[7] She developed a strong taste for literature, and while still in school, acquired an easy and graceful style of writing.

[8] Swift came to believe that the then-existent system of awarding college honors at Vassar was unfair, and that it invariably led to deception, and sometimes fraud among the candidates, and so while yet an undergraduate, set herself to agitate for its reform.

[2] While in Scotland, just for the fun of it, and possibly with a view of getting material for a story, the sisters decided on evening to attend a Salvation Army meeting in the slums of one of the larger towns, and that they might not attract too much attention, dressed themselves very plainly.

The meeting was largely attended by rough men, and so abusive were they to the young woman in charge that the sympathies of Elizabeth were aroused, and without thinking of possible consequences and almost without the exercise of conscious volition upon her part, the sprange from her seat, went to the platform, stood beside the captain, and in the Scotch dialect which she had mastered, and spoke to the unruly crowd.

As she landed from the steamer in New York, wearing the regulation Salvation Army uniform, she was met by her mother, who almost fainted as she looked upon her daughter.

She burst into tears, and declared that she would rather see her dead than a member of the Salvation army, and it was many months later before the parents became reconciled to the choice of the lifework made by the two sisters.

[11] Swift decided to become a Roman Catholic, and, although she was strongly opposed by General Booth, went to the Paulist Fathers for instruction.

[12] She continued writing stories, poems, and articles in periodicals of different countries, including the Sunday Companion.

[2] Sister M. Imelda Teresa died at Saint Clara College, Sinsinawa, Wisconsin, April 19, 1916,[10] having been stationed her for three or four years.