-NRLF 
 
LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 GIFT OF 
 THE FAMILY OF REV. DR. GEORGE MOOAR 
 
/ A 
 
 r <f . 
 
MEMORIALS 
 
 OF 
 
 MARY W. (CHAPIN) PEASE 
 
 AN D 
 
 LYDIA W. SHATTUCK 
 
 They rest from their labors and their ivorks do follow them. 
 
 
 UNIVSRSiTY 
 
 OF 
 
 BOSTON 
 BEACON PRESS: THOMAS TODD, PRINTBS 
 
 1890 
 
GIVE HER OF THE FRUIT OF HER HANDS, 
 AND LET HER OWN WORKS PRAISE HER 
 IN THE GATES." 
 
 156 
 
THE Alumnss of Mount Holyoke Seminary and 
 College, at their annual meeting, June 26, 1889, held 
 a commemorative service, at which the substance of 
 the following paper, by HELEN S. NORTON, was read. 
 With some revision and additional facts, it is pub- 
 lished by vote of the Alumns. 
 
MARY W. (CHAPIN) PEASE. 
 
 AN inexpressible sense of personal loss rests upon 
 us as we write " In Memoriam " before the name of 
 our beloved friend and teacher, Mary W. (Chapin) 
 Pease. She is held in fond remembrance throughout 
 the wide world by those who have been blessed by 
 her love, instruction, and example, and her unex- 
 pected death in Savannah, Georgia, May 9, 1889, has 
 filled many hearts with sorrow. That she should have 
 been far from home and nearly all the friends who 
 would have ministered so gladly to her in those last 
 hours, makes the grief more bitter. Her association 
 with Mary Lyon as pupil and teacher; her long con- 
 nection with Mount Holyoke Seminary as its honored 
 principal ; the service rendered to it during her whole 
 married life ; and the fact that she was planning for 
 a volume of great value (a biographical record of 
 the alumnae) make her conspicuous in work for the 
 higher education of women, and demand far more 
 than a passing notice. A life which has given nearly 
 fifty-two years of devoted labor, comprehensive thought 
 and suggestion, to the work and growth of Mount 
 Holyoke Seminary, is no common life. A great ben- 
 efit would be conferred upon the cause of education 
 and philanthropy if a faithful record could be given 
 the world of the extent and aim of her influence. 
 
6 MARY w. (CHAPIN) PEASE. 
 
 In the contemplation of a worthy life, it is natural 
 and interesting to note the inherited traits, and also 
 the surroundings which shape, the character. In this 
 instance we find a line of noble ancestors, belonging 
 to the sturdy New England race of men, industrious, 
 painstaking, philosophic, who had laid their hands in 
 benediction on the head of the little girl who opened 
 her eyes to the sunlight on that June day in 1820 in 
 the home of Hon. Oliver Chapin at Somers, Connect- 
 icut. Her father, probably of Welsh ancestry, was a 
 descendant of Deacon Samuel Chapin who lived in 
 Dorchester, took the freeman's oath in Boston, June 2, 
 1641, was much engaged in public affairs, and emi- 
 grated to Springfield in 1642. Hon. Oliver Chapin 
 graduated at Williams College about 1809, an -d re- 
 turned as tutor for two years. He studied medicine, 
 but owing to self-distrust never engaged in its prac- 
 tice. He devoted much time to teaching, taking 
 young men into his family to prepare for college and 
 for business. 
 
 Her mother, Anna Pierce, of Cornwall, Con- 
 necticut, belonged to an influential family, and was 
 a woman of eminent piety, showing in daily life the 
 fruits of the Spirit, "love, joy, and peace," in a re- 
 markable degree. Mary Williams Chapin was named 
 for her grandmother, who was the grand-daughter of 
 Rev. Stephen Williams, D.D., of Longmeadow, well 
 known in the history of Massachusetts on account of 
 his capture by the Indians, and his remarkable escape 
 after months of captivity. She was related also to 
 Rev. Eleazar Mather, President Edwards, and Rev. 
 Solomon Stoddard, of Northampton, to Rev. John 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 7 
 
 Davenport, Rev. John Warham, and President Wool- 
 sey. She was the second child and eldest daughter 
 in a family of six children, all of whom she outlived. 
 Her education, begun in the excellent district school 
 of Somers her father taking great care in the selec- 
 tion of teachers was continued in the academy in 
 Cornwall, Connecticut, and later in Abbot Academy, 
 in Andover. She was summoned home to the bed- 
 side of a dying mother, and at thirteen years of age 
 was left to minister to her father, two brothers, and a 
 sister. She always spoke with love and gratitude of 
 the training in habits of carefulness and exactness 
 received from her aunt Annie, her father's sister. 
 
 Mr. Chapin occupied many positions of honor 
 and trust in civil and ecclesiastical affairs, and his 
 daughter Mary often assisted him in copying deeds 
 and other papers, thus doubtless developing the abil- 
 ity to keep records and compile facts for which she 
 was so justly noted in after years. A lifelong friend 
 writes that it is not strange, with such a paVentage, 
 that the daughter should possess many excellent 
 traits. 
 
 Her father and mother were remarkably unas- 
 suming, and, with their daughter, were characterized 
 by humility, faithfulness, sincerity, and moral courage 
 to maintain the right. Mr. Chapin watched with 
 interest the efforts of Mary Lyon to found Mount 
 Holyoke Seminary, and he went with his daughter 
 to apply for her admission before the completion 
 of the building. They entered the front door by 
 a ladder, receiving a most cordial greeting from 
 Miss Lyon, who little dreamed she was welcoming 
 
8 MARY w. (CHAPIN) PEASE. 
 
 her successor. But there was no room for her till 
 a vacancy occurred the next February, when she 
 began her life at the seminary. 
 
 Miss Lyon soon recognized her fidelity, prompt- 
 ness, and efficiency, and chose her for an assistant in 
 arranging many details of the family and school. For 
 a time she occupied the same room with Miss Lyon, 
 and in this daily association learned the thoughts, 
 plans and methods of the earnest and devoted founder 
 who thus trained the young teacher for the duties the 
 Lord had in store for her. In after years it was 
 a great comfort, in her life of hard work, that Miss 
 Lyon so fully confided in her in those early days, and 
 introduced her to dear friends as " my special daugh- 
 ter." In the summer of 1840 she was stricken with 
 typhoid fever, and for weeks her life was despaired 
 of. She was absent from the seminary two years, 
 and during the period following her convalescence 
 wrote to friends expressing doubt whether she ought 
 to return, as her father was burdened with care, and 
 she was greatly needed at home. Her heart was even 
 then taking up the burdens of others, ready to relin- 
 quish all that hindered such service. She returned, 
 however, graduated in 1843, and was at once called 
 back to her alma mater as teacher. Those first 
 years were emphatically successful, particularly in her 
 favorite branch, mathematics, in Latin, in classes for 
 Bible teaching; and she became familiar with all the 
 details of the complicated school and family arrange- 
 ments. Unwearied in her efforts as an assistant, she 
 watched the growth of the young seminary, and the 
 testing of plans hitherto untried. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 When Miss Lyon's sudden death occurred in 
 1849, the terrible blow laid new and heavy burdens 
 upon her associates. Miss Mary Whitman was 
 appointed principal, but failing health caused her 
 to resign within a year. Miss Sophia D. Hazen, 
 her associate principal, sailed for a mission field 
 in Persia, in 1850, as Mrs. David T. Stoddard, and 
 Miss Chapin and Miss Sophia Spofford were left to 
 bear the responsibility. Miss Chapin, though acting 
 principal, was unwilling to have her name appear 
 with that title in the catalogue, so sure was she that 
 some other person would be found who could serve 
 the seminary better than herself. In November, 1852, 
 the trustees, believing that her marked executive abil- 
 ity fitted her for the position, appointed her principal. 
 While she was engaged in matters of business con- 
 nected with the departure of students for vacation, 
 looking after baggage and arranging for the stages 
 (in those days a formidable undertaking), a note was 
 handed her. The pressing duties of the hour led her 
 to defer reading it, and when congratulations were 
 offered, she was surprised to find that the forgotten 
 note announced the action of the trustees. The 
 duties and responsibilities were so heavy, she felt she 
 could not meet them, and spent the night in tears ; but 
 yielded to the advice of friends and the evident lead- 
 ing of Providence, and for thirteen years guided the 
 affairs of the seminary " with profit to it and honor to 
 herself." It is an interesting fact that Miss Lyon, 
 a few months previous to her death, named Miss 
 Chapin as one competent to be her successor. 
 
io MARY w. (CHAP IN) PEASE. 
 
 Miss Spofrbrd, her associate, in a recent letter 
 speaks of the preparation and ability Miss Chapin 
 possessed for this work, and says, " The credit is due 
 her, at an important time in the history of the institu- 
 tion, of keeping in operation the system established 
 by Miss Lyon." 
 
 Those days were days of poverty, when a mistake 
 in the management would have resulted in failure ; for 
 the plans of Miss Lyon were unique, and without her 
 wisdom, success was not fully assured. There were 
 also years of increased financial burdens caused by 
 the civil war, when life was supremely earnest, and 
 mind and body were taxed to the utmost. It was 
 Miss Chapin's economy, energy, patience, hopefulness, 
 and watchfulness that made all move on so smoothly. 
 Her mind could easily grasp the greatness of a subject, 
 and also the details, and she had the rare gift of pre- 
 senting the duties of her associate teachers, as well as 
 those of the students, in such a clear and attractive 
 manner that they were easily led into hearty cooper- 
 ation. The common duties of the household were 
 invested with a charm by her sweet spirit lifting 
 them above the thought of menial service. She was 
 dignified, but always approachable ; her voice, though 
 weak, was penetrating and ever sweet ; her earnest 
 " Good morning, young ladies," had real heartiness 
 and love in it. Her rare common sense, her appre- 
 ciation of the capabilities of others and charity for 
 their faults, were very marked. She accorded to all 
 their rights ; was firm in her own opinions, but never 
 dogmatic. Her reproofs were given so wisely, so 
 kindly, yet with such evident reluctance, that she 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. II 
 
 won the hearts of the offending by her confidence, 
 and they seldom disappointed her expectations. Miss 
 Chapin's enthusiasm was contagious, and the merry 
 twinkle of her expressive eyes often revealed how 
 keenly she enjoyed an amusing incident, and put 
 the whole household in good humor. She was one 
 of those rare souls who are content to work out of 
 sight, allowing others to have the credit of the 
 results, and with tireless energy sought to carry 
 out the progressive plans of Miss Lyon. To these 
 efforts were chiefly due, among other improvements, 
 the addition of the north wing, which furnished 
 lecture, laboratory, and other public rooms, besides 
 accommodations for one hundred students ; the en- 
 largement of the library in 1855; the increased facil- 
 ities for teaching astronomy; the establishment of 
 fuller courses of lectures by men eminent in depart- 
 ments of geology, physics, chemistry, history, and 
 physiology. Light gymnastics were introduced in 
 place of the old-time calisthenics, and the course of 
 study was extended from three to four years. 
 
 Miss Chapin's executive ability was conspicuous 
 in plans for celebrating the completion of the twenty- 
 fifth year of the seminary, and with her usual self-for- 
 getfulness she sought to give prominence to those 
 who in past years had been connected with it as 
 teachers or advisers. Afterward she was associated 
 with Miss Fiske in preparing an attractive volume 
 which was a fitting memorial of all that could be 
 reproduced of that delightful, intellectual, and spirit- 
 ual feast. 
 
12 MARY w. (CHAPIN) PEASE. 
 
 After fifteen years of devoted labor in charge 
 of the seminary, Miss Chapin resigned, and May 17, 
 1865, married Claudius B. Pease, of Somers, Connect- 
 icut, returning to the scenes of her childhood and 
 becoming the center and joy of a charming Christian 
 home. She still carried the interests of the seminary 
 on her heart, giving to it valuable thought and service, 
 and it has been a source of regret with many that she 
 was not a member of the board of trustees. 
 
 For many years she was president and after her 
 marriage was secretary of the Memorandum Society, 
 an organization formed by Miss Lyon in the first year 
 of the seminary for the purpose of securing and per- 
 petuating facts in the history of its members, who 
 might be graduates or other students. A society 
 catalogue was published every five years, and a small 
 membership fee was paid to defray expenses. Mrs. 
 Pease prepared the catalogue of 1877, and her inti- 
 mate acquaintance with all the classes for the first 
 thirty years fitted her especially for the undertaking. 
 The plan previously followed was somewhat changed ; 
 the excellent results secured justified the change, 
 though it involved much extra labor in arranging 
 the classes by years and including all graduates ; 
 the number of these at that time was 1,604. The 
 whole number of names was 2,341. To trace the 
 history of those who had failed to report, and who 
 had in most cases changed not only their residences 
 but also their names, was no trifling task; but there 
 were only nine members of whom no information was 
 obtained, and most of these were heard from soon 
 after the catalogue was published. Probably at that 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 13 
 
 time no other institution in our country possessed 
 so full and accurate a record of its graduates. Mrs. 
 Pease addressed a letter to the alumnae at the close 
 of this labor, from which these extracts are taken, 
 revealing the affection she still held for the scattered 
 daughters of Holyoke: 
 
 " MY DEAR FRIENDS : I cannot express to you the 
 fullness of the pleasure it has given me to prepare this 
 catalogue. Old memories have been deeply stirred. 
 I have seemed to live over all these forty years that 
 have passed since I first entered within those hallowed 
 walls in the winter of 1837-38, a young, timid girl. 
 
 " Nearly all those whom I revered and loved as 
 teachers, and many of those early classes, have passed 
 from the scenes of earth. One name only,* of the 
 teachers of that first year, remains unstarred a name 
 deservedly held in honor for a long and successful 
 teacher's career. Those noble first trustees and their 
 no less noble wives who were such a ' tower of 
 strength ' to her who was, in the words of our earliest 
 and best poet, * the breathing soul of these vanished 
 hours ' they are all gone save one. 
 
 " Many of you were my pupils, endeared to me in 
 many ways. How familiar your names seem ! Dis- 
 tinctly I see you each one as in days long past. I can 
 never forget your many acts of kindness, your uniform 
 courtesy, your cheerful cooperation and ready obedi- 
 ence, appreciated all the more for the deep conscious- 
 ness of my own unfitness to bear the unsought burden 
 of responsibility that Providence seemed so plainly to 
 
 * That of Miss Caldwell, afterward Mrs. J. P. Cowles. 
 
14 MARY w. (CHAPIN) PEASE. 
 
 lay upon my shoulders. And you who were asso- 
 ciated with me as teachers nobly and faithfully shared 
 those burdens and helped bear those responsibilities. 
 For your sympathy, kindness, and aid as pupils and 
 as fellow teachers, I have always held you in grateful 
 remembrance, and gladly embrace this opportunity 
 to tell you how much I thank you. Nor would I fail to 
 give a word of greeting to the younger daughters of 
 our alma mater, those whom I have never known face 
 to face, but whose pleasant letters in response to mine 
 have made me feel that we are not strangers, and 
 whose aspirations have assured me that they are 
 worthy daughters of Holyoke. 
 
 " I need not tell you how much pleasure I have 
 found in reading your letters ; how I have enjoyed the 
 glimpses they have given me of your lives, your 
 homes, and your varied experiences. Many of you 
 have been led through deep waters. Most tenderly 
 have I sympathized with you as I have read your 
 'story of loss, of sorrow, and of faith in the unseen 
 Hand.' My own faith has been strengthened by 
 your expressions of peace and trust. 
 
 " As I look back and see all the way in which 
 the Lord our God has led the ' beloved seminary ' 
 these forty years, in faithfulness and love, my heart is 
 iilled with gratitude, and the conviction is strength- 
 ened that it belongs to God, and is under his especial 
 care. Was it not established for him ? How many 
 of us have heard that revered and sainted one say, 
 ' Every brick in these walls is consecrated to God ! ' 
 How many of us can remember her earnest prayers in 
 its behalf! and has he not wonderfully blessed it? 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 15 
 
 What a history it has ! What a record do we find 
 in the lives of its pupils ! The dear Lord may chas- 
 ten it, as he has in the past ; he may severely try the 
 faith of those who have it in charge, as he has often 
 done; but have not his chastenings been in love? and 
 is not our faith strong that if all who have its manage- 
 ment continue to realize that its mission is to give 
 large culture of mind and heart, that that culture 
 may be used in earnest work for the Master do we 
 not believe that if they are thus true to their trust, to 
 it shall be given the honor so earnestly desired for it 
 by the great heart of its noble founder of ' standing 
 till the millennium,' and being ' an efficient instru- 
 ment in hastening on and ushering in the latter day 
 glory?' . . . 
 
 " It is for us who know the value of the seminary 
 to do what we can to aid it in its onward and upward 
 course. I am sure we may feel that anything we can 
 do to add to its facilities by contributing to its funds 
 or its cabinets, or by interesting others in its behalf, 
 is effort worthily bestowed. And not alone by dona- 
 tions can we do it essential service. We can guard 
 its reputation. We can enlighten those who are 
 ignorant of its real claims upon the sympathy and 
 confidence of the Christian public. We can commend 
 it to those who are seeking for their daughters just 
 such a training as it aims to give, and we can encour- 
 age and perhaps aid young ladies of talent and prom- 
 ise to avail themselves of its advantages. I have been 
 interested in learning that there are now in the school 
 thirty of the daughters of former pupils. 
 
16 MARY w. (CHAPIN) PEASE, 
 
 41 Above all, let us not forget to commend the 
 institution in all its interests to the care and keeping 
 of our Heavenly Father, especially asking wisdom 
 and guidance for those who direct its affairs. And 
 just here I have a message to you all from her on 
 whom the burden of responsibility rests. It is this : 
 1 Pray daily and earnestly for us. The strength of the 
 seminary is in the prayers of its friends.' 
 
 " Will it comfort and strengthen you in hours of 
 trial to know that at your Holyoke home there is an 
 almost daily mention in prayer of ' all who have ever 
 bowed around this family altar? ' 
 
 " And now, beloved, may God himself, and our 
 Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ in whom all full- 
 ness dwells, direct all your ways, perfect that which 
 is lacking in your faith, and strengthen you with all 
 might according to his glorious power, and may the 
 very God of peace give you peace always by all means, 
 and sanctify you wholly, and may your whole spirit 
 and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the 
 coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he 
 that calleth us, who also will do it. 
 
 " Yours in the bonds of Christian affection, 
 
 MARY W. (CHAPIN) PEASE." 
 
 The Memorandum Catalogue of 1887 was also 
 edited by Mrs. Pease. About one half of the number 
 of Holyoke students had never joined the society, 
 and in addition to facts for the catalogue, she began 
 collecting material for a biographical record of these 
 as well as of its members. The time, strength, and 
 devotion given to the work can be little understood 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 1 7 
 
 by those unacquainted with the scope of her plans. 
 She was as desirous of learning the residence and 
 facts of interest concerning each student, as if she 
 were a near and intimate personal friend; indeed, she 
 regarded all as elder or younger sisters. Day after 
 day, week after week, month after month, she would 
 sit for many hours at the table, with papers about 
 her, in a room devoted to the work. Often her lamp 
 burned till late at night, so interested did she become, 
 so desirous there should be no delay. 
 
 To secure accuracy, former letters from mem- 
 bers were placed on file, and often consulted. This 
 resulted in many corrections, both in the catalogue 
 and record books. To trace those of whom nothing 
 had been known for years, friends and classmates 
 were first questioned, postmasters, ministers, and town 
 clerks in towns where students formerly resided were 
 written to. The finding of one person sometimes 
 required six or seven letters. The circulars, letters, 
 and cards sent to dilatory members of the society 
 numbered thousands. All money given for this work 
 was at once acknowledged by letter. It was her oft 
 expressed wish to reply to all from whom she received 
 tidings with a personal friendly letter ; but time and 
 strength would not allow. She enlisted the services 
 of each member of her family, and her daughter, 
 Miss Harriet R. Pease, true to her mother's train- 
 ing, became such an enthusiastic helper that her 
 efficiency contributed much to secure the prompt 
 issue of the catalogue of 1887. Knowing the tax it 
 would be upon her strength, Mr. Pease felt reluctant 
 to have Mrs. Pease undertake the task, but yielded in 
 
1 8 MARY w. (CHAPIN) PEASE. 
 
 consideration of her great love for the seminary and 
 the alumnae. Her heart was greatly cheered by appre- 
 ciative words received from many after the work was 
 completed. 
 
 Her large experience enabled Mrs. Pease to 
 propose plans and give valuable aid for the prepara- 
 tion of the General Catalogue for Fifty Years, which 
 was published in 1889. Of the more than 6,800 stu- 
 dents reported in its pages, she arranged alphabeti- 
 cally the names of all for the first fifteen years, and 
 furnished information about them and others from 
 the material she had secured for the biographical 
 record that she hoped would be prepared. 
 
 Mrs. Pease was interested in all forms of Chris- 
 tian work, and the seminary was blessed by deep 
 religious interest and the conversion of many dur- 
 ing the years of her administration. These revivals 
 resembled those in the first years of the seminary, so 
 quiet that a stranger would have noticed nothing 
 unusual, but so deep that all hearts were influenced. 
 During one year ninety out of a hundred and ten 
 impenitent members of the school testified to their 
 acceptance of Christ before the close of the second 
 term ; with a mother's mingled joy and solicitude the 
 principal offered praises and prayers for her family of 
 more than three hundred Christian students. 
 
 It was her privilege to welcome Fidelia Fiske on 
 her return from Persia, and to enjoy her counsel and 
 aid for most of the five years following. The histo- 
 rian writes : " It was a happy thought that led Miss 
 Chapin, in 1859, to propose a reunion at the semi- 
 nary of those Holyoke missionaries who were in the 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 19 
 
 country, inviting them to bring their husbands and 
 children. It resulted in a representative gathering, 
 June 30, from many stations of the American Board, 
 which was itself represented by Rev. Dr. Anderson. 
 Of the fifteen ladies, five had been teachers here. 
 Besides the forty-two from mission families, Mrs. Ban- 
 ister, Mrs. Cowles, and other friends made an assem- 
 bly of more than one hundred guests. It seemed 
 like a meeting of the Board in miniature. Short 
 addresses were given in the seminary hall both 
 morning and afternoon, interspersed with singing 
 by the young ladies. The welcome was extended by 
 Dr. Hitchcock as one of- the trustees. Dr. Anderson 
 expressed his view of the importance of the seminary 
 to mission work by saying that to no college in the 
 United States did he turn with so much interest, 
 while feeling the pulse of missions, as to this institu- 
 tion. He stated that sixty graduates had been mis- 
 sionaries of the Board, and that twenty-eight were 
 then in the field." Frequent mention is made, in 
 journals kept by teachers and others, of the calls for 
 laborers. One writes: "Miss Chapin returned from 
 Boston, Saturday, and at teachers' meeting, Sabbath 
 morning, told us she went away to confer with 
 Mr. Treat, Miss Fiske, and others, about the mission- 
 ary teachers. Of those who responded to the call, 
 it is probable two will go." A few months later 
 Dr. Anderson came to ask for another teacher for 
 Turkey, and Miss Chapin said to the young ladies, 
 " Though only one is called for, it is a matter in which 
 every one has a new call to entire consecration." 
 
20 MARY w. (CHAPIN) PEASE. 
 
 During the Rebellion the young ladies were en- 
 couraged to prepare such supplies as they were able, 
 to send to the soldiers in camp and hospital. Miss 
 Chapin in every way promoted the development of 
 patriotic sentiments, and in 1860 she arranged for the 
 young ladies to cast their votes for President, and 
 rejoiced that Abraham Lincoln received two hundred 
 and forty-six. She enjoyed the illumination and pro- 
 cession which followed his election, and aided in every 
 way the making and unfurling of the American flag 
 which floated " one hundred and fifty feet above the 
 seminary grounds." Miss Chapin was careful that all 
 should receive the latest news from the seat of war, 
 and newspaper items of most importance were marked 
 and often read as we were assembled for some family 
 exercise. From a journal this quotation is taken : 
 " At breakfast Miss Chapin stated the position of the 
 contending forces in Virginia. Our weekly meeting 
 tonight was given to prayer for our army and country. 
 The news of Hooker's retreat across the Rappahan- 
 nock fills us with anxiety. We have many brothers 
 there. . . . Throughout the year the daily or weekly 
 prayer meeting for soldiers was well attended." 
 
 It was her custom on mornings preceding the 
 dispersion of the family for vacations to lead us in 
 the family devotions. The hour might be early and 
 wintry winds roar without, but the altar fires were 
 bright within. After a favorite hymn, a Scripture 
 reading filled with words of love and promises of 
 guidance, her voice commended us to Him who alone 
 was able to guide and keep. The sweetness, comfort, 
 and help of those brief occasions increased the desire 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 21 
 
 every such opportunity gave that her strength would 
 allow us more frequently than it did the privilege 
 of listening to her. 
 
 To spend a vacation in her society was inspi- 
 ration for a lifetime, as many can testify. There 
 was no other housekeeper then, and Miss Chapin 
 spent weeks directing the cleaning and renovating 
 in preparation for the opening of the year. A few 
 who kept her company counted it a blessing to 
 belong to that small family, and learned more each 
 day of her love for the absent, and her interest in 
 the new daughters of the seminary, all of whom 
 she never failed to mention at the hour of prayer. 
 Willing and joyous self-denial, which is the meas- 
 ure of love, never had a fuller exemplification than 
 in the life of the friend we so sincerely mourn. 
 
 From her home in Somers she sent gladness to 
 many a home missionary by clothing and other gifts, 
 packed by her own hands. She was assistant super- 
 intendent of the Sunday-school for many years ; had 
 charge of the primary classes for ten years, and aided 
 in clothing and bringing needy children into the 
 school. She organized a mission band, spending 
 days, weeks even, in arranging suitable exercises, 
 drilling for occasional meetings, and preparing work 
 for little fingers. 
 
 Mrs. Pease was an earnest friend and helper of 
 the Woman's Board of Missions and of the Woman's 
 Home Missionary Society. Her philanthropy em- 
 braced the world ; her loving heart touched in sym- 
 pathy and prayer all for whom Christ died. One, 
 long a helper in her family, testified with tears, when 
 
22 MARY w. (CHAPIN) PEASE. 
 
 hearing of the death of her friend," I always liked to 
 work there, Mrs. Pease was so kind and pleasant, and 
 took such an interest in me." 
 
 Mrs. Pease was progressive in her ideas, clinging 
 to no idea simply because it was old, adopting none 
 simply because it was new, but striving for whatever 
 seemed the best. Those who heard her discourse 
 upon the progress of science, upon books treating of 
 new themes, upon different systems of philosophy, 
 influence of the press, methods of temperance work, 
 questions of finance and politics, could only wonder 
 where in her busy life there had been time to acquire 
 so much. In the advancement of the seminary and 
 the securing of a college charter she felt a deep inter- 
 est, and in speaking of the need of money to increase 
 the facilities for work, well do some recall her words, 
 " I tell them they ask too little." 
 
 Her unusual power of putting herself in place of 
 others, and looking at things from their standpoint, 
 enabled her to realize how a child, a toiling, lonely, 
 and bereaved soul, suffered, and the counsel she 
 gave was therefore practical, helpful, hopeful; and her 
 unwavering trust in God kept her strong and sweet 
 tempered. In emergencies she could at once lay 
 aside her own care and work, and enter into the 
 cares and burdens of others. In these manifold 
 duties and offices, " humility was her daily dress, and 
 self-forgetfulness her starry crown." 
 
 The ability to serve in times and places where 
 service is most needed is proof of greatness. Many 
 can attempt large things, leaving details and drudgery 
 to others; it is only one with heart penetrated with 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 23 
 
 divine love, that can, with the great, perceive the 
 smaller needs and follow in the Master's steps, who, 
 holding the worlds in his hand, permits not a sparrow 
 to fall without his notice. This efficiency and enthu- 
 siasm in loving service characterized our friend in a 
 remarkable degree. Her most fitting monument is 
 found in the characters molded and lives enriched 
 by her judicious labors in her home, and in Mount 
 Holyoke Seminary, where more than three thousand 
 students were directly under her teaching, and more 
 than six thousand were benefited by her endeavors. 
 
 In years past she had repeatedly suffered from 
 pain in her head, yet few of her friends had appre- 
 hended danger. During the winter of 1889 her 
 health was unusually good, while her bright and viva- 
 cious spirit gave a peculiar charm to her expressive 
 face. In the spring she accompanied Mr. Pease on a 
 trip to Georgia, and about half-past four on Wednes- 
 day, May 8, while they were in consultation with their 
 business agent, she suddenly became speechless, and 
 realizing her condition, her eyes filled with tears. 
 A physician was summoned, everything possible to 
 relieve her suffering was done, but she soon became 
 unconscious, and in the afternoon of Thursday peace- 
 fully " entered into rest." The funeral services were 
 held at the family residence in Somers, Tuesday 
 afternoon, May 14. The near relatives and a few 
 other friends, including Prof. Anna C. Edwards, 
 Mrs. Stow, Miss Hazen, and Miss Bardwell, from 
 Mount Holyoke College, were present. As the 
 time of the funeral was not generally known, many 
 dear friends were unable to attend. The exercises 
 
24 MARY w. (CHAPIN) PEASE. 
 
 were very simple, tender, and beautiful. Rev. C. H. 
 Gleason, her pastor, read Scripture selections ; the 
 daughters sang a favorite hymn of the departed: 
 
 "Father, I know that all my life 
 
 Is portioned out for me ; 
 The changes that will surely come 
 
 I do not fear to see: 
 I ask thee for a present mind, 
 
 Intent on pleasing thee. 
 
 " I ask thee for a thoughtful love, 
 Through constant watching wise, 
 
 To meet the glad with joyful smiles, 
 And wipe the weeping eyes ; 
 
 A heart at leisure from itself, 
 To soothe and sympathize. 
 
 "Wherever in the world I am, 
 
 In whatsoe'er estate, 
 I have a fellowship with hearts 
 
 To keep and cultivate ; 
 A work of lowly love to do 
 
 For him on whom I wait. 
 
 "I ask thee for the daily strength, 
 
 To none that ask denied, 
 A mind to blend with outward life 
 
 While keeping at thy side ; 
 Content to fill a little space, 
 If thou be glorified." 
 
 Rev. Theodore Pease read selections, closing 
 with the last chapter of Proverbs, and a poem : 
 
 " O blessed life of service and of love ; 
 
 Heart wide as life, deep as life's deepest woe ! 
 God's servants serve him day and night above, 
 Thou served'st day and night, we thought, below. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 "Hands full of blessings lavished far and wide, 
 
 Hands tender to bind up hearts wounded sore, 
 Stooping quite down earth's lowest need beside, 
 Master, like tJue ! we thought, and said no more. 
 
 "We o'er all sorrow would have raised thee up, 
 
 Crowned with life's choicest blossoms even and morn ; 
 God made thee drink of his beloved's cup, 
 
 And crowned thee with the Master's crown of thorn. 
 
 "Looking from thee to him, once wounded sore, 
 
 We learned a little more his face to see; 
 
 Then, looking from the cross for us he bore 
 
 To thine, we almost understood for thee. 
 
 "Till now again we gaze on thee above, 
 
 Strong and unwearied, serving day and night; 
 O blessed life of service and of love ! 
 
 Master, like thee! and with thee in thy light." 
 
 Rev. Allen Hazen repeated a portion of the 
 hymn beginning, 
 
 "For all the saints who from their labors rest," 
 and offered prayer; and the assembled friends sang, 
 "Abide with me, fast falls the eventide." 
 
 All expense and display were omitted from defer- 
 ence to her oft expressed opinion, but the casket was 
 adorned with a few floral offerings from dear friends ; 
 a bunch of red Southern roses placed there by the 
 teachers of Beach Institute, Savannah, Georgia, a 
 large bouquet of lilies of the valley from her own 
 garden, and flowers from the grounds of Mount Hoi- 
 
26 MARY w. (CHAPIN) PEASE. 
 
 yoke College. With these it was borne to the village 
 cemetery, and all that was mortal of our friend was 
 laid to rest. Our grief is too deep for words ; but she 
 whom we mourn is not in the tomb. As on earth 
 she ever found "the reward of work well done was 
 not rest, but more work," so, in that land where there 
 are no limitations of the flesh, her tireless spirit may 
 engage in heavenly pursuits with loved friends who 
 have gone before. 
 
 Of her sweet and faithful ministrations in her 
 home life we have caught glimpses in occasional 
 visits, and in the loving testimony of her household. 
 The aged and blind grandmother found no other 
 hand so gentle, no other attentions so satisfying; the 
 husband found companionship and help in the high- 
 est, truest sense, and the three motherless children 
 a most wise and affectionate mother. 
 
 Her excellent judgment, loving heart, and sympa- 
 thetic mind, made her the confidential friend, adviser, 
 consoler, and inspirer of all within her realm. Her 
 long association with students kept her in loving 
 sympathy with the young. " She had never traveled 
 so far inland from the coasts of life " as to forget that 
 she had been a child. The duties and cares of home, 
 its hospitalities and privileges, she bore and admin- 
 istered with the same cheerful devotion she had given 
 to her larger home, Mount Holyoke Seminary. The 
 books she furnished, the direction she gave to reading 
 and research, left a stimulating influence, potent in 
 shaping the thought and life of her children, one of 
 whom says : " Her beautiful character was most fully 
 manifest in the little cares, trials, and loving ser- 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 2J 
 
 vices of daily life. My sister, Mrs. Stackpole, writes : 
 1 Never, by word or act, has she shown that we were 
 not bound to her by natural ties,' and says that 
 mother's interest in her welfare, marriage, children, 
 and all that concerned her, was as genuine and active 
 as if she were her own daughter." 
 
 The younger sister continues, " I surely never 
 knew the lack of an own mother's love and care. 
 I have always felt that a girl's best counselor and 
 truest friend is her mother, and have always gone to 
 her with all my joys, troubles, and secrets, sure of 
 sympathy and help." 
 
 Rev. Theodore Pease, her son, read at the fune- 
 ral, as fittingly portraying her character, these with 
 other words of Solomon : " She openeth her mouth 
 with wisdom ; and in her tongue is the law of kind- 
 ness. She looketh well to the ways of her household, 
 and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children 
 arise up, and call her blessed ; her husband also, and 
 he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtu- 
 ously, but thou excellest them all. Favor is deceit- 
 ful, and beauty is vain : but a woman that feareth the 
 Lord, she shall be praised, Give her of the fruit of 
 her hands ; and let her own works praise her in the 
 gates." 
 
TRIBUTES. 
 
 (By Emily Jessup, Associate Principal from 1855 to 1862.} 
 
 " The service Miss Chapin rendered Mount Hoi- 
 yoke Seminary has been portrayed by a more capable 
 pen than mine, and that record will be read as long as 
 the * History of Mount Holyoke Seminary ' is extant. 
 I fully subscribe to it. I would also add that I consider 
 Miss Chapin's prudent conservatism a very important 
 factor of her usefulness to the institution at the critical 
 time when a principal must be selected to succeed 
 Miss Whitman ; and when the school was in danger 
 from ks friends who advocated vital changes, Miss 
 Chapin's prudent management, patient waiting, and 
 wise adherence to all the arrangements Miss Lyon 
 had inaugurated, fixed upon the school the character 
 Miss Lyon had given to it. 
 
 " Another great work Mrs. Pease has been per- 
 mitted to do is that of compiling the Memorandum 
 Catalogue. The patient labor of such a tedious and 
 yet so satisfying work could, it seems to me, have 
 been done by no other person. Few indeed would 
 prosecute so persistently and untiringly inquiry after 
 all who have known the seminary as their alma mater ; 
 and certainly few have hearts large enough to take 
 those girls all in sufficiently to do a work involving 
 such a vast amount of labor. My Memorandum Cat- 
 
30 MARY w. (CHAPIN) PEASE. 
 
 alogue is ever near at hand. I consult it more than 
 my dictionary. When I use it I think of the faithful 
 and loving heart which took so much pains to make 
 effective dear Miss Lyon's early plans, and to prove 
 their greatness and their beneficence." 
 
 (By Margaret Emma Ditto, Class of '61.) 
 
 " I wish I might properly express my admiration 
 and reverence for Mrs. Mary Chapin Pease. She was 
 a character of singular rectitude, integrity, and humil- 
 ity. Some one says that humility does not consist 
 in thinking meanly of one's self, but in not thinking 
 at all of one's self. This was Mrs. Pease's kind of 
 humility. She always saw the thing to be done not 
 herself as tJie one who was doing it. This gave her 
 a singular quality of self-lessness, or humility. But 
 she was one who accomplished a great work, and 
 I doubt not she will be amazed at her own shining 
 brightness in the day when God shall make up his 
 jewels. 
 
 " The last time I saw her I rode with her from 
 Springfield to Boston. Entering the car, she recog- 
 nized me, laid hold upon me after the first greeting 
 with, * Your last report to the Memorandum Society 
 was deficient in two points,' naming them. * If you 
 can give me that information now, I can have the 
 proof corrected, as my daughter is reading proof on 
 the D's today. Consulting her watch to see if she 
 could catch the eastern mail at an approaching junc- 
 tion, she then wrote a postal card with corrections, 
 and mailed it on the train. 
 
TRIBUTES. 31 
 
 " How could she remember me only one of me 
 out of the three thousand people in that Memoran- 
 dum Catalogue ! How could she reduce me the 
 whole of me, with all the excellences and accuracies 
 of my lifetime to the minimum of two miserable 
 mistakes ! But there she held me until the business 
 was dispatched. Then we had a wonderful visit. 
 I asked her questions about early times at the semi- 
 nary many things I needed to know for an article 
 I had in hand to write. What answers she gave 
 me so direct, so compact, so solid with informa- 
 tion ; all facts, no inferences, no imaginings, no sur- 
 misings, no digressions upon herself ! They were 
 the answers of one who penetrates to the heart of a 
 question, and who has the settled habit of coming 
 at the central fact of a situation, not dallying with 
 side issues, as is the custom of less vigorous or 
 less sincere minds. 
 
 " I asked her about her appointment as Miss 
 Lyon's successor. She said : * I had always been with 
 Miss Lyon a great deal from the first. I was feet 
 to her, eyes to her, anything to help her; and so 
 I understood all the kinds of work that the principal 
 had to do, and when there was no one else to do it, 
 I did it ; and as one after another gave out, I had 
 to keep on. I was twenty-eight, but I never had 
 thought of myself as anything but a little girl.' 
 
 " So, hero and martyr, she stood in the breach, 
 disclaiming the name and honor, but doing the work 
 till some one of ' superior gifts ' could be found to 
 take the great Miss Lyon's place. But after a time 
 it became plain to all that the ' superior gifts,' 
 
32 MARY w. (CHAPIN) PEASE. 
 
 like the kingdom of heaven in the midst of the 
 Pharisees, was ' within them,' and Miss Chapin pro- 
 testing, even to a whole night of weeping, had the 
 honor thrust upon her. She held that position for 
 thirteen years, resigning upon her marriage to Mr. 
 Pease. 
 
 " The Miss Chapin whom my school-girl compre- 
 hension took in and estimated was, however, a very 
 different person from the Mrs. Pease with whom I 
 had the honor to become acquainted in later years. 
 They differed pretty much as a pinch of salt differs 
 from a handful. There was always salt enough there, 
 and it never lost its savor; but I had only sense 
 enough to take in a pinch of it when I was a girl. 
 I wish that in my youth I might have comprehended 
 the meaning and power of such a life as hers. I 
 should earlier have come to the true meaning of my 
 own life, and the use to be made of it. 
 
 " We know indeed that there were never two of 
 her Miss Chapin or Mrs. Pease. Student, teacher, 
 principal, wife, mother, conserver of the alumnal 
 interests of the seminary, her character and worth 
 had an integral quality never seen but in the most 
 steadfast minds. You could never say, * Here she 
 changed or shifted there she seemed different; 
 now she came short, and there she went beyond.' 
 Through all her life she acted with a single-purposed 
 unselfishness that kept her steady, and made her way 
 straight onward 'the path of the just that shine th 
 more and more to the perfect day.' 
 
 " The Mary Chapin who at sixteen walked up 
 the preliminary plank into the domestic hall, to find 
 
TRIBUTES. 33 
 
 Miss Lyon in a red plaid cloak and green calash 
 among the shavings and debris of the new building, 
 was ever one and the same as the Mrs. Pease who at 
 sixty-eight died in the midst of a business interview 
 with her husband's agent. She handed him a paper. 
 ' It is right, now, I believe,' she said, and then there 
 was a sudden heart failure. She spoke no more. In 
 a few hours she was gone. She died as she had 
 lived, making things * right now.' 
 
 " Hundreds of her pupils would heartily assent to 
 these words of one : ' It is a privilege to have known 
 such a character. I always hold her up as a model 
 of unselfishness and of patience. I never thought or 
 spoke of her, that her nobleness of character did not 
 come to me.' " 
 
TRIBUTES. 35 
 
 (By the Boston Association of Mount Holyoke Alumna, 
 May 18, 1889.) 
 
 " Whereas our Heavenly Father has called to 
 himself Mrs. Mary W. Chapin Pease : 
 
 " Resolved, that in the death of Mrs. Pease Mount 
 Holyoke Seminary and College has lost a friend 
 whose devotion has been loyal, judicious, wise, and 
 efficient; one who, from its earliest days, labored 
 earnestly, untiringly, and faithfully for its interests. 
 As a pupil, she was one of the first to receive Miss 
 Lyon's cordial greeting, and affectionate, trusting 
 welcome as a helper ; and when, after her graduation, 
 she was added to the corps of teachers, it was to 
 throw her whole self into the interests and work 
 of the seminary. 
 
 " After Miss Lyon's death, during Miss Whit- 
 man's illness and after her resignation, the heavy 
 burdens falling upon her were borne with great 
 humility and fidelity; and during the thirteen years 
 that she was principal, her economy, patience, con- 
 stant watchfulness, and rare executive ability enabled 
 her to so carry out Miss Lyon's progressive plans 
 * that she held the position with advantage to the 
 seminary and credit to herself.' 
 
 " After her marriage she still labored earnestly 
 and lovingly, with undiminished interest, making and 
 aiding in the execution of plans that were practical 
 and broad, for its improvement and enlargement, and 
 rejoicing in all its successes. 
 
 " Resolved, that we feel called on by her teaching 
 and example to work while the day lasts, doing with 
 
36 MARY w. (CHAPIN) PEASE. 
 
 our might what our hands find to do, watching unto 
 prayer, that we may be also ready, and receive our 
 Master's ' Well done ; enter into joy.' 
 
 " Resolved, that our sympathy be extended to the 
 family of our dear friend, and our prayer for them 
 shall be that the Lord may sustain and comfort 
 them, that they may be ' perfect and complete in 
 all the will of God. ' " 
 
 MRS. MARY A. KEITH, \ Committee 
 Miss JULIA E. WARD, > on 
 MRS. C. P. WILLIAMS, ) Resolutions. 
 
THE 
 UN/VSRSITY 
 
/ 
 
 [From her /^ letter.} 
 
MEMORIAL 
 
 OF 
 
 LYDIA W. SHATTUCK 
 
 BORN JUNE 10, 1822 
 DIED NOVEMBER 2, 1889 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 BEACON PRBSS: THOMAS TODD, PRINTER 
 1890 
 
" And I will trust that He who heeds 
 
 The life that hides in mead and wold, 
 Who hangs yon alder's crimson beads, 
 
 And stains these mosses green and gold, 
 Will still, as He hath done, incline 
 His gracious care to me*and mine y 
 Grant what we ask aright, from wrong debar, 
 And as the earth grows dark, make brighter every star" 
 
 WHITTIER. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH, 
 
 BY SARAH D. (LOCKE) STOW. 
 
 IN "The Memorials of the Shattuck Family" the editor 
 says : " The Shattucks have formed a fair average specimen 
 of the independent yeomanry of New England that class 
 of men and women who make the foundation strength and 
 energy of the republic, and who can be relied on generally 
 for its peace, stability, and progress, and, in cases of emer- 
 gency, for its protection and preservation. They have, in the 
 main, been independent thinkers, stable in their opinions, not 
 afraid to express them on any proper occasion, and unwilling 
 to submit to oppression or unreasonable dictation. A large 
 average proportion of them have been professors of religion, 
 and eminently Christian men and women, careful in the per- 
 formance of all Christian duty." 
 
 The family traces its origin to William Shattuck, who was 
 born in England in 1621-22, and whose name appears in an 
 old list of the proprietors of Watertown, Massachusetts, made 
 about 1642. 
 
 Lydia White Shattuck named for her maternal grand- 
 mother was a lineal descendant in the sixth generation 
 from the above named William. She was born June 10, 1822, 
 in East Landaff (now Easton), New Hampshire, on the west- 
 ern side of the Franconia Mountains, in the region of Mount 
 Kinsman and Moosehillock. Her grandfather Shattuck, with 
 others of the family, went to New Hampshire from Eastern 
 Massachusetts, and settled in Landaff, then called Lincoln, in 
 1798. Her father, Timothy Shattuck, who was a cousin of the 
 
I.VDIA W. SIIATTWK. 
 
 eminent physician George C. Shattuck, of Boston, turned back 
 like Isaac to the country of his fathers for a wife, married, 
 January 28, 1812, Betsey Fletcher, of Acton, Massachusetts, 
 and took her to a farm life among the mountains. Lydia, 
 their fifth child, was the first who lived, William L., the only 
 son, survives his sister, and resides in Wing Road, New 
 Hampshire, a few miles from the place of their birth. 
 
 The father, tall, large, with light blue eyes under a mas- 
 sive brow crowned with light hair early turning white, was 
 a man of strong intellect and of deep and firm convictions. 
 He was strict in all religious observances himself, yet would 
 not require his children to adopt either his practices or his 
 opinions. He was often called to visit the siek and dying, 
 and was active in all good works. 
 
 The mother short and somewhat stout ; of dark hair, 
 eyes, and complexion ; of reticent habits, with a certain fine 
 feeling and a love of the beautiful often found companion- 
 ship in nature rather than among the neighbors of their 
 sparsely settled community. 
 
 The daughter was like her father in form and features, 
 bright blue eyes and delicate complexion. Her light curling 
 hair turned white with years, but always curled ; her pearly 
 teeth kept sound and beautiful as long as she lived. Full of 
 life and strength, the active maiden was an attraction through 
 the neighborhood ; and though she never spoke of it, rumor 
 says that she had admirers not a few, who would have been 
 glad to gain her heart and hand. 
 
 Drinking in all the influences about her, the young girl 
 remembered her father's words and ways, and imbibed with 
 his sturdy views her mother's feelings and love of nature, 
 often following her half silently through wood and field. She 
 never lost the child's delight with which, on returning from 
 one of these excursions, she sat down to rejoice in her apron- 
 ful of flowers all her own. 
 
 With her brother she climbed the hills, or wandered up 
 and down the streams that feed the Ammonoosuc. She loved 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 7 
 
 to watch the fish, but could never bear to have them caught ; 
 their struggles gave her too much pain. Twice at least they 
 ascended Mount Kinsman, on whose summit she found to her 
 great surprise the meadow cranberry growing. 
 
 In the words of Miss Ellis, her long-time friend : " Nature, 
 the dear old nurse, took her into loving confidence; wander- 
 ing about in meadow, marsh, and forest, in the valleys and 
 over the hills; delighting in the whisper of the breeze, the 
 notes of insects, the songs of birds, and the ever-varying 
 phases of the vegetable world, she gained a knowledge of fly- 
 ing and creeping things, of green and beautiful growths, far 
 beyond that of most of her own age, and indeed of her own 
 time." 
 
 In the shadow of the Franconia range, all her early life, 
 like that of Miss Lyon, and of Miss Fiske among the Berk- 
 shire hights, had the elevating and expanding influence 
 of a home among the mountains. What if they hid the east- 
 ern sky ? She used to say : " I had to turn my face upward 
 to greet the sun, and so perhaps I learned to be always look- 
 ing up." 
 
 She was able and skilled in handiwork, but loved the 
 beautiful more, and would rather be watching the clouds than 
 washing dishes or mending stockings. But if either was to 
 be done, she did it well, and in later years younger fingers 
 seldom excelled hers in fine darning, or in such other needle- 
 work as she attempted. She early learned to spin and to 
 knit Books and papers were scarce in those days, but she 
 availed herself of all that she could obtain, knitting sale-feet- 
 ing and reading at the same time. She was rapid with her 
 needles, and after her fiftieth birthday she knit a pair of men's 
 socks one day to see whether she could still do it in that 
 time. She was fond of drawing, and at one time allowed her- 
 self the time and pleasure of making crayon pictures. A 
 large copy of Miss Lyon's birthplace, given to a friend nearly 
 forty years ago, has always hung in a place of honor, and is 
 valued highly for its double associations. A lover of poetry, 
 
8 LYDIA W. SHATTUCK. 
 
 she treasured up and often repeated choice poetic selections, 
 and sometimes gave easy expression to her own thoughts in 
 verse. 
 
 She was reared in a religious atmosphere. Her father's 
 house was always open to accommodate the neighborhood 
 prayer and conference meeting, or to welcome the itinerant 
 Methodist preacher for his fortnightly lectures when the old 
 school-house by the mill-stream was unfit for use. Her re- 
 quest for prayers at one of these meetings, some time after 
 she was sixteen, was perhaps a turning-point in her religious 
 experience ; but her church membership dates from the age of 
 twenty-five. For the eleven years before her death she was 
 connected with the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church in 
 Springfield. But though she always preferred the denomina- 
 tion in which she was born and trained, she was so far from 
 being sectarian in her feelings that perhaps not one in a hun- 
 dred of those in her Bible classes or evening meetings ever 
 knew to what denomination she belonged. 
 
 Among her earliest memories was her first day at school. 
 Her father had taken her within sight of the school-house, 
 and then left her for his work. School had begun when she 
 arrived. Taking in her little hand a chip from the woodpile, 
 she timidly rapped with it on the door, her first knock at the 
 door of the temple of learning. To the tall master's question, 
 " What do you want, little girl ? " she said, " To go to school ; " 
 and he led her to a seat on a low bench by the fire. She 
 early showed a strong mind, was quick to learn, and especially 
 good in arithmetic ; she soon mastered what was taught in 
 the common school, and laid good foundations for further 
 education. At the age of fourteen or fifteen she began teach- 
 ing district schools, and taught eighteen terms before going 
 to South Hadley. 
 
 Another family among the early settlers of Landaff was 
 one by the name of Roys. Removing thence to Haverhill, 
 New Hampshire, for the education of her sons, Mrs. Roys 
 invited Miss Shattuck to attend the academy there, which she 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 9 
 
 did for one term, when about sixteen, studying higher English 
 branches, and perhaps French. In 1845 ner friend Rhoda 
 Roys, a Holyoke student in 1842, became the wife of Rev. 
 Almon Benson, of Centre Harbor, New Hampshire. Through 
 Mr. Benson's agency, Miss Shattuck was employed to teach in 
 that place, and remained there through the fall to attend a 
 select school taught by Harriette N. Kingsbury, then a Hol- 
 yoke student, afterwards a graduate. While there, she decided 
 to go to Mount Holyoke if possible. When the case was 
 referred to her father, he expressed much unwillingness to 
 lose her from home ; and yet it was always a sorrow to him 
 that she never married. But he said, " Lydia, I cannot furnish 
 you money, but will give you a hundred acres of wild land.' r 
 He did more than this ; for the lot he gave her in the mountain 
 gorge contained three hundred acres. But there was no sale 
 for it then, and it brought her nothing for many years. Her 
 good friend, Mrs. Benson, said : " I have a little with which you 
 can start; I'll help you all I can." In the winter of 1847 she 
 left teaching to study at Newbury, Vermont, in preparation 
 for the seminary. When she entered in 1848, the require- 
 ments of candidates had been made for the first time ta 
 include " a good knowledge of Andrews and Stoddard's Latin 
 Grammar, and Andrews' Latin Reader." She was twenty-six 
 years old, but was never too old to learn. 
 
 Dependent on herself for means, she paid her own way, 
 and a large part of it by extra hours and care in domestic 
 work. Her competence in that department, both to do 
 and to direct others, was shown afterward in her filling the 
 place of matron for several years, in addition to her work in 
 teaching. 
 
 The class that entered with her was the last one Miss 
 Lyon lived to receive, and when that beloved teacher was 
 stricken with fatal disease the next March, it was her privilege 
 and her trust to watch with her night after night. A like 
 privilege was not given when her mother died three years 
 afterward. She was unable even to reach home in time for 
 
10 LYDIA W. SHATTUCK. 
 
 the funeral. Her mother had taken great satisfaction in her 
 going to the seminary, in her three years of study, and in 
 her graduation with honor in 1851; and was specially com- 
 forted to learn that she was engaged to enter at once on the 
 work of teaching there. 
 
 That work she never left for another, and though she 
 was repeatedly away months at a time for travel in this or 
 other lands, chiefly in the interests of science, her name has 
 appeared in every annual catalogue since she entered. In 
 1889, after thirty-eight years in the department of botany, she 
 was made, professor emeritus, an honor thoroughly deserved. 
 
 Botany was not her only subject. For a time she taught 
 algebra and geometry a part of the year, and sometimes phys- 
 iology and natural philosophy. Astronomy classes saw the 
 heavens through the telescope under her direction. When 
 Miss Bardwell was teaching physics in later years, she says 
 that she obtained more help, in certain lines, from Miss Shat- 
 tuck, than from any book, or from any other person. But 
 next to botany she delighted most in teaching chemistry, in 
 which department she was a worthy successor of Miss Lyon 
 and Miss Whitman. She used to say that in the winter she 
 liked chemistry best, in the summer, botany. She explored 
 the fields, and could tell where the first arbutus buds would 
 open. She knew what grew in " the dark woods," and all the 
 treasures of " Paradise." To a favored few she whispered 
 the hiding place of the rare and fragrant twin-flower, which 
 she loved both for its own sake, and because it bears the 
 name of Linnaeus. 
 
 Her interest in all branches of science was remarkable. 
 She read the " testimony of the rocks," and studied their story 
 of the ages, fascinated by geologic changes, past or present. 
 While studying the flora of the Hawaiian Islands in 1887, 
 she left all and took a week's time, and for her a difficult 
 journey, with the uncertain prospect of getting a sight from 
 the steamer's deck of a lava flow from Mauna Loa. "The 
 grand exhibition of volcanic phenomena" which she was so 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. II 
 
 fortunate as to see, gave her great satisfaction. It was not 
 lessened by the fact that a party which took the same trip 
 two days later saw nothing of the flow. 
 
 Miss Bowers tells of one instance when mineralogy won 
 a conquest over botany. In the summer of 1868 a party of 
 seminary teachers and others, on an excursion to the Great 
 Lakes, visited an island in Lake Superior where they hoped 
 to find the fragrant Aspiditim, rare elsewhere in the United 
 States. But there were chlorastrolites also on the island ; and 
 once ashore, Miss Shattuck so eagerly sought out the green 
 star-stones along the beach that others were the first to see 
 the fragrant fern that was filling the air like violets. 
 
 Her enthusiasm inspired students and associates. She 
 was full of zeal in laying foundations for better and better 
 work. She gained the respect of professors who came to 
 lecture, and with whose teachings she kept herself abreast. 
 In all directions she reached out for more knowledge. She 
 read current literature and studied authorities; but books 
 often failed to satisfy, for she neither accepted nor rejected 
 opinions merely because others did. Her mind was strong in 
 seeking for facts, and the relations of facts, and as these were 
 successively discovered, her opinions varied accordingly. At 
 first she was strongly opposed to all theories of evolution, but 
 was afterward no less opposed to their wholesale denial, say- 
 ing characteristically, at one stage in her changing view, 
 " I would rather be a descendant of a good monkey than of 
 a wicked man." She had no fear of any theories that bear the 
 test of facts rightly understood, but wasted no time in trying 
 to reconcile discrepancies not yet proved. Impatient of 
 restraint upon opinion, she refused to think " in traces," either 
 in matters of science or of theology; yet she never wavered 
 in her loving faith. To her the divine word and the divine 
 works together revealed one author her adorable Father. 
 
 The following,' from a letter written in 1881 or 1882 to 
 the Alumnae of the Northwest, in answer to inquiries they 
 had made about the seminary, is too characteristic to be 
 
12 LYDIA W. SHATTUCK. 
 
 omitted. It has also a separate value for what it shows of 
 the seminary at that time, though the progress of the last ten 
 years in methods and additional equipments makes it on some 
 points quite out of date : 
 
 "After due deliberation I proceed to number and answer your 
 questions. 
 
 " i st. Do you refuse to admit new theories founded upon mod- 
 ern discoveries in geology ? I reply : Our text-book in geology is 
 Dana. Perhaps he is antiquated, but he still lives, and is used in 
 our colleges. Other authors to whom we send our students are 
 Lyell, Dawson, McCausland, McCosh, Cook, Winchell, La Conte, 
 Gray, St. George Mivart, Duke of Argyle, Tyndall, Darwin, Huxley, 
 Spencer, and I might add the names of quite a number of sponta- 
 neous-generation writers. Now if your question assumes that we 
 fail to teach our classes that the theories of all these will stand, or 
 even that we ourselves know exactly how the worlds were made, we 
 plead guilty. We do strive to make them intelligent on modern 
 theories and established laws, and to discriminate carefully between 
 them. We have upon the walls of our geological and mineralogi- 
 cal recitation room a fresco map of the surface geology of the 
 United States and Territories as known three years ago. It is 
 the best thing of its kind in the country, and occupies the whole 
 east side of the room. We have casts, footprints, etc., occupying 
 more than an entire story in Williston Hall, illustrating the fauna 
 and flora of geologic ages. 
 
 " But perhaps your question means to ask whether we have 
 thrown the Bible overboard. I reply : We never did use it as a 
 text-book for science, and we do not now. And yet, if I may give 
 mine opinion, I think the first chapter of Genesis will stand, if man 
 will only use that wonderful measure of duration which divine wis- 
 dom put into the very first statement of limitation : ' And there 
 was evening, and there was morning, one day.' The long evening 
 of darkness from the sowing of the spaces of our little solar system 
 with molecules of elemental planetary dust, until God's energy 
 moved them and ' light was ' this was the rule by which to measure 
 duration which had not yet been clipped by the great shears of 
 terrestrial rotation. Does any man know how long that measure 
 was? . . . 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 13 
 
 " 2d. Are examinations oral or written ? The entering exami- 
 nations are mostly written. The escaping ones are oral, or from 
 written questions drawn at random. Our dependence, however, 
 for the status in scholarship, is not on the closing examination, but 
 upon the manifest results of the daily drill in development of power 
 to think clearly and accurately on the subject in hand. We 
 do believe that public, oral examination helps our young ladies to 
 maintain a certain dignity of bearing in circumstances equivalent 
 to 'standing fire,' as soldiers call it. We still believe that our 
 anniversary should show a little of what women can do, and have 
 done, instead of becoming an occasion to hear only what some 
 smart man can say to them. 
 
 "3d. Does scholarship determine promotion? I answer: 
 Did it ever do otherwise at Mount Holyoke? Almost none com- 
 plete the prescribed course in two years; more stay three, most 
 four, some five and some six, the latter usually taking extra instruc- 
 tion in either Latin, Greek, mathematics, literature, history of art, 
 or one or more of the sciences. 
 
 " 4th. Are graduates of one year made teachers the next ? 
 Yes, sometimes. I think there have been three or four such cases 
 in the last decade. There is a certain unifying tendency between 
 teachers and scholars in the arrangement, that we like, when just 
 the right candidate appears ; but we must confess that she is a rara 
 avis, and so the thing does not often happen. 
 
 " Perhaps the import of the question is this : With your sys- 
 tem of self-perpetuation, how do you gather new ideas and methods 
 of teaching, or make progress in any line ? I answer : Our music, 
 French, German, and often physiology, is taught by those educated 
 elsewhere. Our own teachers have gone from here to study Greek 
 and botany at Harvard ; chemistry and mineralogy at Boston and 
 Worcester schools of Technology ; mathematics, Greek, and astron- 
 omy at Dartmouth. 
 
 "Our lecturers the last two years have been : Professor C. A. 
 Young, of Princeton, on physics and astronomy ; Professor C. O. 
 Thompson, of Worcester, on chemistry ; Mr. Goodyear, of Cooper 
 Institute, on art ; Professor Hitchcock, of Dartmouth, on geology 
 a pretty decided evolutionist he is too ; Dr. John Lord, on history ; 
 
14 LYDIA W. SHATTUCK. 
 
 besides others for single lectures or shorter courses. Joseph Cook 
 has given two courses since he began his Monday lectureship. 
 
 "Our library has a fund from which it is able to get some of 
 the recent publications of the best authors yearly. 
 
 "We take these magazines of foreign issue: Westminster 
 Review, Edinburgh Review, Quarterly Review, Revue des Deux 
 Mondes, Contemporary Review, Blackwood's Magazine, Fraser's 
 Magazine, Nature, Evangelical Christendom ; besides the ordinary 
 magazines and publications of our own land, which I will not stop 
 to enumerate. 
 
 " You may remember the very limited time given to the study 
 of literature years ago when Paradise Lost was our only text-book. 
 Now we give three months to the study of English literature under 
 a teacher who has given her whole attention to the subject for 
 years, having no other classes. This involves a critical study of 
 numbers of our best English authors. The same length of time is 
 given to ancient literature in the senior year, which means a thor- 
 ough analysis of the Iliad and of Greek tragedy, with considerable 
 acquaintance with Sanskrit, Roman and old German literature. 
 
 " I might speak extensively of our work in the chemical labo- 
 ratory, where pupils spend months, and sometimes even a year or 
 more, in analysis and experiment ; of our enthusiastic zoologists 
 and their teacher ; of our instruction in drawing from models, by 
 one of the pupils of Walter Smith, of Boston. But time would fail 
 me and your patience would be exhausted ; so I will close by say- 
 ing, Come and see" 
 
 A passage of a different kind, but equally characteristic, 
 is found in a letter written after a change of rooms unexpect- 
 edly and unavoidably caused by repairs in her absence : " The 
 torment of ' things ' has been revealed to me in a new light. 
 How do housekeepers live who pull up and clean house 
 twice a year ? What disposal do they make of the big things 
 and the little things ; the round, square, and triangular things ; 
 the thin things and the thick things ; the fragile things and the 
 things that long to break them ? I oh'd ' for a lodge in some 
 vast wilderness/ where things could never reach me more! 
 There is a queer kind of feeling in being told, ' Your things 
 
. u 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 15 
 
 have all been moved.' Then you begin to realize that 
 ' things ' are a part of yourself in a kind of mysterious way, 
 and you don't want them scanned too closely. It is much as 
 if you had died and come to life again to see what people 
 were doing with your things. Well, I have gotten the things 
 into 89, but how I am going to keep in my head the new 
 places they must occupy is a grave question. I think some 
 of burning all I cannot hang up, as Bluebeard did his wives. 
 What do you suppose he hung them up for ? It surely could 
 not be so that he could find them. Now I will stop my non- 
 sense and tell you the news." 
 
 What Miss Shattuck accomplished as a student and 
 teacher of science, with something of what she gained for 
 science and the seminary at the island of Penikese in 1873, 
 at the Centennial Exposition in 1876, and in the Hawaiian 
 Islands in 1886-87, will appear in the subjoined sketch by her 
 successor in the department of botany. Mention has been 
 made of her trip to the Great Lakes in 1868. In the summer 
 and fall of 1869 she was traveling in Europe. With a teach- 
 ers' convention she went from the White Mountains on an 
 excursion to Montreal, Quebec, and the Saguenay, in 1878; 
 and with Miss Edwards to the exposition at New Orleans in 
 the Christmas vacation of 1884. 
 
 After the opening of the Huguenot and neighboring 
 seminaries she was desired but was not spared from Mount 
 Holyoke to go to South Africa to study and classify the 
 flora of that region and prepare a botany for their use. 
 
 In 1871 Miss Peabody sought her aid, for the summer,. 
 in the department of botany at the seminary in Oxford, Ohio. 
 But her stay there was cut short by the burning of the semi- 
 nary building in April. Most of her wardrobe was destroyed, 
 with many souvenirs of her European trip. She was wel- 
 comed back to South Hadley in May. 
 
 Wherever she went she found former pupils. Her home- 
 ward journey from the Hawaiian Islands in 1887 was marked 
 at San Francisco and at the Western Holyokes by gatherings of 
 
l LYDIA W. SHATTUCK. 
 
 alumnae that were miniatures of the Jubilee in June. No less 
 pleasing to her was her reception at the seminary, Saturday 
 morning, April 30, at the end of her year's absence. When 
 the promised signal announced the approach of the carriage 
 sent to bring her, the young ladies dropping book or work 
 or pen assembled on the front piazzas to sing her a welcome 
 home. 
 
 Her love of home and friends was strong and tender. 
 On going from the seminary anniversary to her New Hamp- 
 shire home in 1857, she wrote of her arrival in these words : 
 
 "At A *s I found Nellie, and father came soon after. 
 
 Together we trod the old familiar paths, rejoicing that we 
 had met again, and soon the dear homestead, with its over- 
 shadowing elm, greeted my streaming eyes." 
 
 All alumnae whom she has had the privilege of welcoming 
 back to alma mater know the cordiality of her greeting, and 
 understand the feeling of one who writes : " I went back to 
 the seminary, a few months after graduating, with the feeling 
 all graduates must have, that I no longer belonged there. 
 But when I received Miss Shattuck's warm welcome, I felt as 
 much a Holyoke girl again as I had ever been." Those whom 
 she has received with open arms, exclaiming, " You dear 
 child!" and those who have heard her fondly earnest way of 
 referring to "my Anna" the friend of forty years who was 
 so long her room-mate or have been privileged to read the 
 letters she wrote when far away, will testify to the abiding 
 strength of her affection. If her low estimate of herself, 
 and lier retiring nature, sometimes retarded an appreciation 
 of her worth, " she was," as Miss Jessup says, " so unselfish, 
 so thoughtful for others, so ardent in her friendships, and so 
 true in all her intercourse with her friends, that to know her 
 was to love her." 
 
 While one of the alumnae writes, " Holyoke has no 
 other graduate who has earned the enviable position which 
 for years has been accorded to Miss Shattuck in the scientific 
 world," others speak as follows : 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 17 
 
 " She was one of the teachers who left a lifelong influence 
 upon my mind." 
 
 "Two things I shall always connect with her memory. One 
 is the warm love she had for us all ; the other is the Tuesday even- 
 ing general recess meeting. She spoke of spiritual things with 
 such earnestness and feeling, we knew that to her they were very 
 real, and of necessity she led us to a firmer faith." 
 
 " * Blessed are the pure in heart ' has always been a different 
 text to me since she made it so plain that spiritual vision is in pro- 
 portion to cleanness of heart." 
 
 " I shall never forget the impression received one evening in 
 the seminary hall, when she turned our thoughts to the majestic, 
 unchanging power and love of the infinite God; nor her deeply 
 reverent rendering of the hymn beginning, 
 
 * Great God, how infinite art thou J ' 
 especially the lines, 
 
 * While thine eternal thoughts move on 
 
 Thine undisturbed affairs.' " 
 
 " She had vivid conceptions of divine truth, and made it vivid 
 to her listeners. She hated evil in every form, and her vehement 
 disapprobation was sometimes startling in its utterance. Always 
 a lover of beauty in nature, as she advanced in years she was more 
 and more profoundly impressed with the beauty of holiness." 
 
 Says one who was associated with her in study and 
 in teaching : " Her character when she entered the seminary 
 was marked with those noble traits that shone in after 
 life. Most of the alumnae knew her personally her faithful- 
 ness, her conscientious devotion, and somewhat of the good 
 results to the seminary of her untiring labors. You who 
 have labored with her in later years have not been uncon- 
 scious of the beautiful maturity of that strong nature. When 
 I last saw her I was struck with the softened loveliness of her 
 face and the peaceful tenor of her mind." 
 
 That she had defects of character no one knew better 
 than herself. Every strong nature has its weaknesses, and 
 
1 8 LYDIA W. SHATTUCK. 
 
 though hers were comparatively few and slight, it would pain 
 her to be represented as having none. 
 
 The seminary journal for 1871 contains the following 
 account of a surprise gathering, and the gift of a gold watch 
 and chain on her fiftieth birthday : 
 
 " Monday, the loth, was one of the most perfect days of June. 
 Miss Shattuck had various plans of her own which we were obliged 
 to persuade her to abandon, and when afternoon recitations were 
 over it became necessary to keep careful guard over her move- 
 ments and resort to all manner of devices to keep her away from 
 the basement and seminary hall. But after the arrival (unexpected 
 to her) of her old room-mate when a pupil, Mrs. Dr. Paine, of 
 Albany, she was content to stay quietly in her room and visit with 
 her. With great enthusiasm the young ladies decorated the semi- 
 nar}' hall with an abundance of ferns, wild flowers, and greenhouse 
 exotics. When we were nearly ready she was told that friends were 
 waiting to see her, and quite against her judgment was required 
 to array herself in her Paris black silk and submit to a wreath of 
 roses upon her brow, already crowned with shining, snow-white 
 hair. She was beautiful that night with a beauty that youth may 
 look forward to and strive for, but must wait long years to obtain. 
 With perfect innocence she remarked that she had long intended 
 to buy herself a gold watch when she reached the age of fifty, but 
 since her losses by the Oxford fire she had supposed she ought not 
 to think of it at present. Lest one so easily moved to tears should 
 be quite overcome by too sudden a surprise, she was told, just 
 before entering the seminary hall, that she might receive a gift in 
 the course of the evening, but that, whatever might happen, she 
 must not cry ! She was led past the loaded tables whose white 
 spreads were bordered with oak leaves from the woods and orna- 
 mented with the same dark green under piles of plates and plates 
 of food and conducted to a chair near the platform and under 
 a canopy of the graceful rhubarb blossoms that she admires so 
 much. Congratulations from all present were followed by a poem 
 written and read by Helen Angell, of last year's class. We have 
 room for only these lines : 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 19 
 
 " ' The patient aloe waits a hundred years 
 
 The gorgeous bloom that drains its life away. 
 Sooner than that thy snowy crown appears, 
 And thou shalt wear it through the gates of day. 
 
 " ' Yet stay with us fifty years longer ; 
 
 God's glory shall never grow old I 
 And we for thy presence are stronger ; 
 
 Thy smile is more precious than gold. 
 We who remain when the century closes 
 Will crown thee again with lilies and roses.' 
 
 " The watch was then presented by Mr. Bridgman, after a 
 speech combining the playful and earnest with such good effect 
 that, although Miss Shattuck was almost overwhelmed, she found} 
 no place for tears during the evening. After refreshments of cake 
 and ice cream, with frequent music by the young ladies, Mr. Bliss,. 
 our pastor, led our thoughts in prayer." 
 
 Her sixtieth anniversary was observed in a more quiet 
 way. The teachers met informally in her room the north 
 wing parlor bringing a profusion of roses and other floral 
 gifts. Perhaps no remembrance pleased her more that day 
 than a bunch of sixty four-leaved clovers gathered for her 
 from the fields by one of her botany girls. 
 
 The following picture of Miss Shattuck at the semi-cen- 
 tennial reunion in 1887 was drawn by a graduate of 1858 for 
 her own classmates : 
 
 " Dear Miss Shattuck was the presiding genius of all the 
 hostesses to greet us on that memorable occasion. Can you not 
 see her her sweet dignity of manner, her gracious way of speak- 
 ing, always with gentleness and thought (for hers were never 
 careless lips), and her wealth of white hair, wavy and silky? She 
 was most becomingly arrayed in summer dress of steel-gray silk, 
 with handsome trimmings. A missionary, with whom we were 
 chatting awhile, had in her hand strings of white shells and red> 
 beads such as the natives wear. Playfully she threw them around 
 Miss Shattuck's neck, and the effect was so pleasing we teased 
 her, like children, to wear them. ;. and she did.for a time, for she liked 
 
20 LYDIA W. SHATTUCK. 
 
 to gratify us. She was so grand in her crown of years, this woman 
 of wonderful attainment and childlike humility ! " 
 
 At this reunion she was asked to address the alumnae 
 on " The Seminary and Science." Her own identity with the 
 progressive spirit stamped upon the institution by Miss Lyon 
 appears in the following sentences from that address : 
 
 " In the very beginning of the seminary, science had a promi- 
 nent place in its course of study. Botany was in both the first and 
 second years of the three years' course. Chemistry, geology, 
 astronomy, natural philosophy, physiology, and philosophy of nat- 
 ural history had each its appointed place seven sciences in a 
 ^course of twenty-three studies. Names have changed since then, 
 .and work has broadened ; botany and zoology have stretched out 
 into the deeper researches of biology. In chemistry, in the early 
 years, Miss Lyon was the enthusiastic teacher and experimenter. 
 That she was a successful one, several now present can testify. 
 In geology she listened eagerly to the testimony of the rocks, and 
 joined a party led by President Hitchcock, of Amherst, on a tour 
 of investigation. At that very time many of his ministerial breth- 
 ren were branding him as a heretic for his views of the six days of 
 creation. Miss Lyon had none of the spirit of the Brahman who 
 pulverized the microscope because it showed him animal life in his 
 .food. She stood calmly by while the opening leaves of the earth's 
 rocky crust revealed ages between the beginning and the first liv- 
 ing thing. I have yet to learn that, because of these studies, any 
 of our students have become less reverent toward the Bible, or less 
 confident of the divine love and care. Our non-resident professors 
 give us credit for doing good work in science. One of them 
 recently suggested that in future, as a college, we give a special 
 scientific direction to our pursuits ; ' for,' said he, ' there is an ear- 
 nest spirit of study here favorable to scientific research, and science 
 does not tolerate any half-way work.' 
 
 " Since, therefore, the instruction of the seminary has had 
 a scientific trend from the first, without tendency to convert us into 
 agnostics or infidels ; since this is a scientific age and we are bound 
 to keep abreast of the times ; since every college has its own partic- 
 ular individuality let us press onward in these lines till we obtain 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 21 
 
 full recognition among the colleges of New England, claiming the 
 right to confer degrees whenever it can be shown that our pupils 
 have done as much and as good work as other colleges require for 
 the same degrees." 
 
 Her closing words were these : 
 
 "You will pardon a few words of personal reminiscence 
 and grateful acknowledgment. Some of you will remember our 
 long walks together in search of oxalis and orchids, gold-thread 
 and lady's slippers. Some of you have been lost on mountain and 
 plain in the interests of science. Some of you have made us glad 
 by gifts to the botanic garden and the gift of the greenhouse. 
 From many we have had kind letters and kind wishes and multi- 
 tudes of helpful words and deeds. The lengthening shadows 
 remind some of us that it is almost time to go home and rest. In 
 that glad morning when the tireless spirit shall be clad in a body 
 as tireless as itself, when our eyes shall see the King in his beauty 
 and we shall behold the land that is very far off, where our Elder 
 Brother shall wrap all who are his own in the vestments of fine 
 linen, pure and white, may we, every one, be found at his right 
 hand ! " 
 
 For her that glad morning was nearer than we thought. 
 Until about the age of sixty her general health had been very 
 good, but after that her throat and lungs were in so sensitive 
 a state that she was counseled to avoid a temperature lower 
 than summer heat. To do so in this climate involved the 
 great trial of shutting herself within doors for months at 
 a time. Much was hoped from her stay at the Hawaiian 
 Islands, but a cold taken on the return journey lessened or 
 destroyed the benefit received, and her strength continued 
 to fail. Unequal to the vigorous labors of former years, her 
 activities in behalf of the institution increased in other direc- 
 tions. In her last years she made it a rule to obtain as much 
 in gifts for the seminary and college as she received from its 
 treasury for her own salary. For the summer of 1889 she 
 went to relatives in Hartford, Vermont, where she remained 
 till she was taken back to South Hadley, October 17. It 
 
22 LYDIA W. SHATTUCK. 
 
 gave her inexpressible comfort to return and to be in her old 
 room again the one that was Miss Fiske's after her return 
 from Persia. Though extremely feeble from a complication 
 of heart, lung, and kidney difficulties, she expected to survive 
 the winter. But her friends felt that the end was near. All 
 that the best of nursing and medical skill could do continued 
 to be done till she gently passed away, Saturday afternoon, 
 November 2. 
 
 Of the next Tuesday, Miss Hooker wrote : 
 
 " I wish it had been the privilege of every one of the alumnas 
 to be with us that November day when we laid away from our sight 
 the peaceful, lifelike, and still impressive face that had always 
 been a benediction. In our sorrow and loss we could not forget 
 that to our Miss Shattuck, who had been all her life opening door 
 after door of mystery to find an utmost veiled, it was now the time 
 of open vision. And so we brought from the greenhouse to 
 parlors and seminary hall our emblems of gladness and triumph ; 
 palms, ferns, and flowers, with evergreens and red berries from 
 the woods. A life-size portrait of Miss Shattuck, on an easel in the 
 reception-room, we overhung with autumn leaves ; and in the north 
 parlor we built a high corner of green, and filled the windows with 
 chrysanthemums. There was the casket twined from head to foot 
 with ivy from Miss Lyon's grave, and covered with roses that the 
 young ladies brought until the ivy branches caught them falling 
 over the sides to the rug below, while an armful of long-stemmed 
 roses stood against the green background at the casket's head. 
 Alumnae from Holyoke and vicinity brought beautiful floral trib- 
 utes, and among them a pillow of fleecy-white Japanese chrysan- 
 themums, veiled with the delicate green of the maiden-hair. It 
 looked like Miss Shattuck, people said. 
 
 " The friends, faculty, and students in the seminary hall were 
 seated facing the reception-room, near which were the officiat- 
 ing clergymen J. L. R. Trask, Luther H. Cone, Dr. Burnham, 
 of Springfield, and Dr. Laurie, of Providence. The college quar- 
 tette sang 'Rest for the Toiling Hand,' and the twenty-third Psalm 
 was read, with Rev. vii : 9-17. It was especially fitting that the 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 23 
 
 sermon and prayer were by Dr. Laurie, who was at the same time 
 Miss Shattuck's first seminary pastor and Miss Lyon's last. 
 
 " The burial was in the new cemetery toward the west. It 
 had been a chilling, gray day, with a cheerless, moaning wind ; but 
 as the long procession left the house the dull blackness lifted, and 
 we went out into a glory of red and gold that we could not shut 
 our hearts against, not even when, one by one, we dropped our roses 
 upon the casket in the evergreen-lined grave and turned home 
 again. The promise had been fulfilled : ' At evening time it shall 
 be light.'" 
 
 No tribute more touching was given that day than that 
 which fell upon the casket from the hand of Jane poor Jane, 
 who brought her rose and threw it in among the first, hav- 
 ing made her way, unhindered, into the hollow square about 
 the open grave while Dr. Burnham was reading the burial 
 service. 
 
 Miss Shattuck was our one surviving link with Miss 
 Lyon. While she lived the older alumnae felt a bond drawing 
 them back to their school home. One writes : " There are 
 thousands to whom it will never be the same place without 
 the light of her presence." We cannot say that it is not so. 
 But let all be assured that those remaining in the old home 
 who love the memory of Mary Lyon, bereft of the last con- 
 necting tie with her, will prize as never before the visits and 
 the letters of those older Holyoke daughters. 
 
MISS SHATTUCK 
 
 AS A STUDENT AND TEACHER OF SCIENCE. 
 
 BY HENRIETTA E. HOOKER, PH. D. 
 
 IT was one evening in 1869 that I had my first glimpse 
 of Miss Shattuck, soon after her return from Europe. We 
 were waiting to take seats at table, in the seminary dining- 
 hall, when an older student next me whispered that the one 
 with the beautiful white hair, whom I had thought a visitor, 
 was Miss Shattuck, and that she knew "just everything about 
 botany." A little later I found myself in Miss Shattuck's 
 class a half-course class they called us out of which we 
 came after a few weeks of study with an herbarium of seventy- 
 five spring plants, a list of two hundred analyzed, and some 
 general facts concerning the forms, structures, and relations 
 found in the vegetable world. But more and better than any 
 or all these tangible things, there had come, to some of us at 
 least, a widening of vision, that brought with it a knowledge of 
 our ignorance, and a desire to know. This inspiration was not 
 from books to which we were referred (we had but the Gray's 
 Manual}, not from diagrams, charts, and models (there were 
 none), and not from the revelations of the microscope, for the 
 day of compound microscopes had not dawned at South Had- 
 ley ; but they came from Miss Shattuck's own self, and because 
 of what she was. She pointed out to us in the plants we held 
 in our hands the infinite variety and grace in form and shad- 
 ing, and the wonderful adaptations in structure and function ; 
 but these things were with her only as means to an end. 
 She knew the words, "Remember that thou magnify His 
 
26 LYDIA W. SHATTUCK. 
 
 works that men behold," and the climax of her teaching was 
 in leading us to translate, from these hieroglyphics with which 
 we were dealing, the underlying thought of God. 
 
 But Miss Shattuck was more to us than a botanist. She 
 was a naturalist to whom it was easy, in those field excursions 
 on which she led us, to give us charming glimpses of the food 
 for thought and study in the rocks, clouds, and living crea- 
 tures, which were as much the subjects of her talks as the 
 plants we sought. She taught us also to love the nature- 
 poets and what they said, and some of those quotations by 
 the way, as we botanized on mountain side or field or shore, 
 will always suggest Miss Shattuck. This one especially, from 
 Whittier, she often quoted : 
 
 " And I will trust that He who heeds 
 
 The life that hides in mead and wold, 
 Who hangs yon alder's crimson beads, 
 
 And stains these mosses green and gold, 
 Will still, as He hath done, incline 
 His gracious care to me and mine ; 
 Grant what we ask aright, from wrong debar, 
 And as the earth grows dark, make brighter every star ! " 
 
 Dr. Laurie's words did not seem to me overdrawn when he 
 said, at the burial service : " I do not know, but I have a deep 
 conviction, that more than one mountain-pasture and secluded 
 grove may have witnessed such communion between Christ 
 and her as the bush at Horeb once witnessed between 
 God and Moses." 
 
 True, there were times, in class and out, when we were 
 unable to grasp the broad generalizations and fine distinctions 
 of which her disciplined mind was capable ; but we felt that if 
 we knew enough to ask questions, she would be an oral refer- 
 ence library to us. And this she has been, especially to her 
 associate teachers, all these later years. 
 
 There was never the appearance of parading her knowl- 
 edge, never of wonder at our ignorance, or of personal con- 
 ceit in being able to give what was desired ; it was as free as 
 
AS A STUDENT AND TEACHER OF SCIENCE. 27 
 
 if our own from the first. Even if she were unable to give 
 the definite information asked, there was often in the suggest- 
 iveness of her well-directed reply more help than we had 
 sought; for example, when asked for an exact definition of 
 species, she replied, " If you will settle that problem, it will 
 clear up many other questions." 
 
 Those who have to do with securing and arranging speci- 
 mens of any kind will realize how much work is represented 
 in our present cabinets. The collections with which Miss 
 Shattuck began she could hold in her "two hands," as she 
 often said ; and now they have outgrown all the space 
 we have for them. The collecting, soliciting, buying, and 
 exchanging all these treasures, even if they came labeled 
 ready to be placed, would be no light undertaking; but when 
 we add to this the fact that a large number of the specimens 
 were unclassified and unknown, there enters into the account 
 a factor in the study, preparation, and cataloguing of them all, 
 that increases the labor almost immeasurably. 
 
 First of these in importance is the herbarium of seven 
 thousand plants, well mounted, named and in their places, 
 with almost as many more in packing-boxes, waiting their 
 roll-call when somebody finds the time. Our good alumnae, 
 scattered to the ends of the earth, have remembered the 
 seminary and Miss Shattuck, and have sent treasures which, 
 in representing so wide a foreign flora, add greatly to the 
 worth of our own, and make a collection of which any institu- 
 tion could but be proud. It was still further enriched by 
 Miss Shattuck's visit to the Hawaiian Islands three years ago, 
 both by the additions she secured, and by the information 
 concerning tropical growths that enabled her to name many 
 plants that had long been awaiting classification. The valua- 
 ble seed collections secured from the Centennial exhibit in 
 Philadelphia, increased by those representing hundreds of 
 species gathered and labeled by her own hand ; the sections 
 of native and foreign woods, prepared under Miss Shattuck's 
 supervision ; the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of specimens 
 
28 LYDIA W. SHATTUCK. 
 
 of all sorts and from everywhere in the world, on which 
 we are now at work, illustrating the economic uses of plants, 
 as food, medicines, for manufactures, and in the arts all 
 these have made us wonder at the amount accomplished, even 
 with the patience, painstaking, and energy with which these 
 forty years of service have been filled, and the wonder would 
 be greater to one not understanding Miss Shattuck's methods. 
 If time were lacking, she knew how to clip a bit from one end 
 or the other of vacation, or how not to hear the retiring bell 
 at night. Many such omissions the first compound micro- 
 scope of the institution, which came not far from 1870, could 
 reveal, when, night after night, alternately studying and 
 throwing herself upon her bed to rest, she worked until the 
 hours grew late. She said to a teacher with her at one 
 of these times, "What would I have thought when a girl, 
 if any one had told me I should some day have the use of 
 such a microscope as this ! " She lived to see twenty-six such 
 microscopes in our laboratories. 
 
 If Miss Shattuck believed the time had come for some 
 new piece of apparatus in her own or another department, or 
 if some appliance for household comfort seemed indispensable 
 like steam heating, the elevator, the artesian well and 
 the trustees shook their heads over the state of our finances 
 and said we must wait, such words were tonic to Miss Shat- 
 tuck, who became immediately a self-appointed committee of 
 ways and means. It was largely through her decision and 
 perseverance, beginning with a collection taken up at her 
 table one day, that the elevator was introduced in 1880. 
 Her suggestion to the Meriden Cutlery Company in 1875, 
 how they might obtain daily benedictions from a family of 
 three hundred, brought the response from one of the firm : 
 "Corporations have no souls; but inasmuch as my wife was 
 a Holyoke graduate, I would like to secure those benedictions 
 for myself." With the message came three hundred silver 
 knives. Later desiderata were a greenhouse and a botanic 
 garden. The plants of the immediate vicinity, so often shorn 
 
AS A STUDENT AND TEACHER OF SCIENCE. 29 
 
 of their glories, were retreating farther and farther, " withdraw- 
 ing their skirts from us," as she said, which meant loss to the 
 classes thus deprived of the opportunity to watch the behavior 
 of the plants at work; it was also desirable to become familiar 
 with a wider flora and with tropical forms. Then the out- 
 going mails grew heavier, and Miss Shattuck's excursions to 
 the hills and meadows more frequent. True, the brambles 
 did not turn aside for her, nor she for them, as her garments 
 sometimes testified on her return, nor had the breezes due 
 respect for her snowy hair; and if her steps were a little 
 slower, her breath a bit hurried, and her face more ruddy than 
 usual when she came home, there was never lacking bright- 
 ness in her eye, or enthusiasm in her voice, as she announced, 
 "Well, I got rny pitchers," or "orchids," or "dragons," or 
 whatever the treasures sought. And many a time at evening, 
 after such an excursion (for we had no gardener then), we 
 would see her disappearing with box and trowel over the brow 
 of the hill toward the little plowed spot below, that some 
 choice find might awaken in its new home in the morning. 
 So the botanic garden grew, and when the letters came in, one 
 day, a greenhouse check came with them. 
 
 But that we of Mount Holyoke are not alone in appre- 
 ciating Miss Shattuck's worth and work, the many letters 
 from persons of distinction found among her papers testify. 
 The questions discussed in these letters concerning the deep 
 things of nature, the advice they asked and their thanks for 
 help given, show the estimation in which this simple, unos- 
 tentatious woman was held in the world of science ; and promi- 
 nent among the signatures is that of one who subscribed him- 
 self always, " Your old friend, Asa Gray." Miss Shattuck 
 was a member of various botanical societies ; at one time she 
 was president of the Connecticut Valley Botanical Associa- 
 tion, and in 1889 was elected a corporate member of the 
 Marine Biological Laboratory of Wood's Holl. 
 
 It is interesting to go back from this summit in Miss 
 Shattuck's life over some of the paths by which she climbed, 
 
30 LYDIA W. SHATTUCK. 
 
 and to the difficulties that she encountered. The fact that 
 she knew, by their local names and general properties, most 
 of the common plants of her neighborhood before leaving 
 home, illustrates her early tendencies; but it is not strange 
 that one who studied plants in their native haunts, associating 
 them rather with the nooks and crannies and shady dells of 
 the New Hampshire hills than with the pages of books or 
 scientific names, should find difficulty in beginning systematic 
 study, particularly with the artificial keys then in use. In 
 referring to these days, Miss Shattuck never failed to mention 
 with gratitude the encouragement given by one, then her 
 room-mate, now Mrs. Dr. Paine of Albany, from whose stimu- 
 lating aid she dated her love for botany as a science, in dis- 
 tinction from her lifelong love of flowers. Mrs. Paine speaks 
 with characteristic modesty of her own connection with it, 
 but mentions many proofs of Miss Shattuck' s growing enthu- 
 siasm. Among them is an account of her coming in one day, 
 when a student, almost beside herself with joy over the float- 
 ing heart, a water plant which she had seen for the first time, 
 and of which she said, when asked how she secured it, " Oh, 
 I waded for it with bare feet there was no other way ! " 
 
 It was natural that botany should be one of the subjects 
 Miss Shattuck was asked to teach on her return to the semi- 
 nary after graduation ; but it would have been very unusual 
 in those early days had it been the only branch intrusted to 
 her. So it happened that there was scarcely anything in the 
 curriculum that was not at one time or another in her hands. 
 In these days of specialties, such scattering work would not 
 be considered advantageous as a preparation for science teach- 
 ing. She regretted, truly, for her pupils' sake, the amount of 
 territory she was thus obliged to cover, but, looking upon it 
 as an opportunity for broadening her own vision, she dug as 
 deep as she could, and brought to others what her time would 
 allow. This foundation-laying along so many different lines, 
 with her ability to sift and assimilate the gleanings from the 
 wide reading of her after life, gave her the general informa- 
 
AS A STUDENT AND TEACHER OF SCIENCE. 31 
 
 tion and broad culture which every one who talked with her 
 recognized. 
 
 Chemistry stood next to botany in Miss Shattuck's affec- 
 tion ; her last work was in soliciting funds for the new build- 
 ing in which she hoped to see it established, and she remem- 
 bered it equally with botany in her will. For all the college 
 departments, however, Miss Shattuck did much by her inter- 
 est, by her appreciation of work done, and by stimulating and 
 encouraging those in charge to learn about methods in other 
 institutions, and to become best fitted for their work in every 
 possible way. Especially was this the case after her own 
 summer in the school of Professor Agassiz at Penikese in 
 1873. Perhaps no equal period of her life had as much joy 
 and satisfaction in it, and her enthusiasm concerning it never 
 waned. Beautiful testimonials have come to us from her 
 companions in study of what her presence was there. Presi- 
 dent Jordan of Indiana University says : " She was to all of 
 us a gentle and delightful presence ; she was always serene 
 and helpful and interested. I have a very vivid recollection 
 of first seeing her among a circle of her friends and students 
 on the little tug-boat that took us to Penikese, and of wonder- 
 ing who she was. Afterwards I was introduced to her by 
 Professor Agassiz, and, as a young botanist, was much in her 
 society. To me she seemed to have a good many things in 
 common with Agassiz. She was quiet where he was demon- 
 strative, but she had the same way of looking at the divine 
 in nature, and the same broad views of human life. ' The 
 best friend student ever had/ some one called Agassiz in her 
 presence. She thought it well said, and I thought it might 
 as well be said of her." 
 
SERMON. 
 
 BY REV. THOMAS LAURIE, D.D., OF PROVIDENCE, R. I. 
 
 "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son 
 of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: and I have filled him with the spirit of God, 
 in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to 
 devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to set 
 them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship. And I, behold, I have 
 given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan : and in the hearts of all that 
 are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee ; the 
 tabernacle of the congregation, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is thereupon, 
 and all the furniture of the tabernacle, and the table and his furniture, and the pure candlestick 
 with all his furniture, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offering with all his furni- 
 ture, and the laver and his foot, and the clothes of service, and the holy garments for Aaron the 
 priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office, and the anointing oil, 
 and sweet incense for the holy place; according to all that I have commanded thee shall they 
 do." Exodus xxxi: /-//. 
 
 IF we had been in Egypt while Raamses oppressed the 
 chosen people, we might have expected a leader to be raised 
 to lead Israel out of the house of bondage, according to the 
 promise that had been made to Abraham. It might also have 
 occurred to us that the people would need a more full revela- 
 tion of the law of God than had yet been made, for their 
 future guidance ; and this work of a divine deliverance and 
 divine law-giving we should have called spiritual, and felt that 
 the man who was called to perform it must be filled with the 
 Spirit of God. 
 
 We should have had the same feelings respecting the 
 institution of an elaborate system of sacrifice and priestly 
 service, to typify our great High Priest, and his once offering 
 up of himself as the propitiation for the sins of the world. 
 That also we should have said is a spiritual work, and calls 
 for one who is filled with the Spirit. But perhaps most of 
 us would have been ready to rely on such architects, gold- 
 
34 LYDIA W. SHATTUCK. 
 
 smiths, lapidaries, and other skilled artisans as could be found 
 in the multitude that came up out of Egypt that home of 
 architecture and art, of magnificent temples and an imposing 
 ritual. 
 
 Still that was not God's plan. He provides the Michael 
 Angelo of that day, calling him by name (Bezaleel) just as 
 he called Moses and Aaron at that time, and Cyrus afterwards. 
 Nor that only ; but fills him with the Spirit, as though his 
 work called for the most thoroughly spiritual qualifications, 
 and that not only in wisdom and in understanding and in 
 knowledge, but in all manner of workmanship, to devise elab- 
 orate work of intricate pattern and delicate finish. This 
 varied work in gold and silver, in brass and wood, in precious 
 stones and costly garments, required a number of workmen 
 for one man could not be equally expert in so many things 
 and therefore God gave to Bezaleel a helpmeet likewise 
 called by name (Aholiab); then, besides both of these, he 
 leaves it on record that he put wisdom in the hearts of such 
 as were wise-hearted, on purpose that they might make all 
 that was required for the tabernacle and for its service. 
 
 God did not make the distinction that some do between 
 intellectual labor and the skilled labor of the hands, calling 
 the one spiritual and the other secular, but when both were 
 alike necessary for the advancement of the kingdom, and both 
 were to be rendered by those who loved that kingdom and 
 loved its Lord, he calls them both alike spiritual, the one as 
 truly as the other. And so, we say it reverently, He who is 
 both Creator and Redeemer was as truly spiritual in creating 
 the gold and the silver and the precious stones, as afterwards 
 in giving his life a ransom for many. 
 
 This record before us is very instructive, and I refer to 
 it today because some may be disposed to say that this insti- 
 tution was founded to promote the glory of God in the salva- 
 tion of souls, and not for the promotion of science. What 
 need, then, of so many teachers of science, or of original inves- 
 tigation along the lines of science ? We might ask, in reply, 
 
FUNERAL SERMON. 35 
 
 whether, to be devout, one must be one-sided, and whether a 
 many sided knowledge is only for skeptics and unbelievers ; 
 but today, in the presence of that once active brain, that silent 
 tongue, and these sightless eyes, we prefer to give a broader 
 answer, one more in accord with the thoughts she thinks 
 today. 
 
 What, then, is science ? It is the progressive investigation 
 of the principles on which the Lord our Saviour proceeded 
 in the work of creation ; or, if you prefer it, the successive dis- 
 covery of those principles through the careful study of things 
 created. 
 
 Take, for example, the science of music. What is it but 
 the searching out of the wonderful properties of, and the har- 
 monies existing between, various sounds, as they have been 
 endowed by the Lord Jesus the proportions they bear to 
 one another, their correspondencies, the chords of which 
 they are capable, the harmony produced by the accord of 
 simple sounds, and then the multitudinous music produced 
 by the harmonious utterance of complex classes of sounds 
 with a rhythmic movement like the tramp of an army ? Who 
 planned all this ? Who provided the materials and fitted 
 them to produce these effects ? Who ordained the laws 
 according to which these effects take place ? Was it not our 
 Lord and our Redeemer? Handel and Haydn discovered 
 many of these laws, Beethoven and Mendelssohn cooperated 
 in the same line of things, and perhaps Sebastian Bach dug 
 deepest of all ; but not till we hear the songs of heaven, in 
 which the perfect love of God finds perfect expression, not 
 till we are endowed with organs of hearing harmonies too- 
 deep and rich for human ears to appreciate, shall we attain to 
 the knowledge of the perfection of music. That is reserved 
 for the immediate presence of its Creator and ours. 
 
 So also I might speak of the records of creation, some of 
 the leaves of which have been found in the valley round about 
 us, with their wonderful inscriptions, and reverently deposited 
 in yonder basement, to rehearse in loving ears what Christ 
 
36 LYDIA W. SHATTUCK. 
 
 did before man was formed, and how he laid the foundations 
 of these hills. 
 
 But you would not forgive me if today I passed over 
 the science which searches out the laws according to which 
 Christ created the flowers of the field. Not only because our 
 departed friend took such delight in tracing them out, but 
 because He also found enjoyment in them, as we learn from 
 his references to them in his teaching while on earth. We 
 can never forget how he said, " Consider the lilies of the field, 
 how they grow ; they toil not, neither do they spin : and yet 
 I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not 
 arrayed like one of these." Nor can we forget how many 
 have loved to think of him as the Rose of Sharon and the Lily 
 of the valley. 
 
 When Miss Shattuck first gathered the wild flowers in 
 her mountain home, her thoughts may not have gone beyond 
 their beauty and their fragrance, or that, having gathered 
 them, now they belonged to her; and thus she may have 
 merely gratified a taste inherited from her mother. But while 
 engaged in instructing the children of her native town, she 
 felt that she needed Christ to help her to do them good, and 
 she went to him for grace to meet her responsibilities as 
 a teacher of youth, so that they might be blest of him. Thus 
 when she came to this institution she was prepared in all her 
 own studies to serve him, and in her scientific investigations, 
 even in unorganized forms of matter, to search out his most 
 wise arrangements. Especially in her study of plant life, 
 .and the laws he had given for its development, she felt that 
 :she trod on holy ground, and in the presence of the Author 
 -of that life. In tracing out those laws she seemed to follow 
 ;the footprints of the Lord, and discerned the marks of his 
 wisdom and his love. I do not know, but I have a deep 
 ^conviction, that more than one mountain-pasture and secluded 
 .grove may have witnessed such communion between Christ 
 and her as the bush at Horeb once witnessed between God 
 and Moses. 
 
FUNERAL SERMON. 37 
 
 I know that in the cross we find the great love wherewith 
 Christ has loved us, but we appreciate it better when we have 
 learned how, in ordinary things, he crowns us with loving* 
 kindness ; and when we have learned to value the cross, we go 
 back prepared to understand better every manifestation of his 
 love. Some may be impatient of the attention here paid to 
 science, and demand that all thought be concentered exclusively 
 on the cross. " Exclusively on Christ" we grant ; but Christ is 
 seen in the works of his hands, as well as in redemption. 
 Mary Lyon did not present the gospel with less power 
 because she had been thorough in the class-room, nor was 
 she unfitted for teaching science by her love to the Creator 
 whose footsteps it disclosed. Miss Fiske did not find Nesto- 
 rian girls less susceptible to the gospel through the drill of 
 the school, nor did they find that love to Christ unfitted them 
 to study. And some here today can testify that Miss Shat- 
 tuck's interest in science did not lessen the spiritual power of 
 those meetings she used to hold, or detract from the spiritual 
 force of the truths she then set forth in a manner never to 
 be forgotten. 
 
 Yea, at this hour it is not unfitting to remember that, 
 much as Christ blesses us with all spiritual blessings in 
 heavenly places, this does not hinder his upholding all things 
 by the word of his power. What would our closets or our 
 churches be were Christ absent from either ? and what would 
 become of the whole frame of nature should he for one 
 moment withdraw his hand ? Then it is fitting that this 
 institution, founded to train up our daughters for the service 
 of Christ, should follow the example of the Master, and, while 
 it magnifies the gospel of the grace of God, should rejoice if 
 any of its teachers are leaders, not followers only, searching 
 out those laws which the Lord enacted so long ago, and still 
 administers in the world which he has made. There is no- 
 lack of land yet to be possessed. Take, in the science to 
 which Miss Shattuck devoted herself so enthusiastically, the 
 whole subject of the colors of flowers and their relations to- 
 
38 LYDIA W. SHATTUCK. 
 
 light, and other natural forces. It was the glory of Miss 
 Shattuck that she so thoroughly devoted herself to the dis- 
 covery of those manifestations of himself that Christ has 
 made in the works of his hands. 
 
 I well remember the first time I saw her when a pupil 
 here. She was, I should judge, the oldest in the class, in the 
 twenty-seventh year of her age ; but then, as twenty-five years 
 later on the island of Penikese, she was not too old to learn, 
 and as in 1873 Professor Agassiz took special interest in his 
 venerable pupil, conspicuous for her white hair and massive 
 forehead just as then he recognized in her a congenial spirit, 
 having a devotion to science that claimed kinship with his 
 own so, in 1848, her intellectual force and enthusiasm 
 impressed all that saw her.* 
 
 Immediately on her graduation the pupil that showed 
 such devotion to study, nor that only but at once cooperated 
 intelligently with Mary Lyon while she lived, and watched 
 night after night by her dying bed, was made a teacher in this 
 institution. During all the forty years of her life here she 
 pressed forward in the knowledge of His wondrous works, that 
 she might be better able to serve her Lord, and the large 
 botanical collections in Williston Hall will long remain a 
 monument of her diligence and devotion to her favorite 
 science. 
 
 There is an ungodly spirit that magnifies science, and 
 ignores the Lord, without whom there could be no science, 
 though every natural law bears testimony to Him who gave it ; 
 and at the other extreme there is a spirit we cannot call 
 it ungodly, though too often it works in the interest of ungodli- 
 ness -which makes redemption a shibboleth, and cannot see 
 aught else in the heaven above or in the earth beneath, till 
 thoughtful minds turn away weary of its unvarying monotony. 
 Miss Shattuck neither ignored Christ, nor confined her 
 
 * There is a photograph, that gives her face in profile, which at once sug- 
 gests some portraits of George Washington, 
 
FUNERAL SERMON. 39 
 
 thoughts to one of his acts, however glorious, but sought to 
 look on him as he reveals himself in his Word, and also in the 
 variety and fullness of his works. So, reflecting like a mirror 
 the glory of the Lord, she was changed into the same image 
 from glory to glory. It was thus she attained to her immense 
 influence for good ; and God gave her a worthy field for its 
 exercise in bringing her into contact with the thousands of 
 students who went forth from this center of good influences 
 during more than forty years. That was a field of usefulness 
 which any one might covet, and how well she improved it is 
 seen in the estimation in which she was held by those stu- 
 dents. They so associated her with their alma mater that 
 they could not think of one apart from the other. 
 
 She was never principal or associate principal, though 
 such titles have been talked of for her; with characteristic 
 modesty she preferred her old position. Her aim was to be, 
 not to seem to be. She sought real excellence, not a reputa- 
 tion for its possession. Her power lay in what she was, and 
 not in the office which she filled. She coveted no honors, 
 and needed nothing extraneous to secure for her the honor 
 that is always given to genuine worth; and yet no one was 
 more disposed than she was to rest wholly on the grace of 
 God, and to feel that all her sufficiency was of him. 
 
 A stranger would have picked her out on the seminary 
 platform as one of its most worthy occupants. It was not 
 merely the large physique, or the spacious "dome of thought," 
 or the venerable whiteness of her hair, though the scripture 
 that associates the hoary head with a crown of glory never 
 had a more striking fulfillment. It was no one of these 
 things, nor all combined, but it was the unconscious going 
 forth through all these of the personality within, that made 
 her presence so impressive. On anniversaries the first in- 
 quiry of the returning graduate was for Miss Shattuck, and 
 to shake hands with her was to feel once more at home within 
 these walls. It was a spontaneous impulse, both among 
 teachers and trustees, first of all to consult with her about the 
 
40 LYDIA W. SHATTUCK. 
 
 introduction of anything new into seminary arrangements. 
 If the seminary is indebted mainly to the benefaction of 
 another for the magnificent hall under the walnut tree, it is 
 to Miss Shattuck, and her scientific enthusiasm, that it owes 
 both the idea and the need of such a structure. 
 
 We cannot help noting that she who cared so lovingly 
 for the last hours of Miss Lyon found others equally loving 
 to care for hers, though we may not intrude on the sacred 
 intimacy of so many years, that found its highest privilege in 
 that loving service. 
 
 All, and especially the absent ones who read these lines, 
 will like to know that her end was peace. She seemed to 
 dwell on the familiar line, 
 
 "Safe into the haven guide," 
 
 and at the very last a smiling look, as on one approaching from 
 a distance, seemed to be the recognition of Him who said, 
 " If I go and prepare a place for you, / will come again, and 
 receive you unto myself" 
 
 If one lesson stamps itself on our hearts today, it is : 
 "Acquaint yourselves with Christ as revealed in his Word 
 and in his works. Devote yourselves to his service, and he 
 will care for all that pertains to your well being in this life, 
 and in the life to come." 
 
 "Them that honor me, I will honor." 
 
TRIBUTES. 
 
 (By Rev. J. L. R. Trask, Springfield, November 9, 1889.] 
 
 " IT was an honor to be allowed to take part in the funeral 
 services of Miss Shattuck. She was a rare and strong woman, 
 whose very gentleness was strength. Her manner was always 
 sweet and gracious, and therefore of a kind one loves to remember 
 and recall. 
 
 " It was peculiarly fitting that she could close her life in the 
 mkist of the halls that had been a home to her for so many long 
 and happy years. She has been a loyal friend to the school, and I 
 wish that some building might be named in memory of her." 
 
 (By the Boston Association of Holyoke Alumna, November 23, 1889.) 
 
 " Whereas, in the providence of God, death has called to her 
 heavenly reward Miss Lydia W. Shattuck, so long our senior pro- 
 fessor, thus bereaving us of a very dear friend and the college of 
 a valued instructor, therefore : 
 
 "Resolved, that to the trustees and faculty of the institution 
 to which for thirty-eight years she so lovingly and cheerfully gave 
 her life, we testify our hearty appreciation of what she was as a 
 true, earnest, and Christian woman ; of what she was as a teacher, 
 thorough and progressive, who by her enthusiasm and her devo- 
 tion to science not only fitted students for advanced work else- 
 where, but by her own attainments gained for herself and for the 
 scientific department of the college recognition among the best 
 educators of the land. And we recognize most gratefully her per- 
 sistent and successful efforts in advancing the material interests of 
 the college." 
 
 (By the same Association, November 23, 1889.) 
 
 "Resolved, that we enter earnestly into the effort to raise 
 money for the new scientific building, and desire that it should 
 be called The Lydia W. Shattuck Hall." 
 
42 LYDIA W. SHATTUCK. 
 
 (By Rev. N. G. Clark, D. D., Boston, February 20, 
 
 "Allow me to express the great satisfaction with which I hear 
 of the commemorative services on the part of the Boston Alumnae. 
 Miss Shattuck was fully deserving of this generous and kindly con- 
 sideration. She commanded the respect of all who knew her in 
 the particular department of science to which she devoted herself, 
 while her Christian spirit was honored by all who had the pleasure 
 of her personal acquaintance. Mount Holyoke will never forget 
 her memory, nor her services to science and the cause of Christ in 
 connection with that institution." 
 
 (By Mrs. L. A. P. New, for the Moimt Holyoke Alumnce Association 
 for New York, Brooklyn, and vicinity, April ig, 1890.} 
 
 Miss SHATTUCK. 
 
 As when some precious seed lies hidden 
 
 Beneath the stones and clay, 
 It sighs and fears itself unbidden 
 
 To reach the light of day, 
 And lingers long within the earth 
 Ere force of Nature gives it birth ; 
 
 And slow of growth, but strong and surely 
 
 Because of depth of hold, 
 It reaches prime, and sweet and purely 
 
 Its blossoms turn to gold 
 Of ripened fruitage, rich and rare, 
 And crowns with fragrance all the air -, 
 
 So she, of whom we speak today 
 
 In kindly, loving thought, 
 From humblest sources made her way, 
 
 A flower unseen, unsought ; 
 But strong in faith that God commanded, 
 No buried treasure back she handed. 
 
TRIBUTES. 43 
 
 Lived not in vain ; on many a mind 
 
 She wrote with lasting trace ; 
 She taught from lowliest flower to find 
 
 The imprint of God's face. 
 From rocks and stones a lesson read, 
 And felt ground holy, mortals tread. 
 
 A poet, though rarely in words did she rhyme ; 
 
 An artist, though modest her brush ; 
 In science a master; she saw the sublime 
 
 In Nature ; in the stillness and hush 
 She put off her shoes, forever adoring 
 Her God in his works, and his grace imploring. 
 
 In the lap of the Nature she loved, she lies ; 
 
 Her spirit beholds now His face ; 
 Immanuel's land ! with purified eyes 
 
 She sees all its beauty and grace. 
 Her message comes back from 'neath the green sod, 
 That Nature and Science, translated, mean God. 
 
 (By y. T. Rothrock, M. D., Professor of Botany, University of 
 Pennsylvania^) 
 
 " I am glad to hear that a printed memorial of the late Miss 
 Lydia W. Shattuck is contemplated. It is desirable not more as 
 due her, than as an encouragement and inspiration to those who 
 follow her. 
 
 "I first became acquainted with Miss Shattuck in 1861, and 
 time only serves to confirm the impression produced by that 
 earliest meeting. She was patient, thorough, and keen in her 
 observation ; never, so far as I know, leading any one into error 
 by premature statement of supposed facts, or by drawing hasty 
 generalizations from too slender data. Her love of nature was 
 genuine, and without regard to gain accruing from professional 
 knowledge. In a word, hers was a character to profoundly and 
 rightly impress younger minds. Her sympathy was so palpably 
 real that they must have continued to love her, respect her, and be 
 guided by her. 
 
44 LYDIA W. SHATTUCK. 
 
 " I never thought of her without admiration of her persistent 
 devotion to her life work, and without being thankful for the 
 privilege of knowing her. I am glad of the opportunity to add 
 my single leaf as a contribution to her crown." 
 
 (By Professor Charles H. Hitchcock, Ph.D., Dartmouth College^ 
 
 "I have known Miss Shattuck from the beginning of her 
 labors at South Hadley ; at first when I was a boy, and afterward 
 on terms of greater equality and of friendship. Of her sterling 
 virtues of Christian character, and readiness at all times to be 
 known as a follower of Christ, it is not needful that I should speak ; 
 for they are well known. 
 
 " I knew her as an uncommonly successful teacher of science, 
 whether it be her favorite botany, chemistry, or astronomy. She 
 succeeded in imparting enthusiasm to her pupils. Part of her suc- 
 cess was due to the thorough mastery of her subject herself. 
 
 " It was my privilege to enjoy her company in a journey to the 
 Hawaiian Islands in 1886. It was necessary to 'rough it 'some- 
 what in such localities as the Agate Park of Arizona, the Grand 
 Canon of the Colorado, and the remoter parts of the Hawaiian 
 Islands, but she always noted whatever was agreeable in our expe- 
 riences, as if everything were pleasant. While driving through 
 the Agate Park she identified the coniferous character of the petri- 
 fied logs by very simple observations which the rest of us had 
 overlooked. In the Grand Canon we saw plants of the Mexican 
 type, such as the Fouquiera, with its spreading, thorny, stubbed 
 branches, and brilliant terminal spike. This of itself, as was said 
 by Professor Asa Gray the year previous, was a sight worth all the 
 trouble and expense of the journey thither. With very few books 
 of reference, Miss Shattuck made out the many species of solanum, 
 of composite, of cacti and borages growing in the canon with a 
 skill and enthusiasm showing herself a master in the science. 
 
 " In California she spent some time at Mills College, and in 
 Honolulu was with Miss Spooner at Oahu College. At the Islands 
 we journeyed together to Hilo and to Kauai. She could not 
 endure the fatigue of the horseback journey to the great volcano 
 Kilauea, but was more fortunate than the rest of us, the following 
 February, when she joined the steamer party who witnessed the 
 
TRIBUTES. 45 
 
 magnificent volcanic display at Kahuka, at the base of Mauna Loa. 
 Wherever we went she determined the names of plants brought to 
 her, so far as could be done in the absence of proper manuals. 
 
 " Before her return home she went to Maui, to the East Maui 
 Seminary for girls, and also climbed to Olinda, on the flanks of 
 Haleakala. Everywhere she proved herself devoted to the inter- 
 ests of Mount Holyoke Seminary, and persuaded some young 
 ladies to go there for their education. 
 
 "The Master will say of her work, 'Well and faithfully 
 done.' " 
 
 (By Professor Charles A. Young, LL.D., of Princeton College^ 
 
 " I esteemed Miss Shattuck very highly, and feel her Loss 
 almost as that of a favorite sister. I did not agree with her in all 
 her ways of looking at things, nor in all her judgments of what 
 would be best in the management and development of the institu- 
 tion ; but I always found her reasonable, sincere, and disinterested, 
 willing to spend and be spent to the utmost of her ability in carry- 
 ing out her duty as she saw it. She was one of the most sincere 
 and consistent Christians I have ever known, and she had a win- 
 ning, unobtrusive manner and a sweetness of temper that made 
 her a delightful companion qualities that do not always go with 
 a conscientious character, but which, when they do, add wonderful 
 loveliness to it. 
 
 "When I first knew her, more than twenty years ago, she was 
 a power in* the seminary, full of enthusiasm in her favorite science, 
 and a teacher who was able to make her pupils share her enthu- 
 siasm with her. 
 
 "Others can speak better than I of her attainments as a bota- 
 nist and student of -natural history. I only know that they were 
 remarkable for the time, and that then there were very few women 
 in the country who could be ranked with her in that respect. She 
 was almost a pioneer in such studies, and enjoyed the friendship 
 and correspondence of Gray and the elder Agassiz. Her influence 
 will long be felt for good, not only at South Hadley, but by all who 
 ever knew her anywhere." 
 
46 LYDIA W. SHATTUCK. 
 
 GERMAN-TOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, May 13, 1890. 
 
 Dear Mrs. Stow: On account of my absence, I only received 
 your letter about Miss Shattuck a day or two since. I trust my 
 answer will be in time, for it is a great pleasure for me to bear my 
 testimony to her admirable qualities. I remember Miss Shattuck 
 in our first summer at Penikese, as one who gave character to our 
 little community by her earnestness in work, her trained powers of 
 study and observation, and her high standard in all questions, 
 whether moral or intellectual. She won the respect and affection 
 both of- teachers and students, and we looked upon her presence 
 there as a help to us all. 
 
 Thanking you for giving me this opportunity of expressing my 
 appreciation of her, I am 
 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 ELIZABETH C. AGASSIZ. 
 
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