- MRS. SARAH C. LITTLE, widow of Thomas
H. LITTLE, and present Superintendent and
- Steward of the Wisconsin School for the Blind, at Janesville,
was born in Oberlin, Ohio, March 6, 1838. Her father was the
Rev. Henry COWLES, D.D., a professor of the Oberlin College,
and an eminent divine, scholar and author. He was born in Litchfield
County, Conn., and was descended from an old New England family
of English origin. The family was founded in America soon after
the great fire of London. Her mother, whose maiden name was Alice
WELCH, was for several years principal of the Ladies' department
of Oberlin College, and was a woman of superior mental attainments,
and a devout Christian. Her death occurred at Oberlin in October,
1843. She belonged to a noted New England family, five of whom
were physicians. Benjamin, one of her brothers, was a very noted
surgeon of New England, and devised surgical appliances that
are still in universal use.
- Mrs. LITTLE was graduated from Oberlin College, in 1859.
For two years she was a teacher in
- the public schools of Columbus, Ohio, and in 1861, came to
Janesville to fill the responsible position of principal teacher
in the Wisconsin School for the Blind, of which Thomas H. LITTLE
had recently become the superintendent. Each recognized a congenial
spirit in the other, and their acquaintance resulted in marriage.
This event occurred July 14, 1862, at the home of the bride's
parents in Oberlin, Ohio. This union has been blessed with four
daughters: Elizabeth, the eldest resides with her mother; Alice,
the second daughter, graduated at Oberlin, in the class of 1888,
and in June of the same year went to the Island of Kusaie, in
Micronesia, as a teacher under the American Board of Commissioners
for Foreign Missions. Her mother accompanied her as far as Honolulu,
Sandwich Islands. The two younger daughters, Clara H. and Martha
P. are students at Oberlin college.
- After the death of Mr. LITTLE, Feb. 4, 1875, the board of
managers decided to appoint Mrs.
- LITTLE as his successor. This was an innovation. No other
State institution anywhere, was then in charge of a woman. But
Mrs. LITTLE had become thoroughly identified with the work, and
had proved herself competent for leadership in it; and the years
following have abundantly justified the wisdom of this appointment.
Mrs. LITTLE has inherited the strong mentality of Dr. COWLES,
and the acumen and physical vigor of the WELCHES. In the fifteen
years that she has looked after the business and other interests
of this large establishment, while performing the duties of a
man and public officer, she has lost none of the sweet, womanly
character which is the charm of her sex. Her care of the blind
pupils has in it so large an element of maternal tenderness that
the school is really a large family - at once a place of careful
instruction and thorough discipline, and yet a real home.
- At the meeting of the national convention of educators of
the blind, at Philadelphia, in the summer
- succeeding her assumption of her present position, she received
a cordial recognition and won the highest applause by her share
in an instructive discussion on methods of training the blind.
At this meeting she was elected one of the officers of the American
Association of Instructors of the Blind. Her address before the
State Teachers' Association at LaCrosse, July, 1879, is a strong
plea in behalf of the unfortunates who cannot see, and an instructive
review of the efforts heretofore put forth by humanity for their
benefit.
- Beside her laborious duties at the institution, Mrs. LITTLE
is felt and highly valued in all
- philanthropic and Christian work, the peer of any of the
noble women who are serving their generation by the will of God.
-
- Taken from "The Portrait and Biographical Album of
Rock County, Wis." (c)1889, pp. 659-660.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
|