. After a full and free discussion it was resolved that Jamaica should be the first object of their care. The unanimous vote for the revival of the Jamaica Mission, which Brother Beardsley had been forced, insorrow, to abandon, and whose resumption had long been postponed, brought delight to many hearts; though some present had hoped that a field nearer home would be chosen.
"The following December the Executive Committee held its first meeting at Indianapolis, and determined to make an effort to establish Auxiliary Societies in every State and Territory of the Union. The following January $1,500 was in the treasury, and Brother W. H. Williams of Platte City, Missouri, sailed with his wife and child, for Jamaica.
"The day after his arrival in Kingston, though debilitated from the rough voyage, he preached to about thirty, in a dilapidated Chapel. His audiences increased. He established prayer meetings, Sunday-schools, teachers' meetings, and carried the Gospel from house to house. Through his instruction, several native young men were soon prepared to render valuable assistance. When, in 1879, Brother Williams was forced to resign on account of his wife's ill-health, he was succeeded by Brother Isaac Tomlinson, under whom the work steadily advanced.
"In 1882, Brother W. K. Azbill was appointed. Through his association with theBaptist ministers, he soon ascertained that the differences between their doctrine and his was merely nominal. His proposal that the name 'Christian' be substituted for 'Baptist' was joyfully accepted by several of the oldest and most intelligent ministers, who, with their entire congregations, planted themselves upon the Bible, and the Bible alone. A building-fund was established looking toward the permanent establishment of the work in Jamaica.
"We are especially anxious to put our schools upon permanent basis, for the educational work is, after all, the best and most lasting missionary work. It is our earnest prayer that we may see, after a few more patient years, the desire of our heart fulfilled,—the cause of Jamaica, the oldest born of our love, self-supporting, under the exclusive management of native talent.
"Brother and Sister DeLauney have, for several years, been supported by the Foreign Christian Missionary Society, at Paris, France. In the summer of 1879, the Christian Woman's Board of Missions, with hearts stirred by their success in Jamaica, determined to contribute to the French mission. At the Bloomington convention they pledged $500 to the salary of SisterDeLauney's assistant. Immediately after this, our beloved Brother Timothy Coop of England, without any knowledge of our purpose, presented us with £100. God put it into our hearts to promise $500, and He put it into Brother Coop's heart to pay it, so that the following year we were able to give $500 more to the French mission.
"In 1881 we enlarged our mission by establishing a mission among the freedmen of the South. At Jacksonville, Mississippi, Elder R. Faurot is carrying forward the evangelical and educational work, among a large colored population.
"In 1882 the Christian Woman's Board of Missions became a happy stockholder in the India Mission. The Foreign Christian Missionary Society sent Brother Albert Norton and Brother G. L. Wharton and their wives; we sent Miss Mary Greybiel, Miss Ada Boyd, Miss Laura Kinsey and Miss Mary Kingsbury. These offered themselves for that remote corner of the Lord's vineyard, without any stipulated salary. There is a work there which only women can do. In Oriental countries, the home must first be captured for Christ; andin these homes, men cannot give instruction to the hedged-in women.
"Missouri had the honor to suggest the next field to be occupied—the far West. In June, 1883, Brother J. Z. Taylor assumed control of this department, and in a short time Brother M. L. Streator was established at Helena, and Brother Galen Hood at Deer Lodge. These two congregations were at that time the only ones in Montana. The Western field is immense, and the sooner it is occupied, the less the difficulty of occupation.
"As I spent six years of my life 10,000 miles from home, helping my husband in his labors for the Master, I will not be thought sectional or narrow, though I say that I regard the Western mission as our most important one. Indifferentism, skepticism, Mormonism, and almost the whole catalogue ofismsare growing rank in the busy, rushing, money-loving Western heart; if the children of God do not eradicate these poisonous weeds, American civilization must inevitably deteriorate, for the character of a country's civilization depends upon the character of its people.
"In the midst of infidelity at home and heathenism abroad, the Christian Woman's Boardof Missions is pushing forward, in a quiet, womanly way, without the sound of trumpets, or the gleam of arms, its blessed work for the Master. We are doing something; but a completer organization will help us to a completer work. The best results can be accomplished only by a systematic plan, a comprehensive grasp and a disposition of forces: We must organize ever new auxiliaries; we must strengthen the weaklings, revive the dying, and, by the power of the living Christ, bring the dead from their graves of idleness. Let us have more and better societies. The gifted Mrs. Browning says: