before the commencement of her Magazine, one design of which to extend their influence and to furnish a means of communication between them.
In her personal appearance Mrs. Whittlesey is prepossessing and dignified; in her address easy and unaffected; in her conversation gentle, deliberate, and persuasive; in her natural temperament gentle, warm, and sympathetic; in her judgment sound and discriminative, arriving at her conclusions less, perhaps, by a formal process of induction, than by a native aptness and a sanctified taste. She was made for influence in whatever path of life she might have chosen. In that which Providence has actually assigned to her, she has sought to wield it for the noblest ends. We rejoice in its extent, since it is apparent that she views it only as a talent to be employed in her Saviour's service. For her efforts to raise the standard of maternal hope and fidelity, to sow the seeds of domestic virtue and happiness far and near, and to improve and elevate the character of female influence in general, she is destined, we believe, to be long and affectionately remembered as a most efficient and noble benefactress.
WILLARD, EMMA,
Distinguished both as a teacher and writer, has for many years held a prominent position among those who encourage and aid American literature and moral improvement.
This lady is the daughter of the late Samuel Hart, of Berlin, Connecticut, where she was born in February, 1787. Her father was descended, on the maternal side, from Thomas Hooker, the first minister of Hartford, who is regarded as the founder of the State of Connecticut; he having lead the colony across the wilderness from the vicinity of Boston. Her paternal ancestor was Stephen Hart, a deacon of Mr. Hooker's church and his companion through the wilderness.
The love of teaching appears to have been a ruling passion in Miss Hart's mind, and was developed in her early years. At the age of sixteen she took charge of a district school in her native town. The following year she opened a select school, and in the summer of the next year was placed at the head of the Berlin Academy. During this period, being engaged at home throughout the summer in the capacity of instructress, she managed in the spring and autumn to attend one or other of the two boarding schools at Hartford.
During the spring of 1807, Miss Hart received invitations to take charge of academies in three different states, and accepted that from Westfield, Massachusetts. She remained there but a few weeks, when, upon a second and more pressing invitation, she went to Middlebury, in Vermont. Here she assumed the charge of a female academy, which she retained for two years. The school was liberally patronized, and general satisfaction rewarded the efforts of its preceptress. In 1809, she resigned her academy, and was united in marriage with Dr. John Willard, then marshal of the district of Vermont, and for several years a leader of the republican party of that State.
In 1814, Mrs. Willard was induced to establish a boarding-school at Middlebury, when she formed the determination to effect an important change in female education, by the institution of a class
