Winona Branch Sawyer

“ Teachers knew and pupils felt that the atmosphere of the school was charged with her enthusiasm and earnestness; but they did not know to what extent the supply was kept up by the sacrifice of leisure, recreation, and intellectual pursuits. For fourteen years she performed her share of class-room duties, and as a teacher her influence was especially felt. An enthusiast herself in study, she possessed a gift of imparting and drawing out the best in others, an influence undoubtedly greater than pupils realized at the time. ”

“ In this memorial of a life of service, self-sacrifice, and success, silence must represent the volumes that cannot be crystallized into printed words, but the inspiration of the life portrayed should help to carry on the work she loved. ”

“ Of the thousands of young persons who were to any degree molded by the influence of the school, now dwelling in every state of the union, and some across the seas, each is a part of her memorial. Each in her own experience can trace the lines of light that connect her life with the shrine of her Alma Mater. ”

“ Shimer brought the first piano into the county.
The mere acquisition of knowledge was by no means the extent of its curriculum. Its underlying principle was that the training of intellect should be paralleled by the training of character. With love of books, music, and art should be instilled ideals of sincerity, thoroughness, direct purpose, and self-reliance. A comprehension of the wonders of nature should lead to the understanding of self in order to make the most and best of life. With the mysterious laws of science should be associated the inflexible laws of influence and example. ”

“ Few of those who profited by the advantages of the school knew the cost in strenuous labor, personal sacrifice, planning, thought, and time (reserving daily a scant four hours for sleep) which were the magic forces used by Mrs. Shimer to win success. Work in the open air had apparently restored her health, enabling her to supervise every department of outdoor work, attending to her correspondence at night. This implied not only an expenditure of time and strength, but the sacrifice of time for study, reading, society, and recreation. ”

“ Shimer's estimation, one of the best credentials a pupil could furnish was proof of a desire for an education, a lack of money to meet expenses, and a willingness to help herself. Her sympathies were ever with this class, and the assistance rendered was such as would inspire self-reliance, not humiliate, weaken, or pauperize. To one applicant she wrote: “We labor ourselves, and honor the faithful laborer in every department of industry.” ”

“ The substitution of teaching as a profession did not extinguish the original intent, which was cherished as a possibility to be achieved when she should have opportunity and leisure; but it was the origin of the motives which led to her future investigation of the general status of women, especially the lack of advantages for higher education, and to the determination to use her influence for the establishment of schools which would afford women opportunities to prepare for professions or for any line of practical work. ”

“ Her helplessness made her more thoughtful for others, and augmented her desire to make every one around her happy. She was her old self, bright, interested, and interesting, but softened by life's experiences. From her chair she wrote: “I have become such a shirk, but I do not think I am leading an idle life altogether, you have no idea how busy I am and how the days fly by; I cannot accomplish one-third I want to day by day.” ”

“ Those in trouble or in need of sympathy knew that no truer friend, no kindlier-hearted woman ever lived. Her life was not all sunshine, yet she never turned the shadow to the world. The public knew nothing of her sorrows, for, with too much true pride to air personal matters, she never resorted to personal explanations, deeming mere words puny weapons to vindicate from charges which the whole tenor of her life contradicted. ”

“ In the purchase of household supplies in large quantities a very trifling difference in price was a matter of so great importance that a single transaction might turn the scale for ultimate failure of success, and, to those who did not know the facts, might seem unnecessary economy. Purchases of land, or unimproved lands taken for school indebtedness, were utilized in raising fruits, grain, and stock for the school consumption. Mrs. Shimer valued money and possessions not for herself, but for what they would do for the school. ”

“ Flowers, walks, and drives attested woman's presence and intuition. Time lent its aid, and the work went on despite the oft-repeated prophecies of failure. Miss Wood knew every bush, tree, and vine, for all were planted under her oversight; and so successfully had she applied her knowledge of horticulture that at the end of five years the trustees declared that the permanent improvements on the five acres were too expensive for them to purchase, and, as the school had been equally prosperous, they signified their approbation by donating the land to the Seminary. ”

“ Shimer never revisited the school nor left her adopted state after she relinquished the title and management. A fall in February, 1897, injured her hip; and, though confined to her bed and chair, she continued a large part of her business correspondence, and directed extensive interests connected with property both north and south. But years of unremitting toil and anxieties had taxed and exhausted her nervous vitality. There was no manifested disease, only a gradual decline of nature's forces. It was inevitable that one who had given herself so generously should herself be spent. ”

“ There were no supernatural gifts to make progress steady and success permanent, only the ability and willingness to make the best use of those powers with which they were endowed. Success was the natural consequence of steady, painstaking, unselfish devotion to a purpose, viz., to build up a school which should be a force and an uplifting power, and increase the chances for contentment and prosperity by making more capable teachers and home-makers. ”

“ Not cramming for examinations, but preparing for the real duties of life, was the standard of excellence. Though none were assured of attaining ideals, all were made confident of being better for the strife. If the standard sometimes demanded too much, it never erred by being satisfied with too little. The high standing of the school attracted teachers of the best talent. Mrs. Shimer had the faculty of making all connected with the school feel they were individually responsible fot its reputation and success. The loyalty of teachers and pupils has been the subject of general comment. ”

“ The manual labor department, obligatory on none, but open to those desirous of economizing in expenses, enabled scores of self-supporting young women to enjoy privileges from which they would otherwise have been financially debarred, and also brought to the school pupils of superior ability and determination. ”

“ The Seminary, by providing a “home school” affording opportunities for advancement and artistic culture, and in providing a way for those of limited means to secure these advantages, created and increasing demand for its line of work by answering a demand. The established reputation for thoroughness in academic work , the reflex influence of the success of graduates and undergraduates in practical life, fostered by judicious advertising, drew to it a patronage from many states, the territory widening with the lapse of years. ”

“ Perhaps if sorrows had not come she would have been less a conqueror. Disappointment may have been the path to victories; as conflict roused her best and highest powers, so trials may have given them direction.
The acquaintance with Henry Shimer began in 1855. He was a stonemason, and assisted in building during the panic, but his ambition, his mental ability, his energy and enthusiasm, his interest in science, his efforts in self improvement, his zeal in church work, won more than a passing interest and approbation from his employer, and they were married in December, 1857. ”

“ While other schools of a similar nature were petitioning for endowments, employing agents to solicit funds, and, failing to receive, were obliged to close their doors, she, hampered by the underdeveloped condition and inconveniences of a new country, remote from supplies, with a large family to provide for, unaided by hearty co-operation of the community, premonished on every side with assurances of failure, not only established a good school, but maintained it, and made it a remunerative enterprise and a recognized force in educational circles. ”

“ Hazzen, by building up the music department, and Miss Joy, by developing the broader policy of modern education, were valuable coadjutors.
When the school opened, and for years afterward, there were few if any high schools or normal schools to train teachers. Not only was there strenuous opposition, of a degree difficult to imagine in this age of co-education, to the admission of women to colleges and professional schools, but the pioneer population had little money to spend for artistic culture and higher education ”

“ A public unaccustomed to the innovation of “a woman in business,” if not openly expressing its disapproval in words and actions, retired behind an attitude of cool indifference, and to succeed where men failed was a greater offense. ”

“ Shimer was broad-minded enough to give reins to those who showed special fitness to hold them. Different departments took shape under the direction of teachers prepared for special lines of work; thus by “specializing,” a desire to reach higher standards and higher ideals was engendered and realized. A teacher said, after she left the school: “It is not so much what they do at Mount Carroll Seminary, as the high ideals they try to create.” The course of study has always been in advance of the demand, even in special and technical departments, dating from the time when Mrs. ”

“ The mother, a daughter of Samuel Bryan and Martha Tallmadge, and one of thirteen children, all of whom died with consumption before middle age, was a "delicate, refined, ambitious woman, of superior intellectual ability, but frail withal." The baby was named Frances Ann Wood, Frances being a favorite family name on the mother's side, because a relative named Frances Slocum, in Revolutionary times, was stolen by the Indians. From the birth of Frances, the mother failed in health. She, however, lived until Frances was ten years old. ”

“ Shimer, although every department was permeated with her influence and inspiration. Her enthusiasm spurred others on when they would have flagged. She was the counselor, the sustained ambition that never lost courage, that held on with quiet, resolute firmness, the source from which all associates drew strength and vigor. During the earliest years Miss Gregory was a most able co-worker, a superior instructor, and particularly qualified to drill prospective teachers in Normal methods. ”

“ Her instinctive desire for information was so strong, that the mere consciousness of something unknown was sufficient incentive to arouse ambition to acquire. She could not overcome homesickness, and when twelve years old prevailed on her father to allow her to keep house for him. ”