Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1894-02-16
/MRs. EMMA WIZARDS
LIFE AND WORK IN MlOOLEBuRY
lBY Prrsidrnt Ezra Brainerd.l


genius fog teaching, that she devised
improved methods, that she wrote adj
mirable textbooks, and that she i'm
pressed her own high ideals upon the
characters of her pupils. is, indeed, great
praise. But it is still greater glory to
have started a movement which has
revulutionized the ideas of the civilized
world on the subject of wOman's educa-
tion-a movement which has eliminated
in the founding of grand colleges eX-
clusivelv for women, and in the admiS-
sion of women to older colleges on
equal terms with men. For it is not too
much to say that Wellesley, and Na'sar,
and rhpir sister institutions on either side
of The Atlantic. are the fair fruitage. in
time, of those seminal IDEAS So ably set
forth in Mrs. Wizards "Plan of Female
Education.'
1t is Interesting to study the origin Of
such "A great movement. 1t is like trac-
ing some noble river upward to its
sources in the distant mountains. When
we thus search out the influences that
shaped Mrs. Wizards career as an edu-
Gator, we find that the formative period
of hri life was the twelve years spent il
Middlpbury-a period passed over too
cur,orly in Dr. Lords biography. We
should NOT. however, overlook the cir
cum,unccs of her early life in Connect-
cut: her excellent percentage; the Oeauti-
fiji home-ifr of her childhood; her two
years of earnest study under DR.. Wells ;
her brilliant success as teacher at the
early are of seventeen. For these facts
help us to picture the bright, noble
hearted woman, who, at the age of
twenty, in 1907, came to take charge of
the Female academy at Middlebury.
The Influences that shaped her charac-
ter i'm her new home and called forth her
grand ideas regarding the scope OF
woman's education were from three
sources. Let us speak first of her social
surroundings.
The early inhabitants of Middlebury
were noted for their enterprise and in
tellgence. Up to the close of the Rev
olutionarv war, the Champlain valley
h al been for centuries the arena of
savage warfare. But as soon as the
cessation of hostilites would permit,
these fertile lands were rapidly settled
by vigorous and high-minded class OF
Young men and women from the best
Middlebury an unusually large number
of educated men, graduates of Yale and
d lrtmouth and Brown. OF their in
terest in religion and taste in architect
ure they have left striking monument
in the church editice that is still stand
ing, with its beautiful groined arches,
and its graceful steeple after the Chris
topher Wren style. Their devotion to
the cause of education is evinced by
their establishment, before the begin
ming of the present century, of three
d stinct institutions of learning: The
grammar school, the female academy
and the college. The elder President
Dwight, of Yale, who made three visits
to the town prior to 1910, has recorded
in his books of travels his high appre
citation of the character of the people
and of their educational work. Mrs
Willard herself-then Miss Emma Hart
- has given emphatic testimony to the
same effect. In IA letter to her parents
written during the first year of her resi-
dence, she says: 81 find society in a
high state of cultivation-much more
than any other place | was ever in. The
beauX here are, the greater part of them
men of collegiate education.
Among the older ladies, there are some
whose manners and conversation would
dignity duchesses."
If our limits would permit, we NIGH
speak in particular of some of the eX
cellent men and women whose society
Miss Hart thus enjoyed. 1t was hel
privilege to know the Hon. HOratit
Sevnour-afterwa for twelve years
United States senator-a man who was
earnest from the first in the cause Of
woman's education, and who gave the
land on which was erected in 1902 the
Female Academy" one of the very
first school edifices in the country bull
specially for women. She knew also
the Rev. DR.. Merrill, who, on gradual
Ing from Dartmouth in 1901, had wor
the valedictOry over his illustrious class
mate Daniel Webster, and who fol
thirty-seven years was pastor of the
Congregational church in MiddleburI
and a recognized leader throughout the
State in matters of education and relig
ion. She knew also DR.. Henry Dayis
president of the college, who was emf
nent for his talents and eloquence ant
personal address, VINO was, in 1917, or
the death of DR.. Dwight, elected presi
dent of Yale college, and reflected ne
small honor on Middlebury by declining
the appointment. With these men anC
others of scarcely less characterize