The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-04-23


She taught in
the high school
Of that town
after leaving
college. She con-
tinued in the teaching profession tin I
She had distributed her labors over five /
states. She taught in Detroit was as
sistant principal in Wichita, Kan. |
again was normal school instructor in
Minnesota and finally was supervisor
Of music in an Iowa school
Her life was in the main pleasant
one during this career of teaching.
Eer vigorous intellect, superior educa-
tion and bright. aspiring nature opened
70 her naturally the higher places in
the teachers world, and that threw her
socially among college people and lit
erary folk. She was we'll paid. too, as
teaching goes, but by and by the ques-
ton occurred to her. What can a wo-
man teacher do if she grows old? Be
fore the teacher there is always the ne
eessity Of making provision for one or
both OF the fnevitables of life" death
and old age. If the teacher dies young.
her proper pride" impels her to ar
range for being buried or eremated, as
the case may be, in respectable style.
IF she lives to old age, then all the
greater the need that she shall have
little income to maintain her while she
Is waiting TO die. as so many persons of
both sexes apparently consider that
they must do. These often bid the
world and all its activities farewell
twenty OF thirty years before they ac-
iuaily do die.
Thinking of herself led Theodore
Wadsworth to think of other women
teachers and workers on comparatively
small wages. In these days of hard
conditions the hope of matrimony as
life support is a broken stick to lean
upon. Plainly thought Miss Wads-
worth. the common sense thing for wO-
men wage earners to do is to tax their
Income during their years OF activity
80 they may have a Fixed income when
they are old That is about how Miss
Wadsworth puts it in her insurance lin
60. To make this forehanded provision
for herself and to induce other women
to do likewise so that they might be
free from the bitter dependence Of old
age Miss Wadsworth gradually came
to consider her special work.
Some OF the large life insurance com
panies We're beginning to open depart
ments for women Being mathemati-
clan naturally. the figuring part of the
insurance business had a fascination
for her. and she desired to be in and Of
It, Her hope and ambition conferred on
becoming an actuary the computing
official of an insurance company and
the top notch in the profession
She was in Iowa al the time she was
drawn to TIA insurance field. The COM
pany with Which she is still connected
was opening a womans department in
the northwest. with offices at St. Paul.
Miss Wadsworth took charge of this
new feminine branch OF the enterprise.
That was her opportunity to prove
how valuable and capable a business
man woman makes when she sets her
head to do it,. She remained three
years in St. Paul, managing her depart
Ghent and watching with pride and
pleasure its growth. Then the company
sent her to Iowa and Nebraska to open
Insurance offices for women. Her head
quarters were in Omaha and Des
Moines
About that time. too, she began to
train other women for insurance
agents. a work for which her years as
public school teacher fitted her spe-
ciaIy. In Omaha she gave lessons to
high school teachers at the beginning
OF their summer vacation. In her owl
Office she had a blackboard on which
she figured before their eyes the prob
lens they as agents would encounter
in two weeks she prepared then
to go out and try their hands at OBJ
tanning insurance orders. Some spe
cial faculty seems necessary to be
successful life insurance agent What
ever this is, few possess it. Miss Wads
worth says When a woman has it
however. she succeeds remarkably we'll
Dne lady during the experimental sum
ner vacation work obtained such GOO
results that Miss Wadsworth advised
her to ask for leave of absence from tn,
high school in which she was a teacher
She got the leave and succeeded so vel
in insurance that she resigned from
the school and became at length super
Entendent OF the eompany's woman
department in Iowa.
As to Miss Wadsworth herself VIII,
had done such successful pioneerin,
work, she was transferred to New Yori
city and made superintendent Of tn
whole branch of the business which
pertains to insuring women
DO you employ agents?'' somebod,
asked her.
Yes, employ agents. and I am my
self my own best agent" she answered
"A woman who is successful in thi
business receives anywhere from 81. 20
to 5000 a year.
Miss Wadsworth herself is a royal il
Iustration of womans ability tact an
hustle as well as of q woman's success
in a field usually given over to mer
She was in Texas awhile looking afte
her company's affairs. She and he
agents insure women mostly. thong
Shop Window Girls.