No doubt as to the genuineness of this document! Angeline had indeed begun to write verses—and as a matter of interest rather than as an example of art, I venture to quote the following lines, written in October, 1847:
Farewell, a long farewell, to thee sweet grove, To thy cool shade and grassy seat I love; Farewell, for the autumnal breeze is sighing Among thy boughs, and low thy leaves are lying. Farewell, farewell, until another spring Rolls round again, and thy sweet bowers ring With song of birds, and wild flowers spring, And on the gentle breeze their odors fling. Farewell, perhaps I ne’er again may view Thy much-loved haunt, so then a sweet adieu.
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In the North teaching follows schooling almost as a matter of course. In 1848 Angeline Stickney began to teach the district school in Heath Hollow, near Rodman, for a dollar and a quarter a week and board. The same year she taught also at Pleasant Valley, near Cape Vincent, whither Edwin Ingalls had moved. Angeline boarded with her sister and spun her wool. Would that some artist had painted this nineteenth century Priscilla at the spinning-wheel! For the next nine years, that is, until a year after her marriage, she was alternately teacher and pupil. In the winter of 1849-50 she tutored in the family of Elder Bright, who six years later, in Wisconsin, performed her marriage ceremony. In the winter of 1850-51 she attended the seminary at Rodman, together with her sister Ruth.
An excellent teacher always, she won the respect and affection of her pupils. After her death a sturdy farmer of Rodman told me, with great feeling, how much he liked the patient teacher. He was a dull boy, and found many perplexities in arithmetic, which Miss Stickney carefully explained. And so she became the boy’s ideal woman. Very seldom did she have to resort to punishment, but when punishment was necessary she did not flinch. The same might be said of her in the rearing of her four sons. Her gentleness, united to a resolute will and thorough goodness of heart, made obedience to her word an acknowledged and sacred duty.
The following fragment of a letter, written after she had begun her college course at McGrawville, gives a glimpse of her at this period: