The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1919-08-03
Life Work of DR.. Anna Howard Shaw

or -in-law was my Sunday school super
intendent, and her family belonged to my
church. Very soon after my arrival in
East Dennis went to see her. and found
ner, az she always was. dressed in white
and lying on tiny white bed covered
with pansies, in a room whose windows
overlooked the sea- I shall never forget
the picture she made. Over her shoulder
was an exquisite white lace shawl
brought from the other side of the world
by some seafaring friend. and against
her white pillow her hair seemed the
blacklist I had ever seen. When 1 en-
tered she turned and looked toward me
with wonderful dark eyes that were quite
blind. and as she talked her hands play
ed with pansies around her. She loved
paEsies as she loved few human beings
and she knew their colors by touching
them.
She was then little more than thirty
years of age. At sixteen she had fallen
dow nstafrs In the dark. receiving an in
Jury that paralyzed her. and for fifteen
years she had lain on one side the Stella
Maris of the Cape. All who came to her.
and they were many, went away the bet
|, ter for the visit. and the mere mention
OF her name along the coast softened
eyes that had looked too bitterly on life'
DIR. Shaw adds: Another Cape Cod
resident to whose memory>I must offer
tribute In these pages was Polly Ann
Sears-one of the dearest and best of my
pensioners She had six sons and when
i've had gone to sea she had insisted
that the sixth must remain at home AS
IT happened the son kept at home was
the only one who was drowned
When DR.. Shaw went to comfort the
mother. she said: 81 tried to be spe-
cial Providence. and the one boy 1 kept
at home was the only boy lost. / amt
going to be Providence no more"
THE number OF funerals on Cape Cod
was tragically large Once I asked an
old sea-captain why so many Cape Cod
mer. and women who had been gone for
years asked to be buried near their old
homes. and his reply was: Wal. 1 reckon
it's because the Cape has such warm.
comfortable sand to lie down in
But the funeral which took all of DIR.
Shaw's courage was that of her sister
Mary. In its suddenness. Mary's death,
I'm 1888. was as a thunderbolt from the
blue for she had been in perfect health
three days before she passed away
DIR. Shaw at that time had two par
ishes In Cape Cod. but, as 1T mercifully
happened before her sister was stricken
she had started West to visit her at
Big Rapids. When she arrived on the
second day after Mary's illness. knowing
nothing of ii until she reached Big Rap
Ids. she found her best loved sister past
hope. Her disease was pneumonia, but
she was conscious to the end. The au-
photography says: Her greatest desire
seemed to be to see me christen her lit
tie daughter and her husband before she
left them This could not be realized. for
my brother law was absent on BUSH
ness. and with all his haste in returning
die not reach his wifes side until after
her death. AS his one thought was to
carry out her last wishes, I christened
him and his little girl just before the
funeral; and during the ceremony we all
e1 perienced a deep conviction that Mary
knew and was content
fTo Be Continued