, 1868-09-25
Two LadIe. Fortr Year. Aro.

Grace Greenwood, in the book called EN-
inent Women, writes as follows about Fanny
Fern and Mrs. Stowe as they were before
they became known to fame:
Sarah Willis was educated at Hartford, in
the far famed seminary of Miss Catharine
Beecher. At that time Harriet Beeeher
{ Mrs. Stowe) was a teacher in this school
She was amiable and endearing in her ways,
aud was recognized as a decidedly clever
young lady, with vein Of quiet humor, a
sleepy sort of wit, that woke up and flashed
out when least expected but of careless,
uupracIIUal turn OF mind She was mt
though by any means the equal in mental
power and weight of her elder sister, whose
character was full of manly energy, who was
clear thinker, and an excellent theologian,
good, great, high>hearted woman, with a
strong will aud remarkable executive abili-
ties. OF all his children, DIR. Beecher is
said TO have most highly respected Cathar-
inc. Sarah Willis must here have laid an
excellent foundation for successful author
ship, though probably nothing was further
from her thoughts at the time than such a
profession. 1t would have seemed too quiet
and thought compelling career for her, with
her heart as full of frolic as larks breast
is of singing There are yet traditions in
that staid old town of Hartford, of her mer-
ry school gi.l escapades, her tricks and her
manners that draw forth as hearty laughter
as the witty sallies, humorous fancies, and
sharp strokes of satire that give to her writ
ings their peculiar sparkle and dash. If she
grappled with the exact sciences it Is moi
probable that they suffered much in the eu'
counter For geometry sheis said to have had
an especial and invelerate dislike. Indeed
her teacher, Mrs. Stowe, still tells story Of
her having torn ent the leaves of Euclid t
curl her hair with. So, she laid hersel
down to mathematical dreams, her fair heaC
brisling with acute angles, in parallelogram
matte and parallelopidonic papiilOtes-ir
short, with more geometry outside than II
A novel way of getting over the dunc'
bridge by taking that distasteful fifth pro
position not only inwardly, but as an out
ward application, so that it might have reat
thus The angles at the base of an isoscel
es triangle are equal to one another; and
the equal sides be produced in curl papers
the angles on the other side of the os-fron
tbs are also equal But in the laughing
high>spirited girl there must have existet
unsuspected by those about her, almost un
suspected by herself, the courage and ener
gy, the tenderness, the large sympathy, tn
reverence for the divine and the human
which love and sorrow, the trials and stres
of misfortune, were to evolve from her M
) ture, and which her genius was to reveal.
seer that might have perceived towerin
: above the riuglcted head of her absent mind
. ed young teacher, a dark attendant spirl
benignant, but mournful-poor, grand, ol
world,bewept, polyglOtted Uncle Tom
e might also have seen in the few shadow
d recesses of her young pupils sunny chara'
' ter, the germs of those graceful Fern Leave
that were to bring to the literature of tt
: people new vigor and verdure, the odOrs
$ woodlands, and exceeding pleasant picture
Of nature.
Iu private note from Mrs. Parton, "
J. are assured that, however much she IN;
n have rolled her hair in 'curl papers when
school, now it whistles ITSELF
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