DEATH OF MISS KATE SANBORN

The older alumni of the College will be sorry to learn of the death on July 9th, at her home in Metcalf, Mass., of Miss Katherine Abbott Sanborn, known familiarly as Kate Sanborn.

The following is taken from an article in the Boston Transcript for July 9 entitled "Kate Sanborn — author, humorist, and optimist."

"Kate Sanborn was born in 1839, at Hanover, N. H., where her father, Edwin D. Sanborn, was a* professor in Dartmouth College. Her mother, Mary Webster, was a daughter of Ezekiel Webster and niece of Daniel Webster. Miss Sanborn's education was remarkably broad and thorough for a girl of that time. While little more than a girl, she began educational work herself' teaching at several schools in New York and at the Packer Institute in Brooklyn.

"In 1880 Miss Sanborn was invited to Smith College as professor of English literature, a position which she filled for three years, made additionally busy by lecturing and literary work. After leaving Smith College she made a lecturing tour through the Middle West. Following a breakdown in health she became interested in an old farm at Metcalf, Mass., about twenty-five miles from Boston. After several years of outdoor life she told her experiences in 'Adopting an Abandoned Farm,' a book which had a large sale and took its place among American works of humor. Her con- trolling impulse seemed to be the wish to be of service to those about her, especially to those who most needed help.

"During her life on the farm Miss Sanborn wrote a number of books upon subjects which especially interested her 'The Wit of Women,' 'Old Time Wall Papers' and 'My Literary Zoo.' She became interested in the statues of Indians once so commonly used as signs of tobacconists, and issued an illustrated booklet under the title 'Hunting Indians with a Taxicab.' She was always an appreciative friends of dogs, and in the last year of her life brought out a handsomely illustrated book entitled 'Educated Dogs of Today.' In 1915 Miss Sanborn collected her reminiscenses of interesting persons, under the title 'Memories and Anecdotes.'

"Miss Sanborn's talent for presenting compact information in attractive form appears in her little volume 'A Truthful Woman in Southern California,' that State being a region for which she felt strong attachment. A favorite diversion was the making up of calendars, several of which were books of permanent value, containing selections on special subjects, chosen with critical judgment from a wide variety of authors. Miss Sanborn was repaid for this work by the letters constantly received from grateful readers of the 'lndian Summer Calendar' (selections on the Indian summer of life) and of 'The Starlight Calendar, on the Faith in Immortality.' In fact few persons have so large a personal correspondence. The ladies who had been her pupils at the Packer Institute and at Smith College formed of themselves a large group of life-long friends who never missed an opportunity of showing their appreciation and attachment.

Miss Sanborn truly believed that in one s relation to life the mere passing of years has little to do with age. In her later years she again took up her residence in New York, but returned to the farm in summer. On the day before she was stricken with fatal illness she was never more animated or full of the enjoyment of life and .of energetic plans for the future. One of her last acts was to administer a bracing talk to a caller who came in a despondent mood and complained that he had nothing to live for. Kate Sanborn had reached age, but could never have become a victim of old age."