Bliss' teaching led to a
Christian revival at her school in
Peru, Massachusetts, which was noticed by the principal of Mount Holyoke who recommended her as a teacher to the South African minister and missionary
Andrew Murray. Bliss and fellow Mount Holyoke graduate
Abbie Park Ferguson boarded a ship in the US in September and arrived at Cape Town on November 15, 1873. They were met at the harbour by a delegation from the
Dutch Reformed Church which was to support the seminary. Bliss and Ferguson established the
Huguenot Seminary girls school at
Wellington, Western Cape, which opened in January 1874, teaching 54 girls. As well as teaching Bliss helped manage the finances and supervise the cleaning of the school. A
Sunday school was also provided for
coloured children. The seminary was expanded later in 1874 and Bliss was appointed head of the
primary school (Ferguson was head of the
high school). Ferguson founded
Huguenot University College after the 1886
Witwatersrand Gold Rush as the first women's college in South Africa. The Seminary and University College were the first to provide an advanced level of education for South African women and taught many to become teachers and missionaries in Southern Africa. Bliss became principal of the high school in 1899, a position she held until she was appointed president of the University College in 1911, after the retirement of Ferguson, its first president. Bliss retired from the college in 1920 and died in Wellington on June 25, 1925. == References ==