Representative women of New England/Sarah A. Perkins
SARAH ANNIE PERKINS was born at Lewiston, Me., October 1, 1842, the daughter of the Rev. Gideon and Mary (Dunham) Perkins. Her father was one of the early ministers of the Free Baptist denomination. To unusual mental grasp and deep spiritual insight he added ardent convictions that led him to give valiant .service to the temperance and anti-slavery reforms of his day; and the thrilling experiences of those historic years, together with a most careful Christian training, made a deep impression on the lives of his children.
Sarah received her education in the Lewiston schools and in the Maine State Seminary, now Bates College, located in the same town. She entered the seminary at the age of fourteen, was graduated at seventeen, and at once took up the duties of a teacher, having been assigned even thus early in her life to the responsible position of preceptress in the Limerick (Me.) Academy. Before leaving school she had become a member of the Lewiston Main Street Free Baptist Church, of which her parents and three brothers were also members.
The second year after graduation she assumed charge of the Dexter (Me.) High School, but, being honored not long after by a call to return to her Alma Mater, .she accepted it, and was installed as instructor in French, Latin, and other branches, a position which she filled satisfactorily for .six years. She then resigned to accept a similar one in a private school for girls in Boston. Two years later she entered the Lothrop Publishing House as editor of book manuscripts. In this congenial work an honorable and pleasant career was opening before her, when the death of her eldest brother, in 1873, changed her plans for life. At his request she unselfishly relinquished the task for which she had proved herself to be so well fitted, and, taking his orphan children into her care, for nearly ten years she devoted herself to their nurture and training, at the same time ministering to the needs of her aged parents.
It was only when these duties had been fulfilled that Miss Perkins permitted her taste for literary work to assert itself once more. She accepted a position on the editorial staff of the Morning Star—the official organ of the Free Baptist denomination, published in Boston—maintaining her connection with this periodical for seven years. She was then transferred to the more difficult position of editor of the three juvenile papers of the denomination—Our Dayspring, for young people; The Myrtle, for children; and Our Myrtle Buds, for the little tots. The first and last were originated by her, and all three were under her sole management, their successfully attesting the tact and versatility, little short of genius, that are absolutely necessary to an editor of children's papers.
These periodicals were, in truth, the heralds of the great movement among young people that was soon to sweep with such beneficent results over the church life of all denomiiuitions; and Miss Perkins was speedily called upon to assume the great but inspiring responsibilities of a pioneer in this world-wide movement by organizing and directing the young people's work of her denomination, the first young people's society of any denomination being organized in a Free Baptist church.
The six years that followed proved that she had inherited her father's capacity to serve a great cause with boundless energy and enthusiasm. Into this brief period was crowded a phenomenal amount of labor; for to the duties of editorship there was added the exacting work of a general secretary, which included travelling, arranging for and addressing conventions, organizing new societies, and carrying on a vast amount of correspondence. It was in the days before the word "strenuous" had attained to its present hard-worked prominence, but her life at this time amply merited the term. It was also somewhat unusual for a woman to wield great influence from the platform, but as a speaker Miss Perkins possessed the rare combination of magnetism, grace, and sympathy that were their own best justification.
She was greatly beloved and loyally followed by the host of young people whom she had organized into a splendid working force, but the long-continued strain of the combined duties of secretary and .editor finally made a vacation of at least a year imperative. Before the year was over, however, she received an unexpected and flattering invitation to become preceptress of the New England Conservatory of Music, located in Boston. This position she retained for six years, until the removal of the Conservatory, in 1902, to its present building on Huntington Avenue of the same city. A change in the school management altered her duties somewhat, but she is still connected with the Conservatory (1904), and retains her official title. During the year 1903 she again evinced her versatility by making a systematic catalogue of the rare musical scores and other valuable volumes of the Conservatory Library.
Her work at the Conservatory, although directed in a somewhat different channel, has been logically a continuation of her life of service for young people. The organization of the Conservatory Young Women's Christian Association, which has brought the school into affiliation with the great Christian student movement among the colleges, was due entirely to her influence, and she has continued quietly active in its behalf. Her general culture, her wide experience, her intuitive sympathy, and her rich endowment of idealism have admirably fitted her to be the friend and counsellor of young women, and no girl has ever appealed to her in vain for advice, or comfort, or "mothering." The young in heart are always beloved, and this tribute of love has followed her wherever she has gone. The fragrance of such a life as hers is like that of the alabaster box of precious ointment—which has ever been the symbol of unselfish service and devotion.