Hale attributed her love of learning and her confidence in woman's acumen to her early teaching by her mother, whom she described as having had "uncommon advantages of education for a female of her times," and "possessed [of] a mind clear as rock-water, and a most happy talent of communicating knowledge." Her mother's method of teaching her children "serious truth" while charming them with stories, songs, and legends, Hale accounts a major influence in making her the woman she became.
Subsequently studying Latin, philosophy, English, and classical literature with her brother Horatio, then a student at Dartmouth and later a highly esteemed New York judge, Hale acquired the equivalent of a college degree, a rare possession for a woman of her day. She put her talents to use in a Newport private school. From her eighteenth to her twenty-fifth year, at a time when women were considered unfit for the classroom, Hale proved herself an innovative and gifted teacher, emphasizing writing, reading, and mathematics, even introducing Latin in the elementary grades.
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