588 FAMOUS LIVING AMERICANS first work taken np was English grammar^ bnt later on the club took up Shakespeare and the Greek dramas, and still later, philosophical and ethical works. Once or twice a year this club gave formal readings of plays, usually before invited guests at the home of Mrs. Young. It was as a principal of schools that she first took her stand against the corporal pun- ishment of children, which she abolished in her own school and has since seen abolished in city and state. From principal Mrs. Toung was promoted to the position of assistant superintendent in 1887, which position she held until 1899. In this office she devoted her time to working into practice the latest and best methods and ideas in the edu- cational world. She delivered each year a lecture on the progress of the schools. This lecture was always largely at- tended. Because of her own devotion to duty, her own sin- cerity of purpose and disUke for shirking, she was uncompro- mising towards superficiality and lack of consecration in teachers. In this way during her service as assistant super- intendent, she acquired among some of the teachers the repu- tation of being a cold and hard master. She was, therefore, feared by many and her visits to the schoolrooms were dread- ed. She tells with a twinkle of humor in her eye how on one occasion she discovered the secret signal by which her pres- ence in a school was made known from one to another when she saw a small boy leaving the room with an eraser which was to be carried to another room and then to be sent from room to room. But even the people who thought her hardest in her attitude always say that she never criticized negatively the work of teacher or pupil, but always pointed out lines along which improvement might be made. Wherever she found sincere effort and interest in the work she gave help and encouragement. She left the office of assistant superintend- ent when it was reduced to a mere clerical job, for she refused to give up her own independence of mind for the sake of hold- ing the position. This action shows an attitude toward her work which is characteristic of her, as has been often illus- trated.
