The five years following the return to America were years of transition, of experiment. Mrs. Carr was, as always, bent upon devoting her energies to educational work, and Mr. Carr was content to preach in whatever surroundings might be best adapted to her talents.
Fortunate is he who discovers anywhere in the world, a situation which calls for the exercise of all his highest faculties; usually such a setting must be made, fashioned from a part of that energy which, might, if not thus deflected from creative work, have wrought the more.
It was so with Mrs. Carr. Endowed with gifts of high order, gifts that the world always needs, she had not, as yet, found the vantage ground for their full exercise; nor was she ever to find that highest development, until she had fashioned from her own heart and brain, the battle-ground of service.
As yet, she did not know this, but sought in various fields for a ready-prepared equipment, a sword sharpened, and a breast plate polished by other hands, with which she might fight for the truth. Returning from Australia she naturally looked about in Kentucky for the background of her ideals. It was not to be found there, and she came presently to Missouri; first to Fulton, then to Columbia.
She entered into various school relationships, but we find her restless in association with presidents whose ideas of school-government were different from her own. We trust the following extracts from letters will prove of interest in themselves, and at the same time tell the story of these years in the words of those who were chief actors.
May 27, 1874, about eight months after the return from Australia, A. B. Jones writes to Mr. Carr from Madison Female Institute, Richmond, Kentucky: "If I should conclude to resign here, would it be worth while to nominate you and Mrs. Carr for the position?"—which shows that Mrs. Carr is making no delay in seeking her sharpened sword and polished armor.
She is in fact, impatient in the search, as witness this to her from Mr. Carr, May 27th: "I am having big audiences at Sycamore, Kentucky. At the conclusion of the sermon, last night, eleven came forward. You must try to be reconciled with your lot until next fall. This constant moving about from place to place, is best for the present. As to Hocker College, they want you and I will hold myself liable to an engagement at Cincinnati, for my wife's sake. Do not worry over the matter. Teaching must be attended to, just as the institutions of baptism and the Lord's supper. I am sure you will be one of the happiest women in the world, if you are settled at work; and this shall be, if we are spared to see next fall."
He writes again, June 25th: "Your letter came yesterday. A man named Carr, opened it by mistake, and when he saw that ribbon and those flowers, he must have thought it from somebody's sweetheart,—and so it was! Brother Crenshaw has a flourishing Ladies' College at Hopkinsville. These institutions have sprung up rapidly in Kentucky. Here at Princeton is another. Warrendale College at Georgetown is to be sold for debt. From all I can see, these Colleges do not promise much. I am sure a certainty at Hocker is preferable to an uncertainty elsewhere."
Extract from the Kentucky Gazette, Lexington, Ky., August 18, 1874: "On the second Monday of September, Hocker College" (of which Robt. Graham was President) "will begin its sixth annual session. The immense outlay of more than $100,000 has made the building perfectly adapted to its purposes. To the faculty of the fall term has been added Mrs. O. A. Carr, a Christian woman of untiring energy, and zeal in the education of women. She is a graduate of St. Catherine de Sienna and Daughters' College and holds a Traveling Diploma from the Bishop of Jerusalem. She purposes delivering a series of lectures, extending through the collegiate year, upon the wonders of many lands. She is eminently qualified as an educator and disciplinarian for the position of Principal in Hocker College."
M. W. Green, writing from Australia, throws a confirmatory light on why the Carrs were obliged to return to America: "You say you are so busy you find it difficult to get time to write. It is to be hoped that in doing so much you will not again overtax yourself, and bring on another time of weakness. I am beginning to feel somewhat as you did, before you left Melbourne. Nature is beginning to wear out, and calls for a rest. I cannot get that rest on land, for if I see an opportunity to preach, I feel myself unfaithful if I do not avail myself of it. Sometimes I think I will never get a rest unless I take a long sea-voyage. It must be hard for you to have your study in Lexington, and your books in Hobart Town. Brother Earl writes me of his sorrow at hearing that protracted meetings are being introduced into Australia. 'They,' he says, 'often bring unconverted people into the church; and they are discouraging to the regular preacher, for the people get into the way of not uniting with the church, except at the exciting time of a protracted meeting.' We are pleased that Sister Carr has obtained so good a place for usefulness as the one at Hocker. We had Brother Magarey over in Melbourne to preach for us. I was much pleased with him, both as to piety and ability. His style much resembles your own, and I cannot tell his handwriting from yours." (This was the miller's son, Alex., whose brother practiced medicine and religion, as we have seen.)