WEST POINT AND "MISS WETHERELL,"

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 412, 22 January 1909, Page 3

WEST POINT AND "MISS WETHERELL,"

One would never- imagine-that there., could .: • '■:Je ■ any* between ? the lady, who ; ; -wrote the "Wide/ Wide World'' and a sot of .Vv gav'.cadets,at..'West,Point,, America's.fambus • ! ' military, academy, for though Miss Wethercll : does'introduce ;tne:lcid^s;;rather. ; i :■ . '.lier stories'; it is ralways in -the manner of .- .. •an outsider. - who was at; Wost Point many years ago:gives a; very charming account.'in .the'."New. York. Sun"'.of-liis;,ac-, -,j N quainta.nco'with, ; the famous, authoress^. ■. ■: "Theiboob was; published as.- work .of • ''.' '''Elizabeth' Wetherell.'. • Many .a• cadet,-he ' says,' after' he was' settled at the Point; rej. 1 - ceived; a letter from hit, motheiv telling-hind this, and adding that 'Elizabeth Wothorell'/ ' - .was ;really\'Miss who lived on ; ■ Constitution Island; and urging .liim to meet; her. and .write back.:home how sho looked ! and all about her. . : :*'.This acquaintance; sought.usually to' grat--0;-; J^ify':the?BiaternMvcuri6sity,iresidted -.- - -rof ..us- in a unique friendship—a friendship ' I}.'.-'.'that;was 'pne, ofJthei-best- influences'?that! the' , : 'cadets of, that time had in .their 1 lives. She - : - was intensely interested in the .boys, and ; •. ■ .both she rand: her sister,-Miss Anna Warner,. . ' ' Cnjoyed'having thorn'-as. visitors'; Both ladies ' :, . .'. were vei^\'-religious, though; they did not overlook tho ; boy side of their proteges.. .' . "Th</ visits to: Constitution'lsland were 1 re- ■ , .: garded'as a; great privilege,; for. not only did ■ ■:they make a break ,in the severe routine of , tho daily life,, but thoy-enabled the boys to roam further afield: than was possible-at , the: academy; where the: restrictions "of tho' ■ cadet limits were pretty irksome to boys ac- > customed toytho free :rua of the town or . .-'-V conntry. So the privilege of going to '. Constitution Island as. one- of - 'Miss 'Warner's . boys' was eagerly; sought and highly prized: . "Every Sunday afternoon;during the summer, encampment the sisters would send their -elderly /man-of-all : work ; after'-the favoured - ones.- He pulled!: the old:flat-bottomed'boat- ■ across tho river - to- the West, Point dock; ; where .tho boys;with tho coveted Remits, were. , waiting for, him. - Usually'the trip, back was . accompanied - with mora or less-excitement for the; boat was always loaded to tho last inch of its carrying capacity. : "Miss -Warner awaited her guests in the- : 1 orchard.. ' She ', always sat .. in tho sanio big • chair, supported by many cushions. She was : : a: frail ljttla,woman; .with'a long face deeply ... lined. with, thought-and 1 care, lighted' 'with large, dark, very brilliant eyes. "As she sat in her. chair-witlf.the.boys in- ..-. .. '8 semi-circlo, around her on'.tho grass'she looked like a : ,print from : "Godey's Lady's . Boole", of half .a century before. .She always :.y- . wore silk drosses of a small'flowered pattern, made; with voluminous .skirts of ■ wonderful , stiffness and-rustle,-and-small, close-fitting bodice. A rich - Paisley shawl: was always :. around her shoulders, and a broad black vel- %'-. ' vet ribbon was bound around her hair, which ; was only slightly grey. :-..i * : 1 -, 1 ''After.\each -. of : the iboys - had - read: a Bible • ; Vorse,..Miss Warner,-.choosing ■ .-■ her subject ~ from' some. New Testament tost, talked to them for perhaps .half an hour, until, her : '.; . interesthadobviously ; al-'-■most-.exhausted her: small ■ strength; ■ Her ■-. English-.was,- the,ibest and'-.purest I havo ever' . . heard, and as she .went .on arid her interest frew her eyes,shone.likevstars'andilier voice' ecame ,rio)r and: warm. . There was never ';;a any cant or . sectarianism, .and . sho always gave to'the boys the brightest arid most optimistio side of the faith,she loved so well.' .. "When she had finished and lay back, pale ; arid weary, against' her cushions, her. sister, ■ : - v: Miss Anna,,, came, down from the house with the' rare treat, of the 'wholo'week—tea arid v" / - - .home-madeVgirigerbread. ' ; :. ; .'After..thit:the' two sisters and tho boys talked over the things 'of : the world that seemed, 'so'/far 'from that . peaceful, quiet'orchard. The hoys confided .: -V their ajms .and-ambitions, and .the. sisters, in simplest, : ,unostentatious ' way,- . •' sought to implant•.right. ideals and prin- -... :• . ciplcs. - V'.....-;/ •;•' "Miss Warner , never , forgot any .of her ---:- ' bny.'., and up to the timo of her death kept lip a eorrespondeiiee, with' ninny of tliem. This . • >.conosp(!ndence .m-iist 'liave; been -voluminous; for .it enibraced; nien in every branch of the .st-reicc",;. and Mriehided' alike .Mistinguished .of- • fleers uridcadots ivho .lm'd failed. - . . "In view of the interest, she had taken in the ''fitlcts-.nnd,' the number of years she .had . , kc'r in t.out;h with them, tiiere is pathos in '■'■J t!ir-."st letter 1 .ever/received from'her,: writ■'i'tei shortly .'before her. death. . ''no longer .havc thc strengthi to cross. , . k ; the-river to'meet the boys,' she wrote, 'and the superintendent: we : now .have will not al- -. low 'th«m to come to me;; so: my usefulness • with them seems-to be at an end.' ,'?