The Washington herald., 1912-07-12
Different Ambitions
BY FRANCES sHAFFER.

The recent death of Miss Harrie,
Quimby, the daring aviatrice, who ven.
tured in the air once too often, empha.
sizes the strange differences in women
particularly when there is an element OF
danger and novelty involved.
| Miss Quimby had already made quite
a comfortable and dignified place for her
self as a writer, but the fascination OF
the air tempted her to work for a pilots
license. which she won easily enough.
When she achieved the flight across the
| English channel from Dover to Hardelot.
France. some of her friends wondered a
bit at her unusual ambition. thought of
woman's traditional timorousness, and
left the rest to fate. But her lack Of
fear did not protect her, for she has
made her last flight.
And Miss Quimby is not the first avia-
trice whose ambition to conquer the air
proved her undoing, for four other wo-
men pilots have paid in the same way
for the fearlessness that sent them away
from beaten paths into a field very light
ly tried, as yet.
Apropos the difference between women
and the strange pursuits that some fol-
low, in Oregon there is a woman super
visor of schools who finds plenty of ad-
venture, novelty, and some risk in her
work.
Miss Van Bibber is a tiny, foo-pound
woman, and when she was appointed a
year ago TO look after the coast district
many a wiseacre obviously shook his
head and protested that II was no place
for a woman. And II really seemed so.
Because. you see. there is pretty nearly
everything to reckon with in a noun
famous district. covering nearly $50
miles. But it was the district she Sc
lected. of all others. and she seems TO
have made no mistake.
At any rate, the story comes from
the West that parents, teachers. children
and all have grown very fond OF the
little woman supervisor who tours the
long distance largely on horseback. some
times by stage or boat. and occasionally
tramps along on foot, and that they are
ready to do whatever she asks to make
her work and theirs yield the best re-
suits
The schools are scattered. difficult TO
reach, and school conditions are primitive
to a degree. Sometimes the roads are
primitive, too. particularly in midwinter,
and il makes one smile a bit TO think
OF some of our fastidious Eastern women
workers following Miss Van Bibber for
just a fragment of her way over the
mountains
Upon one occasion when she started
out on horseback to visit a school away
from the beaten track of things. for five
miles over high pass the snow was
ten inches deep in some places, the mud
u inches in others She was compelled
to lead her horse, and as she pushed
along over the lonesome road she espied
bear that came out from hiding. per-
haps to wonder what a woman was do
ing there. She attempted to take a pic
ture OF the sol tary bruin. but the horse.
not interested in photography and afraid
OF the strange creature, simply bolted
a nd "a Sha -
little school in the clearing, none the
worse for her experience, and maybe the
better in health, which was what tempted
her to accept the strange district that
and the love OF adventure.
Sometimes she comes to a stretch of
water that must be crossed. and she just
wades in and makes the best Of it.
Again she finds herself with the shades
of night fast falling, her destination four
or five miles away, not a house in sight
and everything strange and lonesome
But she is the district supervisor. and
so she trudges along, forgetting the
forgetting her fears. if she |
knows any, and at last reaching her port |
without a mishap, where a hearty well |
come awaits her. |
Sometimes at the break of day, she |
starts for long stage ride, covering |
sixty miles, and ii is not a stretch of
you know. And the worst |
OF it is that at the end of these long, |
winter rides there is a lot of work to !
do. tangles to straighten out, parents to !
satisfy. systems to establish, teachers to |
Interview and a host of other things. for
she will not pass that way again right
awar.
A year of her probation has gone by
and the most skeptical of all the way
back mOuntaineers has reached the
point where he reckons IF they were
soin' to git a woman they could not
have got a better one"
1t is true enough. it Is no work for
timid woman. But we are finding out
that there are not many posts where
woman fears TO try her prentice
ham," and it seems to make little diff
ference what the risk or what the
strangenesS OF the field.
As for me, it is enlightening to read
about them, their work, their ways,
heir triumphs and all, for their ex-
oeriences demonstrate that the limita-
ions of some of us almost mark the
beginning of another's ambition, and
power to achieve.
The SimpIe Wedding