CHAPTER XXIX.
MARY V. COOK, A. B., A. M.
Those who pursue the path of duty which takes its beginning among rocks and thorns are rewarded by
MARY V. COOK, A. B., A. M.
being able to mount into clearer light and penetrate fairer regions.
It was by perseverance and faithfulness to duty that Miss Mary V. Cook raised herself to a point of distinction and honor which may serve as an example to others who find the road rough and uninviting.
Miss Cook, like her mother, is of a lovable disposition, always kind and true.
The city of her nativity is Bowling Green, Ky., and, like many other cities of the South, was not especially inspiring to the colored youth, for whom there was no nourishment upon which to subsist. There was everything to discourage and humiliate a child of such tender feelings who had already used every advantage the town gave for improvement. Being ambitious, she entered many contests and in every case came out victor. In the winter of 1881 she was made assistant teacher in the school presided over by Rev. C. C. Stumm, then pastor of State Street Baptist Church. Though the pay was meagre she worked as diligently as if getting a larger salary. She often had occasion to shed tears because of the hard work and the unexpected demands made upon her already very small income, and upon one occasion she said, "The sun will yet shine in at my door." How, she knew not, for her parents were unable to send her off to school, but she felt that the way would be opened. At last the dawning of better advantages appeared. Rev. Allen Allensworth, seeing in her the elements of true womanhood, used his influence in getting for her a scholarship in the State University, Louisville, Ky., of which Rev. William J. Simmons, D. D. , was president. October 15, 1881, a letter from Dr. Simmons readied her stating that the American Baptist Woman's Home Mission Society of Boston would defray her expenses if she would matriculate within three weeks and give pledge to remain until she had completed the course. She hastened from the school-room to inform her mother of the good news, and immediately wrote complying with the conditions, and was registered in that school November 28, 1881. May 13, 1883, she graduated from the normal department as valedictorian. As the president presented to her the Albert Mack gold medal he testified that she had so conducted herself during the entire course that there had not been occasion to discipline her in a single instance or even impart to her a word of warning. In writing of the graduates of the school he made the following statement concerning her:
As a student, she was prompt to obey and always ready to recite. She has a good intellect and well-developed moral faculties, and is very refined, sensitive, benevolent and S3aiipathetic in her nature, and well adapted to the work of a Christian missionary.
She served the University during her scholastic years as student-teacher and was at different times dining-room matron and record-keeper of daily attendance. She was honored by the students with the presidency of both their societies, which position caused her to lose much of her timidity and developed her faculties for thinking and speaking. During the last year of her normal course she won the Dr. E. S. Porter gold medal in a contest in written spelling, and soon afterwards Miss Cook carried off the Dr. D. A. Gaddie silver medal for proficiency in oral spelling. The students were lavish in their commendations and congratulations. Shortly after this Mr. William H. Steward offered a silver medal for proficiency in penmanship and Miss Cook was again victor. May 17, 1883, the trustees elected her permanent teacher and principal of the normal department, in which she held the professorship of Latin and mathematics. Her department was the largest of the University, but she performed her work with credit to herself and school. By an act of the board of trustees she was allowed to continue her studies in the classical department, from which she graduated, taking the degree of A. B., May, 1887.
As a teacher she has proved a success, and seems to exert a magic power over her pupils; though always pleasant, yet at the same time commanding and ruling without trouble; she is yet a hard student, ever keeping abreast with the issues of the day. She is especially good in Latin, biography and mental and moral philosophy. She loves her race dearly and has been connected with nearly every prominent cause for its elevation. When the Baptist Women's Educational Convention of Kentucky was organized in 1883 she was found among them. In 1884 this body made her Second Vice-President and also placed her on the Executive Board. The latter position she holds to-day. In 1885 she was made Assistant Secretary. In 1886 she was chosen Secretary of the Executive Board. In 1887 she was chosen Corresponding Secretary of that body (the Convention), which position she held till 1890. In 1891 she was again made Assistant Secretary. She is universally esteemed by the women of the State and is ever ready to do their bidding. Miss Cook has very many times addressed the Convention upon important subjects, and at the jubilee meeting, January 18, 1889, she gave the history of the Convention, at which time the American Baptist said:
The history of the Convention by Professor Mary V. Cook, their Corresponding Secretary, was a concise and comprehensive paper. She left the well-beaten tracks of most of the lady Speakers and dealt entirely with facts, and without sentiment traced the Convention from its incipiency until the present time. It was an interesting paper, brimful of information, and was well received. Miss Cook is never more in earnest than when saying a word for the women's work.
She has often spoken and read papers before the public with much credit, viz.: At Mobile, Ala., she read a paper before the American National Baptist Convention, August 27, 1887, subject, "Woman's Work in the Denomination." The same year she appeared before the National Press Convention at Louisville, Ky., and read a paper, "Is Juvenile Literature Demanded on the Part of Colored Children?" September 25, 1888, at Nashville, in the great meeting of the American Baptist Home Mission Society, she read a paper on "Female Education." September, 1890, she was invited to prepare a paper on "Woman's Work for Woman," to be read before the Foreign Mission Convention, but sudden illness in her family called her home before the programme of this body was called. September, 1891, before the National Convention at Dallas, Texas, she read a paper on "Women in Medicine." She has appeared before the State Teachers' Association three times, viz.: In 1887, at Danville, on "Woman a Potent Factor in Public Reform"; 1890, Hopkinsville, "Professional Women and Their Achievements," and 1892, Henderson, "The Colored Women in the School-room."
Miss Cook made her debut in journalism in 1886. Her contribution, "Nothing but Leaves," in the American Baptist, was one of her best productions. Having been converted in 1876, she showed in this article a noble Christian heart and a soul deeply affected by Divine grace. In 1887 she was editor of a column of the South Carolina Tribune and also a column in the American Baptist. She has recently written for the Georgia Sentinel. Her position as editor of the "Educational Department" of Our Women and Children gave her wide scope in editorial work, in which she took much pleasure. In the "Negro Baptist Pulpit," by Dr. B. M. Brawley, Miss Cook has an article on "Woman's Work," and is the only female writer in the book. Dr. J. M. Pendleton highly commended the article in his criticisms on the book and recommended it to the Northern Societies in their missionary work. Miss Cook is a terse, vigorous writer, who loves her race as she loves herself, as her articles will show.
September 5, 1889, she visited the New England States by invitation of the Board of the American Baptist Woman's Home Mission Society, Boston, as a representative of the colored women South and the State University in which she was teacher. The president and trustees granted her a leave of absence, and they (the president and trustees), in connection with the faculty, students, board of managers of the Baptist Women's Educational Convention of Kentucky, the Union District Sunday-school Convention and the State Street Baptist Church, Bowling Green, Ky., of which she is a member, sent to the New England Societies testimonials bearing upon her worth as a Christian and cultured woman. These appeared in the American Baptist, Louisville, September 6, 1889. She was away four months and spoke in all the important cities and towns of Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. She was everywhere well received and every comfort and pleasure they could give were hers. Newspaper encomiums were profuse as to her ability. One clipping' we give from the Journal, Augusta, Maine, September 24th:
In accordance with a notice on Saturday a large audience on Sabbath evening in the First Baptist lecture-room greeted Miss Mary V. Cook, Principal of the State University, of Louisville, Ky. Possessing a clear, musical voice, and with modest, refined manners, the speaker was well calculated to hold the close attention of her listeners for the hour occupied by her address. She spoke of her gratitude in being permitted to visit Maine and to look into the faces of the many friends of her people. She spoke of the colored people generally and of their schools. She told how rapidly the race is increasing and said the only remedy for the fear that power in the hands of an ignorant people would prove disastrous to the country was a Christian education that would include the head, heart and hands. She pleaded for this and for an educated ministry, and for better homes that better citizens might be given to the country. She was glad to note the Christianity here that recognized its brother though he be clothed in black. She spoke of her agreeable surprise in finding, as she entered the previous meeting of Christian Endeavor, that a colored brother led that meeting, and the eagerness that was depicted on each face as he spoke to them. She prayed that God would speed the time when men all over this broad land should be known not b}' the color of their faces, but by their intellect and moral standing. After the meeting she received the warm grasp of many a hand, and as she goes forth again to her work she may be assured she leaves behind her an added circle of friends to remember her in prayer and kindly interest.
For four years the children of that State had paid her salary as teacher in the State University; so she found as well as made many warm friends not only for herself and work, but for the race. A private letter to a friend in Maine, in which Miss Cook spoke x>f the oppression of her race, was published in the Home Mission Echo, Augusta, Maine, August, 1892. When she returned to her work the teachers and students received her with an ovation which she nor they will ever forget.
May, 1890, she was requested by the same women of Boston to come to the Baptist Anniversaries, which met in Chicago, and represent their work. She did, much to their satisfaction. The best accommodations in that city were hers at their expense.
In 1890 she resigned her position at the State University, against the protest of the trustees, but she thought of taking a course in medicine after needed rest was taken. But, alas! that boon was not to be hers, for in September, while attending the National meeting in Louisville, she was stricken with the sad intelligence that her mother had been paralyzed. Being compelled to give up her plans for studying medicine, she accepted a position with Rev. Robert Mitchell as teacher of Latin and science in the Simmons Memorial College, Bowling Green, Ky. Her burdens seemed to increase, for shortly after the affliction befell her mother her father sickened and died, leaving to her the care of mother and grand-mother. Under all she keeps cheerful and faithfully discharges her duty. The Lord has blessed her in many ways. As general solicitor for Eckstein Norton University, Cane Spring, Ky., she has been able to visit many Southern States and has learned a great deal about the race by observation and immediate contact.
Miss Cook has been offered many positions as teacher within the last year, viz.: In Mississippi, New Iberia, La., Indian Territory, Florida, and four in her own State.
April 15, 1892, she, with three other ladies, was called to Frankfort, the State capital, to address the legislative conmiittee against the enactment of the Separate Coach Bill. That event will be a bright page in the history of the colored people of Kentucky.
She has been asked to prepare a paper for the National Educational Convention, which meets at Savannah, Ga., September, 1892.
Miss Cook is an all-round scholarly woman. Her judgment may be depended upon. She is favorably known by almost all the leading men and women of the race in the country, and is more widely known, possibly, in the New England States than any other colored woman. She has done and is still doing much for her race, and it is hoped that what she has done is simply an introduction of what she is yet to do. She lives comfortably in her own home. Let all who read be encouraged to go forward, and success is theirs.