USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > Bethlehem > Bethlehem and Bethlehem school (history of Moravian Seminary and College for Women (Bethlehem, Pa.)) > Part 5
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Between fifty and a hundred maidens were be- fore him, of various ages, complexions, and sizes- from blooming eighteen to wrinkled fourscore years or more-but all with warm and loving hearts. Each dressed in pure white, a fit emblem of their own unspotted lives, and of the heaven to which every one of them was aspiring. The minister must have realized this as he looked around him; and I have been told that he was remarkably happy in parts of his address, and his prayer touching and marked with particular fervency of manner.
The Lovefeast followed, after which the festivi- ties of the day soon closed. But the remembrance
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DEATH.
of this birthday celebration of the Twin Single Sis- ters remained fresh in their minds as long as they lived; neither was it, I fancy, ever forgotten by any of the participants. And from the treasured storehouse of the youthful recollections of one of' the most beloved and juvenile of that affectionate sisterhood, I have drawn the incidents of this nar- ration.
Little more of interest to the reader remains to be told of the subsequent history of Anna and Mary Werner. They both lived to a good old age, but their hopes of quitting the world at the same time were not realized.
The first to die was Anna, that devoted one who had sacrificed the fair prospects of her young life upon the altar of sisterly affection, and who was generally known by the name of Father. She was long feeble, and finding her health failing, and re- alizing her probable removal, she sought among her maiden companions for one to supply her place to her sister Mary, that she should not, she said. pine away or uselessly grieve for her. One was found-a kind-hearted creature who had long loved both of the sisters dearly. Anna directly after declined rapidly, but survived long enough to see her dearest one, with meek submission, prepared to resign her. Then leaning upon the shoulder of he" faithful friend, with her hand in Mary's, and her eyes fondly resting upon her, she calmly yielded her spirit to God. But the magic tie of life was
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DEATH.
broken, and from this period the interest of Mary in sublunary things sensibly lessened ; and in death this fond pair were presently re-united, and they now sleep near together in the burial-ground of that Moravian settlement.
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BETHLEHEM SCHOOL.
Ir was my intention originally to place all the sketches of Bethlehem together, and ere I gave any from the school. But for reasons not necessary to mention here, I have altered the arrangement to the present one, and will now bring before my readers other reminiscences of those days of my childhood, containing personal recollections of some of my teachers and schoolmates.
Ere I enter, however, upon my sketches of any of either of these persons, from the characters I shall present to my readers, I deem it necessary to say a few words in reference to both of these dif- ferent classes of individuals of the school.
With regard to the teachers, I will only observe concerning them, that I wish it to be borne in mind that I am speaking of the past, and not at all as the Institution is at present managed, but of the period at which I went there, when scarcely any were to be found as teachers within its walls, except those who belonged to the Society, and some of these.
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TEACHERS.
from age, deficiency of education, or otherwise, were not properly fitted for the undertaking.
In truth, a portion of them were not at all cal- culated to teach any thing else but the simple rudi- ments ; while their ignorance of human nature in general, and consequent want of tact and manage- ment, rendered them wholly unfit to discipline the various dispositions placed under their charge. This arose in part from the difficulty sometimes occur- ring at that period, of obtaining from among them- selves suitable persons duly qualified for these situ- ations ; also from the fact, that the remuneration then given was so small, as to offer but little in- ducement for acceptance to superior teachers ; and another reason, perhaps, was the peculiar ideas still prevalent in the Society upon the subject, which considered more the religious training and culture of the hearts of children, than the cultivation of their minds, and of some of the usual accomplish- ments of their sex; and besides these reasons, this school, as well as the others established by the Mo- ravians, was not originally designed as a finishing seminary for young ladies, I mean one where they could be thoroughly educated, but only adapted for children, and promised nothing more than a plain and useful education.
Yet, under the charge of the Rev. Mr. Stein- haur, who was the Principal during a part of my stay in the Institution, it gradually materially chang- ed its character. IIe immediately sent to England
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SCHOLARS.
for several very excellent and competent teachers ; next older scholars were admitted, and new regula- tions were made; while others were modified, or so altered as to suit the wishes and wants of its numer- ous patrons and friends; which has resulted in the present popularity of this Institution with the public.
In reference to the scholars, of whom sketches will be found in this volume, it will be perceived that they embrace quite a variety of character, and the reminiscences concerning them differ consider- ably from each other-indeed, as much so as the individuals themselves, whom they are severally in- tended to represent. And as far as I can come to a certainty of the matter, they are all reliable state- ments of facts relating to these schoolmates of mine-of circumstances detailed which did actually occur, except when I distinctly state that such pos- sibly was not the case-and besides, perhaps these various events did not happen exactly in the order narrated here.
But while writing upon this subject, I would say to my readers, that I wish them to remember, that as in large schools in general, so also at Bethlehem. the pupils came not only from many different places, but under various dissimilar circumstances. and were besides of almost every rank of life, dis- position and habits. Some of these girls had been thoroughly spoilt ere they were brought there. These tried the tempers and patience of our teachers very much, by their improper behavior. In truth,
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CHARACTERS.
consequence of having been previously mismanaged at home, they were placed under the mild govern- ment of the school, in the hope that they would be benefited thereby. Besides, there were some of reckless and daring natures, or full of fun and mischief; while others manifested worse traits of character, such as envy, malice, jealousy, pride, selfishness, artfulness and cunning. In short, I be- lieve we had exemplifications of almost all the com- mon natural infirmities of disposition belonging to our humanity ; and all expected to be subjugated, or brought under control by teachers, to most of whom, from their own peculiar education and in- experience of life, it was really a very weighty and ponderous undertaking. And when they were of amiable and gentle natures, as several whom I could mention, I marvel not that they shrank from continuing any longer than possible to discharge this responsibility.
And with these prefatory remarks of my asso- ciates at Bethlehem School, I pass to the subject of the following sketch.
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KATIE SULLIVAN AND SISTER MOCK.
THE schoolmate of mine whom I shall designate here by the name of Katie Sullivan, was a strange wild-looking girl in appearance, and still stranger in character and disposition. Indeed, to my think- ing, she bore so strong a resemblance in all these lineaments of herself to the native aborigines of this country, that I have always been under the impres- sion, that she certainly must have been closely re- lated to them by the ties of consanguinity.
She was, if my memory does not deceive me, somewhere between twelve and thirteen years of age when she entered the school, and brought thither by a couple who, we were informed, were her father and stepmother; a youth accompanied them, the only brother of Katie, who was to be placed at Nazareth Hall.
They were a singular-looking party, these four people, and there was much to attract attention to them, not only in this respect, but for another rea- son which I will directly speak of: but I pass now to describe them as well as I am able from memory,
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THE FARMER AND HIS WIFE.
as they now present themselves before my mind's eye.
To begin with the head of this family -- the fa- ther. He was, I believe, a farmer ; plain and rus- tic in appearance ; habited in coarse garments, I should judge of domestic manufacture; of subdued aspect and manners ; serious to gravity, and evi- dently under considerable restraint. His wife was a dowdy-looking woman, whose habiliments were originally of. much costlier materials than her hus- band's, but now considerably worn ; and the fashion thereof, which looked every thing else but genteel, was altogether peculiar to herself. Besides, she had a hard forbidding countenance of mahogany color, and seemed very repulsive, and shockingly disa- greeable in her whole conduct and bearing. This she particularly manifested in her behavior to her husband and his children ; the former of whom she treated as a mere cipher, without any respect whatever; while to the latter she had not a kindly word, but assumed towards them a harsh, dictato- rial style of language, for which she received in re. turn from both, ever and anon, a look of proud de- fiance and hate. She did all the talking in behalf of Katie, and made every arrangement ; her hus- band . meckly standing by and not uttering a word on the occasion.
The son was a shy, awkward . lad of fourteen years old, clothed in common domestic; and I remember nothing more of his appearance, except
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THE BROTHER AND SISTER.
that he was tall, and of dark complexion ; while his sister Katie had a darker hue, with not any pretty features except her eyes, which, it seems to me, were as black as possible, and capable, methinks, of the greatest variety of expression. Her hair, too, was of correspondent color : it was black, long, straight, and wiry : her face oval, and her form slender and rather graceful. She was dressed in very ordinary attire-aye, positively, quite mean and shabby. I cannot now recollect it exactly, but I remember she had on a cheap calico frock; an old chip hat ; and a faded cotton shawl: while the whole of the rest of her wardrobe I believe was contained in a moderately sized coarse linen bag, which her brother had in charge.
Such was the appearance of this group, and un- der such unfavorable auspicies did Katie Sullivan make her debut at Bethlehem School. It was under these disadvantageous circumstances, that she took her place among the pupils of the Institution : and it proved exceedingly unfortunate to the poor girl, that such was the case ; since it subjected her to an infinite variety of annoyances and grievous mor- tifications.
For the human mind being prone to be influ- enced in its impressions of others considerably by external appearances, it is no marvel that she suť- fered in consequence in the judgment and consid- eration of her associates, nearly all of whom were children, and that they immediately formed strong
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PREJUDICES.
prejudices against her : indeed for a space it seemed that no one in the Establishment was at all prepos- sessed in her favor, but on the contrary, the bias universally turned in the opposite direction.
At this period, Katie was truly a lonely and isolated being-alone, friendless, and desolate ;--- yet with a gathered band of young people about her, in a large school, then numbering at least one hundred and fifty inmates, few of whom scarcely noticed her, by speaking a kindly word, or taking any but the most ordinary interest in her. Some of her schoolmates even demurred walking beside her to church, or anywhere else. Poor Katie felt all this peculiar conduct to herself very keenly: she soon suspected the reason, when she painfully realized, that it was because of the meanness of her clothing, and her supposed inferiority to themselves in point of real position in life, that they thus acted towards her. She was of a very high-spirited, sen- sitive nature; consequently it goaded her feelings terribly, and she winced with very pain at the thought. But hers was not a disposition to brood over unpleasant realities, and make herself long uselessly unhappy about disagreeable or embarrass- ing circumstances over which she had no control ; nor to receive insult without retaliation.
She possessed strong passions, powerful impul- ses, and great force of character, and yet some of the most noble and excellent qualities of mind and heart ; but the former had, as yet, been much more
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THE STEPMOTHER.
developed than the latter. Long years of constant ill-treatment from an unkind stepmother had fos- tered these characteristics, besides, had encouraged vindictiveness, and inclined her to indulge a bitter spirit and hatred to her kind, whenever she con- sidered herself aggrieved by them. And, child as she was, she had so studied human nature, that she understood how to command fear, if not love. She had learned, also, how to trample down all opposi- tion to herself, as well as to force those whom she would, to succumb to her wishes; for she was a singularly gifted girl, this Katie Sullivan.
Her schoolmates soon discovered this, and that if she had not been favored by fortune equal to themselves, and instead, -was poor and of low de- gree, that she could not be treated as an insignifi- cant person, with whose feelings they might trifle with impunity. In addition, they perceived that her temper was implacable ; that she was full of ro- sentment ; suspicious and malicious ; besides, when angry, that her temper was truly terrific ; and then how insatiable was her revenge, and how certainly she visited it upon her unfortunate victim. Yet while thus vindictive and malevolent to those who inflicted any injury to her pride or self-love, she evinced the most grateful affection and devotion towards those who befriended her, and there was no service whatever in her power, which she did not seek to render them. She cordially sympa- thized in all their trials, griefs or difficulties, mak-
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KATIE.
ing them her own. She espoused their cause when- ever they needed a champion ; faithfully and suc- cessfully too; for I believe she always came off victor. Such was my schoolmate, who appears here under the cognomen of Katie Sullivan, and as one of the companions of my childhood who then particularly interested me, I present her to my readers, to give a brief sketch of some of her say- ings and doings while at Bethlehem.
I have said that Katie was poor, and so she cer- tainly appeared to be during all the time she was there ; and such was the general impression while she remained in the school, as her wardrobe con- tinued always very scanty, neither was she allowed a cent of pocket-money. In consequence, as was natural, the supposition prevailed that the family must be in restricted circumstances ; but I have since been informed that such was not really the case, and to her stepmother, ascribed the sole cause of all her deprivations. And I have no doubt, as I have intimated, that the situation in which she had found herself placed with this rela- tive, was the means of developing so strongly while 60 young, the unamiable lineaments of disposition which I have mentioned.
Now leave we for a space the unfortunate Katie, to speak of another of my cotemporaries and hers at Bethlehem School, whom it is necessary for me here to introduce to my readers. It may be that to some of them she is not a stranger, but that
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SISTER MOCK.
they recognize in her a former teacher; and to such, methinks, her name will awaken memories of the past, and perhaps they may be familiar with a portion, at least, of the incidents concerning her, given in the following pages.
In fact, all the ladies who were at Bethlehem School within a few years of the first forty years of this century, will doubtless recollect Sister Mack, or Mock, as she was universally called throughout the place. It is fitting that I speak of her here, as she is closely connected with most of the occur- rences I mean to narrate of Katie Sullivan.
She was a daughter of a missionary associated for a space with the father of Sister Charity, another of our teachers, when laboring in behalf of the In- dians in Connecticut, and suffered severely in con- sequence of the hostility of the savages to the gos- pel. From Bishop Holmes's notice of this mis- sionary, we gather in addition, the following facts : that he labored as such, successfully and accepta- bly in the Society, for a period of more than fifty years, nearly half of which time among the North American Indians, while he passed the residue of his days in the West India field with the negroes. His children, three daughters, were all born, I be- lieve, while engaged in the first-mentioned under- taking. Two of them married clergymen of their own communion, while Sister Mock, who, I have been told, would fain have followed their example, or gone forth as a missionary, was never called
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A CHARACTER.
upon to fill either situation, but ever remained single, and continued to reside at Bethlehem. There, where she was best known, it is my impres- sion that she never made many friends, nor was she, I should judge, ever popular in the school.
In truth, she had so many infirmities of temper, such a number of unamiable traits of disposition, that I marvel not if only a few persons were found generous and kind enough in their natures, to be able to find a mantle of charity sufficiently large and thick, so to keep them from view, as to allow them to entertain sentiments, either of respect or affection for her. Thus, I thought as a child, and subsequently for a considerable period ; but, as years passed by, with added wisdom and experience of life, I am disposed to judge her differently, and to regard her many inconsistencies of character with more leniency and forbearance. For Sister Mock was an aged woman, perhaps somewhat in her dotage, and besides, had been constantly engaged in the one wearisome, trying employment of teach- ing for the space, I believe, of about thirty years ; a sufficient time, methinks, to have exhausted all her few natural amiable qualities.
But to describe her more particularly. The old lady was not an ill-looking woman; her features were rather good ; her form not very tall, slight, and remarkably erect, while her manners, to a stranger, were quite plausible. The style of her dress was, of course, the prevailing mode of the Moravian
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DISPOSITION.
sisterhood, which I have fully described ; but in addition, she indulged in the eccentricity of vary- ing it on Saturdays, to the night-dress of the com. ing week, with a white dimity petticoat. And altogether habited in spotless white, with her sal- low countenance, she presented somewhat of a sin- gular appearance.
At the period of which I am writing, she was considered almost superannuated, and, in conse- quence, lived in the room with her widowed sister, old Mammy Schlegel, who had charge of the town and German children, the day scholars of the school. Sister Mock assisted her, and had no other duty besides that I can remember, to perform in reference to the other pupils in the institution. But she had a very meddlesome spirit ; was a great busy-body, quick-tempered, deceptive, and not dis- creet in the use of her tongue. It will not be won- dered, therefore, that she was generally disliked in the school; nor did the scholars respect her; in consequence, some of them indeed were so naughty as to play tricks upon her. Of several of these, I have forgotten the perpetrators; but I recollect a number which were performed by Katie Sullivan. the narration of which, should she now be living. and this simple record of them meet her eye, methinks, would probably recall them to rement- brance; besides, cause her immediately to recor- nize herself, in the heroine of this sketch. Of those I remember, I have selected the following.
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INSULT.
and give them as well as my memory serves me, in the order in which they occurred.
Katie had done something which offended Sister Mock. I cannot recollect now what it was, but I remember she became very much incensed in con- sequence. The old lady was exceedingly passion- ate and vituperative in language. Katie, in return, provoking and saucy. This increased the wrath of Sister Mock, when she made matters worse and worse by the course she pursued; for as was her wont when vexed, she did not stop to choose her words, and said some very insulting things to Katie, which the high-spirited girl neither could nor would bear silently. She retaliated upon her in no meas- ured terms of opprobrium, which produced in reply from Sister Mock, language still more offensive and repugnant to the feelings of the poor girl. She re- minded her of the ragged condition she was in when she entered the school-aye, reproached her most cruelly with it-told her that she was no better than a beggar, and deserved never to be any thing else ; expressed wonder that any of her schoolmates demeaned themselves so much as to hold any inter- course whatever with her; and they were only ac- tuated to do so, from sentiments of pity ; and that she was more of a savage than any other kind of human being, together with other words of similar import, and quite as abusive.
Katie, at this time, had attained to a position in the school, and no longer quite as desolate and friend-
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THREATENED REVENGE.
less there as formerly ; for some of her schoolmates now more or less associated with her, and she was beginning to indulge the hope, that, perhaps the first unpleasant impressions concerning her were fading from their remembrance, when thus unfor- tunately recalled to their minds. Hence no marvel with her disposition, that as Katie heard the old lady thus talk of her, reviving circumstances which she only desired to be forgotten as speedily as pos- sible, that her temper was aroused, that she became perfectly furious. She turned, at first, deadly pale, and trembled with rage; nor could she for a space command herself sufficiently to answer her at all- excessive anger preventing her; but at length she found words, and they were severe and bitter in the greatest degree, while her eyes flashed with indescribable scorn and contempt. All present looked on with perfect amazement and dread at what was to follow. Presently she became more calm ; then deliberately, yet with a voice unsteady with emotion, she observed :
"You have said that to me, Sister Mock, which I will neither ever forgive nor forget, and I will make you sorry for it ; yes, mark me, you shall certainly repent of it," and then she hastily with- drew from her presence. And the exasperated girl doubtless would have fulfilled her threatened re- solve, had not one of our teachers-Sister H .- suc. ceeded in preventing her.
This lady's sympathies had become enlisted in
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SISTER H- -. .
behalf of the poor girl. She was studying her dis- position, in order to be better able to understand how to control it ; for she meant to use every effort in her power to bring her apparently ungovernable nature into subjection. She was a woman of a great deal of decision and firmness of character ; sensible, amiable, and of good judgment ; gentle in discipline, very affectionate, and as well able as any of our teachers in the school to accomplish this object. She found it, however, a truly discourag- ing undertaking, for as yet, she had not made much impression upon the strange, incomprehensible na- ture of this pupil, yet she determined to persevere ; and as there were some indications about Katie that she was beginning to understand and appre- ciate her feelings towards her, it cheered her with the hope of ultimate success.
And here I would observe, for the sake of pre- venting any wrong impression upon the subject, that neither Katie Sullivan nor Sister Mock, were samples of the pupils or teachers of Bethlehem School; such characters-I allude particularly to the latter-I am glad to say were rare in that estab- lishment, and the old lady was probably almost the only teacher in the Institution whom any of the schol- ars would have dared to treat with the same disre- spect, such conduct not being allowed there; but be it remembered that Katie Sullivan was altogether a most remarkable character; and that Sister Mock was quite as peculiar in her way.
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EXPOSTULATION.
Two such natures as theirs, of course, could never assimilate; although, as will be seen in the sequel, they so far conquered their mutual aver- sion, that they were considerably mollified to cach other. And with this change it is to be hoped that both became endowed altogether with better char- acters, and more attractive qualities of mind and heart.
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