Long engaged in educational work in Chicago, she founded the Kenwood Institute (1884), and Mrs. Starrett's Classical School for Girls (1893), of which she was principal.

The school grew in usefulness, size and importance, until at the end of 30 years' service as its head, Starrett retired from its active principalship at the age of 75, at which time the title of principal emeritus was conferred upon her.

[5] In 1915, she was appointed one of the 100 electors who each five years decided on additions to the list of eminent Americans who would be included in the Hall of Fame established in 1900 by New York University.

[7] Starrett was a contributor to magazines, such as The Continent a Presbyterian publication from McCormick Publishing Company,[6] as well as educational and religious journals.

The author discussee the matter of self-support and independence, and that however urgent such may be, they are reduced to insignificance by the necessity of women finding a means of expression for the spiritual growth that takes place in them.

The second essay, by Frances Ekin Allison, is thought out on a lower key, and referenced the independence that a woman feels when she has a source of income in her own right.