The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-03-11
WIFE, AND MOTHER,
EDUCATOR
TABLETOP White Marble Erect
ed to the Memory of
Mrs. Margaret Anna
BurWell
The Presbyterian College For Women Honor,
the Memory Of Santed Woman Wto
Though Dead, Yet Speaketh


Standard publishes a beautiful tribute to
the memory of one of the most useful
women North Carolina has produced
From it we make these extracts:
"ln letters of gold, on a tablet of
white marble, these great words of our
| mother tongue are engraved, to describe
| the life and work of the woman who, per
haps more than any other woman who
has lived and wrought in North Carolina
| left an undying impression upon the life
| of the State itself. Mrs. Margaret Anna
Burwell The words themselves will
have their influence in denoting woman's
sphere upon the generations of college
girls who shall sit in the auditorium of
| the Presbyterian College for Women, of
| this city, the college itself being a mon
ument to her years of service here. DR..
| Jno W. Stagg, who framed the inscrip-
tion for this tablet, does not know
whether the words have ever been put
together just in this order before or not.
But we agree with him that they are the
greatest words that can be collected to
describe the true sphere of woman in
this world.
THE good woman, whose name we men
1
was the inspiration of her husband in
his work as preacher and educator;
made an impress upon her own home
circle such as will never be effaced
through the generations to come; left
her impress upon the family servants, so
| that today, one of them, being ashamed
| to beg. will come to one of her old mis-
tress' sons and say Master, / want you
IN a 10 nv ha hn dlv
persuaded from accepting a loan without
giving security; left her impress for re-
| finement of manners and literary culture
upon this community; left her impress
on the hundreds of young women whom
she trained for the duties of life, an i'm
press so clear and deep, that 'one of Mrs.
| Burwells girls became a synonym for
the embodiment of all womanly virtues
and accomplishments; and through these
pupils home and through the schools
that some of them have founded and
through their scholars in turn and
| through the generations of men and wo-
| men, from those home and schools. left
| her impress upon the life of this State
and of other States, that will be real,
even though invisible, down to the last
| syllable of recorded time And yet there
are some shallow-pated people that talk
about the limitations of woman's sphere.
''As we write, three generations of
women look down upon U.S. all of whom
we have seen in the flesh. One, with the
white lace cap that was the fashion in
| the first half of the last century, and a
| face whose calm serenity is beyond the
| capability OF a pen picture. She was
| left with a large family, by the death of
| her husband and as the mistress of a
| plantation, with thousands of acres and
scores of slaves hers was a life of in
cessant unwearying activity. She was
probably a better doctor than most of
| the profession of her day. And the relig-
| ious instruction of her slaves was even
more important in her eyes than the
medical attention that she rendered to
| their bodies. The plantation was a little
world of its own, the farm being sup
| plemented by the mill and the shops of
| carpenter and blacksmith and shoe
maker while the wool from the fiocks
on the plantation was woven into cloth
| both for the dwellers in the great house.
and the occupants Of the quarters. And
she was the queen of this little world.
| Nor was the wider sphere of literature
neglected. for the treasures OF ancient
and classic lore were in her library for
her own and her children's use, Her
| descendants, to the fourth generation,
are scattered literally from New Eng
| land to Texas. But there is not one of
them today, that we know or have ever
heard of, that is dsgracing the name
| that he bears or the blood that runs in
his veins and cursed be he that breaks
the long line of a godly ancestry
Her daughter was an old woman
when she died, and no more self-effacing
| life was ever lived. The stay of her hus-
band during forty years of married life,
| the mother of many children, the stay of
| the household during the ten years of
her widow hood, mistress of the planta-
( tion and school mistress as we'll, train
| ing in the primary department, with ut
most faithfulness and skill, those who
were not ready for the higher classes,
which her husband taught, she lived a
devoted life, giving sons to their coun-
| tryS service, and turning from their
graves to give herself a new to her chill
dren and grandchildren. Because of the
deyastations of war, hers was a poverty
such as her mother did not know, but
hers was also that which money could
not buy nor poverty take away.
And her daughters have also been
wives, mothers, educators.
1--WE need no portrait to bring back
the face of one of them, the soft, wavy,
dark hair, the violet eyes, the gentle
mouth and firm chin. minister's wife,
| left widow, with two small children,
she bravely took up her burden and
| bore it we'll. Her father dying in mid
session, she continued his school. with
| some grown men for pupils, and we can
never forget her little speech to them at
! the close of the term, thanking them for
| their consideration for herself and their
gentlemanly conduct. She fitted her sons
| for college, in her own school. for she
was a Greek and Latin scholar, and
many another home is richer today be-
cause of what she taught her pupils and
because of the life that they saw and
| could not fail to love and initiate. And
| there were those, not of her blood or
kin, who said when her work was done,
that hers was the most beautiful life
that they had ever known.
"Wife, Mother, Educator!
81 will therefore that the younger
women marry bear children, guide the
home y. The aged women likewise,