In spite of everything, Lucila’s mother and sister continued to prepare her for teaching.They had faith in her and considered no effort or sacrifice too great to insure the continuation of the necessary studies.Moving to La Serena, they applied for her admission to the normal school there.At about this time, Lucila began to write for the local newspapers.She published poems and pose articles in which she freely expounded her Socialist and her admiration for Vargas Vila, the controversial Colombian writer.The chaplain of the normal school rejected her application, claiming that her ideas could harm the students.Emelina and her mother were not deterred by this setback and through their tutoring helped her course study.Since 1904 she had been working as a teacher’s assistant in a rural school at La Cantera.With the award of her official certificate of study in 1910, she was finally able to hold positions in high schools throughout the country: La Serena, Traiguén, los Andes, Antofogasta, Temuco, Punta Arenas, and Santiago, the highest rung on the ladder-always with the encouragement and moral support of her friends, Fidela Pérez Valdés and Pedro Aguirre La Cerda, who was later to become president of Chile.By 1912 she was settled in Santiago, her pedagogical work recognized not only in her own country but even beyond its borders.She lived on the outskirts of the capital, visited at all hours by writes, artists, workers, ladies of the Santiago’s aristocracy, and students.Her time was devoted to studies and readings in theosophy and to the practice of yoga; she carried on a correspondence with Annie Besant and Amado Nervo, the Mexican poet, who was also interested in these pursuits.

For her, teaching was a calling to which she gave all her enthusiasm, freedom, and a creative spirit that abhorred routine.A large proportion of her literary work, both prose and poetry, had an educational purpose; it was intended for the classroom and was written to a view of awakening and forming within the child a moral and religious conscience and a aesthetic sensitivity.In the classroom she was a severe taskmaster, exacting hard work and strict discipline.

The culmination of her teaching career was in June 1922, When José Vasconcelos, Mexico’s Secretary of Education, officially invited her to collaborate with him in a program of education reform that he was about to undertake in his country.Gabriela accepted and left for the Mexican capital, where she resided until 1924.There she became especially interested in the teaching of Indians in the rural area; she wanted to “infuse teaching with an apostolic and spiritual feeling.”The experience in Mexico was a decisive one in her moral and intellectual life.She visited every corner of that beautiful country and came to know and admire the Mexican Indian.She regained her Catholic faith, established lasting friendships with Palma Guillén, Alfonso Reyes, Antonio Castro Leal, Pedro Henriquez Ureña, Enrique González Martínez, and, in addition, published her anthology, Readings for Women (Lecturas para mujeres).The love and memory of Mexico and of her Mexican friends and stayed with her until her death.

In 1923, Chile awarded her the title of “Teacher of the Nation.”On March 4, 1925, after twenty-one years of outstanding service, she accepted retirement.