Lines on the Death of Miss Lyon.
“Oh, Sisters! in our souls may well be grieving,
For this cold world now holds one loving heart the less”
[Education]. [Anonymous]. Lines on the Death of Miss Lyon. Sung at the Twelfth Anniversary of the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. Springfield: H.S. Taylor’s Steam Power Press, (1849).
8vo.; one leaf, recto only; creased, tear along crease not affecting text; wrinkled; browned; fragile. In a specially made cloth slipcase.
Rare broadside – only Brown University has a copy – in honor of Mary Lyon, the founder of the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. Divided into six four-line stanzas, with an “abab” rhyming scheme, it is a eulogy that was meant to be sung, rather than spoken. Someone has written at the top, in pencil, “Give this to Mrs. E. Hewitt;” and underlined, for emphasis, the word “low” in stanza two, “souls” in stanza five and “God” in stanza six. The same hand has added, next to subsequent lines and stanzas, the following initials, “P, PP, [ ], L, PP, P, L, P.” Presumably, the initials correspond to the name of the woman assigned to sign each verse.
In other written accounts, Lyon is described as vital, energetic and lively, traits reflected here. It reads in full:
Oh, Sisters! In our souls may well be grieving,
For this cold world now holds one loving heart the less;
And God hath left to us by this bereaving,
An empty blank where was her boundless tenderness.
Great heart laid low! What tears were shed for thee,
When thou so loved to death’s dark vale descended.
O’er earth’s proud ones no truer grief shall be,
E’en though by costly rites and honors rich attended.
In distant lands thy children scattered wide
With sorrow shall lament thee, and with tears recall
The memory of that wondrous wealth of love,
Which could at once enfold, embrace, and cherish all.
The largeness of thy soul that made for thee
Great things most possible and easily achieved,
Thy energy of will to do or be,
To work out all the plans thy noble heart conceived;—
They shall remember every word and tone,
The thrilling earnest prayer, at twilight hours most sweet;
When thou wast fain to bear up with thine own
Our stubborn souls, and lay them weeping at Christ’s feet.
We know thou art not dead,—not silent sleeping;
But only gone where nobler work than this is planned;
Thou’lt reap the harvest sown with care and weeping,
And we?—God grant we meet thee there, at His right hand.
Lyon (1797-1849) was the sixth of eight children born to a deeply-rooted New England family in Buckland, MA. Though she grew up poor, she was educated in female academies at Ashfield, Amherst and Byfield, Massachusetts. After completing her schooling she taught for thirteen years in girls’ schools; these schools were temporary institutions that depended on the health and stamina of only one teacher for continuity. Lyon, with her friend and fellow teacher Zilpah Grant, wished to establish a permanent girl’s school, which was hitherto unheard of. Though their first attempt, the Ipswich Seminary – with Grant acting as principal and Lyon as a teacher – ultimately failed, Lyon was undeterred. She traveled extensively around New England and looked toward other schools as models, finally drawing up a plan that would set the Mount Holyoke school apart from all others. “This seminary, unlike others in those chaotic days of women’s education, would own its own property; its financial affairs would be in the hands of trustees expecting no profit; its life would not depend on the life of any individual” (NAW, p. 445). Her formula worked; not only did it stay afloat but it surpassed anyone’s expectations. When it opened in November, 1837, it had 80 students; the following April, 116 students were listed on the roster. Lyon devoted herself entirely to the school; she was the principal, a teacher, and the organizer of the domestic work system she established – which was, essentially, a precursor to today’s work-study programs in s
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