The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-07-26
ENeLAND's GRADUATE HEROINE
Miss Ada Maria Jane Elizabeth johnson
and what She AccomP1ished.

and What She Accomplished.
A nut brown. maid, with cheeks as
red as roses and mass of dark hair
almost too heavy for the shapely head
shat is Miss Ada Maria Jane Elizabeth
johnson, the heroine Of the day, the
young lady who stands alone in the first
division of the first class in the second
part Of the Cambridge mathematical
tripos Truly she il a ''sweet girl grad
uate" (without the degree), this youth
full mathematician who has beaten all
the men, y as she sits high mp in her lit
tie room in Old hall reading her letters
and still aglow from an exciting game
Of her favorite pastime, tennis. From
the tree tops, deep below in the lovely
grounds Of Newman, comes the MARBLE
of a blackbird- The air is sweet with
the scent of many roses on the small
table in the center OF the room at which
Miss johnson sits, lingering her con-
gratulatOry letters and kilograms. A
bow of magnificent oriental peoples
blooms in the corner. a striking contrast
to their airy, fairy cousins vase full
of Iceland peoples. dainty and delicate,
Of deep orange and pale lemon tints
and of silvery white. Perhaps all these
decorations are tributes, too, to the sue
cessful girl student, as are the letters and
the kilograms.
She bears the burden of her splendid
success cheerfully, and as she sits there
blushing and blushing again, there is
absolutely nothing about Miss J Johnson
that suggests the grave and pOnderous
and formidable scholar, a vision of
whom may appear to the inward eye Of
the ''outsider, p reading about the stu
dious NEWMAN girl who has beaten
all the men, and demonstrated once
again the fact, which needs a good deal
Of demonstrating in certain quarters,
that q woman, too, may s'stand and
work as well as a man and yet remain
untainted by the particular faint of the
s'shrieking sisterhOod- -
She is eager enough to talk about her
hall, her college and about the gener-
ous way IN which her fellow students
have shared with her the Joy at her sue
cess. Indeed they had a dance on the
Tuesday evening in honor of the girl
who s'beat all the men > But when it
comes to talking about herself then
Miss Johnson has only smilingly, and
with the prettiest, because unconscious,
pashfulness, to confess that there is
nothing at all to say
But there is, after all, and what there
is to gay is well worth knowing were
it only for the sake Of encouraging 9TH
er struggling girls who have no special
educational advantages to go on IN
daunted, for this fair wrangler has had
none Of the special advantages by
means of which am bilious parents have
sometimes succeeded in bringing about
a certain amount of success to their sons
and daughters There has been no cram
ming, no private coaching, mo moth
ing, = except a good, sound elementary
education There are no board schools
at Cambridge, but their equivalents, the
SO called higher grade schools, are there,
and at one OF these in Park street, Cam
bridge, Miss johnson laid the founda-
ton of her present. success. Even as a
child she was fond of mathematics, and
after she left school she continued her
favorite study, mostly alone, but not
without some desultory teaching. For
the last two years she has been at New1-
ham, and last year she took the flrst
part Of the mathematical tripos, stand
ing in rank between the fifth and sixth
wranglers.
Thus mathematics have never had any
terror for Miss Johnson-in fact, she
has handled her pro blefns'' with much
the same ease as that with which, as a
member Of the Newman Tennis, club,
she handles her racket But this year
a slight doubt disturbed her serenity
with regard to the result Of the exami-
nations, for when the great day arrived
it happened that Miss johnson, though
there is absolutely nothing of the pale
and haggard student about her, was not
in her usual coed health, but run
down, y and therefore not quite at her
best.
Hence she awaited the 'slist'' with
nothing but the most modest expecta-
lions. And then on the Tuesday it
came out, to the JOY Of all Newman,
and in the evening the girls danced
the fair mathematician and all the rest
danced for joy that one Of them, and
one of the most girlish ones to boot. had
fought 30 successfully. Now playtime
has come Today all the big boxes and
trunks that lined the long corridors of
the halls yesterday afternoon have gone
off in all directions Newman is holt
daying, and Miss johnson, among the
rest, is thinking of pleasures only, for
the present Tennis and walking are the
forms Of play IN which she delights, and
now she has actually come to think of
cycling. Such is the latter day lady
vyrangler. reveling in games, young,
spirited, glowing with strong health,
and not afraid Of problems, be they con
nected with Euclid or with what the
French call cyclisme- w Westminster
Budget