ELIZABETH- CAR Li r CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Cornell University Library The original of this bool< is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924024733143 Cornell University Library QH 31 .A258P31 Elizabeth Gary Agassiz; 3 1924 024 733 143 3^Si»t^%/^ ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ A BIOGRA.PHY BY LUCY ALLEN PATON WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BOSTON AND NEW YOEK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY THE RIVERSIDE PRESS 1919 COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY RADCLIFFE COLLEGE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PREFACE A FEW words in regard to the circumstances under which this book has been written are necessary. In the spring of 1917, the Council of Rad- cliffe College appointed Mrs. William G. Farlow, Miss Alice M. Longfellow, and Professor William E. By- erly a committee, to which Professor Fred N. Robin- son was later added, to arrange for the publication of a biography of Mrs. Louis Agassiz, the first President of the college, in order that the future students might have some knowledge of her character and of what Radcliffe owes to her. It was decided that the earlier portion of the memoir, treating of Mrs. Agassiz's youth and married life (1822-73), should be written by Miss Emma F. Cary, her youngest and only sur- viving sister, and the remainder (1873-1907) by my- self. From the time when the biography was first planned, Miss Gary devoted herself to its prepara- tion and gave it constant thought. It was to be not only the crowning labor of her long life, which al- ready numbered eighty-three years, but also a final tribute of devotion to a dearly loved sister. Her friends earnestly hoped that she might live to see the book completed, but she had made only a preliminary selection of letters and had written merely a few sec- tions of her narrative, when in August, 1918, her work was ended by her death. vi PREFACE Her heirs kindly placed at the disposal of Radcliffe College her material for the biography and thus made it possible for the book to be written. The title that Miss Gary had expected to give to her part of the work — "Memories of Elizabeth Gary Agassiz, by One who Looked On" — expresses very well the character of the brief portion that she had prepared. This consisted largely of a description of the Boston of her own and Mrs. Agassiz's youth, for memories crowded so thick and fast upon her as she wrote that she was diverted from the account of Mrs. Agassiz's individual girlhood, and had herself concluded that probably much of her narrative might prove irrele- vant to the memoir. I have, therefore, selected from her manuscript the sections that convey an impres- sion of Mrs. Agassiz's immediate environment in her earlier years and have published these with very few and unimportant verbal changes. Of the material dealing with Mrs. Agassiz's ancestry Miss Gary left too incomplete a draft for publication, but her notes have served as a basis for the first chapter and have been amplified from other family papers. From the letters that she had collected for possible use I have made a selection and have added to these many from other sources. If Miss Gary could have finished her part, the book would have had a unique character that would have enhanced its interest. As it is, the admission must sadly be made that it contains but little of her writing. The resources for the biography have been ample for some chapters, scanty for others. Mrs. Agassiz had PREFACE vii comparatively few correspondents, for with the excep- tion of her Swiss and German connections, she Hved so surrounded by her family and her most intimate friends that she had little need for the exchange of letters with them. Much of her correspondence has been destroyed; much that remains is too personal for publication or is not available. Consequently the letters pubUshed here are addressed to a limited circle and are by no means representative of her friendships. In the narrative also there are gaps. The deepest privacies of love and faith, joy and sorrow have the most profound influence upon character, but they are holy groimd to be passed by in silence. The can- vas, therefore, is unfinished in parts, but it serves to depict the most important externals of Mrs. Agassiz's hfe and to portray her character through the medium of her own words. Two minor points remain to be mentioned. In the account of Mrs. Agassiz's part in the growth and de- velopment of Radcliffe College, it has seemed best, for the sake of clearness and interest, to treat the story as a unit, interrupted merely by a chapter con- taining letters written by Mrs. Agassiz during a year in Europe, although this necessitates a departure from the chronological arrangement followed in the rest of the book and anticipates some of the years that form the subject of a later chapter. It should also be said that many omissions from letters and other quoted passages have been made, which in deference to Miss Cary's wishes are in general not indicated by the use of asterisks. viil PREFACE The book owes much to the interest of friends who have lent letters for publication, and whom I have the pleasure of thanking in behalf of Radcliffe Col- lege. Material kindly given by Mrs. Cornelius Con- way Felton is at her request specified: the letters on pages 180 and 276 and the manuscript from which selections appear on pages 277 to 279. "Warm thanks are also due to friends and various members of Mrs. Agassiz's family for advice and suggestions, and es- pecially to Mrs. Henry L. Higginson and Mrs. Rob- ert Shaw Russell for material and information gen- erously suppUed. The Commemoration Addresses in Chapter XV are repubhshed from the Harvard Graduates' Magazine for March, 1908, by the cour- tesy of its editor. LtrcY Allen Paton Cahbbidge, Massachusetts Odober. 1919 CONTENTS I. Ancestry 1 II. Temple Place 9 III. Cambridge — Charleston — The Agassiz School — Europe 30 IV. Letters from Brazil 68 V. Cambridge — A Journey in Brazil . . . 103 VI. The Voyage OF the Hassler . . . .118 VII. Pentkese Island — The Death of Agassiz . 165 VIII. Changed Conditions — The Biography of Agassiz 171 IX. The Society for the Collegiate Instruc- tion of Women: The Harvard Annex. . 192 X. The Passing of the Harvard Annex . . 230 XI. Europe 275 XII. Radcliffe College 310 XIII. The Radcliffe Tradition 358 XIV. The Last Years 367 XV. Commemoration Addresses 394 Index 413 ILLUSTRATIONS Elizabeth Gary Agassiz Frontispiece From a photograph taken in 1872 Mr. and Mks. Thomas Graves Gary .... 4 The Gary Gottage at Nahant 16 Elizabeth Gary Agassiz in 1852 44 Louis Agassiz and Gount Francois de Pouetales 118 Elizabeth Gary Agassiz in 1872 166 The Fay House in 1887 222 The Agassiz House at Nahant 278 Elizabeth Gary Agassiz House, Radcliffe Gol- lege 354 The Agassiz Gate, Radcliffe Gollege . . . 394 Erected to the memory of Mrs. Agassiz by her children and grandchildren in 1916. ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ CHAPTER I ANCESTRY IT is preeminently true of Elizabeth Gary Agassiz that the memory of what she was possesses an even greater permanent value than what she did, and that indications of her character are of more importance in her biography than a record of her achievements, notable though some of these were. Not a complex nature, it was marked by strong indi- viduality, of which the principal elements were singularly pronounced — the influences of a New England ancestry extending over almost two centuries and of an inherited environment in Boston, blended with inborn gifts of mind and spirit schooled by the discipline of experience. But in her personality there was throughout her life a distinctive quality — the light of pure sweetness and truth — which should not be forgotten in estimating the value of her presence, yet which eludes analysis and, although it is re- flected in her letters and diaries, can be no more faithfully reproduced than the changing beauty of a dawn or sunset. The background of Mrs. Agassiz's life always remained practically unchanged and was formed by her family con- nections and associations. On both her father's and her mother's side she came of excellent Massachusetts stock, which provided her not only with the practical and moral equipment characteristic of such an heritage, but also with 2 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ a line of ancestors among whom one after another was con- spicuous for effective and interesting traits. The first of her father's family to emigrate from England to America was James Cary, who in 1639 left Bristol, where his father and great-grandfather each in his day and generation had been first Sheriff and then Mayor, and came to Charlestown, Massachusetts. Here he spent the rest of his life, a person of sufficient importance to be made Clerk of the Writs, Recorder, and Tithingman. In Charlestown and its vicin- ity his descendants continued to live for generations and by marriage became connected with some of the families who were well known among the early settlers of Massa- chusetts. His great-grandson, Samuel Cary, for example, in 1741 married Margaret Graves of Charlestown, a descend- ant of John Winslow, the brother of Governor Winslow, and Mary Chilton, the daughter of James Chilton, one of the founders of Plymouth Colony. Through Margaret Graves there came into the possession of the Cary family an extensive piece of property in Chelsea, originally part of a royal grant to Governor Bellingham, which was be- queathed to her by her stepmother, who had inherited it from her sister, the daughter-in-law of Governor Belling- ham. In this way Chelsea became the centre of the fam- ily life, and the "Retreat," as the Bellingham estate was called, remained the Cary homestead until 1911. For Mrs. Agassiz the interest and attractions of the "Retreat" were enhanced by its immediate associations as her father's birthplace and early home. His father, Samuel Cary, the eldest child of Samuel and Margaret Cary, had a chequered career, which for a time led him far away from the seclusion of Chelsea. Handsome, gay, and fond of so- ANCESTRY S ciety, he was no favorite with his serious-minded father, who gave him his patrimony and despatched him to the island of Grenada in the British West Indies, where he be- came a prosperous planter. He married, however, a Bosto- nian, Sarah Gray, the daughter of the Reverend Ellis Gray, and after eighteen years in Grenada, they felt New England tugging at their heart-strings, and believing that they had means sufficient to bring up their large family of children as they desired, they returned in 1790 to the "Retreat." But four years later, during political disturbances in Grenada, Samuel Gary lost his entire fortune and was reduced to the resources of the Chelsea farm for the support of his house- hold. His prosperity proved a valuable school for adversity, and the fortitude with which he and Mrs. Gary met the sit- uation admirably illustrates the moral calibre under the in- fluence of which their children were brought up. A pictur- esque description of the family life in Chelsea has been left by Mrs. Agassiz in a brief manuscript memoir of her father, Thomas Graves Gary, who was only four years old at the time of his father's reverses : Under the changed aspect of affairs the family life was restricted within the closest possible limits, and these conditions were never essentially changed until the children had grown up and entered the world to fight its battles for themselves. And yet to those who know the records of this life it was not wanting in the elegance and refinement which cultivated tastes and dignity of character may give to the narrowest circumstances. One hears, for instance, of the oldest daughter, who had already received her education at an expensive school in England, turning the dining- 4 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ room into a schoolroom where her flock of little broth- ers and sisters became her scholars, a duty in which an older brother also returned from foreign lands joined her. The old family journals tell of the play of Shake- speare or the novel of Walter Scott read aloud in the winter evenings when the snow outside had shut them in, by "Mama," who added to her gracious presence and sweet voice the gift of admirable read- ing, or the minuet danced by the youmger members of the family, while "Sister Margaret" played the harpsichord and the mother and father looked on from their straight-backed stately armchairs in the corner of the parlor. Nourished on good Uterature, trained in the manners of the old school, drawn closer in family affection and intercourse by the absence of other society, and taught to reverence and love the hard- won institutions of their country so recently secured, these young people grew up valuing their education the more, perhaps, because they owed it in so large a degree to their own personal efforts and those of their parents. Such were the surroundings in which Mrs. Agassiz's father lived until he entered Harvard College. After his graduation he studied law and in 1820 married Mary, the daughter of Thomas Handasyd Perkins of Boston. By 1821 he was established as a lawyer in Brattleboro, Vermont, and had he continued to practise his profession there, Mrs. Agassiz's life would doubtless have run in very different channels from those that it followed. But not long after her birth, in 1822, he decided to give up his legal practice and cast in his lot with his brothers who were already < B3 O < ■< 1^ Ed K Eh THE HARVARD ANNEX 223 but a daring expenditure is sometimes a wise economy and so I think it will prove in this case. And so it seems to me a memorable fact that we meet here today, — that for the first time our cer- tificates for graduation and for honors are given under our own roof. Within the next four years such had been the growth of the Annex that the limits of the Fay House had become all too restricted, and in February, 1890, the Executive Committee began to consider ways and means for enlarg- ing its walls. The ways presented less of a problem than the means. In the late spring a meeting was held in Boston for such good Bostonians as might be interested, at which Mrs. Agassiz reported on the success of the Society and the disadvantages of its narrow habitat. The following por- tions of her address describe the conditions of the four years after the purchase of the Fay House and again illustrate her powers of persuasion. Her only references to the sub- scriptions for which she hoped are quoted below: ... In order to state the object of this meeting fairly from the beginning I would add that if we succeed in winning your sympathy for the work in which we are engaged and which we hope to carry on hereafter, we will ask you to help us in raising a certain sum to- ward the enlargement of our building which has been insuflBcient for our increased numbers and beside want of room lacks many conveniences for the work carried on there. I have often been told that as President of our So- ciety I should call attention from time to time in a 224 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ more public way to its existence, its progress and its needs. The moment seems a fitting one, for we are now at the end of our first ten years of fife, and the close of a decade always suggests a pause, a retro- spective consideration of the road over which we have come, a thoughtful glance along that which lies before us — in short, a review of the past and a pro- vision for the future. ... In the autumn of 1885 the opening term found us in our permanent home. Since that time we have spent another portion of our patri- mony in land adjoining the Fay House estate in order to make a well-proportioned, spacious piece of ground and give room for such additional buildings as may be needed hereafter. On this ground we have already put up two small laboratories — very inex- pensive buildings in wood but quite pretty and con- venient for our classes in chemistry and physics. . . . The material side is, however, but a small part of the story. We have to show not only that we have ad- ministered our funds carefully, but that the work is worth all and more than all that has been spent. . . . Our first aim was simply to give to young women intending to be teachers the best intellectual outfit at our command, in order that they might enter upon their work well prepared. We wished also to enable young women who loved study for its own sake to continue their education on a wider basis after leav- ing school. . . . A third class has been added of which we had not thought in the beginning. This consists of teachers — often women who have had a good deal of experi- THE HARVARD ANNEX 225 ence in teaching and who come partly because they value the contact with the broader methods of Uni- versity instruction and wish to strengthen themselves in their own special departments of work, perhaps also because the change of attitude from that of teacher to that of pupil is a rest and refreshment. . . . ... To sum up the work of the Annex ia the last ten years. Having hardly a recognized existence during the first two or three years and with a capital never exceeding $75,000 it has become known during this period as one of the prominent educational institu- tions for women in the coimtry, its pupils have risen in numbers from some twenty-five to about one hun- dred and fifty and are yearly increasing, its graduates are scattered over the country as teachers and excel- lent reports of their work come back to us, it has given to a number of already well-established teach- ers the opportunity which they greatly value of studying under Harvard methods of instruction and under scholars of known distinction ia their different departments of work, and it has enabled many young women who have studious tastes to pursue them under especially helpful conditions. I would add that we have no instruction outside of Harvard and that we have between fifty and sixty Harvard professors and instructors on our lists of instructors. Of course this is our best guarantee. With this preface I will now bring forward the special object of our meeting. A woman's postscript is, as you well know, the most important part of her communication. We have tried to husband our means and to carry 226 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ on our work with as close economy as was consistent with a liberal fulfilment of our educational pro- gramme. But our very success compels us now to make a new appeal. We have wholly outgrown our pleasant home and we find our recitation rooms, halls and reading rooms so overcrowded that an enlarge- ment of the building is absolutely required. The house is a delightful one, — known to some of us for nearly half a century, and in reality much older than that — one of the old-fashioned, comfortable and dignified houses of New England. We value this character and have endeavored to preserve it in our plans for en- largement, to retain the character of a home while giving it a greater fitness for the work within its walls. For this we shall need from $20,000 to $25,000. We have already received in recent subscriptions $3500, and a friend has proposed to take upon herself the cost of the Library which is to be one of the most charming features of the establishment — a room fifty feet by twenty-seven, lighted from above, but having charming windows beside — among them a deep oriel window, — a large fireplace, excellent ar- rangements not only for the books themselves, but for their easy use. I would add that subscriptions may be sent to the office of Lee, Higginson and Company, State Street. ... It only remains for me to thank you for your kind- ness in coming and your attention in listening. I hope I have not tired you too much with my long story. As a result of this meeting a sum of money was speedily raised sufficient to justify the commencement of the work THE HARVARD ANNEX 227 by which the building was enlarged to twice its original size. During the summer of 1892 a still further addition was made which provided an auditorium large enough for all the general meetings held under the direction of the So- ciety. Here the Commencement exercises took place in 1893 and 1894. With what satisfaction Mrs. Agassiz regarded these im- provements and how hopefully she looked into the future we may see from the following paragraphs of her address at Commencement in 1892: I look back upon our opening life in the Annex as having a certain charm notwithstanding its diflBcul- ties, — the charm of a new and interesting under- taking. The whole subject of collegiate education for women has advanced with amazing strides in the last ten years, and our present students may wonder that I should speak of our first attempt as if it had been a kind of exciting adventure. But I assure them that it had something of this character, for it was surrounded by obstacles and prejudices. Remonstrance and ex- postulation came to me from some of my nearest friends, who felt that the dignity and reserve of Har- vard were threatened and the whole tone of the Col- lege to be lowered. However, the nine days' wonder was soon over. The Annex kept on its quiet way so unobtrusively that when at the end of our first four years, we felt its success to be so secured that we might make some appeal to the public in its behalf, we had almost to recall its existence to them; it had grown into a college unawares as it were, unheralded and almost unheeded outside its own precincts. That 228 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ I address you here today in this cheerful, well-ap- pointed building is evidence enough of our progress from those days to these, and I have to congratulate you especially on the improvements of the past year, on our new lecture and recitation rooms, our well- lighted studio for our art classes, and lastly on the hall, where we now meet, — which has contributed so much during the last winter, not only to your means of instruction, but also to your pleasure and amuse- ments. This review of the past is very cheering and may well give us hope for the future. I must add in no spirit of egotism: but in one of very sincere thankful- ness that this hope is strengthened by the ever- increasing confidence of the public iu the Annex, of which we have frequent evidence. And in this connec- tion, let me say that in addition to many former acts of kindness and sympathy from the Women's Edu- cational Association in Boston we owe to them a new debt of gratitude for their efforts in our behalf this winter. They have always known that we looked to- ward a closer affiliation with the University as our final goal, and this winter their committee, appointed by them for the purpose, has striven with untiring energy and zeal to raise a large sum in order to help us in this direction. I ought perhaps in the present uncertain state of our affairs, to refrain from even a distant allusion to our hopes with reference to the University. But to part from you today without some reference to what is I know uppermost in your minds as well as in mine. THE HARVARD ANNEX 229 would seem like a want of that frank sympathy in all matters concerning your interests here which has always existed between us. If I have nothing definite to say upon this point I can at least share with you my own belief that with the approval of the public, the support of friends of education in Boston, and with the confidence expressed by the Faculty of Harvard in the Annex and in the right she has won to what is best in education, we can hardly fail of a steady advance. But let me say in closing that whatever strength we may derive from without, the students more than any one else hold the fate of the Annex in their hands, and I believe they feel and accept the responsibility. Whatever be its attitude in the future, — whatever its relation to the University, — what- ever name it may bear, — I hope it will always be respected for the genuineness of its work, for the quiet dignity of its bearing, for its adherence to the noblest ends of scholarship. So I commend our young institution to the keeping of our students with a strong belief that they will be faithful to the trust. CHAPTER X THE PASSING OF THE HAEVAED ANNEX 1893-1894 IN the few words of Mrs. Agassiz with which the pre- ceding chapter closes the f oreshadowings of events that followed in the next year may be seen. Already in the course of 1893 it had become evident that enthusiasts on the sub- ject of women's education, restless imder the somewhat anomalous position of the Annex, where women received collegiate instruction but no academic degrees, were eager to see an official relation estabhshed between it and the University. The situation was set forth by Mr. Warner in the article in the Harvard Graduates' Magazine referred to above: "It had become plain to every one that the in- stitution had passed its phase of private experiment, and was entitled to some formal recognition by the University. What shape this should take was a question with many difficulties, for the university scheme had no place ready for the newcomer Of course, no one wanted to in- corporate the Annex bodily into the University and min- gle its students with the young men. It was plain that the young women must be separately cared for, and that their household concerns and domestic economy must be in the hands of a board composed, at least in part, of women. Furthermore, the President and Fellows of Har- vard College were unwilling to add to their administrative work, already excessively heavy, by taking charge of the property, or attending to the executive details, of another THE PASSING OF THE ANNEX 231 enterprise, and they preferred, for general convenience, to commit to a distinct body the management of an under- taking which was to be detached, in many respects, from the present organization of the University." Beginning with March 14, 1893, Mrs. Agassiz's diary reports ahnost daily interviews with President Eliot or other friends of the Annex in regard to the advisabiUty of making advances to the University looking toward a closer union. The time seemed ripe for a direct appeal for adop- tion by Harvard, and on March 21 the Society voted that it was expedient to transfer to the President and Fellows of Harvard College its entire property, whenever the College would assume the management of its affairs and imdertake to carry on the work and to offer to women academic de- grees in arts. On March 27 Mrs. Agassiz addressed to Presi- dent EUot the following statement of the situation, which exists in her rough draft: TO PRESIDENT CHARLES W. ELIOT Cambridge, March 24, 1893 Dear Mr. Eliot: I hear that you may bring for- ward our hopes and fears to the Corporation on Mon- day next — not perhaps as an official communication, but as an informal opening of the subject. I am most anxious that we should appear in our true light, as reasonable and not aggressive, and therefore I repeat in writing what I have often said in our recent con- versations. We are well aware that the Annex owes all its success to the support received from the pro- fessors and instructors of Harvard, and also that 232 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ in silently endorsing the part they have taken in its gradual development the Corporation has already done us a great service. But we now stand, as you know, in need of their more direct iatervention, with- out which the farther progress of the Annex is likely to be checked, and indeed I hardly believe it could be long maintained were its present conditions under- stood by the public to be permanent. For this iusta- bility there are two causes, — first the imcertainty of our instruction as long as it depends upon the cour- tesy of the Professors and the consideration of the Corporation, — second, the lack of any College de- gree. With reference to the first we ask that our pres- ent instruction should be continued to us as an edu- cational department of the College, with the authority of the governing boards, and second that under this provision should be included the granting to our students of the academic degrees. In asking for the latter it should be imderstood that we think of them only as credentials of scholarship, eliminating every- thing that may concern rights and privileges of grad- uates in the business affairs of the College, — as votes for various oflices, etc., etc. Within the last few months, we have been made to feel more than ever our want of a secure foundation. Our efforts to raise money in order to come to the Corporation with a fitting endowment have been met everywhere with the ob- jection that we have no direct relation to the College, and no one is willing to give us any considerable sum without any assurance that the University will take us under its protection. That doubt removed we are THE PASSING OP THE ANNEX 233 confident that the money will follow. Should the Cor- poration accept us under the conditions above stated, we should pass over all our present property, — an invested capital of $150,000 with landed estate, buildings, etc., to the Corporation. Within our pres- ent limits we are fully self-supporting, and we should look for farther educational opportimities from the College only as we can bring means for our increased expenses. We know that the funds of the College are all appropriated and cannot be diverted from the purposes for which they were given. We recognize therefore the necessity of producing the means for our own support and for our future development. But we beUeve that whatever means may accrue to us in the future will be spent for the Annex to greater advantage by the Corporation than by ourselves. To them we should confidently entrust the adminis- tration of our affairs both financial and educational. Forgive this long letter, my dear Mr. Eliot, and be- lieve me always Most cordially yours, Elizabeth C. Agassiz On March 29, Mrs. Agassiz records in her diary, "I think our aim will be accomplished, but it wiU be slow work." Meetings, discussions, conferences, one or the other, fol- lowed almost daily. An idea of some of the difficulties in the way and Mrs. Agassiz 's method of encountering them may be formed by the following note from Edward W. Hooper, the treasurer of Harvard College, with the draft of Mrs. Agassiz 's reply. Her letter which called forth the note from Mr. Hooper is not available: 234 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ TO MRS. LOUIS AGASSIZ Cambridge, April 10, 1893 Dear Mrs. Agassiz: Owing to my absence in New York, I did not get your note until midnight on Sunday, and could not therefore talk with you before the meeting as I should gladly have done. It is, of course, quite natural that we should have serious doubts about more permanent relations with the An- nex, and think of the dangers to the College which we have inherited as a trust for life only. My talk with Mr. Warner showed me quite clearly that there was really no reasonable limit to what the Annex might fairly ask of us. The Annex really wants all that the College has, and does not expect to get it except through the College. If we give our degrees we must give the instruction necessary to fit women for those degrees, and that means either a duplica- tion of our instruction, or to some extent coeduca- tion. I have no prejudice in the matter of education of women and am quite willing to see Yale or Colum- bia take any risks they like, but I feel bound to pro- tect Harvard College from what seems to me to be a risky experiment. . . . Yours very sincerely, E. W. Hooper TO EDWARD W. HOOPER Dear Mr. Hooper: I have been away from home a day or two and so did not answer your letter promptly, but so far as I am concerned a great deal less than THE PASSING OF THE ANNEX 235 "all the College has" would content me. I believe that much might follow, not because the Annex would desire it, but because in the natural phenomenon the College would be hkely to give it. When you say that the Annex does not expect to get what it wants "ex- cept through the College," to that I agree, because we have aimed at academic education from the very start, and to accept outside instruction including that from women teachers (without any intention to de- preciate it) would place us on an exact level with all the women's colleges, and we really do not need one in Cambridge, nor is there any reason for estabhshing one here. In the early days of the Annex we have said this over and over again, — nothing but the prox- imity to Harvard justifies the estabhshment of a woman's college here. As to coeducation except in the most limited sense, it would be desired neither by them nor us. While afifairs were ia this condition a little incident oc- curred that had great importance in its consequences. This incident was related in an address delivered at the Eadcliffe College Commencement exercises in 1902 by John C. Gray, Royal] Professor of Law in the Harvard Law School, who later became a member of the Coimcil of Radcliffe College. It is peculiarly interesting because it illustrates the fact that the Annex owed the important advance that it was about to make to the personal regard that Mrs. Agassiz's friends had for her. The story is best told in Professor Gray's own words, which were published in the Harvard Graduates' Magazine for September, 1902: 236 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ . . . Here was an institution, to use a neutral term, so strong that it could boast with justice of giving an education equal to any in the coimtry, and yet so fee- ble that it could not give its students the recognition which every other coUegiate institution, good or bad, gave, a degree. The solution of the difiBculty which it was easiest to propose was that Harvard University should give the degrees. But this solution, easy to propose, was difficult, nay, impossible to carry out. . . . Many wise men, and by no means unfriendly to RadcUffe, felt that a great trust had come into the hands of the University rulers, that its organization and resources were already greatly strained, and that the strain ought not to be increased. Then came a time of depression and anxiety. Some of the sincerest friends of Radcliflfe, who in the days of small things had not spared time or money thought that the College should sit still and wait. But the authorities of the College felt that this state of things could not continue indefinitely; that the College could not drag along in this maimed and humihating con- dition, unable to grant what every other college of men or women was granting: it must assert its com- petence to confer degrees; yet how to insure that the degree should have the weight and character that a degree granted to students trained as hers were, ought to have? How to be independent of Harvard Univer- sity and yet have her degrees as valuable as those of the University? That was the problem. And now you must pardon me if I give a bit of per- THE. PASSING OF THE ANNEX 237 sonal history. One evening my wife told me that she had seen Mrs. Agassiz that day, that Mrs. Agassiz looked troubled, and was much distressed and per- plexed about Radcliffe College and its degrees. At that time, to my shame be it said, I knew little and cared less about Radcliffe College, but I was sorry that Mrs. Agassiz should be harassed, and I began wonder- ing whether anything could be done to relieve the diffi- culty. Shortly before, I had happened to be counsel for a famous school of learning in a case in which the func- tions of visitors had been much considered. And the idea came into my head: "Why should not Harvard University be the Visitor of Radcliffe College? " What is a visitor? Under the English law all col- legiate institutions have visitors. If there is no other visitor provided for by the statutes of the college, then the Crown is the visitor. . . . The Board of Over- seers are the visitors of [Harvard] University, and I need not say how important and controlling are the functions of that Board. No one can be chosen a mem- ber of the Corporation or a professor in the Univer- sity without the Overseers' consent. S It was determined that the Corporation of Harvard University should be asked to become the Visitor of Radcliffe College. The last sentence anticipates our narrative somewhat. The chapter in the story that follows Professor Gray's happy thought of "visitors" to the Annex is told in a letter to him from Mrs. Agassiz, in reply to one in which he had outlined his scheme to her, but which unfortunately has not been preserved. 238 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ TO PROFESSOR JOHN C. GRAY My dear Mb. Gray: I am truly grateful for your letter. The acceptance of such a scheme by the Corporation would seem to me all we can reasonably ask for the present. If later they should feel ready for a closer affiliation they can themselves define the terms. The Annex will plead its own cause, and I think some of the lions will disappear as the Corporation becomes more famihar with its work and its ways. We have always needed a name, and I hope something 'distinctive and appropriate will be found, — something if possible which would indicate a rela- tion to the College rather than a separation from it. Mr. Norton once suggested Emmanuel College, as being the one from which John Harvard came.f* 2d. It would simplify matters much to retain the present organization, leaving to us the financial re- sponsibility with matters concerning the life of the students, etc., etc. We oflFered to give all that, only because we thought the College might prefer a com- plete surrender. 3d. Your idea of "visitors" had never occurred to me, but if the Corporation would accept such a duty, that in itself would be a tacit recognition of our re- lation to the University. 4th seems to me stiU more important — that the appointment of instructors or examiners should rest with the visitors. 5th. To me personally it would be perfectly satis- factory that our diplomas should bear the seal and THE PASSING OF THE ANNEX 239 signature of the College. I would rather have a foot- hold in the College on such terms as the Corporation may be willing to grant than any sum of money — much as we should like the latter, — I think, however, the form of our diploma should be carefully consid- ered, — that it should not be differentiated from the "A.B." of the College as a "ladies' degree." Work is work, and must be judged without fear or favor by its own value. 6th. Here again is a most important point in our favor, — a place in the Catalogue. Your seventh point would be for us our culminating point, — taken with what precedes it seems to me all we can reasonably ask at present. This is much more than half a loaf and promises more than it grants . I am so glad you have taken the pains to set it before me with such clearness. It was very good of you, and very kind in Mrs. Gray to suggest it. Please thank her for me. The fruits of this plan are seen in the following letter from President Eliot, which Mrs. Agassiz read at a meeting of the Society on Jmie 6, 1893. It makes the foregoing letter more intelligible, since the nmnbered items in both are evidently the same. TO MRS. LOraS AGASSIZ May 29, 1893 Deak Mrs. Agassiz: At the Corporation meeting today I was authorized to say to you — the Presi- dent of the Society for the Collegiate Instruction of 240 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ Women, that the President and Fellows of Harvard College are now pleased to consider carefully any pro- position for close union between the University and the Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women, which the Society may hereafter make to them in general conformity with the following memorandum. Memorandum of an agreement or contract between the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women. 1. The Institute established by the Society to have a name — "X College." 3. X College to be self governing in all respects, — in organization, business management and disci- pline. 3. The President and Fellows of Harvard College to be the visitors of X College. 4. No instructor or examiner to be appointed or retained by X College without the approval of the Visitors. ! 5. The diplomas of X CoUege to be coimter-signed by the President of Harvard University and to bear its seal. 6. Graduates of X College to be given a place in the Catalogues and official publications of the University. 7. This agreement may be cancelled by either party on four years' notice. Very truly yours, Chaeles W. Eliot The memorandum contained in this letter was at once accepted by the Corporation of the Annex as a basis of THE PASSING OP THE ANNEX 241 agreement with the Corporation of Harvard University, and in less than a fortnight later Mrs. Agassiz is found in correspondence with President EUot, consulting him in regard to a name for "X College." TO MRS. LOUIS AGASSIZ Cambridge, June 19, 1893 Dear Mrs. Agassiz: I send you herewith some information about the first woman who ever gave anything to Harvard College, namely Lady Mowlson, who founded a scholarship here which has just been revived by the Corporation on evidence procured by Mr. A. McF. Davis. She seems to have been a pa- triotic person, and she has left no children. To revive her memory would be analogous to the act of the Cor- poration in naming Holworthy Hall after Sir Mat- thew Holworthy, who gave the College a thousand poxmds in the seventeenth century. Very truly yours, Charles W. Eliot Mr. Davis embodied the results of the researches which President Eliot mentions here in an article, "Anne Rad- clifife — Lady Mowlson," in the New England Magazine for February, 1894. Briefly the story is that in 1641 Thomas Weld, pastor of the church in Roxbury, was sent to Eng- land by the colony in Massachusetts to arrange certain matters of importance to the country. While in England he received for Harvard College the gift of £100 from the Lady Mowlson "for a scholarship, the revenue of it to be employed that way forever." According to arrangement 242 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ this money, instead of being paid to the college, was "given in on account to the state," apparently in 1643, and the treasurer of the college thus being reheved of all respon- sibiUty in accounting for the fund, and other confusing cir- cumstances having also arisen, in the course of time it was forgotten, until by the investigations of Mr. Davis the Corporation became apprised of the facts, when they promptly set aside $5000 for the purpose of reestablishing the Lady Mowlson Scholarship. This took place just at the time when the name for "X College" was under discussion, and the discovery that the first scholarship at Harvard was given by a woman suggested the idea of christening the new college for women after her. The maiden name of Lady Mowlson was Anne Eadcliffe. In 1600 she was married to Sir Thomas Mowlson, later Lord Mayor of London, in the church of St. Christopher le Stocks in London, which occu- pied the site of the present Bank of England. Their only child was a daughter, who died in infancy. Lady Mowlson died in 1661, after a widowhood of twenty-three years, and was buried beside her husband in the vault beneath the church where they had been married. Practically all that is known of her beyond these facts is that in May, 1644, she made a contribution toward a fund to be sent to the Scottish army in the north, which not long after won the battle of Marston Moor. From this donation and that to the college in Massachusetts we may see in what way her sympathies turned, and may infer that she was alive to the reUgious and political interests of her coun- try. The suggestion that her name be given to the Annex was made by Mrs. Agassiz at a meeting of the Council. " It seems appropriate," she said, "to name the first woman's THE PASSING OF THE ANNEX 243 college ever connected with Harvard for this lady who two centuries ago gave our University the first money it ever received from a woman The name is also a good one — RadcUffe College, — dignified and convenient, and the as- sociation with this lady of the olden time and her gener- osity to Harvard has a certain picturesqueness." But when the name was publicly announced an old friend of Mrs. Agassiz wrote to her: "I should prefer to have it the ' Agassiz College,' and I must think it ought to have been, for what are £100 [of money], when compared with more than that number of flesh, blood and brains given cheer- fully for so many years!" Further friendly negotiations were carried on between the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the So- ciety until on October 31, 1893, at the annual meeting of the Society it was voted that proper legal steps should be taken to change the name of the Corporation to that of Radcliffe College; that the Corporation should give de- grees in Arts and Sciences, and that a Committee should be appointed by the President to obtain from the Legis- lature the necessary power; that the President and Fellows of Harvard College should be appointed the Visitors of the Corporation; that no instructor or examiner of the Cor- poration should be appointed without the approval of the Visitors; that in case the President and Fellows of Harvard College should accept the powers thus conferred upon them, they should be requested to empower the President of Har- vard University to countersign the diplomas of the Corpo- ration and to a&K the seal of Harvard University to them. Consent was given to the arrangement embodied in these votes by the Board of Overseers of Harvard University 244 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ on December 6. Tlie entries in Mrs. Agassiz's diary record some of the details of these days so eventful to her: 1893, December 6. To Annex tea. Heard the good news from the Harvard Overseers — great enthusiasm among the students. Evening, M. and C, Quin and Pauline. It was very pleasant and aU full of sympathy about the Annex. Closed the evening with a note from Miss [Anna] Lowell, enclosing check of $1000 for the Annex, and we have also received the $90,000 from Mrs. Perkins's [estate]. It has been a bright day for that young institution. December 7. Concert, evening. Many congratula- tions on all sides about the Annex. Mr. and Mrs. Palmer walked home with me. They are very glad, December 8. To Annex for Idler Club. All excited about the new name and attitude of the Annex. The students already begin to call themselves "of Rad- cUffe College." When the action of the Board of Overseers became known to the public, loud objection was raised to it by some of the zealous advocates of "higher education." The principal ground of criticism lay in the informal nature of the con- tract, which was regarded as too elastic in conditions and in duration to guarantee the standard that should be de- manded of an institution chartered to confer degrees in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. So strong were the objections felt by certain remonstrants that two petitions on the subject were addressed in January, 1894, to the Board of Overseers of Harvard University. One of these, from various residents of New York, petitioned that Har- THE PASSING OF THE ANNEX 245 vard University grant the ordinary degrees to properly qualified women; the other, from certain members of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae, asked that women stu- dents be admitted to such graduate courses in the Univer- sity as could be opened to them without involving the Uni- versity in further expense. The former was refused by the Board of Overseers on the ground that women were not per- mitted to qualify for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Har- vard University, and this form of qualification was implied by the degree; the latter was in effect granted, for the Over- seers agreed, with the concurrence of the President and Fellows, to admit any students of Radcliffe College to any courses of instruction designed primarily for graduates, subject to such limitations as the Faculty and the corre- sponding governing board of Radcliffe might set, it being understood that such students were not to be deemed stu- dents of Harvard University. But, in spite of the friendly attitude and deeds of the Harvard Corporation, "the howl grew louder against Rad- cUffe," according to Mrs. Agassiz's diary, and the criti- cisms from outsiders directed against the new plans in- volved her in a mass of correspondence and many perplex- ing experiences. An extract from a letter written in reply to one from a group of graduates of the Annex who had ex- pressed regret at the proposed change, exemplifies the manner in which Mrs. Agassiz met criticism and also sets forth her own poUcy toward Harvard University, the wisdom of which events proved: Mt dear Girls: ... A year has been spent in the most careful deliberation and earnest discussion be- tween the Harvard Corporation, the College faculty. 246 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ and our own Society as to the means of bringing about a closer relation between the Annex and the Univer- sity. . . . We began the Annex as an experiment. We did it in the hope that Harvard would finally take us in some way imder her protection. She has now made the first step in that direction. She has assumed the whole responsibility of our education, and I confess it has never occurred to me that a degree given under her signature and seal would not be equivalent to a Harvard degree. It seems to me a distinction without a diflPerence. What can any institution give more sa- cred than its signature and its seal? A pledge so guar- anteed cannot be broken by any honorable body. To make this guarantee valid Harvard must keep our education up to the level of that of the Harvard stu- dent. She cannot set her hand and seal to an inferior degree. But I do her injustice in even hinting at such a possibility — the offer is made in perfect good faith and with the purpose of enlarging our education as fast and as fully as possible. It seems to me unreasonable to expect the Corpo- ration of Harvard to declare to the public between today and tomorrow everything they intend to do in a new departure which must be experimental for them as it has been for us. You may say that our ex- periment should suffice for them; on the contrary theirs is far more complicated, and has intricacies upon which ours did not touch. In saying this I allude to the governing boards, not to the professors. It would have delighted you to see the enthusiasm and earnest- THE PASSING OF THE ANNEX 247 ness with which the professors pursued the discussion in the faculty meetings, the confidence they showed in us, their readiness to do all and more than they have done for us. The fact that this body of teachers acquiesced in the final arrangement should satisfy you that it was one which was not intended to limit or retard our development. But there are technical difficulties in the way of the governing boards which do not belong to the Faculty, and which touch upon a trust which they (the gov- erning boards) have held for two hundred and fifty years and more. They must in loyalty to that older trust move cautiously and smooth over these diffi- culties gradually. I do not believe in forcing the hand of the Harvard Corporation either by the weight of outside opinion or of individual remonstrances. I do not beheve in an aggressive policy. I do believe in making the govern- ing boards of Harvard our allies, — in showing them that all we ask can be granted without incurring any change of policy in the general government of the University or trenching in any way upon its original rights. We have doubted (I mean we of the Annex) what part we should take in the sudden and startling pro- test against RadcliflFe, which has taken us by surprise, because at first the air seemed full of congratulations. We decided not to enter into the newspaper lists. Patience and silence after all seemed best. We must go on with our work, keep our standard as high as possible, and let the results prove that we have not 248 ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ been mistaken in trusting ourselves to the guardian- ship of the University. This is always supposing that our act passes the Legislature, and that we really be- come Radcliffe College. Otherwise I am afraid there would be great depression in our ranks and we should find it hard to keep up our courage. Believe me always Your old and affectionate friend,, Elizabeth C. Agassiz As may be expected from the concluding paragraph of the above letter, remonstrances did not avail to check the efforts of the Society to obtain an act of legislature for its incorporation as a college with the right to confer degrees and to change its name to that of Radcliffe College. A hearing before the Committee of Education was held at the State House in Boston on February 28, 1894. The Committee on Endowment of Colleges of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae, who were the principal opponents of the act, were represented by Mr. G. W. Anderson and Mr. G. S. Hale. Their objections were, first, that the peti- tioners brought "no adequate guarantee that the new college is able to maintain the high character which it is the duty of the State to require of all institutions which it charters to grant degrees," inasmuch as "the essential basis of such guarantee is an adequate endowment fund"; sec- ond, that "it is expressly provided that Harvard Univer- sity may at any time withdraw its visitatorial power and decline to countersign the degrees," and, third, that "the fact that it is proposed that the degrees of the new college shall be countersigned by the President of Harvard Uni- versity is in itself a confession that alone the new college THE PASSING OP THE ANNEX 249 may not be a competent degree conferring institution." Mr. J. B. Warner appeared for the Society, and was sup- ported by Professors Norton, Byerly, Goodwin and Good- ale, and Mrs. Agassiz. After the presentation of the subject, the remonstrants withdrew their opposition, on condition that the clause, "provided, however, that no degree shall be conferred by the said Eadcliflfe College except with the approval of the President and Fellows of Harvard College," be inserted into the act — a clause, which, as was pointed out at the time, merely gave em- phasis to the original intention of the Society. An account of the hearing was written by Mr. Gilman in 1904, selections from his manuscript copy of which are published here. The room appointed for the hearing was all too small for the number of women who wished to attend. The audience was mainly composed of our opponents. . . . The chairman of the legislation committee wished us to present our views, and a member of our corporation made a plain statement of what had been done and what it was intended to do — namely, to give to women the same instruction that men had so long enjoyed, and said that the charter was asked in order that the Annex might be permanently established, and be authoritatively carried on with the aid of the President and Fellows [of Harvard College. Mrs. Agassiz was called upon to tell of the past work, and of the plans for the future. Her words made an evident impression. Professor Goodwin, who had taught classes of girls from the beginning, told 250 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ the committee how he had found the woman mind, and as a member of the management, he emphasized the economical merits of the Annex plan. President Eliot surprised me, at least. He had been friendly to the Annex from the beginning. In fact, it could not have taken its first step if he had not been. Now he took a step in advance. We were asking the legisla- ture to permit us to do something; but Mr. Eliot took the ground that Harvard was the active agent. He outlined the history of the advance of the college, showing how, established to insure a godly minis- try, its scope of activity had been widened by tak- ing up instruction in law, in medicine, in whatever else, and he asked emphatically, if Harvard College takes up the education of women is there any reason to suppose that it will ever renounce it.'* This re- mark appealed to the committee, and it overthrew at once the argument of the opposition that Rad- cliffe College might not be permanent. The greatest surprise was now to come. When our presentation was closed, one of the opposing attor- neys . . . rose, and announced that his client with- drew all opposition! The senior attorney remarked that this was a little too sudden, and stated a few unimportant points that he wished guarded. We at once gave our consent, and all opposition was withdrawn. The hearing was closed. The chairman of the committee told me that he had never attended a hearing at which he had learned so much, nor one at which both sides seemed so completely satisfied. The committee reported to the legislature, favor- THE PASSING OF THE ANNEX 251 ably of course, and Radcliffe College received its most generous charter. The address of Mrs. Agassiz, which was the most im- portant that she ever made, is given here in full: I am asked to say something on the subject which is before you today, concerning the Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women, better known by its more familiar (its household name, as it were) of the Harvard Annex, — names which we now petition you to change. Not because the more familiar name is not dear to us; on the contrary it belongs to the very initiation of our Society. It has the value of things which are associated with difl5culties and sacri- fices, with strenuous effort, with small means and high aims. There are such times in the lives of institu- tions as well as of individuals, — times when the ideal side bravely takes the ascendency and seems to declare its independence of material means. At such a time, the name of the Annex was given to us, half in jest, half in earnest, wholly in good feeling by the students of the University. We were, perhaps, as im- pecimious a body as ever started on an important enterprise. Without any of the ordinary accessories for collegiate work (as buildings, books, apparatus and the like), with only enough money to cover the bare expenses of every day, we ventured to believe that we could build up an institution of learning for women which would eventually give them all the educational advantages which college gives to men. And why did we have this faith? Because of the 252 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ proximity of our old University, honored and beloved throughout the land. Under its shadow we stood, — into its gates we hoped to enter; — and when in later years, as the scope of our undertaking became better understood, the prefix of Harvard was added by com- mon consent to our friendly designation of the Annex, the name so lightly given became to us very signifi- cant and very precious as an earnest of success, — a good omen as it were. We have indeed been led through these fifteen years by the hope that we should finally come under the acknowledged and permanent protection of Harvard. And now the President and Fellows have taken the first step to- ward that end. Overburdened by the care of the Uni- versity which represents a trust stretching over a period of nearly three hundred years and has grown in that time into an immense organization, they de- cline to assume in the same comprehensive sense the additional care of our society, — of its property, its internal economy, its disciphne, etc., but they con- sent to take the whole responsibility of our education, and to guarantee the worth and validity of our de- grees by the signature and seal of the University. In order to facilitate this arrangement, they ask us to take a name as a college proper under their educa- tional supervision. As our own name of the Annex, pleasant 'as are its associations, did not seem quite appropriate, we have chosen from the many names suggested one which connects itself directly with the early history of the University. Anne RadcliflPe founded, as you know, the first scholarship ever given THE PASSING OF THE ANNEX 253 by a woman to the University. It seemed fitting that she, who thus showed her sympathy with liberal learning and with the principles of freedom embodied in the first New England college, should be commem- orated in the first coUege for women ever associated with Harvard. This adjustment between the Annex and Harvard has been reached after a year of the most careful deliberation between the Corporation of Harvard, the Corporation of our Society, and the Harvard Faculty, Surely the combination of three such bodies in full knowledge of the facts and in per- fect accord with each other, — the Annex Society representing fifteen years of experience in the intellec- tual training of women under Harvard instruction, — the Harvard Corporation ready to accept at the hands of the Annex the whole direction of the future education of their students, — and lastly all the pro- fessors supporting this transfer — surely such a triple Alliance may be trusted as having all the elements of safety and permanence. I am aware that our small means have been made a reproach to us, and that our opponents and your pe- titioners say that we are not rich and well-endowed enough to be trusted with the giving of degrees. It is true that our means are small as compared with cer- tain of the colleges for women. But such as they are, they have been well husbanded; and the fact that we never have been in debt and that we have now pleas- ant buildings with accommodations for the instruc- tion of three hundred students, with ample recitation rooms and lecture halls, with an excellent working 254 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ library containing several thousand volumes, and beside this a fair spending income and a moderate surplus for emergencies, — all this will perhaps reas- sure you as to the practical management of our af- fairs. Neither must it be forgotten that if our endow- ment is small, the active and cordial cooperation of the professors and teachers of Harvard is better than money for us, — it would be so for any young and growing college. Without that support the $280,000 which now represents our whole property (inclusive of certain legacies) would perhaps be an insufl5cient capital for the maintenance on a high standard of a new college without other support. But the true builders of the Annex have been and are the Harvard professors. They have brought it to its present promi- nent position. They represent its true wealth and its strength, — not a bad substitute for endowment funds though measured by other standards. I must not take your time with details about the instruction given or the work done at the Annex. The friends who are here with us from the college will do that better than I can. Still I should be sorry to close without a word of our students. My own relation with them is one of affectionate personal intercourse rather than any immediate direction of their studies, — a duty which belongs to our academic board, made up of officers of the college, and to the professors and teachers themselves. But I have constant evidence of their deep gratitude for the opportunities offered them at Cambridge. They are fully sensible of the liberal and comprehensive quality of the instruction THE PASSING OF THE ANNEX 255 they receive there and of the generous spirit in which it is given. Of course our students belong largely to the class of teachers, — young girls who are fitting for that career, or older women, many of whom are experienced teachers, but who come to make them- selves familiar with the larger methods of university instruction, and carry back to their schoolrooms what is freshest and most interesting in their own de- partment of work. No one can be blind to the advan- tage for our public education of thus bringing our pub- lic schools into more direct and vital contact with our oldest University, with its large and varied means of instruction, its great outfit in all departments, its learning and its old associations. I know there are those who look upon Radcliffe College as likely to limit rather than enlarge these privileges. But we have to remember that it is not the habit of Harvard to make itself responsible for inferior work, — all her traditions, all her standards, all her principles of action are opposed to such a course. The governing boards of Harvard do not mean to establish an infe- rior college. It has been my privilege to stand very near to the late transactions between the Annex and Harvard, and I cannot doubt that her guardianship over her young ward will be just and generous. Is it not a little unreasonable to expect that the governing boards should at once explain to the public exactly what their course of action is going to be in dealing with an experiment, which is not yet begun and which involves so marked a change of policy in their admin- istration? To those who have watched the working 256 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ out of this agreement it seems far the best educa- tional opportunity ever offered to women in this country. But should this new departure, so full of hope and promise, be met by a check now, — by a refusal or even a postponement of our right to give degrees under the authority of Harvard, it would take the heart out of our enterprise. We should be thrown back upon our old lines, upon the position of insecurity and doubt which we have held for so long, and which has been the chief hindrance to our progress. We therefore hope that our petition for a college charter, supported as it is by the governing boards of Harvard and approved by her professors and teach- ers who have served us so long and so faithfully, will not be denied us by the Legislature. [ The effect of Mrs. Agassiz's words and above all of her presence is described by President Eliot in the address at the Commemoration Service published below, and is there- fore not dwelt upon here. There was no doubt ia the minds of those present, as they watched the faces of the Commit- tee, that her influence upon them was securing the desired legislation, yet Mrs. Agassiz herself with her usual modesty attributed the clinching of the arguments not to herself but to another. In the note on Professor Goodwin at the time of his resignation, which has been quoted above in part, she speaks of his influence at the hearing. "One of the grounds of the opposition of the remonstrants was our pov- erty. They asserted that the right of giving degrees should not be conferred upon an institution so poor, the futme of which was therefore so insecure. To this plea Mr. Goodwin replied, 'The remonstrants are right as to the material THE PASSING OF THE ANNEX 257 means of Radcliffe; she is not ricli — perhaps she never will be. She only has the cooperation of a body of instruction such as cannot be obtained by any other college for women in the United States.' I remember that this closed the dis- cussion very effectively." Mrs. Agassiz's own record in her diary for that day gives no indication of the slightest con- sciousness that she had delivered an epoch-making speech. "Hearing at State House — very satisfactory. Lunched with SaUie at the Mayflower. ... To the Annex to see the students who were delighted at the success of the hearing." A few days later Mrs. Agassiz received the following let- ter from the senior counsel for her opponents: TO MRS. LOUIS AGASSIZ Boston, March 13, 1894 Mt dear Mrs. Agassiz : The ladies whom I repre- sented at the late hearing in regard to Radcliffe Col- lege have kindly sent me the enclosed, as they express it to me, " in token of their appreciation of the services you have rendered, not as a payment for strictly legal services." I cannot use this acknowledgment so agreeably to myself or so nearly in accordance with their interest in the cause, as by asking that you would do me the honor to be the medium of adding it to the perma- nent fund of the College. With cordial regards to yourself and grateful ac- knowledgments of your services for the Institution and the cause it represents, I am, with high respect and regard. Sincerely yours, George S. Hale 258 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ On March 23, 1894, the Governor signed the act for the incorporation of Radclifife College. The new relations with the University made a certain degree of reorganization necessary for the college. The Corporation and the Academic Board were both enlarged. The list of permanent officers was increased by the addi- tion of a regent and a dean. Mrs. Agassiz continued to be president of the institution, Mr. Gihnan became regent, and Mr. Warner remained treasurer. Miss Mary Coes, a gradu- ate of the college and later its dean, was made secretary, an office which she continued to hold during the rest of Mrs. Agassiz's life; the college had no more devoted serv- ant and friend, the students no more ready and interested adviser, and her faithfulness and quiet absorption in the affairs of RadcUffe ministered to Mrs. Agassiz in a thou- sand ways more constantly than probably any one, even Mrs Agassiz herself, could have told. The appointment of a dean, which constituted the most important change in the official personnel was felt to be a necessity attendant upon the development into a college. From the begiiming of the Annex, Mrs. Arthur Gihnan had acted as Chairman of the Students' Committee, and she and Mr. Gihnan to- gether had performed many of the duties that in a formally constituted college devolve upon the dean; but much of the voluntary service that had been rendered the Annex by its devoted friends had in the nature of things, when it became incorporated as a college, to be organized upon a more permanent and academic basis. It was the desire of Mrs. Agassiz that the college should have in the dean a social head, a person of such scholarship and experience in teaching that her presence would be of importance on all THE PASSING OF THE ANNEX 259 the educational boards of Radcliffe, and an officer to whom all matters regarding the life of the students in Cambridge should be brought by them and their relatives for consulta- tion and advice. "Nor will this," Mrs. Agassiz wrote in some notes found among her papers, " (at least, we surely hope that it will not) diminish in any way the friendly, we might ahnost say motherly interest which Mrs. Gihnan has always taken in the students and which has been so valuable to them, while we also hope that it may in some measure relieve her of a responsibihty which she has volun- tarily and generously taken upon herself"; and in the same notes she continues: "It is difficult to define the duties of an officer who has been ready to accept so much and such various work as Mr. Gilman has cheerfully taken upon himself. Something of what has fallen upon him in the way of discipline and personal direction of the students will now naturally pass into the care of the lady in residence as general guide and adviser of the students." These tributes to the earliest friends of the college illustrate the spirit of loyalty and the appreciation . of the efforts of others that were characteristic of Mrs. Agassiz. So unusual was the combination and degree of the quali- ties demanded for the dean by Mrs. Agassiz and the Cor- poration that it seemed doubtful if the possessor of them could be found, until a member of the Council suggested Miss Agnes Irwin, who since 1869 had been principal of a widely known private school for girls in Philadelphia, through which she had become an important influence in the life of the city. The executive ability that had fitted her for this position was partly hereditary. Not only did she count Benjamin FrankUn and Alexander James Dallas 260 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ among her ancestors, but she had also had, especially on her mother's side of the family, a line of forbears who had won an enviable reputation in scientific, military, naval or diplomatic fields. She had herself the education that asso- ciation and inheritance give in richer measure than any college, to which force and charm were lent by her intellec- tual and unusual social gifts, her ready wit, her strong reli- gious faith, and her power of affection, and an air of natural distinction entirely independent of the accident of her position, made her presence additionaUy significant. It is no wonder thiat she was recognized as a suitable fellow- worker with Mrs. Agassiz and one whose coming to Eadchffe as dean would be a happy omen for the college. "I hope you will be glad to learn," she wrote to Mrs. Agas- siz in her letter of acceptance of the office, "that I accept the place offered me with a deep sense of its possibiHties and duties, and that I am proud and happy indeed to be associated with you in this work." On the envelope containing this letter Mrs. Agassiz noted: "Acceptance of Deanship, Radcliffe College. A blessed day for me. E. C. Agassiz." And in her diary she recorded for May 24 of that year: "Received Miss Irwin's answer accepting. An im- mense relief." "I know that we imderstand each other so well," she wrote to Miss Irwin a few years after her work at Radcliffe had begim, "that there is not and never could be a question of precedence of authority between us," and she has left many other expressions of her estimate of Miss Irwin's character and ability. "Under her guidance I be- lieve the institution will always be dignified in its attitude and efficient in its work," she said later to a friend, and it Was perhaps this reliance upon Miss Irwin's standards and THE PASSING OF THE ANNEX 261 judgment that made her coming so great a rehef to Mrs. Agassiz and so important an event in her connection with the college. The ideals that Mrs. Agassiz had for the college, thus in- augurated, and the spirit in which she regarded its future are best set forth in selections from her Commencement address for 1894. My Young Friends : I have not much to say to you this afternoon. Perhaps when a cherished wish is fulfilled, one does not feel inclined for many words. When we reach the summit of a height which we have been slowly climbing, not without difficulty and fa- tigue, our first feeling is, indeed, one of quiet sat- isfaction, rather than of excitement which seeks expression. Today we reach such a height, and a wider horizon opens around us, with larger oppor- tunities. ... I am not sure that we all understand the responsibility of success. In our elation at the fact, we forget, perhaps, its deeper significance as re- gards our own obligations. We have all longed for the position we occupy to- day, — longed to be accepted by the old and beloved University, under whose shadow we ventured to be- gin our work, hoping for final recognition. Today that recognition is ours. Harvard has consented to receive our college as her ward, — has made herself responsible for our education and has given us her signature and her seal as guarantee thereunto. In this we may, of course, feel a just pride. We should not have had her approval had we not been in some de- ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ gree worthy of it. She has opened to us new courses with a liberal hand; perhaps no University, either in this country, or elsewhere, opens a nobler course of instruction to women, than Harvard oflfers to her Radcliffe students of today; and while we are as- sembled here, on the last day of our present college year, knowing that the next term will open xmder new conditions, is it not well to take counsel together? to consider what the new aspect of our college instruc- tion imposes upon us, as our most important aca- demic duty? It is no small gain to have a high standard held up before us. We all know what it is to follow a flag, if it represents to us a noble ideal. This is what Harvard has done for us, and it is a better gift even than the enlarged field of study, the higher grades of instruc- tion which she offers us. In associating us so nearly with herself, — in sharing with us the wealth of her traditions gathered during more than two centuries and a half, she gives us a new stimulus to upright aims and conscientious achievement. In saying this, I do not think of scholarship alone, but of its uses, as helping toward a well-rounded character. Our schol- arship will not be worth much if it does not lend itself in gracious service to whatever path in life it may be our lot to follow. ... It is my dearest wish for you all that Radcliffe College by her bearing (for institutions as well as in- dividuals may have a dignified and noble bearing), by her simplicity and refinement of manners, by her fidelity to scholarship in its more comprehensive and THE PASSING OF THE ANNEX 263 liberal sense, should worthily serve the older insti- tution by which she is adopted. This trust is yours, and I hope you will hand it down to successive classes, enriched by traditions of your own, such as may befit association with what is best and noblest in the rec- ords of Harvard University. Mrs. Agassiz, it is to be observed, says nothing about her own part on the path up which the college had been "slowly climbing," and her silence brings to mind a story that Mrs. Curtis tells of her during her presidency. "Lizzie was never hampered with any consciousness that she her- self held a position demanding any special consideration. I was present once at a little scene which amused me by showiag this trait to some people who were entirely un- aware of the character they were trying to exploit. It was at one of her afternoon teas at home and the visitors were either English or Americans who Uved abroad. I was a silent looker-on, and very soon saw that she was being in- terviewed entirely unconsciously. They asked all sorts of questions. Had she done this? and accomphshedthat? And she would only tell of what had happened and nothing of what she herself had done." But as we read the records given in the foregoing pages of "what had happened and what she herself had done," we see that the nature of Mrs. Agassiz's service to the college was twofold. She was influential in deter- mining the pohey of the movement almost from the day that she became associated with it, and she represented that pohcy in an exceptionally efifective manner to the public. She was filled with a true reverence for Harvard University, due first, perhaps, to her associations with 264 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ President Felton and the group of men whom she first met mider his roof, but more especially to the deep at- tachment of Agassiz to the college and his unflagging efforts for its development. Although Mrs. Agassiz's letters from Brazil indicate her interest in the condition of her own sex there, she was never one to spell "woman" with a capital W, and she gave her time and efforts not to the higher education of women in general, as a "cause," but specifically to Harvard education for women as a means of extending the benefits of the University to enrich the lives of women and so of children. Moreover, her interest in women's colleges was not independent of her interest in the Annex and was usually focused about the experiment in Cambridge. It is true that any educational enterprise had a certain attraction for her because of Agassiz's character and reputation as one of the greatest teachers that Har- vard has ever had; and it is largely in his enthusiasm for education, the ideals for the instruction of girls that he had expressed in the school, and his affection for Harvard that the springs of Mrs. Agassiz's activity in behalf of RadcUffe may be found. The school that she originated to assist him financially and which afforded her pleasure only in so far as they worked together in it, led her, according to her own testimony, to associate herself with the plan that resulted in RadcKffe College. Her relation to Eadcliffe, therefore, which seems to form a separate chapter in her existence, does not in reaUty break the unity of her life, which found its completion by being merged in that of Agassiz; it was, on the contrary, the expression — to a greater extent, probably, than she was herself aware — of THE PASSING OF THE ANNEX 265 her entire union with him, and it is scarcely an exaggera- tion to say that RadcliflFe for no inconsiderable part of its foundations rests upon the devotion of a woman to her husband. It was especially due to Mrs. Agassiz's loyalty to the University that she never ceased to emphasize the depend- ence of the Annex from its very inception upon Harvard alone, and that dependence as its sole reason for existence. Her confidence in the Veritas of Harvard had a large share in bringing about the final incorporation of Radchffe Col- lege, and the personal affection and respect that she aroused attracted the already friendly administrative bodies of the University to the enterprise. It is practically certain that if Mrs. Agassiz had had no connection with the Annex, it would stiU have met with success; her contribution to the movement consisted in giving it, simply by being herself, an impetus, a dignity, and an unwavering standard that it could not have had without her. In the same way her influence impressed itself upon the students. She herself said that her attitude toward them was characterized by an affectionate friendliness; theirs toward her was that of affectionate admiration and re- spect. None can be said to have had relations of intimacy with her, but, although her personal interest often came as a surprise to them, none failed to recognize that they had in her a friend to whom they might turn for counsel and sym- pathy. "I can never forget," a former president of the Alumnae Association of the Annex writes, "her gracious presence as she sat beside me at the Commencement din- ners at which I had the painful duty to preside. A kind of praesidium et dulce decus meum she seemed to me, making ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ my task lighter by her appreciative acceptance of my efforts." The story has often been told of Mrs. Agassiz that one year when the Commencement exercises were held in her own drawing-room, and there was only one candidate for a diploma, as she handed her the parchment adorned as usual with a rose thrust through the ribbon that bound it, she put both arms around the astonished girl's neck and ex- claimed, "We're proud of you, my dear!" And in the same spirit years later in Sanders Theatre when she conferred the first degree of doctor of philosophy given by Radcliffe College, she increased its value many fold to the recipient by her whispered, "So glad you have it, dear." Her relation with the students, it should be said, was not one of daily intercourse, for she had no office hours and seldom met them except on pubUc occasions and at social gatherings. After the Annex was installed in Fay House she saw them most frequently at the Wednesday afternoon teas which she established and which became a recognized college institution that she attended as long as it was possible for her to do so. These were held in the attractive, elliptical-shaped drawing-room, pleasantly shaded in spring and summer, and cheerful in winter with a blazing fire, fragrant with the dehcate aroma of tea and lemon, and inviting with a special type of gay little Swed- ish cakes arrayed upon the tea-table. Here girls with scant experience of the world could meet pleasantly the friends of Mrs. Agassiz, attracted by her presence to the occasion; here an imfailing welcome was ready, given in tones that conveyed the very essence of kindliness even when the personality of the student was unknown; and here, best of THE PASSING OF THE ANNEX 267 all, was waiting the face, that as President Briggs has sug- gested, might well recall the lines of Waller: " Sweetness, truth and every grace Which time and use are wont to teach. The eye may in a moment reach And read distinctly in her face." The picture of Mrs. Agassiz in her "widow's cap" and favorite white cashmere shawl gracefully drawn about her shoulders, seated by her tea-table in the drawing-room of Fay House, is probably that which first rises at the sound of her name Ln the minds of the students who knew her, al- though her appearance was perhaps more distinguished on the platform of Sanders Theatre at Commencement, when she emphasized the lady rather than the academic official by appearing always in a black velvet gown — the only woman, as one of the Cambridge clergy remarked, who could wear black velvet on the hottest day in June without loss of dignity. The Commencement exercises were to her the most dreaded of all occasions connected with the col- lege, especially after they were transferred from Fay House to Sanders Theatre. Again and again her diaries record her troubled anticipations of the day when she must appear in pubhc and deliver her address. " Great tremors before — immense relief after." "I feel like an emancipated woman, now that I need no longer look forward to that terrible ordeal in Sanders Theatre." It never ceased to be an agi- tating experience to her, and as wiU be seen from some of her letters published in a later chapter was the duty from which she most craved reUef when the time for her resigna- tion came. In concluding the story of 1894, a year so memorable 268 ELIZABETH CAHY AGASSIZ for Mrs. Agassiz and for the college, a correspondence that took place in the autumn, as a sequel to the closer relation between Harvard and Radcliffe, remains to be mentioned. This correspondence has already been printed in the First Annual Report of the President of Radchffe College and also in a published address by Charles Francis Adams, made at a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society held on February 14, 1895, in memory of Judge Ebenezer Hoar of Concord, Massachusetts. It is repeated here, since at the time it attracted a good deal of attention, and since Mrs. Agassiz's part in it is characteristically graceful. TO MISTRESS LOUIS AGASSIZ President of Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Massachusetts Quincy, September 12, 1894 Honored and Gracious Lady: This epistle is ad- dressed to you from Quincy, because in the part of Braintree which now bears that name, in the burial place by the meeting house, all that was mortal of me was laid to rest more than two centuries ago, and the gravestone stands which bears my name, and marks the spot where my dust reposes. It may cause you surprise to be thus addressed, and that the work which you are pursuing with such constancy and success is of interest to one who so long ago passed from the mortal sight of men. But you may recall that wise philosophers have believed and taught that those who have striven to do their Lord's will here below do not, when transferred to his house on high, thereby become wholly regardless of THE PASSING OF THE ANNEX 269 what may befall those who come after them, — "nee, haec coelestia spectantes, ista terrestria contemnunt." It is a comforting faith that those who have "gone forth weeping, bearing precious seed," shall be permitted to see and share the joys of the harvest with their suc- cessors who gather it. I was a contemporary of the pious and bountiful Lady Radcliffe, for whom your college is named. My honored husband, Charles Hoar, Sheriff of Glouces- ter in England, by his death in 1638, left me a widow with six children. We were of the people called by their revilers Puritans, to whom civil liberty, sound learning, and religion were very dear. The times were troublous in England, and the hands of princes and prelates were heavy upon God's people. My thoughts were turned to the new England where precious Mr. John Harvard had just lighted that little candle which has since thrown its beams so far, where there seemed a providential refuge for those who desired a church without a Bishop, and a state without a King. I did not, therefore, like the worshipful Lady Rad- cliffe, send a contribution in money; but I came hither myself, bringing the five youngest of my chil- dren with me, and arrived at Braintree in the year 1640. From that day Harvard College has been much in my mind; and I humbly trust that my coming has not been without some furtherance to its well being. My lamented husband in his will directed that our youngest son, Leonard, should be "carefullie kept at Schoole, and when hee is fitt for itt to be carefullie 270 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ placed at Oxford, and if ye Lord shall see fitt, to make him a Minister unto his people." As the nearest prac- ticable conformity to this direction, I placed him carefully at Harvard College, to such purpose that he graduated therefrom in 1650, became a faithful min- ister to God's people, a capable physician to heal their bodily diseases, and became the third President of the College, and the first who was a graduate from it, in 1672. My daughters became the wives of the Rev. Henry Flint, the minister of Braintree, and Col. Edmund Quincy of the same town : and it is recorded that from their descendants another President has since been raised up to the College, Josiah Quincy {tam carum caput), and a Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory, John Quincy Adams, who as well as his sons and grandsons have given much aid to the College, as members of one or the other of its governing boards, beside attaining other distinctions less to my present purpose. The elder of my three sons who came with me to America, John Hoar, settled in the extreme western frontier town of English settlement in New England, called Concord: to which that exemplary Christian man, the Reverend Peter Bulkeley, had brought his flock in 1635. In Mr. Bulkeley's ponderous theologi- cal treatise, called " The Gospel Covenant," of which two editions were published in London (but whether it be so generally and constantly perused and studied at the present day, as it was in my time, I know not), — in the preface thereto, he says it was written "at THE PASSING OF THE ANNEX 271 the end of the earth." There my son and his poster- ity have dwelt and multipHed, and the love and serv- ice of the College which I should approve have not been wholly wanting among them. In so remote a place there must be urgent need of instruction, though the report seems to be well founded that set- tlements farther westward have since been made, and that some even of my own posterity have penetrated the continent to the shores of the Pacific Sea. Among the descendants of John Hoar have been that worthy Professor John Farrar, whose beautiful face in marble is among the precious possessions of the College; that dear and faithful woman who gave the whole of her humble fortune to establish a scholarship therein, Levina Hoar; and others who as Fellows or Overseers have done what they could for its prosperity and growth. Pardon my prolixity, but the story I have told is but a prelude to my request of your kindness. There is no authentic mode in which departed souls can im- part their wishes to those who succeed them in this world but these, the record or memory of their thoughts and deeds, while on earth; or the reappear- ance of their qualities of mind and character in their lineal descendants. In this first year of Radcliffe College, — when so far as seems practicable and wise, the advantages which our dear Harvard College, "the defiance of the Puritan to the savage and the wilderness," has so long bestowed upon her sons, are through your means to be shared by the sisters and daughters of our peo- 272 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ pie, — if it should so befall that funds for a scholar- ship to assist in the education of girls at Radchffe Col- lege, who need assistance, with preference always to be given to natives, or daughters of citizens of Con- cord, Massachusetts, shoidd be placed in the hands of your Treasurer, you might well suppose that memory of me had induced some of my descendants to spare so much from their necessities for such a modest me- morial: and I would humbly ask that the scholarship may bear the name of The Widow Joanna Hoar And may God establish the good work you have in charge! At the same time that Mrs. Agassiz received this letter the treasurer of Radcliflfe College received an anonymous gift of two thousand dollars, afterward increased- to five thousand dollars. In reply, Mrs. Agassiz addressed the following letter to Judge Hoar as one of the descendants of Joanna Hoar. Quincy Street, Cambridge, October 11, 1894 Dear Sir: Very recently I received the most gra- cious communication from the far past, written with the mingled dignity and grace which we are wont to associate with our ladies of the olden time, yet not without a certain modemness which showed that she still keeps in touch with what is valuable in our day and generation. Through me she sends greeting to the young RadclifFe College, and a most generous gift to THE PASSING OF THE ANNEX 273 aid in the work for the education of women in which that institution is engaged. A doubt as to the best way of acknowledging the gift and the sympathy it represents has kept me silent till now. But a friend suggests that you might put us in the way of searching that gentle Joanna Hoar who speaks across the lapse of time so cordially and sweetly. In that case will you express, if not to her, to some of her living descendants, the thanks of Radclifife College for the scholarship which she has so generously endowed. Perhaps I may be allowed to add my own respect- ful gratitude for her valued letter to me. With great regard. Most cordially yours, Elizabeth C. Agassiz to mrs. louis agassiz from a descendant of the widow joanna hoar Concord, Massachusetts, October 15, 1894 Dear Mrs. Agassiz : I am honored by the receipt of your courteous letter. If, as I suppose, the Joanna Hoar to whom you refer is a lady from whom I am de- scended, I know no means of communicating with her. Even the messenger entrusted by the Post Office with a "special delivery" letter might decline to risk the chances of getting back, if he were to undertake the delivery in person. So I adopted the other alterna- tive which you suggest, and stated the case to two of her most conspicuous descendants of our time, Sena- tor George F. Hoar, of Worcester, and Mr. Charles F. 274 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ Adams, who has recently removed from Quincy to a house in Lincoln, just on the borders of Concord. They look intelhgent, but promise nothing; though both are members of the Historical Society, and per- haps know more than they choose to tell. I am glad, however, that the old lady contrived a way to send Radcliffe a gift with her greeting. Very faithfully yours. In the address referred to above Mr. Adams "chose to tell" the story of the scholarship and revealed the open mystery that Joanna Hoar had made her gift through Judge Hoar himself. "He chose to give with an unseen hand," Mr. Adams said, "and to build his memorial to his first New England ancestor in his own pecuUar way." He probably was well aware that in Mrs. Agassiz he had a correspondent who would meet his humor halfway and answer him in his own vein. CHAPTER XI EUROPE 1894-1895 DURING the fifteen years while the Annex was de- veloping into Radcliffe College Mrs. Agassiz's mani- fold official duties did not by any means engross her entire time or form the most intimate claims on her attention. The conditions of her daily existence that we have seen prevailing between 1873 and 1879 essentially continued in this later period, accompanied by changes that time made in the lives of her grandchildren, who as they grew older did not grow any the less absorbing, and that iUness and death brought into the family circle. Of these the most important to Mrs. Agassiz was the death of her mother in 1880. "Life is so different," she wrote to Frau Mettenius a few months later, "when we have no longer father or mother in the world. We are at first (however old we may be when the change comes) a little like lost children." Yet on the whole these years of which we are speaking, apart from Mrs. Agassiz's efforts for the college, contain little to record beyond the round of activities that were incident to a large social and family connection such as hers. It was during this time that she became a member of the Ladies' Visiting Committee for the Kindergarten for the Blind, estabUshed under the direction of the Perkins Insti- tution for the Blind, and began her service as treasurer for the Cambridge branch of the committee, which she contin- ued for seventeen years, until after an illness in 1904 she 276 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ was obliged to resign it. Her appeals for contributions from Cambridge, issued yearly in the form of leaflets, by their simplicity, directness, and freedom from sentimentality were effective at the time and are still interesting. Her own enthusiasm for the work among the children of the Kinder- garten appears in the following letter. TO MRS. CORNELIUS CONWAY FELTON Cambridge [May 7, 1894] . . . The other day Alice Longfellow and I had a pleasant morning together; we drove over to the Kindergarten for the Blind and were wonderstruck, as one always is, however often he may have seen it, with the skilful work and the seeming enjoyment of these children. There are classes of little boys of seven or eight who are as versed in Longfellow's poetry as any children of real eyes could be. When Alice came in and they were told who it was, their faces grew radiant. They asked if they might recite something from her father's poems. The teacher seemed to think they would not remember on such a sudden call, but they were sure they could, and they recited eight or ten together, the "Blacksmith" (in chorus) without ia mistake and with such sweet and intelligent expres- sions that you could not hear it without emotion. The teacher told me that last year (with Alice's permis- sion) she took them to Craigie House. Alice was not at home, but they wanted to come in and look about. When they came to the old clock on the stairs, she said the children were touched as by some very sacred EUROPE 277 thing. They came down quite seriously, and after a moment with one accord as they stood quite silent at the foot of the stairs, they recited the poem about the clock. As you look at their work — their knitting and embroidery, their writing and sewing, and as you see their enjoyment of beautiful things, flowers, for in- stance, you cannot help thinking that they have, as Phillips Brooks said, some inner sense which stands them in stead of what they have lost. No account of any series of years in Mrs. Agassiz's life is complete without some mention of Nahant. The summers there during the period of which we are speaking were scarcely less active for her than her Cambridge winters, as may be seen from some reminiscences of them written for the family by Mrs. Cornelius Conway Felton in an unpub- lished sketch called "Summer Days at Nahant," from which the following selections are made. The house was placed on a slope of land so that one side of it was entered from the grassy lawn, without any driveway. The other side facing the sea was high enough to give a fine uninterrupted view of the whole bay and the Lynn shore. At first there was not a tree or a shrub on the place, but Aunt Lizzie's love for the beautiful soon prompted her to plant woodbine be- side the porches and to begin a garden. She was a born home maker, and any abode of hers, even if for a day's visit assumed an air of cosiness as well as ele- gance. Everything was dainty, fresh, and in her housekeeping no friction was perceptible between mistress and maids. At any hour of the day or night a 278 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ comfortable meal might be had. The newly arrived guest always had the warmest welcome, and while the traveller was refreshing himself Aimt Lizzie would sit and talk delightfully. ' My husband tells me that when he and his brother were boys, they could have breakfast at any hour of the morning in order to go fishing or shooting. Boys were taken as much into consideration as any one else in the complicated household, which con- sisted of a dozen people regularly and often more when there were guests. A convenient feature of the Nahant cottage was that the rooms opened out of doors so that the occupants could enter and leave without disturbing other people. The Felton boys had their room at the end of the west wing, which proved a rendezvous for all their chums, where they met to talk endlessly. ... It was a kind of Liberty Hall of which the memories are delightful. . • • Guests were always turning up unexpectedly to lunch, dine or pass the night, and one never had a sensation of making trouble even if the house were full — a bed could be made up in the laboratory for a grandson. One of Aimt Lizzie's delightful thoughts for enter- taining children was that each might bring an inti- mate friend; so the variety of the rising generation that we saw was amusing and extensive. . . . Aunt Lizzie delighted in her garden and until the last few years of her life daily spent several hours gathering and arranging her flowers. I like to recall her in her fresh white morning gown, basket and shears in hand, going leisurely with her rather stately <1 O O a o a EUROPE 279 air from border to border, and then coming to the shady porch and arranging the flowers in different vases. Lemon verbena, rose geranium and hehotrope she always had in abundance, so that the rooms were fragrant with them and there were water Klies in August. At first her garden was of the simplest plan of flower beds arranged about the house, but ten years before her death she made a long grassy walk leading around the house between ornamental trees and shrubs. . . . Another pet plan of hers was a roof garden over the laboratory. ... It consisted of a se- ries of boxes put about the sides and across the roof, so that when the flowers were well started they joined each other, and you looked over a lovely mass of color to the blue sea and the Lynn shore. Aunt Lizzie stud- ied the effect of her flower scheme quite intently till she arranged it to satisfy herself. Another pretty decoration for her porch was a glass tank in which she kept pond lilies, and she used nasturtium leaves, if she did not have hly pads. Two interludes of travel interrupted these years spent for the greater part in Cambridge and Nahant. In the spring of 1892 Mrs. Agassis went with relatives to the Pa- cific coast — a journey of three months that was a source of great enjoyment to her. The still greater pleasure that opened before her in the autumn of 1894, after the Annex had been safely transformed into Radchffe College, is best announced by herself in the following note. 280 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ TO MISS GRACE NORTON Nahant, September 25, 1894 . . . Do you know that I am going to Europe for the winter with my dear Shaws? I have known it myself for less than a week, and as I only returned from New- port last Tuesday, I have been rather busy and very bewildered — in a sort of waking dream. My plans were all laid for a winter in Cambridge and I was hardly prepared for this change of front. But the fam- ily chorus is in one strain, "You must go," and you can imagine that I could not go more delightfully. Remember that my European experience consists of one week in England, one in Paris and four in Switzer- land, that I know nothing of France, Germany or Italy — and to see the beautiful things that have been a dream to me all my life with Quin and Pauline! . . . Mrs. Agassiz sailed for Havre in October with Mr. and Mrs. Shaw, and two of their children. A month in Paris was followed by a winter in Italy; in the spring she went with her niece, Miss Mary Felton, and a friend, Miss Isa Gray, for a short visit to London, Cambridge, and Oxford, before joining Mrs. Richard Gary and Miss Gary, her sister-in-law and niece, in Venice for a few months of travel on the continent until October, when they sailed for home. Mrs. Agassiz's itinerary, it will be seen, led her along well-trodden paths and into the usual experience of the American traveller who makes the "grand tour" with ease of material conditions, meeting old and new friends on the road. It is her own spirit that gives individuality to the account of her travels that she has left in her letters and EUROPE 281 diaries. Although at this time she was preoccupied by many anxieties, her power of cheerful enjoyment, her incapabiUty of grumbUng, and her habitual self-f orgetf ulness provided her with the traveller's silver spoon no less at seventy- two years than in the days in Brazil and on the Hassler. In spite of her age she was undaunted by the exigencies of travel and unfoiled by lack of vigor from improving her opportunities for pleasure. When she was in the Dolomites and Tyrol, for instance, solitary mountain rambles in the early morning were her deUght, nor did they afford her a reason for passing the rest of the day in dolcefar niente. "A heavenly day," she recorded in her diary at Zell-am-See on August 18, 1895. "Breakfasted at 6.30 in my room. A beautiful walk. Packed. Afternoon, ascended the Schmit- tenhohe, Helen [Mrs. Richard Gary] and I each in one of those queer chairs. The path excessively steep and none too safe. I walked down, but Helen who kept to her chair was upset, but not hurt." In her sight-seeing, in general, however, Mrs. Agassiz combined with the zest of one score the good sense of three score and ten years. In Paris and Italy she enjoyed the advantage of having an accompUshed cicerone for the galleries in Mr. Shaw, whose long study and great love of art, as well as his experience and that of Mrs. Shaw in making choice additions to his valuable col- lection, had for many years supplemented her own admit- tedly slight acquaintance with painting and sculpture. "I have to thank Quin," she writes from Rome, "not only for bringing me to see pictures, but for teaching me all these years to enjoy them, for his pictures are really an educa- tion. I enjoy pictures now as I should not have done in my earher days," 282 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ There were two visits that Mrs. Agassiz definitely planned to make for her own gratification in the course of her travels, one to Montagny where the Swiss relatives of Agassiz were still hving, and the other to the colleges for women in Cambridge and Oxford. It is significant of her interests that her only two personal desires for her year abroad were connected, one with the great affection of her life, the other with her faithfully accepted public responsi- bility. For the rest other travels she expressed no individ- ual plans or preferences, in spite of the fact that she had previously seen almost nothing of Europe. "I do not in- cline to make plans," she wrote, "rather to confine my out- look to shorter intervals — as Sydney Smith has said, 'not farther than from dinner to tea.' " A few extracts from letters written during this year abroad are given here, which reflect in one way or another traits and interests which were an inherent part of Mrs. Agassiz's true self — her delight in music, her pleasure in friends connected with her past, as, for example, in meet- ing Francesca Alexander and her mother in Florence, and in London Lady Harcourt, who as Miss Lily Motley had been a pupil at the Agassiz school, her love for Nahant that called as loudly in Venice as in Cambridge, and her devotion to Agassiz that made every scene connected with his early years sacred. TO MISS SARAH G. GARY Hotel Meurice, Paris, October 29, 1894 OxiB days are arranged somewhat after this fashion. Breakfast independent, or we each order it, as we come out of our rooms — of course the French break- EUROPE 283 fast first, and a heavier one at 12.30. After early breakfast Paunie [Miss Pauline Shaw] and I gener- ally do something together. Often we take one room at the Louvre and devote ourselves to that, after get- ting the first outline sketch from Quin. These quiet mornings there with ease and leisure for what we like best are delightful. This morning . . . coming out from [St. Germain I'Auxerrois] we crossed one of the bridges, standiag long to watch the craft on the river — the passenger boats going to and fro. And then on the other side we followed the Quais, where they sell the old books and engravings, music, etc., and past the Institut (I thought how often Agassiz had gone out and in there), and along the old street of quaint, queer shops, and then returned across another bridge and by the garden of the Tuileries home to our hotel. There is something very attractive in wandering about on foot in this independent fashion, mousing out things for ourselves — much better than going about in carriages, I think, and I am glad to find that I can do a good deal on foot. TO MISS MARY FELTON Hotel Meurice, Paris, November 20, 1894 We have done and seen much since I wrote you, of which the two things that I remember with the deep- est interest are an afternoon at Chantilly, the place of the Due d'Aumale, and next a morning at Notre Dame (high mass). It is a wonderful thing to hear the 284 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ great organ at its deepest and fullest roll through those wonderful arches, where as you look down their full length all things grow dim and distant at the far- ther end. Since I have been here, I have come to be deeply interested in the history of Paris. It is a won- derful story taken from the beginning to this present fin de si^cle, and there are so many monuments of the past, still preserved, still beautiful, still picturesque; they are like stepping stones to cross this gulf of time, and they make the whole connected and in a way comprehensible. If ever the history of a nation can be made clear, one ought to understand something of the history of France in Paris. Rome, 'Hotel Royal, December 6, 1894 You did not know that I was entering Rome yester- day on my seventy-second birthday. Italy and Rome — was not that the most beautiful birthday gift that Pauline and Quin have ever given me.'* Yes, at last I am in your Italy, dear Mollie, and I thought of you so often yesterday as we pursued our way from Turin, leaving the snow mountains still in sight for the cul- tivated plain, and then through Genoa and Pisa and along the coast to Civitavecchia, reaching Rome at 11.30. I felt with you that it is an enchanted land. The descent into the plain of Italy, and the vast ex- tent of beautifully cultivated land with its soft green furrows and rich brown soil between, every field a picture, and" then, as you have always said, the human interest gives it such a charm — the little towns clustered so close upon the rising grounds, the EUROPE 285 churches on seemingly almost inaccessible heights — and then when we came to the seashores ! But it is of no use to write about it. I am sure a mere word calls it all up to you. Rome is still closed to us. We arrived in pitch dark- ness and are greeted by rain today, and no glimpse of ruins or of the Rome of my imagination in sight. But yesterday was enough for one day. I can well afford to wait, and meanwhile we are settUng in to what will be our home, I suppose, for two months. TO MISS SARAH G. GARY Hdtel Royal, Rome, December 8, 1894 The morning after our arrival a dripping rain greeted us. Yesterday was again a rainy day, but in the after- noon we went to St. Peter's thinking that the great church woidd have its own light and atmosphere independent of weather — and so it was. As Quin lifted the heavy curtain for us to pass in, I thought of what Mother wrote me after first seeing that won- derful interior, "No one's church — the World's church." I always thought it a very expressive phrase and Quin said he thought it would be difficult to de- scribe it better. How impossible it is to represent the great things of the world by any artificial means ! When I saw the Yosemite every photograph ceased to have any rela- tion to it, and so it was with St. Peter's, and so the next day with the Coliseum. 286 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ TO THE STUDENTS OP RADCLIPFE COLLEGE Rome, December 11, 1894 My dear Young Friends: Far away as I am from Radcliffe College you are often in my thoughts. I see you at your work, in your Clubs, in your social gath- erings and especially at the Wednesday teas, where I long to join you and to share in the talk that goes on around the tables. Could I be transported there, I should have much to tell you of the old story of which these ancient cities speak to us still, bringing the past so near that it sometimes seems more vivid than the present. Of course we all know the facts, or a great part of them, but to be on the spot makes our dry knowledge a living reality. I felt this in Paris, where the new is lost in the old (at least, it was so to me), and still more here, where the dead ruins make the life of the city. But I did not mean to talk to you of myself and of what I am seeing and enjoying, but rather of the pleasiu'e I have in hearing that all goes well with Radcliffe and its students. This year seems to me of greater importance in the history of our college than any preceding one except the first. That was the ini- tiative step in what was really a far-reaching under- taking, though at the moment it seemed hardly more than a doubtful experiment; this year marks the con- clusion of that period and the opening of one which rests on a sure foimdation. I am confident that you all appreciate this new aspect of our undertaking and will help the officers of EUROPE 287 Radcliffe in their resolution to keep our college up to a standard worthy of its relation to our old Univer- sity. To this end we must work together with single- hearted sincerity of purpose. Sending you an affec- tionate greeting across the sea for the New Year, I am always Your old friend, Elizabeth C. Agassiz TO MISS SAEAH G. GARY Hotel Grande Bretagne, Florence, April 5, 1895 Yesterday we all went to such a pretty festa (for Easter) given by Mrs. Alexander, and Pauline shar- ing, for the poor school in which Pauline has been in- terested. The children had a dinner first (about sev- enty there were), and then all were collected in the schoolroom to receive their gifts. Each had three presents apiece and an orange. And then there was a surprise which Pauline had prepared — a plant in flower for each child. That carried the day — nothing they had received seemed to give them the pleasure that these growing plants did. So they went off, a floral procession, each child bearing his or her pot all in bloom. Indeed I hardly know how they managed to bear away all their treasures. They had full hands and full hearts, I think. The rounds of applause were loud and long. H6tel Meurice, Paris, May 13, 1895 Yesterday I had a very pretty excursion to Fonte- nay-aux-Roses, where there is an establishment for 288 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ training normal teachers. It is all gratuitous and was quite interesting to me, though the ideas about wom- en's education were so limited as compared with ours that I was a little puzzled. But the whole visit was pleasant, and there was so much warm expression from one or two of the professors about Agassiz. It carried me back to old times. The little town of Fon- tenay is very picturesque, and the park and garden attached to the school were charming. In her diary, after noting the visit to Fontenay-aux- Roses, Mrs. Agassiz adds: "It touches me to see how strong the feeling about Agassiz is wherever education is going on." Harvey's Hotel, Curzon Street, London, May 27 Of all the time-devouring places London is the most exasperating. I have not been able to write a home letter since I came, and now I can barely do more than copy the entries in my little diary, only just to say where I have been. On arriving here I found a cordial note of welcome from Lily Harcourt, asking me to lunch the next day. You have no idea how aflFectionate she was — full of the old memories, the days of her mother and father and our relations in the past. She is a very lovely, loyal friend. The lunch was the usual family lunch, so that it gave me a very pleasant opportunity to see her husband and her son. " The BuU," Cambridge, June 1 Thus far had I written, but the fates intervened and I was interrupted, and never could catch on again. So EUROPE 289 I pick up the thread here. I was telling you about my first visit to Lily Motley. Her husband was very cor- dial and extremely amusing. He came in when lunch was half through from his office, bringing with him a very pleasant man who works with him. They were making up that mysterious package called "The Budget," so Lily said, and were fearfully busy. Sir William, though a Liberal, seemed by no means in sympathy with modern reforms; bicycles and higher education for women were equally under his ban, and he said the nineteenth century had become intolera- ble and the twentieth would be worse, and he was glad to think how soon he should bid good-bye to both. He and his party are very unpopular. "I am old and likely to go out of office soon." It is curious how one gets interested in the local political talk when one is on the spot. . . . My next will be from Oxford, and I shall not be sorry. Pleasant as it all is, I shall be very glad to drop social and educational responsibilities and be off with MoUie to Italy and Venice. Mrs. Agassiz's visits to Cambridge and Oxford had a direct influence upon her policy in regard to the establish- ment of halls of residence at Badcliffe. In 1897 she gave an account of some of her experiences at the English colleges for women to the Emmanuel Club at Radcliffe, from which the following extracts are made. When you first arrive in Cambridge, if you stay, as we did, in the old tavern, The Bull, your first outlook upon the street will give you the sense of antiquity, 290 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ of something belonging to the past, grown gray with time and softened by age which we expect to find in the old miiversity towns of England. To me Cam- bridge had a wonderful picturesqueness, and a kind of rural quahty suggestive of quiet and scholarly se- clusion. Oxford is more before the world. You will be asked whether you have seen Oxford before you are asked whether you have been to Cambridge. Yet, to me, the latter had a charm of its own that brings it very near to one's affections. The following morning we went early to Girton. . . . We were most cordially received by Miss Welsh, the Principal or so-called Mistress. . . . The instruc- tion in the colleges for women at Cambridge and Oxford is by no means given altogether by the professors and teachers of the Universities. Much instruction is given by ladies, many of whom have themselves been educated at the colleges where they teach. I must add that the presence of these ladies and their relations with the students seemed to be extremely pleasant. They shared in their sports and recreations and had a very friendly and genial com- panionship with their pupils. . . . You will want me to say something of the girls' personal arrangements. They have generally at Gir- ton a sitting-room with bedroom adjoining, occupied, as the case might be, by one student or two. The rooms looked very pleasant: a certain portion of the outfit, as beds, table and desk, all of the simplest de- scription, is provided by the college, but the rooms are made cheerful by what the girls themselves have EUROPE 291 added, in the way of pretty tables and chairs, with draperies and screens, their favorite photographs, etc. I thiak you all know the look of a college girl's room, and I did not see that they diflfered much from ours. The grounds are large and prettily planted; there are lawn-tennis grounds and spaces laid out for croquet. Whether golf reigns there I did not learn, but the general aspect is certainly very attractive. The distance of Girton from the University, about two miles I should think, struck me as objectionable. There are no tramways or any regular hne of coaches, and the college is obliged to provide carriages for driving the students into the town for all lectures. I heard nothing of bicycles there, though I should think it would be not only a quicker but a more eco- nomical way of making the short journey. . . . Returning from Girton we went the same after- noon to Newnham upon invitation. Mrs. Sidgwick, who is Principal at Newnham, is a shy, reserved woman, the very impersonation in appearance and manners of the English gentlewoman, so gentle and seemingly timid that one wonders to find her in so responsible and prominent a post. But I fancy her decision and force of character are well balanced with her gentleness of manner. She and her husband. Pro- fessor Sidgwick, make their home at Newnham, hav- ing an apartment in the main building. Her position is simply one of choice, arising from her interest in the University education of women. She is of the Bal- four family, — is the sister of Arthur Balfour now a member of the English Cabinet. Her fortune is large, 292 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ and she gives most generously to the institution in the management of which she takes so prominent a part. Professor Sidgwick is wholly at one with her in this and teaches in the College. He is as witty as he is learned, a very agreeable, genial man, and of course his residence at Newnham is a very important factor in the success and growth of the institution. At this first visit we had not time to see the whole building. It was toward the close of the afternoon, and after a cup of tea in her drawing-room Mrs. Sidg- wick took us at once into the grounds, where a com- petitive game of lawn-tennis was going on. Our host- ess evidently took as much interest in it as the girls themselves, though her sympathy was impartial, having good wishes for both sides. The game over, we walked about the grounds and came upon one or two pretty teas spread out in the shade under the trees. At one, I remember, tea being over, the girls were blowing soap-bubbles into the air and over the grass. This short visit gave me of course but an outside glance, and the next day I spent the whole day there with my friends and travelling companions. Miss Fel- ton and Miss Gray. We lunched with Mrs. Sidgwick and several of the resident ladies of the CoUege. Here again, as at Girton, I felt that the presence of these ladies, their easy, sympathetic companionship with the students, must form no small part of the educa- tion which the girls receive at Newnham. Among these resident teachers is Miss Gladstone, daughter of the statesman, an exceptionally pleasant woman of much personal charm. Then there is Miss Clough, EUROPE 293 daughter of the poet, and Miss Fawcett who carried oflP the honors of the Mathematical Tripos one year from all competitors, and was, I beheve. Senior Wrangler for that year, and there were several others whom I saw and knew less, but who were very pleas- ing. Miss Clough and Miss Fawcett were students at Newnham before they became resident teachers. After lunch Mrs. Sidgwick took us over the build- ing and showed us not only the lecture and class rooms, but also the girls' quarters. Here they have no sitting or study rooms, but the chambers are ample and comfortable, and are occupied singly or as double rooms. In order to give them by day the air rather of a parlor than of a chamber the beds are broad couches, which when covered by afghans and well cushioned serve as sofas during the daytime. Still I think the Girton arrangement is the pleasanter, and I am not sure that the sofa in the long run takes the place of a bed. The day of our visit was a fortunate one for us, be- cause the graduating class was just coming back from final examinations, and the successful ones were of course the centre of interest. I remember seeing Miss Fawcett as she caught sight of a student who had re- ceived special honors with her Tripos spring on a window-seat, throw open the sash, and greet her with the greatest warmth. A little later in the day we dined in the girls' Hall, where instead of a single table ex- tending from end to end there were a number of small tables arranged for groups of eight or ten at each. Of course the examinations were the topic of 294 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ the hour, and I believe they were to have a dance in the evening to let off the exuberance of their joy. One pleasant habit I observed in all the Colleges. There was a sort of sitting-room, or as they called it con- versation-room, very cosy and comfortable, which seemed open to all where they gathered after dinner for a cup of coffee. Here we ended our pleasant day, and it was my last visit to Newnham. But I cannot leave Cambridge without a word on other things beside the Colleges for Women; of its ancient Colleges and Chapels, its pretty bridges over the river Cam, where the students row and have their fun, of the shady and peaceful old courts around which the Colleges are built. In Jxme when we were there the flower season is in its glory and the stu- dents' balconies and windows are full of color among the dark ivy which clothes the walls. We had a glimpse also of a college student's room, for a young friend invited us to take tea with him af- ter Vespers. It was a cheerful, comfortable half-study and half -sitting-room, but by no means [so] luxurious as many of our students' rooms. Perhaps this was an individual case, but I was told it was not considered "good form" to have very elegantly furnished rooms. I had but three or four days in Oxford and but for the feeling that you may wish to have such a glimpse as I can give you I should hardly venture to speak of my personal experience there. The aspect of things at the Oxford Colleges for Women was of course in a general way the same as at Newnham and Girton — their internal arrangements, EUROPE 295 recitation rooms, library, etc., and their pretty cham- bers looking out on pleasant grounds, though not so extensive as those at Newnham and Girton. I dined at SomervUle with Miss Maitland in company with all the students, and passed a pleasant evening with her and them. I was hospitably entertained also at Lady Margaret Hall and at St. Hugh's, but to give you an account of my days there would be to go over the same ground as at the Cambridge Colleges for Women. . . . Of course we spent some hours in the Bodleian Library. To give you the least idea of its picturesque interior or of the impression it makes upon you would be impossible. I wUl pause a moment to tell you an incident which struck me as curious. We were going through the Library imder Mr. Pelham's guidance, and he stopped to point out a portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots, said to be the most authentic in exist- ence. In connection with it he told me this singular story. On some public occasion when the crowd was likely to be great in the Library, they had a squad of police to prevent any injury to their many treasures. One of the professors passing through the Hall where this portrait hangs saw the Chief of the Police look- ing intently at this picture. The professor, struck by the man's interest, stopped beside him a moment and said, "It is an interesting portrait, is n't it? " The policeman answered, "I don't know who it is — I was only looking at it professionally." "How do you mean, 'professionally' ?" asked the professor. "Well, you see," said the man, "in my work I often come 296 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ into contact with criminals who stand high socially. They do not belong to what is called the criminal class. She looks of that kind. I know the expression well." The professor then told him who she was. I do not know whether the man knew enough of her his- tory to be aware that she had been accused of crime and that a shadow of doubt still hangs over her. Per- haps he did not see the coincidence between his own comment and her sad life. TO MISS SARAH G. GARY Hotel BrunsvncJc, London, June 10, 1895 It gives me such a strange feeling to be on the other side of my Cambridge and Oxford visits. I looked forward to it all with pleasure but not without a cer- tain sense of anxiety and responsibility. It has all been simply delightful. Everything has been made very easy for me, and I have seen and learned more than I could have hoped to do. It has stimulated my interest in our home work, and I shall be surprised if it does not prove of serious value to me on my return. After all, I think it helps one very much to see what others are doing on the same lines on which you are yourself working. Our last day was one of the best in Oxford. In the morning I had a pleasant visit at the Max Miillers', — did not see him, because he was not well, but she is a charming person. I had once or twice spoken to her of a paper of her husband's, which always interested me very much — I think you have heard me speak of it; it came out in Littell, and EUROPE 297 after a while I lost it and have ever since been trying to find it among his collections of short papers, but never succeeded. The morning I went to bid them good-bye she looked for it and showed me one or two that she thought might be the article I liked so much; but I remembered my favorite phrases word for word, and they did not correspond. But just as we were leaving in the late afternoon a package was brought to me — a volume containing the paper I had been seeking this many a year from Mr. Mtiller himself, and my name on the fly-leaf, "with the regards of the author." I don't know when anything has given me so much pleasure. Good-night and good-bye. I shall write next from Venice. I am with you at Nahant "every day and hour," as the old song says. Casa Biondetti, Venice, June 22, 1895 I THINK that our life differs from that of many visi- tors to Venice. Being all women and all of one mind, we are absolutely irresponsible as to hours and rules. Every one breakfasts when she sees fit, and as we have the most amiable of cooks and housekeepers in our padrona, she never minds any amoimt of unpunctu- ality. A life so free from conventionalities and at the same time so sympathetic was never shared I think by a household of half a dozen people. But with all the charm of Venice, I think the great- est happiness of my life here is the thought of Nahant. To picture you all on my piazza or yours, to think of Carrie driving up to your door or mine, all this com- 298 ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ pletes and fills out my experience this summer. Nor does the beauty of Nahant fade in the wonderful pic- ture. I remember our sunsets and ask myself even here if anything can be more beautiful, and I think with delight of being there again. To be sure one must allow something for the love of a lifetime, the place where you were almost born and have spent all your summers — that counts for something. TO MRS. ARTHUR GILMAN Venice, June 23, 1895 Dear Mrs. Gilman: Before this the quiet of vaca- tion has fallen upon Radcliffe, the last words are spoken for the year, and I hope that you and Mr. Gilman are preparing for summer rest. Perhaps you have abeady gone. I am afraid that you and he will have felt that in being absent from Commencement I have neglected my Radcliffe engagements. But the truth is that when I left, although my plans were uncertain, I had it in mind, should circumstances be favorable, to visit the English colleges — Girton and Newnham and the rest. I did not do quite all that I had hoped, but I passed a week in Cambridge and one in Oxford. I am very glad to have done this, and I feel that I learned a good deal which may be helpful, — not so much con- cerning the methods of instruction (they differ so widely from ours as regards general arrangement that they could hardly serve as models for us), — but regarding the domestic life. In that respect I made EUROPE 299 careful inquiries for I feel that one of the most press- ing questions for us is that of a home or homes for such students as must find lodgings in Cambridge. In regard to the size and distribution of room in such house or houses as we may build, my views were a good deal modified by what I learned from Mrs. Sidgwick, Miss Gladstone and the other ladies resi- dent in the different halls. You know I have always been in favor of small houses with few students — not more than ten or twelve. Mrs. Sidgwick is strongly in favor of a greater number — not less than twenty to twenty- five — not more perhaps than fifty. She has no experience in the other method, but her objection to it in theory seemed to be chiefly that the smaller number limited the choice of acquaintanceship, and also that individual peculiarities which might be trying in so small a commtmity would be merged in a larger one. In this matter also the cases are hardly parallel; we could never have as they have a num- ber of resident ladies hke Mrs. Sidgwick, Miss Gladstone, Miss Clough (daughter of the poet). Miss Fawcett, and others whose names I do not recall at this moment. Of course their presence gives the tone to the whole community, for they live in very delightful, it seemed to me intimate relations with the students, while allowing them much freedom. At Girton the arrangements seemed much the same. I feel that this is a pressing question and will need much consideration. It would be a misfor- tune should we make any mistakes in our buildings. 300 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ I hear that there is much doubt and discussion as to the future arrangements for our athletic grounds and some idea of choosing a place where all our buildings — college, gymnasium, dwellings, laboratories, etc., as well as land enough for sports and athletics — could be combined. I confess that I should be very sorry to leave the Fay House, — but the question is a wide one, and I know too little of what has been going on this winter to venture upon any discussion of the pros and cons. For all these things we are going to need a great deal of money. But I suppose that when we have finally made up our minds as to the best method, we shall be able to find the means to carry it out. I hope that all is well with you and yours. Best wishes for your summer from Yours most cordially, Elizabeth C. Agassiz TO MRS. LOUIS AGASSIZ Cambridge, June 30, 1895 My dear Mrs. Agassiz: The year's work is over, and my first thought is to write to you and to tell you how much I have missed your presence here, and how anxiously I have striven to do all that would satisfy you without appealing constantly to you for advice and suggestion. I think, on the whole, everything has gone well, and just now the future of Radcliffe looks very bright indeed. There is so much interest and sympathy expressed and EUROPE 301 we hope we have gained friends during the past year, as well as kept those we had. Whatever feel- ing remained after the organization last spring is, I think, in many cases, dying away, and it is gen- erally recognized that the alliance with Harvard is close enough for all practical purposes. The stu- dents who have come up for the entrance examina- tions these past three days, are more in number than ever before, and most of the schools send up larger classes; the girls look very nice and I don't beheve that we shall have a larger freshman class than we can manage. That is our present solicitude; for this year we had no room at all to spare, and next year we shall have not quite enough. ... I think we must make up our minds now as to our future policy with regard to staying where we are (this we should certainly do for years to come), or look- ing to some other site for the College of fifty years hence. In this is involved (to my thinking) the ques- tion of some other form of lodging the students who come from a distance. The present scheme answers for some, but not for all; if we are to have any num- ber of students from the Middle and Western States, or from that part of New England which feels the influence of New York, we must have some mode of living that is at once less expensive and better suited to their wishes and habits. As it is, there is a danger of our becoming simply a "local college," and that would be a great waste of our opportunities; for there is no denying the fact that we do offer pre- eminent advantages in the way of instruction. But 302 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ why do I trouble you with all this now, when I am hoping so soon to see you back? We hear that you mean to come home the end of August; perhaps you will lengthen your stay a little later, but we shall have you next winter. I say we, but I really mean I. How we did miss you at Commencement! We tried in every way to do what you would like and as you would like it; and I shall always regret that you did not see Sanders Theatre filled with friends on that first occasion, when we had hoped for not more than a few. It was all so cordial and sympathetic — every one wiU tell you that. . . . Ever your attached Agnes Ikwin The first Radcliflfe Commencement in Sanders Theatre, held there by invitation of the President and Fellows of Harvard College, to which Miss Irwin refers in the above letter, was an event of great importance in Mrs. Agassiz's eyes. To the uninitiated it may seem strange that she should have felt such deep emotion at this step as the fol- lowing letter indicates, but it was intended as a public demonstration of the more intimate relations now estab- lished between the two institutions and as such was signifi- cant. TO MISS SARAH G. GARY Casa Biondetti, Venice, July 8, 1895 . . . Today comes a letter from Lily Cleveland, bringing me such a pleasant surprise, with full accounts, both her own and newspaper reports also. EUROPE 303 of the Graduating Exercises for Radcliffe in Sanders Theatre. I think my usual correspondents must have meant to heighten my pleasure in this most un- looked-for piece of news, for no one has ever suggested the transfer of the Radcliffe Commencement to Memorial Hall, and yet I am sure there must have been much discussion and deUberation between our Academic Board and the Corporation before the two decided upon the matter. There could not be a more positive recognition of RadcUffe by Harvard than this. It sets the seal upon our final adoption. It really has made me feel very happy. When I think of our first little Commencement with four graduates in Ellen Gumey's library and of this consummation I can hardly believe it. She and Gurney have gone beyond college ceremonies and have entered upon new Commencements, — but I wish they knew it. I really longed for their sym- pathy. I feel more and more satisfied that it was well for me to be away this year. It has given Miss Irwin an independent ground. Of course I should never have hampered her in any way, but she would naturally have deferred to me as the older officer. But I am so glad about the ceremonies at Sanders Theatre. They seem to me to have been concluded very simply with quiet dignity. The fact that our Commencement is transferred in this way to the place where all the Memorial days of the University are kept will settle many doubtful questions about the occasion which were always coming up on its 304 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ annual recurrence. I fancy we owe this very much to Mr. Eliot's influence. So you see my mind is much at peace about Radcliffe matters, and I feel more and more inclined for the restful influences here which creep into my life more and more — a little like the Lotos-eaters, perhaps, in the land where it was "always afternoon"; but I give myself up to it for the time being very contentedly. Perarolo, July 26, 1895 . . . There were three or four interesting masses sung in St. Mark's on successive days just before we left Venice, and I went to all but one. The first was at sunset, an hour which is so beautiful at St. Mark's because there are high windows which throw the light shortly before sunset into the upper part of the church and light up those wonderful mosaics and make them as fresh as yesterday with their gilded backgrounds. The music was very fine and the scene is always so engrossing — the figures mov- ing about or kneeling, the priests coming and going, the mingling of rich and poor. But in Venice where are there not pictures? In the boats, on the church steps, in the by-ways — those little narrow calle, where the land traffic goes on, — the markets, etc., — one grows monotonous in calling attention every minute to these things, which from their frequency might seem commonplace, but every group is different. I could never see a grass boat coming in from the is- lands with its green load built up in perfect symme- EUROPE 305 try, fifteen feet high perhaps and as many long, with the boatmen leaning against it below or standing on the top to steer with their long poles, without a new sense of pleasure. Our leave-taking was quite impressive — all the three gondoliers brought bouquets to each one of us, and as our padrona said, we had quite the air of a floral procession. The change from the sirocco of Venice to these mountain solitudes where the air is pure and fresh and full of vitality is wonderful. We are now at Perarolo, the sweetest little town with mountains on either side and a rushing river, where the women are washing their hnen and the men are collect- ing the timbers brought down on the stream and putting them on rafts to transport them. Cortina, Vol d'Ampezzo, August 2 . . . My chief pleasure here (and it is a very great one), is in my morning tramps. I sometimes wonder whether [if] you were here, you would join me in my early cup of tea and be off by seven o'clock. As my companions are not given to this style of en- joyment, I go alone, and there is something rather fascinating in the solitude. Occasionally I meet — not exactly with adventures for they do not deserve so grand a name, — but with incidents which are sometimes interesting, and at least amusing. Yester- day morning at the end of my ascent (which was accompanied by magnificent views with endless changes of light and shade all the way) I stopped 306 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ before the door of a chalet and asked leave of the mis- tress who was standing outside to rest a little there. She led me along the shaky floor of one of those low-roofed balconies so characteristic of mountain chalets, offered me a rough seat (which at the moment was as delicious as a stuffed arm-chair), and brought me a cup of milk. I drank a little and then put it down simply because I did not think it wise, heated as I was, to drink the whole at once. Evidently she thought I found the cup too coarse, for she took it up (I was dreadfully afraid she was going to take it away) and brought the milk back in a Uttle glass tumbler, to my great relief — not that I minded the cup, but I was very loath to reUnquish the milk. While I sipped it she sat down on the door sill and sewed. Her work consisted in embroidering the most hideous coarse bags, one of which I bought to show my gratitude for her hospitality, and my sympathy with her poverty. She took me into her little home, where she lived, so far as I could make out, with an only child, a boy of seven or eight. To make my story what it should be, that home ought to have been as neat as it was ill-supplied with the necessities of life. Truth compels me to state that its dirt equalled its poverty. But the misery was unmistakable and so, ugly as it was, I was glad to buy my bag as an excuse for giving her a Kttle lift out of her difficulties by paying more than her work was worth. On the afternoon of the same day we drove to a superb view, called the Belvedere, to see the sunset EUROPE 307 from the top of a great cliff. One could drive up, but as they told us there was a short cut through the wood, MoUie and I thought we would take that path instead of making the steep descent by the carriage road. The path proved to be a kind of rough staircase in the face of the cliff. However we clambered down its picturesque windings safely enough, — only MoUie said, "What would Sallie say to me, if she knew I had led you into a scramble like that?" Englischer Hof, Munich, September 8, 1895 . . . On Monday we came to Munich. Were you ever in Munich.'' To me it has the most homelike feel- ing because here Agassiz and Alexander Braun and all their brilliant yoimg companions had their Uni- versity life, of which Agassiz told me so much and so often, and which is told so vividly in his home letters. I have been to the Sendlinger Thor, near which he lodged in the house of the old naturalist, DolUnger, but I cannot find out which house, though there are some very old ones there. But there have been great changes; the old gate remains, but most of the landmarks belonging to that time have disappeared. The long-anticipated visit to Montagny followed the stay in Munich. "Arriving yesterday," Mrs. Agassiz wrote in her diary on September 18, "Olympe brought me to the little chamber which Agassiz and I occupied in 1859. It was overwhelming at first, but still I felt very happy to be here." 308 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ TO MISS SALLIE GARY Hotel Normandie, Paris, September 29, 1895 I CANNOT tell you how delightful my stay with the Swiss family has been. It was rather agitating to go, for a whole world of young people has grown up (and indeed they have come into the world) since I was at Montagny in 1859 — and most of those I knew there are gone. I felt therefore a little strange and as if they would feel me to be more or less out of the circle. It was never so for a moment. I felt completely at home and as if I were a member of the household at once. The old Montagny house is quaint and picturesque as ever. It is a family centre, and while I was there no day passed without members of the family dropping in to spend the day. And then we all dined together, and the afternoon was spent in the shady garden full of flowers, where the tables stand always ready for tea or coffee, and where the young people were gay and full of fun, and the older people quietly talked over memories of the past, aroused in part no doubt by my coming which brought the family to- gether perhaps in greater numbers than usual. At all events I felt myself quite at home with young and old. I shall tell you much more about it when we can talk instead of writing. But I am so very glad that I was able to go. And now here we are in Paris; the personal things I so wished to do, and which seemed to me to have a certain responsibility, as my visits to the EngUsh EUROPE 309 colleges, the arrangements for seeing the Swiss fam- ily, these all lie behind me, and we are here to await the steamer and attend to various practical matters. On October 18 Mrs. Agassiz sailed for New York from Cherbourg. The record in her diary for October 26th tells of a contented home-coming to Quincy Street. "Left New York at 12 o'clock. Sallie and Carrie to meet me at the sta- tion. Drove home and had time to dress and arrange flow- ers before Alex, Rodolphe, and Max came. A dehghtful evening with Alex alone — the boys at a college dinner. Coming up to my room at the end of the evening, found the E. C. Agassiz scholarship. It was the crowning joy of my return." This scholarship came in the form of a gift of $6150 to Mrs. Agassiz from friends who desired to show their sense of what she had done for RadcUfiPe and for women; the money was given without restriction except that the scholarship should bear the name of EUzabeth Cary Agassiz. CHAPTER XII RADCLIFFE COLLEGE 1895-1904 THE conditions that Mrs. Agassiz found prevailing at Badcliffe on her return from Europe are set forth in the letter from Miss Irwin quoted above, and they were summed up more succinctly by her in her report as Dean to the President of Harvard University for the year 1894- 1895. Here she stated that the two great material needs of Radcliffe College were "better academic accommodations and opportunities for physical culture." The same necessi- ties were also emphasized by President Eliot at the Rad- cliffe Commencement exercises in the following year, when he pointed out that Radcliffe would not require a large theatre, an extensive library, a great observatory, or vast collections in natural history, since Harvard had acquired all this equipment for her; "nevertheless," he added, "Radcliffe needs laboratories of the best sort for teaching purposes; it needs departmental Ubraries; it needs a gym- nasium and lecture halls of its own; it needs houses, not too large, and plenty of them, in which its students may live in a tranquil, wholesome way. Now all these things cost money; therefore Radcliffe needs great endowments, and needs them at once." These words of Miss Irwin and Presi- dent Eliot mark the begiiming of a phase in the growth of Radcliffe that directly affected Mrs. Agassiz in two ways. Hitherto she had been the protagonist of the college; it was she who had placed its needs before the public from time to RADCLIPPE COLLEGE Sll time, and she who had been its representative before the world. In Miss Irwin she now had an able second, who dis- cerned and vigorously expressed the necessities of Rad- cliffe, which by its closer connection with Harvard re- ceived added support from the influence of President Ehot. Furthermore it is evident that the college, having now attained to a recognized academic status, had reached a period in which material acquisition must be its immediate object, and that the abiUty which its president had shown in developing its organization must now be directed toward its mechanical equipment. It will be noticed that in this, the second part of Mrs. Agassiz's administration, although she was less active pubUcly than she' had been in behalf of Radchffe, her influence, discretion, and judicious fore- sight made themselves felt at every step that the college advanced, her ideals added sentiment to the brick and mortar of every building, and the afifection that she awoke among her friends continued to react for the benefit of the college that she loved. How the needs set forth by Miss Irwin and President Eliot were in a measure met within the next few years can be told for the greater part Ln the words of Mrs. Agassiz. It should be said in preface that since the purchase of Fay House the college had by degrees acquired in addition to the 20,000 square feet bought then nearly four times as much land, most of which lay in one piece of property and all of which was in the immediate vicinity of Fay House. The story begins with a letter from Mrs. Augustus Hem- enway to Mrs. Agassiz and requires for explanation so far as the college is concerned merely the statement that the Radchffe gymnasium at this time occupied a small wooden 312 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ building in the rear of Fay House on Mason Street. Mrs. Hemenway was well known in Boston for her philanthropic interests, practically all of which had one definite and spe- cific aim — the cultivation among girls of the pursuits and powers that tend to the making of better homes; her benefi- cence was therefore directed to the encouragement of in- dustrial and physical training as a part of education. The fact that her husband had given the Hemenway Gymna- sium to Harvard University doubtless suggested to her the plan that she proposed in the following letter. TO MBS. LOUIS AGASSIZ Boston, December 20, 1896 Dear Mrs. Agassiz: In making a visit to Rad- cliffe lately I was struck with the inadequacy of the gymnasium, and in looking across the street and see- ing what friends had done to make Harvard what it is, I felt that we were not showing the same apprecia- tion of our women that had been so freely bestowed on the boys. I do not know what plans you have for a gymnasium or for the future of Radcliffe, but I am sure you have an immediate want for a larger building, and I should like to give, if my means permit, a permanent gymnasium to Radcliflfe and have the pleasure of see- ing it used and enjoyed soon — that is, if your plans are sufficiently matured as to the College's future to allow of its being rightly placed. Will you please mention this to no one, but if things open toward the building of it, I shall be ready to begin at any time. As RADCUFFE COLLEGE 313 I see it, the need is now, and I should Hke to meet that need and enjoy the results. Sincerely yours, Harriett L. Hemenway TO MRS. AUGUSTUS HEMENWAY Cambridge, January 3, 1897 Dear Mrs. Hemenwat: ... It is now absolutely settled that we remain on our present location. It is probable that another large lot on the square of which the Fay estate makes a part will fall into our hands shortly — probably next spring. . . . You see, therefore, dear Mrs. Hemenway, that the site may now be chosen at any moment for a suitable gymna- sium building. Our present idea is in general to have our academic buildings including a gymnasium built around the circumference of the square and enclosing a quadrangle on which we already have some few trees. As we have not the means to build the whole at once we shall put the buildings up in sections as needed, but with such reference to the final aspect that when completed they will be harmonious and symmetrical. We want our buildings to have a certain distinction and dignity, but also to be practical and thoroughly adapted to the work to which they are dedicated, — a consideration which is sometimes neglected by skilled architects, who are naturally not so familiar with the inside working as those who are intimate with the daily occupations and needs. . . . I need hardly say that the mere hint of a suitable 314 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ gymnasium gave the greatest pleasure to the mem- bers of our Coimcil. With grateful regard — for the hope you have held out makes me very happy, I am Cordially yours, Elizabeth C. Agassiz The story is continued in Mrs. Agassiz's Commence- ment address in June, 1897. Last year at this time we were in no slight per- plexity as to certain decisions regarding Radcliffe College. We were deeply attached to the Fay House which had served our needs so long; but we were well aware that we had reached its utmost limits as re- garded the accommodation of our classes and the general demands of the institution. The ground surrounding us was and is occupied by various holdings standing very near each other. There were two private schools beside a number of dwelling houses. . . . Curiously enough in about three weeks from that time three of these lots fell into our hands most unexpectedly. ... I may add here that, since the above-mentioned acquisitions, we have secured two other lots, and that there can now be little doubt that the somewhat irregular square lying between Garden Street and Brattle Street and bounded on its side lines by Appian Way and Mason Street will eventually be our college ground. We can therefore safely decide upon retaining our present home on a spot endeared to us by many associations and extremely convenient also for our RADCLIFFE COLLEGE 315 educational work, for which we rely wholly upon Harvard and her corps of instructors. Thus freed from anxiety about our future location, our ultimate college plan becomes our next considera- tion. This now exists only upon paper and I fear it will be long before it takes a more tangible shape. Yet I think, when completed, it will make a harmonious whole and will have a charm of its own. . , . We hope, in short, that our college will have a certain dignity and picturesqueness which will atone for its want of more striking features and more ex- tensive grounds. Our most imperative need is that of laboratories, which may I hope be met within a reasonable time. Next may come a Library building where we can place our ever-increasing working Library, numbering some 10,000 volumes, in secur- ity from fire. Our buildings must of necessity be erected grad- ually and separately according to our means and our niost pressing wants. But in whatever succession they may appear, they will from the beginning hold definite relations to each other and to the general architectural scheme of which they form a part, thus, securing, as we hope, unity and fair proportion in the end. On Commencement Day of the next year Mrs. Agassiz was able to announce Mrs. Hemenway's gift of the Gym- nasimn, the first building in the series constituting the architectural scheme of the college, and also another im- portant gift. 316 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ Today the news is brought me of another gift, the announcement of which will be welcome to our students, and I think to our general audience as well. Certain of our alumnae and of our special students (a society known as the "Annex '95 Club") gener- ously undertook with the cooperation of our graduates to raise money for the building of a Hall of Residence for Radeliffe. They proposed their plan to us (that is, to the officers and Council of RadcliflFe) about a year ago, and appointed a committee and took other measures toward its accomplishment. They were pro- ceeding hopefully when the breaking out of the war [with Spain] brought this project with many others to a standstill. They felt that it was impossible at such a moment to raise the sum of $50,000, and for less than that they were assured that their scheme could not be successfully carried out. It looked as if the plan so full of promise for Radeliffe must be indef- initely postponed, if not given up. Today, however, I am allowed to say that the Club has received from Mrs. David P. Kimball a gift of $50,000, the whole sum needed for the execution of this pleasant pur- pose. I knew that it would give you all great pleasure, and for myself it is a great gratification to record these facts concerning our graduates and students. The life of every college must be in a great degree dependent upon the affection and loyal service of her students, and we have the happiness of seeing that long after their coUege course is ended, our graduates are still in active sympathy with us. RADCLIFFE COLLEGE 317 sharing in our work and aiding the progress of Rad- chffe by every means in their power. On March 24, 1898, Mrs. Agassiz's diary records: "To Radcliffe for Council meeting. Had casting vote on the matter of position of new gymnasium with reference to Fay House. The casting vote seems to me a great respon- sibihty but I gave it in favor of retaining the larger space at the James Street end of the gymnasium lot." By the following December the building had been erected and its formal opening, at which Mrs. Agassiz made a brief ad- dress, took place on December 17. This is the last incident to be chronicled for 1898. The following letters speak for themselves of the most important event that befell Rad- chffe in 1899. TO MISS mwiN Castle Hill, Newport, July 31, 1899 My dear Agnes: My children agree with me that the time has come when for their peace of mind as well as my own, I must withdraw from my official connection with Radcliffe College. Looking back upon the last twenty years I feel as if my share in the work had been as nothing compared with that of the Council, the Academic Board and in a more general though not less im- portant sense the Faculty of Harvard. They have made our college what it is and have turned an ed- ucational experiment into an institution of learn- ing. My feeling is one of deep gratitude to them and I wish I could give it any adequate expression. Let me add that your cooperation and sympathy 318 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ have enabled me to keep my position some years longer than I could otherwise have done. I can never thank you in words for the relief and support that you have given me. Your affectionate friend, Elizabeth C. Agassiz My resignation takes effect January 1, 1900. TO MRS. LOUIS AGASSIZ FROM MISS IRVIN Gray Pine, North East Harbor, Maine, August 15, 1899 Dear Mrs. Agassiz: I was not absolutely unpre- pared for your letter, as I had just heard from Mr. Higginson that you were writing to me and that your "decision must be accepted." I have, never- theless, been profoundly disturbed by your deter- mination to resign, and I have thought over the matter and tried to be as fair as possible. I know you have earned your repose; still, I do feel that we might and could and would take off every one of your burdens if you would remain with us even in name! The Commencement speech is the one black spot, is it not? You need never make one, I think. But I don't wish to urge you. I wish to do only what you think best. . . . No one can fill your place. What you have been to us as President, no one else can be. I mean in kind as well as in degree. I think we are all of one mind about that. What you can give us is given by you. Could and would any one else as President give us that? I feel sure that no one would. . . . RADCLITFE COLLEGE 319 TO MISS IRWIN August, 1899 My dear Agnes: Your letter has just come and is extremely clear and helpful. ... I do not think that I ought to entertain the idea of continuing to hold my present place. I have always felt that deeply as I was interested for Radcliffe, my family claims and responsibilities must come first — and I think I ought to yield to the wish of my children and also to that of my sisters in this matter. I admit that I could be relieved of any important demands upon my strength (indeed I have become so relieved since you came), and that even the Commencement nightmare might be laid to rest and somethiug substituted in its place, more like the usual college commencement. But while others might exonerate me from all responsibility, I should not exonerate myself. I should remain in an undecided attitude questioning how much to do, how much to leave undone. Such a doubt is a fatigue. I have another feeling, namely, that it would be an immense satis- faction to me to see the institution going on as I know it would go on. I should have a sense of secur- ity about it that I should never have, if I left the change till I was fairly broken down, giving it up simply because I must. TO MRS. LOUIS AGASSIZ FROM MAJOR HENRY L. fflGGINSON Manchester, August 29, 1899 Dear Lady President: Is it wise to prepare for illness and death? Is it wise to leave the struggle 320 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ and dust of the day and sitting back in one's chair to watch the new century go on, and see if one's bundle of mistakes lets one caution, advise, cheer the wage-earners, greedy to accomplish and thereby to lift the cause of humanity a bit higher in their turn? 'T is all that they can do, and no time while at work is to be lost in self-contemplation or in striv- ing for prizes and honours. And in my philosophy the old and tired onlookers can greatly help. I do think these above things are wise, and I feel no real doubt as to your course. Miss Irwin's wish to keep you still is affectionate, natural, excellent, but even she does not think it best. Go in peace! You have been a great boon to the College, have indeed given it birth, and you can now bless it in your own fashion. It has led a peaceful and beneficent existence, thanks to you — with your temperament, your aims, your thoughts and your training. . . . TO MISS IRWIN Nahant, September 19, 1899 Dear Agnes: ... If there were no strings pulling the other way I know that my sympathy and love for you and my afifection for Radcliffe, would win me over to believe that I could, if I only would, stay on. But in such important matters (especially when one's own feeling is engaged) we must listen to the judgment of those outside; and my own people, together with some sense of failure in myself, com- bine in urging me to give up my nominal office. I RADCLIFFE COLLEGE 321 think and believe that the change in my actual relation to the college, and as I hope, dear Agnes, to you, will not be so great as you think. If it suits you, I want to keep my teas just as before (adapting the period of their duration to your judgment). This will I trust keep up my friendly relation with the students and lead perhaps to other intercourse with them. Cambridge, October 19, 1899 Deae Agnes: Thank you with all my heart for your note, — that we have grown to be such friends is indeed a happiness to me, and I only hope we may still work together as dear friends may without other tie. It grieves me more than I can say to think of causing pain to the colleagues with whom I have worked so long in the most harmonious companion- ship, — and yet I am sure that I am right in taking this step before it is forced upon me. It does not seem so great a change to me as to my co-workers perhaps, because I have so strong a hope that I may still keep my personal relation to Radcliffe, still be in touch with all its interests and with the stu- dents — and more than all with you, dear Partner. Your affectionate old friend, Elizabeth C. Agassiz I have written a letter to President Eliot — It seemed fitting to apprise him myself of the change. 322 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ TO MRS. LOraS AGASSIZ Shady Hill, Cambridge, November 10, 1899 Mt dear Mrs. Agassiz: I am sorry that the en- closed paper has not reached you sooner. ... I mean to have a better copy for you, but I will not wait to have it made before sending to you this report of the action taken by the Associates of Radcliffe on your resignation. I hope that you will approve their proposal and grant their wish. I fully sympathize with you in the feeling which must accompany so grave a step as the laying down of a duty which has filled so large a part of life, and thus sympathizing I also feel very strongly that this proposal of the Associates may be a mode of softening the change for you, and the continuance in sentiment for them of a most happy relation. I venture to say for myself that my strongest tie to Radcliffe is that which you make. ... I leave a thousand things unsaid. Affectionately yours, C. E. Norton The enclosed paper to which Mr. Norton refers was a copy of the following minute unanimously adopted at a meeting of the Associates of Radcliffe College held on November 1, 1899: The Associates of Radcliffe College have received with the deepest regret the letter of Mrs. Agassiz by which she resigns the office of President of the College. RADCLIFFE COLLEGE S23 Recognizing that her wishes in the matter are to be absolutely respected, they accept her resig- nation, without attempting to alter her decision. They are, however, unwilling to consent that her formal official relation with the College should here- by be broken, and they request her to accept the position of Honorary President of the College, in which, freed from responsibility for the discharge of specific duties, she may still afford to the active officers of the College the benefit of her counsel, and still give to the College the honor of having her name at its head. The Associates cannot deny themselves the privi- lege and satisfaction of expressing to her their sense of the perfect manner in which she has discharged every function of her office, and of the entirely happy relations which she has maintained with the officers, the teachers, and the students of the College, and with the public at large interested in its welfare. To this official expression they desire to add the warmest expression of their individual gratitude and affection. Charles Eliot Norton Annie Leland Barber W. E. Bterlt Mary H. Cooke John C. Gray Jas. B. Greenough Sarah W. Whitman Committee on behalf of the Associates 324 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ The proposal of the Associates that she become Honor- ary President was accepted by Mrs. Agassiz, and her resig- nation from her active duties, which devolved in large measm-e upon Miss Irwin, made no difference in the regu- lar order of affairs at the college. At the Commencement exercises of 1900 Professor W. W. Goodwin delivered the address. "It closed," Mrs. Agassiz writes in her diary, "with a few words of affectionate remembrance of my per- sonal relation to the college which were very touching to me as coming from such an old friend." These were the "few words": During our academic life of twenty-one years we have had the high privilege of being under the leadership of the gracious lady who now lays down the active work of the presidency. From the beginning Mrs. Agassiz has been at once our chief guide and the life and soul of our undertaking. Full of the enthusiasm of her earlier years, enthusiasm which was inspired from no ordinary source, she has brought to us the treasured traditions of the past, and wisely taught us how to use them for the inspiration of the present and the future. Herself trained as a scholar and a teacher, she could always give us the best advice as to what we should do for the higher ed- ucation of women and what we should not do. It is to her influence as much as to anything that our suc- cess and our present position in the academic world are due. In our private deliberations and also in the critical times when we needed a wise and dignified representative in public, we have always felt her steady hand at the helm. I feel that no words can RADCLIFFE COLLEGE 325 express our estimate of the value of her services, or the respect and the affectionate regard which we feel for her; and now that she feels entitled to resign her more active work to others, we congratulate ourselves that she is willing and able to remain as our honorary president, and I am sure it is the unanimous prayer of all our friends that in this new relation she may long be with us as our best friend and our best adviser. An adviser to the College Mrs. Agassiz continued to be in the next important advance made after her resignation. This step was the purchase in May, 1900, of some 300,000 square feet of land lying between Shepard, Linnaean and Walker Streets and the coUege property on Garden Street; here, on Shepard Street, within five minutes' walk of Fay House the site was selected for the hall given by Mrs. Kim- ball, which was called Bertram Hall, in memory of her son, who had borne her own family name, Bertram. This in- vestment was a source of great satisfaction to Mrs. Agassiz, for the college thus acquired a Homestead where there was ample room for future dormitories as well as space for open-air sports. Bertram Hall was begun in March, 1901, and was ready for occupancy when the college opened in the autumn. With Mrs. Henry Whitman as chairman of the committee who had it in charge, and Mr. A. W. Longfellow, Jr., as architect with freedom to carry out his designs, its artistic excellence in every detail was ensured, and it was, in fact, almost the first public building that had been erected in Cambridge for many long years that is architecturally agreeable. Extracts from Mrs. Agassiz's diaries show S26 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ what gratification she derived from it, and how it speedily began to have the atmosphere that she desired for it under the influence of its first and for seventeen years its only mistress, Miss Eliza M. Hoppin. "It is too delightful — absolutely satisfactory and so cheerful," she wrote on De- cember 21, 1901. In the next year, on February 10, she re- cords: "In the evening to Bertram Hall. Dined with the students. It was reaUy delightful. I never saw a happier set of girls — dancing and singing after dinner till eight o'clock when they all went to their studies." Another description of an evening there is given on January 13, 1903: "Went to dine at Bertram Hall. It was really charming — a pleas- anter, more cheerful, better bred set of young girls I could not wish to see. The dinner was nice and very prettily served; the talk round the table was pleasant and intelli- gent. After dinner they showed me the game of ping-pong, after which I went around to see them in their rooms — pretty chambers and studies connected. It was all very satisfactory." The formal opening ("a great affair for us, though very small in itself," Mrs. Agassiz writes in her diary) took place on January 22, 1902, at which Mrs. Agassiz made an address, giving first a sketch of the events leading to Mrs. Kimball's gift, the purchase of the Homestead, and the plans for enclosing it by eight dormitories, of which Ber- tram Hall was the first. The remainder of the address ex- presses Mrs. Agassiz's ideals for the Halls of Residence of Radcliffe. While we are here to celebrate more especially the opening of a home for our students, we must not forget that we are also inaugurating a new chapter RADCLIFFE COLLEGE 327 in the history of Radcliffe College. The domestic and social life which, with the help of the students themselves, we may build up in the homes we hope to provide for them, seems to me hardly less valuable than the academic education offered them by Harvard University. It should be at least the fitting accom- paniment of their scholarly attainments. Great as our pleasure is in being able to offer for the first time a home of their own to our students, we are nevertheless aware that many of them have formed dehghtful associations, and have come under the happiest influences in the homes opened to them by the kindness of Cambridge families. For this we and they are deeply grateful. But in Bertram Hall and in the other halls of residence which we hope to establish in connection with it, the attitude is and will be somewhat changed. Here in Bertram Hall, for instance, our students instead of being guests are hostesses. It is their oivn home, where under permission of the Mistress they can exercise a certain hospitality. We all know that the character, what we may call the bearing, of a home is something which it derives from the quahty of its inmates. The maintenance of such a character in its highest sense will depend upon the students themselves, — upon their own refinement, simpKcity, and dignity. Toward this we will gladly help them, and^we shall feel more closely drawn toward them, and they will feel, we hope, more nearly allied to us for the very reason that we work together toward this end. But we would have them all remember at the same time 328 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ that it is their home during the years of their college life; that a home implies responsibility; that their highest ambition with reference to it should be to maintain a standard of good breeding, of kindly intercourse and consideration for each other, which give after all under any social conditions the key- note to gentle manners. In a community brought together under one roof by a common interest and kindred occupations, and not by kith and kinship, the bond is of course not as close nor can the relations be as spontaneous as between the members of one family. But a re- spect for such reserves as may leave each student in quiet possession of her room at her own will and pleasure, for her own studies or occupations, need not hinder the formation of intimacies or the growth of friendships which may last a lifetime. In the en- couragement of such genial and pleasant companion- ships, with due consideration for each others' in- dividual tastes and preferences, it seems to me that a very happy and a mutually helpful life must grow up here. The very conditions under which our new Hall and home exists are suggestive of the best influences. It is, as I have told you, the gift of a dear friend of Radcliffe College; known as Bertram Hall, it is consecrated by a beloved name; it is pledged to worthy occcupations and interests; and it may well stimulate those who live under its shelter to sincere, cheerful, and sustained effort. Accepted in this spirit it can hardly fail to be a happy home where RADCLIFFE COLLEGE 329 the higher qualities both of character and culture may be held in religious reverence and developed side by side. December, 1902, brought Mrs. Agassiz to her eightieth birthday. The celebration of the occasion was intimately connected with Radcliffe. In the autumn of that year her children and grandchildren, knowing that her dearest wish was for a Students' House at Radcliffe, offered imknown to her to give the college $50,000 for that purpose, provided that an equal sum were raised before the fifth of December, Mrs. Agassiz's birthday, in order that the building might be presented to her as a birthday gift. Another novel and beautiful tribute was prepared by Major and Mrs. Higgin- son who arranged for a concert to be given in her honor by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Choral Art So- ciety in Sanders Theatre on the evening of the birthday. "It is a lovely plan, but I have sworn that I would never have one of these semi-public birthdays," Mrs. Agassiz wrote in her diary when she learned of it, "but this time I must yield, not without dread." The day when it came proved memorable in her experience, and her acceptance of it highly characteristic, as extracts from her diaries and letters show. December 1, 1902. — The week opens and I try to turn my thoughts away from the eightieth birth- day. I dread the celebration. . . . But one often shrinks from what seems quite pleasant in the ac- tual experience. I am, however, nervous and agitated in the prospect and so afraid that I may have a cold or be out of condition and disturb every one's plans. 330 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ December 2. — This week, although it comes in festive guise is an anxious one. December 4- — Tomorrow is the great day, but I feel calmer as it grows nearer. I am trying to keep quiet and tranquil. In the meantime a committee of forty-one friends had imdertaken to collect the money required for the Students' House, and as a result of their efforts $116,000 was given or pledged within the time designated. In the words of the com- mittee it was intended as a testimonial of " the respect of the community for a woman who has given a shining example of distinguished pubhc service perfectly performed." "The house was given," as President Briggs said later, "not so much to Badchffe College as to her for Radchffe College; and into the building of it went such affection as man or woman has rarely won." The matter was kept a profound secret from Mrs. Agassiz until the morning of the fifth of December, when she received the following note from Mrs. Henry Whitman. TO MRS. LOUIS AGASSIZ Boston, December 5, 1902 Most beloved Lady: What joyful news do you think there is for you this happy day.? Simply that I have to tell you that a little company of family and friends — all your lovers — have ready a hundred and eight thousand dollars to build a Students' Hall at once and call it by your name, as a birthday gift, and in token of their everlasting love and gratitude. Yours ever more and more, S. W. RADCLIFFE COLLEGE 331 "The day is here," Mrs. Agassiz recorded in her diary, "and the greetings by telegram and note and the lovely gifts make it a day in Paradise. But a fairy gift — a pure surprise, — dropped into my hands, crowned this beauti- ful day in my life — $116,000 for RadclifFe College for a Students' Hall. I cannot believe it; it is too good to be true." It was typical of Mrs. Agassiz's interests that on this day when above all others her thoughts might have been centred on herself, though deeply stirred by the expres- sions of affection that she received, her emotions over- powered her and her composure gave way only when she learned of the gift that was not personal but for RadcliflFe. "Mother is none the worse for all this," Mr. Alexander Agassiz wrote to his daughter-in-law, describing the con- cert, " in fact would like a second festival, provided it could be as lucrative as the first "; and Mrs. Agassiz's diary testi- fies to the disappearance of all her apprehensions in the happiness of the evening, when she characteristically be- lieved that the applause that followed her as she left the theatre on the arm of her son, was as much a demonstra- tion in his honor as in hers. A few selections from her diary and from letters written at the time complete the record of an occasion, the spirit of which was happily expressed by Mrs. Henry Whitman in a note that she wrote to Mrs. Agassiz a few days later, "Oh, all the beauty of this birthday! It will always hang like a star in my heaven." December 6, 1902. — The day I have so feared was one of the most beautiful I have known, not only for its personal happiness, but because it brought such a munificent gift to Radcliff e — more 332 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ than the building for which we have so longed as giving us new facilities for our work, more than that, because the Students' Hall gives us assurance of stability, of permanence; it consolidates our relations to Harvard, and will lead to our completion as one of its recognized departments. December 7. — The birthday concert on Friday was perfect. Every one says as a musical occasion very rare and very perfect. After the concert grand- children and children, and a few friends and neigh- bors came in. It was very easy and pleasant. And now I have only to say that my birthday was with- out a flaw, and that I fully enjoyed it. One of the dearest things that happened was that Alex took me in and led me out. That made it so much less personal for me. I felt so proud and as if the honors were for him rather than for me. TO MRS. LOUIS AGASSIZ Cambridge, December 4, 1902. My dear Mes. Agassiz : At Mr. Higginson's sug- gestion I tried — and gladly tried — to write some verses which might be sung with Mr. Gericke's music, at the concert tomorrow. Not hearing the music sung or played, I could only follow the metre of the older words; and I did not succeed in fitting my words to the music. I send them to you, however, with every good birthday greeting. Sincerely yours, L. 6. R. Briggs BADCLIFFE COLLEGE 333 E. C. A., DECEMBER 6, 1902 Worthy wearer of his name — Loved, though long departed — His whose learning, rank and fame Left him simple-hearted. Thine the age that sweetens youth. Softens each affliction; Heaven 's everlasting truth Lights thy benediction. Never song by poet sung Stirred the gladdened hearer Like the soul, that ever young, Brings the Godhead nearer. When our years fly on apace. When our hearts are colder. May we, thinking on thy face. Graciously grow older. Grow hke thee in tranquil heart Touched by Time's caressing. When we choose the better part. Eighty brings its blessing. L. B. R. Briggs TO PROFESSOR L. B. R. BRIGGS Quincy Street, December 13, 1902 Bear Mr. Briggs: In turning over the many let-- ters of my birthday I have found your verses and 334 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ your kind note, and though the verses did not adapt themselves to the music or the music did not fit itself to them, I shall never cease to feel that they made a part of the beautiful and affectionate commemo- ration of my eightieth anniversary. I have so much to thank you for, but I should find a difficulty in putting it into words. But what I can- not say I hope you will understand and will see that I have deeply felt the sympathy expressed in your verses both for my earlier and my later life. With grateful remembrance. Sincerely yours, Elizabeth C. Agassiz TO MBS. LOUIS AGASSIZ Dearest Mrs. Agassiz: I am honored by your letter of thanks (which I did little to deserve) signed in your own dear, clear hand. You can hardly im- agine unless you put yourself in our place, the im- petus of enthusiasm with which we followed up the plan of giving you a birthday pleasure, whoever first put it in motion. The programme of your con- cert moved me a good deal; it seemed to speak of by-gone years, and your music with your sisters, and of the beneficent reign of Dresel. . . . There is but one regret for me, which is in the thought that future generations of Radcliffe girls cannot have that example of "the gracious and sympathetic side of life," the dignity and refinement which its first students have been so fortunate RADCLIFFE COLLEGE 335 as to enjoy. But I trust that when years (many happy ones, I hope) have robbed the college of that perfect type, the tradition may abide as a perpetual stimulus. Do me the favor, dear lady, not to notice this missive, as I know that you are buried in similar ones. It is but a weak expression of the affection and admiration which you have had for a half century from me and mine. Yours faithfully, Sarah B. Wister TO MRS. LOUIS AGASSIZ 95 Irving Street, December 5, 1902. Dear Mrs. Agassiz : With our whole heart we wish you a happy birthday, and a long series more of them to follow. For forty years / have known you, dear Mrs. Agassiz, always the same, spreading benedictions around you by your sympathy, in- telligence, cheerfulness, and activity; and I hate to think that such a presence should ever leave the scene. I am sixty; — let me breathe a prayer that we may both live twenty years longer, in plenary possession of our faculties and expire on the same day! With tenderest affection, your old friend, Wm. James 95 Irving Street, December 15, 1902 Dear Mrs. Agassiz: I never dreamed of your re- plying to that note of mine [of Dec. 5]. If you are 336 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ replying to all the notes you received on that event- ful day, it seems to me a rather heavy penalty for becoming an octogenarian. But glad I am that you replied to mine, and so beautifully. Indeed I do remember the meeting of those two canoes; and the dance, over the river from Manaos; and many an- other incident and hour of that wonderful voyage. I remember your freshness of interest, and readiness to take hold of everything, and what a blessing to me it was to have one civilized lady in sight, to keep the memory of cultivated conversation from growing extinct. I remember my own folly in wish- ing to return home after I came out of the hos- pital at Rio; and my general greenness and incapac- ity as a naturalist afterwards, with my eyes gone to pieces. It was all because my destiny was to be a "philosopher" — a fact which then I didn't know, but which only means, I think, that if a man is good for nothing else, he can at least teach philosophy. But I 'm going to write one book worthy of you, dear Mrs. Agassiz, and of the Thayer expedition, it I am spared a couple of years longer. I hope you were not displeased at the applause the other night, as you went out. / started it; if I had n't some one else would a moment later, for the tension had grown intolerable. How delightful about the Radcliffe building. Well, once more, dear Mrs. Agassiz, we both thank you for this beautiful and truly affectionate letter. Your affectionate Wm. James RADCLIFFE COLLEGE 337 On December 10 the entry in Mrs. Agassiz's diary- reads: " Today met the RadcUffe students, just for a Uttle hour of interchange about the new hall. I hardly know whether they or I are more happy in this new prospect for the college." The informal address that Mrs. Agassiz made to the students on that afternoon follows: I have called you together this afternoon because you and I and Radcliffe have received a beautiful gift in common, and I think we should talk of it, and ask each other what we should make of it. What influence shall it have upon the future of our college; for it is not only the gift of a building, it is not only one step forward, it gives solidity and permanence to our whole scheme of existence as a college, our future is secured by it and a seal is set, as it were, upon our work. Such^a building as our Students' Hall is the promise of growth and development; it makes one feel that the essential needs will yet be fulfilled, such as the Library for instance, for we have no Library build- ing, though we have thousands of books to put upon its shelves, and other provisions for Laboratories and Recitation rooms. You all know how much a Students' Hall has been in your thoughts and mine; you all know that friends within and without Radcliffe College have worked for it, but their efforts have been unavailing, and I confess that I was deeply discouraged. Suddenly, on one beautiful day of my life, the means were put into my hand, the whole means in 338 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ a most generous measure, and without conditions — a fairy gift, if ever there was one, for it came as a pure surprise. I call it mine, because it was given to me for you, to fulfil a wish that I had long cherished for the students of Radcliffe, the accomplishment of which I feared that I might never see. For a moment I could not believe what my eyes and my ears declared. One must have experienced it, in order to understand what it is to have a desire of your heart suddenly granted, the road opened without obstruction; so did this come, as if one had said, "Here is all you need for your Students' Hall, you may turn the first sod tomorrow if you like." And now the very name of your new hall in- dicates not only your share in it, but your responsi- bility towards it. Education is never complete without its domestic and social side. This build- ing is to represent to you the refinement and charm of a home, while it will give you many advantages in your studies. Yet I hope that in this building, side by side with your college instruction and in keeping with a happy and cheerful life, there will grow up the domestic and social qualities without which no education is perfect. It rests with you, for whose pleasure and well being it is intended, to make the best use of this building, and it is to be not only a Students' Hall but a students' home. You are all aware that the one distinction of Radcliffe lies in the fact that our teaching force RADCLIFFE COLLEGE 339 is exclusively drawn from the faculty of Harvard. We have the whole body of instruction of our old University, and this we owe to the generosity of Harvard, to the sympathy and interest of its pro- fessors and teachers; therefore, to Harvard, we owe the allegiance and loyalty of a yoimger to a much older institution, and we must contribute our share to her laurels. Let us strive, therefore, to maintain a high stand- ard of excellence, not only in study, but in gentle manners and in all that contributes to a home in the best sense. A little later Mrs. Agassiz sent to the contributors to the Students' Hall the following letter of thanks: To the friends who by their exertions and contribu- tions collected the fund for a Students' Hall at Radcliffe College. 36 Quincy Street, Cambridge, December 25, 1902 My Friends: A long cherished wish of mine for Radcliffe College was fulfilled in the most touching way on my 80th birthday. Knowing the needs and desires of our students, I have long hoped that we might provide fitting conditions within the precincts of the college for the maintenance of a social, domestic, and, as it were a family life among them, side by side with their daily studies. Friends within and without the College, and even the students themselves had worked toward this end but had failed thus far 340 ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ of success. Suddenly by no effort of my own, on one fair and beautiful day of my life, the means for this purpose were put into my hand. The impossible became the possible. The road opened before me clear of all obstructions. Indeed, it seemed that the ground might be broken tomorrow for the building which should represent to our students the refinement and the charm of a home. By virtue of this gift we hope that the more gracious and sympathetic side of life without which no education is perfect, may accompany our academic instruction. I should vainly attempt to express here my own gratitude or the thanks of our students for this rare gift tendered to them through me. The future history of Radcliffe must speak for us all. May their loyal work, their well-bred manners and the dignity of their life in this new Hall, show that this act of generosity has been understood and deeply appreciated by the students of Radcliffe as well as by its officers and its Honorary President. Elizabeth Gary Agassiz With the gift of the Elizabeth Cary Agassiz House (a name which Mrs. Agassiz confided to her diary was "quite a mouthful") the college found itself in possession of three of the four buildings that had been pronounced essential to its welfare — the Gymnasium, a Hall of Residence, and a Students' House. It may be added here that the fourth, a Library, was later provided chiefly through Miss Irwin's influence with Mr. Andrew Carnegie, who offered to give $75,000 for a building provided an equal siun should be given as an endowment — an amount that was contrib- RADCLIPFE COLLEGE S41 uted by the alumnae and other friends of the college. This building Mrs. Agassiz did not live to see. The site for Agassiz House was chosen in the Radcliffe Yard, next to the Gymnasium, and to Mrs. Agassiz's great satisfaction the architect selected for the building was Mr. A. W. Longfellow. On April 6 of the next year she noted in her diary: "A most interesting meeting con- cerning Elizabeth Cary Agassiz House. I think the plan is admirable and very ingenious considering the various uses to which it is to be put." Before work upon the house was begun, however, other events occurred, which should be recoimted in their turn. In the spring of 1903, Mrs. Agassiz decided that Rad- cliffe had grown beyond her strength and that it was best to resign her position as Honorary President. Her resigna- tion was presented to the Council on May 26 and in def- erence to her wish was accepted to take effect at the end of the academic year. At the same meeting, in order to strengthen and emphasize the connection between Har- vard University and Radcliffe the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in the University, LeBaron Russell Briggs, was nominated as President of RadcUffe. At a meeting of the Associates on June 10, Mrs. Agassiz pre- sented her formal resignation and Dean Briggs was unan- imously elected President. "What Mrs. Agassiz has been and still is to Radcliffe College, no one needs to say," Miss Irwin wrote in her report for the year to the President of Harvard University. " What Mr. Briggs has been to Harvard College in the past, what he surely will be to Radcliffe College in the future, no one can know so well as the President of Harvard University." Letters and other 342 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ material that have to do with these changes and show the spirit in which Mrs. Agassiz shared in them follow. TO MRS. LOUIS AGASSIZ FROM MAJOR HENRY L. HIGGINSON Manchester-by-the-Sea, May 13, 1903 The committee, as you know, wishes to have Dean Briggs as President — but it needs to know what positions and duties and rights you wish, if any. You are honorary president and are expected to perform certain duties. My notion has been that you would prefer the pleasures — after all these years of serv- ice and of essentialness (to coin a word) I think that you should reap the joys only — hold your teas, if you like, know what is going on, but feel no weight and be held to no meetings or consultations. But you are grown up and will decide. Will you send me a line at an early time and settle the matter — and tell me if you prefer to resign everything but your joys ? TO MAJOR HENRY L. HIGGINSON I SHOtTLD like to give up all. My age and my deafness make even the small share I have retained in the work very diflficult of fulfilment. I can never cease to love Radcliffe College and to take the deepest in- terest in its concerns, but I am really no longer strong enough to take any share in its direction. I cannot trust myself nor can I be depended upon to take part in any of the meetings (as Council, Associate meeting. RADCLIFFE COLLEGE 343 boards, etc.) and especially not in the public functions, as Commencement and the like. In fact I should like to give up all my responsibilities of that kind and only to be admitted as a loving spectator and listener when I am able to be present. To tell the truth I am trembling now at the thought of Commencement and of coming forward on the platform to give all those degrees. I am delighted to hear (I so understand your note) that the Committee are agreed in wishing to have Dean Briggs as President. I hope it will be clearly understood that as President he will preside at all meetings — Council, Associates' meetings, etc., etc., etc. We need a presiding officer to give clearness, promptness, and decision to our work. I do not think I need make any exception about teas or other social functions, because I know that I shall always be welcome at them when I can join in them. On June 10, at the meeting of the Associates mentioned above, Mrs. Agassiz submitted to them the following let- ter of resignation: To the Associates and to the other official boards con- nected with the government of Radcliffe College: The time has come when I feel that it is not only best for myself but essential also for the interests of Radcliffe that I should withdraw from her counsels. In doing so I would send a word of farewell and of gratitude to my colleagues. Among them are some with whom I have shared the fortunes of Radcliffe from her initiation twenty-four years ago till now. 344 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ They remember with me those, early days when her life seemed a precarious one, when her only wealth consisted in the quality of her instruction (drawn wholly from the Faculty of Harvard) and in the enthusiasm of her students. Indeed, the real inspira- tion of her life in those early years and of her subse- quent growth has been the hope of becoming more and more closely allied with the University; sharing its intellectual outfit, its traditions, its associations. That hope has been our guiding star, which we have never lost from sight at any time. First through the sympathy and generosity of the professors and teachers, then through the recognition of the President and Fellows of Harvard (its governing boards) , we have been brought to the very gates of the University, until we have now our full share of that organized body of college instruction which is the pride of our State, which our young men are taught to love and honor. In that affection and reverence our students of Radcliffe have become their worthy rivals. In leaving Radcliffe (so far as that is possible, since her future must always be dear to me), I am happy to feel that our next step is one of the greatest impor- tance and value for her, according, moreover, with the policy which we have pursued from the beginning. In electing a member of the Faculty (and the second officer of the University) as our President, we put ourselves in immediate touch with the whole educa- tional force of Harvard, and we gain a position of absolute security and permanence under her protec- tion. Therefore, the choice of Dean Briggs to be the RADCLIFFE COLLEGE 345 President of Radcliffe gives me much pleasure and entire satisfaction. I am grateful for the length of years which has allowed me to see the fulfilment of our cherished hope for Radcliffe in this closer relation of her academic life and government with that of Harvard. With cheerful confidence in her future which now seems assured to me, with full and affectionate recognition of all that her Council, her Academic Board and her Associates have done to bring her where she now stands, I bid farewell to my colleagues. At the same time, I thank them for their unfailing support and encouragement in the work which we have shared together in behalf of Radcliffe College. Elizabeth C. Agassiz June 10, 1903 EXTRACTS FROM THE DIARY OF MRS. AGASSIZ June 11, 1903. — I hear that the meeting went well at Radcliffe and Briggs is elected. I hope I am right in believing that this is a great step upward and on- ward for Radcliffe. I am sorry to hear from Henry Higginson that he believes our building at this time would involve a loss of $20,000 on account of the high price of material and labor. This is a great disappoint- ment. June 12. — The papers have full and pleasant ar- ticles with regard to the election of Dean Briggs as President of Radcliffe — my successor. This means that Radcliffe is affliated more closely than ever with 346 ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ the educational force of the University of Harvard. Already this has been from the start our one distinc- tion. This makes it more marked and ensures per- manence and a marked character for our little insti- tution. TO MBS. LOUIS AGASSIZ Cambridge, June 12, 1903 Mt deak Mrs. Agassiz: Mr. Briggs was elected unanimously, of course, on Wednesday evening, and he has this morning notified Miss Goes of his accept- ance. But it is no longer a secret, as it was "an- nounced" yesterday evening at Mrs. Moore's musical party, and you will probably read it in the "Tran- script" before you read this. . . . Your resignation had its solemnizing effect, I as- sure you. A committee of three has been appointed, Mr. Oilman, Mrs. Cooke and Miss Longfellow, to express to you the feelings of the Association. Your letter was like you. I hope you are comfortably toasting your feet over a fire and looking at the sea. Yours sincerely, Agnes Irwin TO a committee of the associates consisting op ME. ARTHUR GILMAN, MRS. JOSIAH P. COOKE AND MISS ALICE M. LONGFELLOW. Nahant, July 1, 1903 My DEAR Mr. Gilman : Will you and the other members of your committee accept for yourselves RADCLIFFE COLLEGE 347 and for the Associates of Radcliffe College my thanks for the expressions of friendship which I have received from them all through you? Whatever I have done for the College has been done by means of the cooperation and sympathy of all my colleagues and Associates. Indeed I must say that we have worked together with such good-will and readiness, in such affection for Radcliffe and such confidence in each other that it is difl5cult to say how or by whom the result has been obtained. However this may be, I shall ever feel grateful to the friends who have worked with me for Radcliffe during the last quarter of a century. Not a shadow rests upon the memory of our allied company held together as it has been by one common aim and in- terest. With warm regard to you who have conveyed to me the affectionate farewell greeting of my colleagues and Associates. Faithfully yours, Elizabeth C. Agassiz Cambridge, June 18, 1903 Deab Mrs. Agassiz : I have now informed myself about the Radcliffe situation as regards the President and the Honorary President. You are still Honorary President, and I do not see why you should resign that position at all, but much reason why you should continue to hold it indefinitely. . . . Let me repeat that I hope very much that you will not feel it necessary to give up the Honorary Presi- 348 ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ dency. The office seems to me to be analogous to that of Professor Emeritus. Now the name of a Professor Emeritus adorns our annual catalogue until his death. No duties attach to it, but if he chooses he may give instruction. No duties would attach necessarily to the office of Honorary President; but if you chose to take part in social functions you would do so in that capacity. The retention of your name seems to me very desirable, and I am sure that both the grad- uates and the undergraduates of Radcliffe would greatly prefer this arrangement. Sincerely yours, Charles W. Eliot The suggestion contained in the above letter of Presi- dent Eliot, though never formally adopted, was put into effect, and Mrs. Agassiz will always remain in the hearts of those who knew her the President Emerita of Radcliffe. A draft of the following undated letter lies in the pages of Mrs. Agassiz's diary for 1902. The note from President Ehot, which is given below immediately after it, was evi- dently written in reply. TO PRESIDENT CHARLES W. ELIOT My dear Mr. Eliot: Just a word (which you must not answer in these days of countless letters for you) to tell you that I have never failed to be grateful for all you have done for me and for Radcliffe. Personally your presence at our Commencements has given me a sense of support and protection in my official position without which I should have felt RADCLIFFE COLLEGE 349 quite unnerved. I was always very proud and quite self-possessed when I went up to the platform on your arm. But apart from that I am anxious to tell you that I have appreciated and understood your policy towards Radcliffe from the beginning. During the first ten or fifteen years when the Governing Boards had not recognized us and when the more aggressive reformers were urging us to force the gates of Harvard and demand recognition, I knew that this delay was prompted by a loyalty to the old University which was the first duty of Harvard and her officers, — that they could not recognize us until they were satisfied that such recognition would involve no change of policy in the old University, nor any difficulty in her government. When you did recognize us it was in a large and a generous spirit, and I confess that our present attitude fulfils my brightest hopes. How could our little craft be moored more safely than she now is against the great body of instruction which represents the learn- ing and the teaching of which the state and country at large are so proud .f*' Forgive me for taking even a few moments of your time just now and believe me. Truly and gratefully yours, Elizabeth C. Agassiz TO MRS. LOUIS AGASSIZ Cambridge, Jidy 2, 1903 Dear Mrs. Agassiz: I thank you for your very friendly note of June 30. My impression is that Had- 350 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ cliffe College has got on fast, and is now in an excel- lent position. In fact, I do not see how it can be im- proved, so far as its organization and instruction go. You ought to take solid satisfaction in your work for it. Sincerely yours, Charles Eliot TO MISS EMMA P. GARY AND MISS LOUISA FELTON Nahant {June 26, 1903] I HAVE longed to write to you both, but time has been at high pressure for the last week, and notes and letters have been at a discount. One thing I will say, — that this my last Commencement [June 23] (which has kept me awake and frightened me out of my wits for the last three weeks) proved to be one of the happiest experiences of my long connection with the dear Radcliffe, which I now leave where I have so longed to see her, in closest touch with the intellec- tual outfit of Harvard, sharing her government, her instruction, her traditions and associations. President Eliot was admirable — full of sympathy, eminently satisfied and pleased with our choice of a new president from the Faculty, which of course sets the seal upon our relation to Harvard. Mr. Ropes [Professor James H. Ropes], who was our officiating clergyman and who read the annual address, touched upon a point to which no one has ever before alluded, though it has often been in my own mind. He spoke of the College (Radcliffe) as a natural growth out of RADCLIPFE COLLEGE S51 our old school. So it has always seemed to me. But for the school, the college (so far as I am concerned) would never have existed. The training of the school prepared me for the later work and has always been associated with it in my thought. Mr. Ropes brought this out (associating with it the influence of Agassiz as a teacher) in the most delightful way. The giving of degrees followed in the usual way, but I did not make my address. When all the official ceremony was over. Miss Irwin, Mrs. Whitman and I drove in together to the Vendome where the Alumnse dinner took place — 170 women, I think. Dean Briggs, the only man! After dinner I opened the speaking with a short address; others followed, but I must tell you that our ceremonies were interrupted by a very pretty inci- dent. We received a message from the Harvard class of '83; they were having their annual dinner in an adjoining hall and would like to send us greeting. Of course this was accepted with great pleasure. Presently half a dozen of these gentlemen (some of whom I knew) came in, bringing three or four of the most superb baskets of roses (Jacqueminots) that I have ever seen. The first was presented to me, the others at other parts of the company. They then in- troduced themselves as the class of '83, wished us everything for the future fortunes of Radcliffe and a pleasant evening on this our graduating day, and bade us good-bye. Nothing could be more friendly or more dignified and respectful; it struck me as a new note never sounded before, — a sort of frater- 352 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ niziag, as it were, — which meant a good deal. With that our evening ended. TO MRS. WILLIAM B. RICHARDSON, PRESIDENT OF THE RADCLIFFE COLLEGE ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION Nahant, June 30, 1903 My dear Mrs. Richardson: You must let me tell you how much I enjoyed the evening with our Alum- nae, and how charmingly I thought the whole occasion was presided over by you. It was a lovely close to my social relations with that pleasant company of stu- dents which have made year by year so great a part of the interest and charm of my life. I do not speak of the "close" as if it meant the end of that companion- ship, for I trust that I shall meet our students often and often in close and cordial association. I only mean that the bright and pleasant meeting of the Alunmae ended the day for me delightfully. With affectionate remembrance, Elizabeth C. Agassiz On June 24 Mrs. Agassiz had written in her diary: "The day I had so much dreaded is over and was one of the happiest I have known in my connection with Rad- cliffe. And now my presidency is over, and Dean Briggs is installed, and I feel that the position of Radcliffe is assured." "Now that I am losing courage in these later days," she wrote at this time to a friend, "it is a joy to feel that there are younger people to take up the cares and responsibili- ties and bear them along with fresh hope and faith," and the following letters still further illustrate her attitude RADCLIFFE COLLEGE 353 toward her successors. The fact that Mrs. Briggs was a graduate of RadcUffe was especially pleasant to Mrs. Agassiz. TO MRS. L. B. R. BRIGGS December 9, [1903] Mtdeak Mrs. Briggs: My stupid influenza which clings to me like a brother still keeps me at home. I had hoped to meet you this afternoon, but my cold and the weather are equally unfavorable. Per- haps you will not be at Radcliffe yourself, but I care to tell you how sorry I shall be to miss you, should you look in, — and to tell you also how great a help and pleasure it is to me to see you there. You seem to me one of us, — the natural associate of our early days. How happy we should have been then to know that Radcliffe would so soon have the position she holds now ! I have wished to say all this to you so much that I write instead of waiting to see you when my cold leaves me free. As to the teas much as I like to see you there you must always remember that one of their good points is that no one is bound by them, — the tea-table stands there ready for use by the stu- dents and their friends, even if their elders are other- wise occupied or engaged. With affectionate remembrance. Your old friend, Elizabeth C. Agassiz 354 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ May 8. [1904] Dear' Mrs. Briggs: It was a great pleasure to have your note after the Radcliffe dance the other evening. I was very sorry not to go and very glad that you were there. It is such a good thing that you are in sym- pathy with their pleasure as well as with their studies. The fact of your having been a "college girl" your- self is so valuable for them and for us. I remember that an English instructress from one of the Oxford Halls for women said to me, "Try always to have a college-bred woman among the oflScers — you will find it an immense help." I think she was right. With affectionate regard, Yours truly, Elizabeth C. Agassiz During the time that the reorganization of the college was being effected, owing to the exceptionally high cost of building, the work on Agassiz House was being delayed, and it was not until March that, according to the record in Mrs. Agassiz's diary, the clearing of the site, which had been begun in the summer of 1903, was resumed. The building was not completed mitil 1905, when on June 16 it was opened for inspection by invited guests, and on Jime 19 the Auditorium was dedicated by the first performance of Marlowe, a play by Josephine Preston Peabody, a former student of the college. Like Bertram Hall the build- ing owed its perfect appropriateness for its purposes and its beauty of proportion and detail to the architect and to the unerring taste of Mrs. Henry Whitman, who, although she did not live to see the work completed, has in it, as RADCLIFFE COLLEGE 355 in Bertram Hall, left a worthy memorial of her unusual gifts. With the death of Mrs. Whitman the siunmer of 1904 opened sadly for Mrs. Agassiz. Few, if any, associations into which her coimection with RadclifiFe had led her, had become dearer to her than that with Mrs. Whitman. This association began in the days of the Society for the Col- legiate Instruction of Women, when in 1886 Mrs. Whit- man was elected to the Corporation; in 1892 she was made a member of the Executive Committee of the Society, and in 1894 a member of the Council of Badcliffe College. During all these years she gave imstintingly of her time, her influence, and her best gifts to the college. As an artist, she will be known to future Radcliffe students by two fine specimens of her glass that they may often have before their eyes — a large window in Memorial Hall and a small window in the Whitman Room in the Radcliflfe College Library. The glowing richness of the former and the del- icacy and simplicity of the latter are no less an epitome of her character than the figures of Love, Courage and Patience that from the Radcliffe window give her lasting message to the brief college generations that pass in swift succession beneath it. Her earnest religious faith was as essential a part of her nature as her artistic gifts, and her vitality, which expressed itself in a remarkable power of work and unfailing courage, was however under too perfect control to betray her into a loss of tranquillity. Her vivid interest in human Uves, added to an attractive presence, made her an agreeably dominating personality. These ex- ceptional traits, and her calming yet stimulating presence bound Mrs. Agassiz peculiarly to her, and their constant in- 356 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ tercourse was a continual source of enjoyment to her in her life as President of Radcliffe College. A few of the entries in her diary at the time of Mrs. Whitman's death follow. Nahant, June 19, 1904-. — A note from the hospital makes every one anxious about Sally Whitman. June 22. — Bad news from Sally Whitman, dear, dear Sally, — is she going where all the mysteries are solved — the great secret.'' June 26. — Sally Whitman died yesterday at the hospital. How impossible it seems ! And now no more our "again," but dead silence. June 28. — Yesterday the last farewells were said to such a friend as is rarely found. Within a few days after the last entry Mrs. Agassiz suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, which threatened serious consequences. She remained at Nahant in the hands of physicians and nurses until the end of September when she came back to Quincy Street, after which she began slowly to improve, but was obliged to lead the life of an invalid for the greater part of a year and never regained the vitality lost during the summer. When Agassiz House was completed she was too feeble to attend the opening. The following spring on May 13, she wrote in her diary: "I hope Pauline will take me to the new Radcliffe Hall to- morrow," and on May 14, "Yes Pauline came and took me over the Hall named after me. We had a lovely morn- ing together. It is a beautiful building, without and within. Architecturally dignified and of fine lines and proportions; within, fittings convenient and serviceable — suited for the purpose and meaning." RADCLIFFE COLLEGE 357 Among Mrs. Agassiz's papers there has been found a half-sheet which in its feebleness would seem too sacred for publication were it not that it contains the last recorded words which she desired to speak to the students of Rad- cliffe, and which are therefore her parting message to the college. On the outside of the sheet is written, — "Some- thing that should I have to join in the opening ceremonies for the new students' building at Radcliffe I should like to say—" I do not mean that our relation to Harvard should give us the faintest feeling of superiority but only a deeper feeling of responsibility. We cannot hold the position without accepting the responsibility. It will be difficult for me to speak here within the walls and under the roof of a building given first as a gift to me and second [as] a gift through me to the students of Radcliffe. When I came before them the next day to tell them that I had received so beauti- ful a gift, I felt that we took as it were a pledge to each other, binding us to the best uses of this new home — not only while we enjoyed it, but that we would also establish traditions by force of which it would be consecrated also in time to come as worthy of its donors. Today I feel like renewing that pledge. Indeed I believe that we — • CHAPTER Xm THE RADCLITFE TRADITION We love to personify our colleges. Harvard is to me as truly human as the men and women that I meet from day to day; a human being of heroic mould, "A daughter of the gods, divinely tall. And most divinely fair." RadcliSe College is human too; and when we think of her we see — what better could we see ! — that gracious lady who has lived and loved and worked for Radcliffe College from the beginning, of whom the old poet might have thought in prophecy when he wrote, "No spring nor summer's beauty hath such grace As I have seen in one autumnal face," who is herself an Alma Mater, — an Alma Materjin whose "through-shine" face, as the same old poet might have said, rests all that is sweet and true. LeBaeon Russell Briggs {June, 1904) WE have seen what Radcliffe College owes to Mrs. Agassiz in its organization and externals; in its traditions the debt is still greater. Its traditional ideals are those that she expressed first of all in herself. She rarely put them into words except in her public addresses. Selec- tions from some of these have appeared in the preceding chapters, but others are added here which set forth more fuUy her convictions in regard to the education of women. COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS, JUNE 23, 1896 ... I THINK sometimes that in the discussions concern- ing women's higher education which stir the air in these latter days, we hear and talk too much of the claims of women, too little of the responsibilities in- volved therein. We are making a claim; do we always THE RADCLIFFE TRADITION 359 remember that we are also giving a pledge? Granted that the whole field of literature and science shall be opened to women educationally, as it is to men, and that it shall form a part of their training for life, the question then comes up. What added service shall they bring in acknowledgment of this larger and more complete outfit? If in receiving a man's educa- tion we were simply expected to duplicate a man's work, the problem might at least theoretically be easier of solution. But taken in the larger sense, with the greater variety and freedom of occupation now opening to women, our first task (at least so it seems to me) is to adapt the new means put into our hands to the conditions and methods of a woman's life, which must be in a great degree her own, and in accordance with her natural endowments and limita- tions. We have to show that the wider scope of knowledge and the severer training of the intellect may strengthen and enrich a woman's life, and help her in her appointed or her chosen work, whatever that may prove to be, as much as it helps a man in his career. Wherever her future path may turn, whether she be the head of a house or hold some official position in a school, a college, or a hospital (I only name things with which she is so often associated) , wherever, in short, she may rule or serve, her rule and her service should be the wiser, the more steady, gentle and healthful, because she has been trained to clear and logical methods of thinking, because her powers of concentration and observation have been cultivated. . . . 360 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ I repeat that we must think of instruction as something that may transcend itself, something that has higher issues than the mere acquisition of knowl- edge. If it does not build up character, if it does not give us a more urgent sense of duty, a larger and braver sympathy for what is noblest in life, — in short, if it does not make lives better and homes happier — then it has done its least and not its greatest work, then we have missed its highest in- spiration. COMMENCEMENT ADDBESS, JUNE 27. 1899 ... So many farewells to the nineteenth century, so many greetings to the twentieth, will be heard on all public occasions in the next few months, that one hesitates to enter upon a subject which is, as it were, already bespoken, and may perhaps be in danger of becoming commonplace by repetition. And yet, though it may be said in a certain sense that every day ends one century and begins another, the mile- stones that men set up to mark their artificial divi- sions of time are deeply impressive, especially when they connect themselves with permanent institutions, which, in their future growth and expansion, are likely to touch the finer issues of civilization and of social life; and therefore it seems to me worth while to re- member here and now what the last hundred years have done for women, and to remind each other that today our Commencement falls for the last time within the closing gates of the nineteenth century. Among the numerous and startling changes that THE RADCLIFFE TRADITION 361 have marked this century, the progress in the edu- cation of women has been singularly striking and novel. For one whose life has kept pace with that of the century, beginning with its earlier years and sharing now in its decline, the retrospect as regards women is simply amazing. I do not forget in saying this that at all times and in almost all countries some one woman has made her mark intellectually here and there, has been known and acknowledged as an exceptional power in her day and generation. I speak now not of such rare instances, but of women in general and their opportunities. . . . Even now, after twenty years of experience and observation at Radcliff e, I still find myself surprised at the possibili- ties opened to women by their admission into the range of academic instruction. I was vividly reminded of this the other day. Having gone to the Harvard Observatory on a chance errand, I happened upon a class of our own students who have been working there this year under Mr. Edmands. He was absent on that day, and Mrs. Fleming, whose work in the photographic department of the Observatory has made her name known to astronomers everywhere, had taken his class for him. I joined them, and for one pleasant hour was a student with them. Mrs. Fleming was just showing them what I had especially wished to see, the image of a star which, until re- cently revealed by the photographic telescope, had never been seen by human eye, although, since its discovery, its position and magnitude have been com- puted by astronomers. Something of the method, by 362 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ which the photographic instrument is made thus to serve the work of man I had heard from Mrs. Fleming before. It is impossible to reproduce the charm of the narrative as told by her; the fitting of the blank photographic plate into the glass at evening, the setting of the telescope to the prescribed area over which it is to travel before daylight returns, the wind- ing of the clock which is to control its motion, the examination of the plate in the morning, and the finding possibly a new star included in the record of the night's work, — it is all of transcendent in- terest. We may ask of what use the knowledge of such a discovery and of its results may be to the student un- less he or she is to be an astronomer. As much use as any knowledge which exalts and enlarges one's concep- tion of the infinite, and carries us, if but a little way, into the measureless regions of the unknown. That the ingenuity of man should reveal to him the exist- ence of a world which lies beyond his utmost field of vision, however aided artificially; that the intellect of man should compute the position of this world and determine its relation in space, — seems like bringing the seen and the unseen into touch with one another. It is an object lesson which appeals alike to reason and to faith. I have no right to dwell, however lightly, on these mysteries. I only use the incident of that hour at the Observatory, which seemed to lift the veil for a moment from the hidden things of life, as an illustration of what characterizes the whole subject of enlarged education for girls and women, namely, THE RADCLIFFE TRADITION 363 . . . the multiplying of their chances in life, whether for purely moral and intellectual ends or for practical uses. In short, I came away more than ever wonder- ing at the stimulating influences poured in upon women through the doors and windows so recently thrown wide open to them. . . . Such are some of the gifts of the nineteenth cen- tury to women. The further development of these gifts and their noblest use as they open out in the twentieth century into new occupations and interests must largely be determined by women themselves. The field is wide and the opinions are various; and I share too much perhaps in the predilections and traditions of the century which is ending to be a good judge of the questions under discussion, as, for in- stance, regarding professional or political work for women. I am confident of one thing, however, which is that the largest liberty of instruction cannot in it- self impair true womanhood. If understood and used aright, it can only be a help and not a hindrance in the life-work natural to women. It can never impair, but rather will enlarge and ennoble, the life of the home. I remember the saying of a very sweet, a very wise, and a truly learned woman who was by force of circumstances obliged to undertake the work of the house with her own hands. When compassionated for this by a friend, she answered, in the spirit of old Herbert's poem, "No one can prevent me^from talk- ing with the angels while I sweep the room." Be sure that the love of books, love of nature, love of everything beautiful or interesting in art or litera- 364 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ ture or science, may go hand in hand with even the homeliest domestic duties, as they may also give a dignity and charm to a home of comparative ease and leisure. Look upon your years of college study as the outer court which may give entrance to the inner temple of life. So considered, your university educa- tion will prove a strong friend and trusty ally in the years to come. Such is my hope and best wish for you all. The ideals inaugurated by Mrs. Agassiz were kept steadily in view by her successors when the reins dropped from her hands. We may see how sympathetically they were accepted and transmitted by Miss Irwin if we turn to her address at Commencement in 1895, the year of Mrs. Agassiz's absence in Europe. . . . Much, very much, has been done for us, and the College can never be grateful enough to the friends and teachers who have made it what it is — but the students of the Annex deserve much; faithful, diligent, docile, loving to learn and learning because they loved it; needing no spur or goad, craving no prize or reward; running a race, not the race in which all run and only one obtains the prize, but the race in which the runners pass from hand to hand the lamp of life that it may never cease to burn. Moved by the gen- uine love of learning and by no baser motive, such were the students of the Annex, such are the students of the ideal College for man or woman. And of such students as these we hope to hand down the "self- perpetuating tradition." THE RADCLIFFE TRADITION 365 The women who have gone far on the road to learning and who wish to go farther are not many, it is true; in the very nature of things pioneers and leaders must always be few. But the hope of our civilization lies in the few: in the men and women who have the strength and courage to press on and up into the clearer sky, the purer air. Thinking of these things, have we not reason to be proud of the past and hopeful of the future? We have lived and grown strong by the kindness of friends in Harvard College and out of it; they have never failed us, surely they never will; we may rely — may we not? — on the sympathy and interest and generosity of the commu- nity in which we live. If much is given to us, much will be required of us; but in the past we have been faithful stewards, and in the future I think we shall not be found wanting. New paths may be opened to us; I feel that we shall have strength to tread them. New questions will be put to us; I trust that we may have wisdom to answer them. New burdens will be laid upon us; I pray that we may have courage to bear them. We have never forgotten that our "prac- tical" business is to make our students good members of society, to fit them for the world; not the world of yesterday, but of today and tomorrow, the world which has need of the best in every one of us. We have tried to teach them that wisdom is better than knowledge and that "wisdom is a loving spirit"; we ask for them that they shall have what they deserve, no more, but no less, and we are glad to remember that it was the wisest of men who said of a good 366 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ woman: "Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates." An even higher ideal, an even jSner tradition for Radcliffe College to preserve has been best expressed by President Briggs in words referring to Mrs. Agassiz : "To a member of a graduating class there can be no better advice than this : Make your life like hers. In detail it cannot be; in inciden- tal privilege it cannot be; but in principle it can. Fix your mind on the principle; make it a part of yourself, the con- trolling part; learn to apply it in its purity to every task of life, and take the tasks one at a time. Then the factitious and the imessential drop off as a garment; the knots are suddenly untied; the complex becomes simple; the impos- sible is done." CHAPTER XIV THE LAST YEAKS 1895-1907 IN order not to interrupt the account of Mrs. Agassiz's last decade at Badcliffe College, nothing has been said about her personal life during this period. Yet in these later as in her earlier years, her closest interests lay apart from the college that she so faithfully served, and formed a separate chapter in her experience. They centred in her family, and the joys and sorrows that came to her children and grandchildren were the events that touched her most keenly. Her social instincts, her sympathy with children that was as keen after as before she was eighty years old, her calm acceptance of sorrow, her freedom from morbid- ness, her pleasure in books and above all in music, her un- qualified affection for Nahant still remained with her, as she gradually withdrew from some of the more active occupations in which she had previously been engaged. One year melted into another with little to differentiate it from its fellows, and although the extracts from diaries and letters that follow are in general widely separated from each other in date, they serve, in the lack of other records, to represent the continuity of her thoughts and occupa- tions, and read consecutively they convey an impression of the way in which, blessed with her own goodness, she was passing her old age. June 5, 1896. — Reached Nahant before tea. Heav- enly peace. 368 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ June 8, 1896. — It is delightfully serene here. I enjoy every minute. January 30, 1897. — College Tea. Dramatic Club. Both were remarkably pleasant. The College Tea is really an excellent means of bringing together the college society. The settlement has grown so large, there are so many young teachers with still younger wives that it is almost impossible for the older ladies to meet and greet them. This solves the difiSculty and we are all gradually learning to be quite at home with each other [Mrs. Agassiz was persona gratissima at the teas held weekly during term time in Brooks House for all members of Harvard University and their families, where she usually formed the centre of a circle of young men, with some of whom she made lasting friendships]. February 8, 1897. — In the afternoon after a cup of tea Sallie and I drove in to the Adams House where we had comfortable rooms and dined and went to the opera where we heard Meistersinger very well given. Returned to our " inn," and after a mild supper went quietly to bed. February 9. — Breakfasted late, having altogether the feeling of "ladies of leisure." To lunch with Nannie. Then a few errands and back to the Adams House; read up our Fidelio librettos before dinner and then to the theatre. I had never heard so beautiful a pres- entation of Fidelio, and how wonderfully beautiful it is ! A bit of supper while we talked it over, and then to bed. June 10. Nahant. — Violent storm. Georgie Gary THE LAST YEARS 369 [a niece of Mrs. Agassiz] came down to dine and we had a nice afternoon together. When she went I made a Httle music. I wish it were like old wine, the better for keeping, but it gets fearfully broken and rusty in places. TO MISS ELIZABETH H. CLARK Nahant, May 29, 1897 Dear Miss Clark : . . . Everything is prospering in the sunshine after the soft rain. My laburnum tree is in blossom and my purple irises most beautiful. I am getting ready for you, as you see. If I can only coax the roses out by June 15th! July 29, 1897. — A violent southerly storm with tremendous rain. I have been in the Arctics with Nan- sen all day. What a fascinating book ! January 5, 1898. — Yesterday to Nannie's funeral. I came straight home and spent the rest of the day in all sorts of business to be cleared away. It was the best occupation and helped to bring one back into the everyday current of life. I spent the day by myself and put my house in order. In February, 1898, a heavy sorrow came to Mrs. Agassiz in the death of her sister. Miss Sallie Gary; " the world seems so strange and different without her," she writes in her diary, "the best, the truest, dearest sister, strength and support to us all." March 12, 1898. — To Council meeting. One must begin some time to take up the thread of life again» S70 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ but it is hard. One feels the attitude as something un- natural, and after control comes the break-down. April 22. — The war with Spain, if not declared by word of mouth, is nevertheless known by the hoarse notes of the guns in preparation — an unholy war, for it is not justified by the circumstances. What will be the end no man can say. Nahant, May 21. — Emma called for me and we went together to the train for Lynn. It was a strange experience, we two together — all that were left of the old Nahant household. June 1. — The papers say that our ships are bom- barding Santiago de Cuba. "War is Hell" is well said. July 5. — News of victory for us in Cuba — Cer- vera's fleet destroyed. Santiago must be in our power, but, oh, the tragedy of it, the suffering! TO MISS GRACE NORTON Nahant, August 3, [1898] . . . One thing has surprised me in the things written or spoken about Sallie, and that is that people who, one would say, had hardly seen and known her familiarly enough to receive a distinct impression of her rare qualities have said the most discriminating things about her. . . . Her singing was the expression of what was so pure, so noble, so true to herself and to others in her own nature. Life goes on and I have a great deal to make me happy, but there is something beside — homesickness is the best name for it, per- haps — but we must not dwell on that side. THE LAST YEARS 371 Nahant, August 24, 1898 Yes, it is a very intangible, inexplicable ripening of life that makes itself felt as we near the end, and which is very consoling and reassuring. It is difficult to say (even to one's self) exactly what it means, but one rests in it with a certain quiet acceptance that brings strength. December 14-, 1898. — "Queens" [a small club of old friends] at Clem Crafts'. It was very pleasant; our relation to each other is so simple and affectionate and the talk is very refreshing. The women are so bright and interested in all sorts of good things. February 9, 1899. — Went to the concert in the evening. Aus der Ohe played and then we had the en- chanting Brahms waltzes. The best waltz is like life, — a touch of pathos surging to the surface, mingled constantly with the gaiety and the movement. February 26, Sunday. — Tomorrow will be just a year since Sallie passed out of sight. The real anni- versary was the twenty-seventh, but Sunday seemed more like it, because she died on Sunday. I had just risen this morning and let in the daylight, when just outside my chamber door Jose the sweetest, softest music — voices singing the trio, "Lift up thine eyes unto the mountains." Sallie and Mary and I used to sing it so much together, especially at the Channing Hospital. At first the surprise was so absolute, the music so low and far away it seemed to me to come from heaven — as if I were half there. It was overwhelming — but it is well to have the 372 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ flood gates opened sometimes to a grief which most of the time you must suppress. It helps, and then it seems so much more natural than to go on your way seemingly unchanged. It was very beautiful, and it was Mrs. Gallison's loving thought. She came to me with two of her pupils and waked me with the heav- enly music, but she did not know what associations it had for me and Mary and Sallie. September 29, Nahant. — ^^Every spare minute for the last fortnight I have been reading theBrowning letters, entering "where angels fear to tread." It is an ex- traordinary experience, a laying bare of souls. You can- not help but read, though it seems such an intrusion. October 11. — The little girls lunched with me after passing most of the morning playing with their new stoves. Then we went to walk together and pass- ing a rather poor looking house by the roadside, where in the yard there were crowds of hens, chickens, ducks; we went in and the good woman of the house allowed the little children to feed them; they were enchanted. A Uttle farther on we made a visit to some pussies on the steps of the piazza, and then returning we met Mama on horseback, and she gave them a ride. So the afternoon was, quite eventful. June 25, 1900. — Went to see Mr. EUot and he told me of Alex's letter concerning the gift from him- self, Quin, Ida and Pauline, $100,000 for completing the fagade of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. What a joy it would have been to their father ! In the latter part of the summer of this year an indefin- THE LAST YEARS 373 able change in Mrs. Agassiz's physical condition took place; she had no illness, but various minor indispositions left her visibly older and she remained more or less of an invahd through the autumn. Yet although the years then first began to exact their toll, she was able to resume many of her activities before the winter had passed, and the account of her visit at Hamilton given below as well as the record of some of her days shows that she by no means lost all her earlier vigor in 1900. Time treated her gently, but be- ginning with the late summer of that year," the leaves look pale, dreading the winter's near." October 13, 1900. — Had a quiet morning. Dined or lunched early after reading score of Beethoven mass. Went to rehearsal. Did not feel fatigued. October 23. — A book when I am alone. I am finding refuge in the Carlyle literature. I have read it all be- fore years ago, but it not only bears but gains by a second reading — the four volumes of Froude, the Letters and Memorials, the Reminiscences — wonder- ful presentation of a life. October 25. — Oh, how wonderful is this experience of old age! No one knows till they reach it how pass- ing strange — on the brink of the Unknown! I re- member dear Sallie's pregnant saying, "How much do you know of tomorrow ? it is as much closed to you as the greater future." December 2Jf. — Governor Wolcott's funeral — the whole town in mourning for a man beloved and re- spected by every one, "stainless and fearless," Christ- mas at Shady Hill — an interesting occasion always — cheerful and informal, in the spirit truly Christ- 374 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ mas. [Christmas Eve at Shady Hill, the residence of Professor Charles Eliot Norton, became a Harvard institution after 1886, when Professor Norton inau- gurated the custom of receiving informally all stu- dents from a distance, who were passing the holidays in Cambridge.] January 1, 1901. — The new century began last night at midnight. I am so sorry that I did not hear and see the celebration at the State House. It seems to have been so beautiful in spirit and so impressive. The trumpets from the State House, the singing joined in by the multitude, the Lord's Prayer in which the crowd joined. It was all serious and the crowds of people quiet and serious. Today I have been at home, and indeed yesterday, for much as I wished to see and hear what went on at the State House I did not dare. January 30. — Reading all day — Barrett Wendell; a very readable book, especially for one who has lived as I have through the greater part of the cen- tury. His short sketches of the authors whom he associates with the growth of the history of America amount to brief memoirs. His generalizations go too far, perhaps, in the parallelism of the literary, social and political development of the country, but it is a very thoughtful, suggestive book. February 20. — A rather full day. Dentist. Lunch with the "Queens." French lecture, M. Deschamps — delightful. Sallie Whitman to dine. Evening, meet- ing of the Associates of RadcliflFe. March 22. — To my dear Lizzie [Cabot] Lee. So THE LAST YEARS 375 strange that we should be two old women talking of the days when we were young. TO FRAU CECILE METTENIUS November 6, 1901 . . . The old pantheistic idea of "God in Nature" . . . holds a very beautiful truth, no doubt; — a divine being ever present in the world he has made. But when you try to specialize (I would almost say materialize) this thought, it escapes you and is lost in the vast distance where these great mysteries lie; they are intangible — in trying to hold them we lose them. This "new thought" may perhaps be leading through scientific research to some unlooked-for rev- elation, but I do not hear any confirmation of these theories of Christian Science and the like from the men who are the closest investigators. They come rather from the outsiders than from the laboratories where the researches are carried on. The only man I know who has given his name to this new aspect of speculation is our dear friend William James, the psychologist. I think he does believe in the healing power of some of these "Christian Scientists" and does believe that their methods may lead to good in the end. But I will not talk farther of these vague and as it seems to me crude views. December 5. — My birthday — seventy-nine. Flow- ers and love from every side. I should be and am very grateful. December 6. — All went well yesterday. I think it 376 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ was felt to be pleasant. Such days are exciting, but they leave lovely memories. Dinner, ten in all, count- ing myself. Kate made a beautiful cake — no candles; seventy-nine were due, but that would have made a deep hole in the candle-box, beside being a very serious comment upon my old age. January 5, 1902. — Having finished Martineau's biography I am now reading his Study of Religion. Far be it from me to say I understand it. January 11. — Still reading Martineau's Study of Religion. It is very interesting, but I confess that all the efforts to prove that the presence of evil in the world is part of the beneficence of God seem to me futile; that without a sinner, for instance, you cannot have a saint, — without sensitiveness to pain we can- not have sensitiveness to pleasiu-e. When we think of the nameless crimes committed on the earth together with the open record of horror and suffering one would think that no being at once beneficent and all-powerful would make a world which includes such possibilities. Perhaps the other life when we come to it may ex- plain this one. But all these arguments drawn from the idea that good is impossible without evil (which is just what we beHeve Heaven to be) seem to me a begging of the question. Is Heaven then impossible without Hell .'' — One would answer " impossible with Hell, " since the knowledge that others are in mortal suffering while you are free from all pain or sorrow would in itself impair all conscious enjoyment of your own happiness. And yet there is "a soul of good in all things evil." For good may we read God? THE LAST YEARS 377 January 12. — Martineau says striking thiags, as this — "For character to lose its hold on the affairs of men and serve the anarchies of impulse is no more possible than for the sheep to drive the shepherds." However his justification of the Providence of God in the permission of crime and cruelty in the world fails like all such arguments to satisfy one. Of slavery, for instance: — if slavery is intended to work out a good result in the end, it is none the less impossible to think of it as an instrument in the dealing of an all- wise, all-beneficent creator with his creatures. Better to leave the mystery unsolved than to admit such an explanation. January 26. — We passed the morning at Mrs, [John L.] Gardner's. There is but one thing to be said, — what the newspapers call her "palace" is simply a beautiful creation. It must always be a deUght for every lover of art and architecture, and its very pres- ence in the city is a benefaction to the community, for it sets a standard of ideal beauty, largeness of conception, combined with such exquisite charm and grace of expression as can never be overlooked. No building erected for artistic purposes can be hereafter built in Boston without reference to this work of Mrs. Gardner's as a standard, a measure of com- parison. TO MRS. JAMES T. FIELDS Hamilton, March 25, 1902 Mt dear Friend: I cannot resist the temptation to answer your card by a note. Your tempting in- 378 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ vitation finds me at Hamilton which at this season means deep in country life, for only the village people remain here through the winter. My grandson Rodolphe and his wife have gone to England. . . . They will be gone for two or three months, and I am here to look after their two dear little girls during their absence. I have a sense of rest here which is very refreshing, and not lonely, since I have the companionship of the dear children who are most obedient and affec- tionate. They are just at the age when story books are their delight, and that is such a delightful occu- pation both for reader and listener. When not reading to them I am reading to myself, and to have undis- turbed time for books is a great luxury. Our lives for the most part are too busy. Then it is a great pleas- ure to look out on the pine woods so dose about us, on the blue bits of water bordered by trees, on the low hills and the open meadows — there is no fine scenery but a rolling country with pasture land and well wooded; it is very restful and pleasant. Farewell, dear friend, and my love to you and Sarah [Jewett]. Yours always and always, Elizabeth C. Agassiz The visit at Hamilton proved an occasion of great hap- piness to Mrs. Agassiz. There are few more attractive pages in her diary than those in which she records from day to day the doings of the little girls, and they admirably illus- trate with what felicity she put herself on a level with chil- dren and truly felt with them in all their interests. THE LAST YEARS 379 March 18, 1902. — Marie and Rodolphe got off this morning, and the children and I and Jackie also were at the dining-room window with waving of hands and handkerchiefs, and barks thrown in. I said to Jackie, "You'll miss your master badly, Jackie," to which Marie added as a supreme consolation, "Yes, but you '11 have Grandma." After the travellers had gone the children unpacked with me, and as they found many small surprises for themselves in my baggage they were quite pleased. This afternoon the weather cleared and they had their walk and then we read together and now they are fast asleep. March 22. — There is Uttle to say. — A sort of pause has come in my life, and it has a great charm for me thus far. In the early mornings I am reading the book that Pauline likes so much — Reli- gion and Democracy. It is certainly a striking book — suggestive to me, at least. But there is a certain sense of effort about the style — a striving after originality of form and phrase, — sometimes one would say a touch of Emerson, but without his simplicity and un- consciousness. The thoughts are certainly strong and large. One has a sense of completeness in the universe as a whole. And yet, — and yet, — the mysteries remain. March 24- — A beautiful day, and I lengthened my walk a little. But walking when you are old is a very different thing from walking when you are young. The springiness, the elasticity is all gone, — an im- mense pleasure has become a duty, and yet it is better to keep it up if one can. 380 ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ March 25. — The children as well as myself have had a lovely day with "Aunt Pauline." She was sweet with them. We cut out animals and played menagerie with our paper wild beasts and circus with our harle- quins and riders in pasteboard and fine costumes (the paper animals prove to be a great success). After Pauline had gone we read Rosy's Travels; very tran- quillizing. March 31. — Received Ulysses from Ida by this day's mail and read it breathless through the whole morning. The old legend is undying, since it awakens poetry and imagination and beauty in these days which are called prosaic. In a letter written to another friend during her stay in Hamilton, Mrs. Agassiz says: My occupations consist chiefly in reading fairy stories for the children and making clothes for their dollies. I wish you could see them — they are very dear little persons. They have just come into possession of a little lamb. They have named it Flossie on account of its soft white wool, and I am commissioned by them to buy a bell and a blue riband for its neck when I go to town tomorrow. I do not know that there is anythiag much nicer than the companionship of little children, and I find it quite diflBcult to tear myself away from my quiet life here, as I shaU do tomorrow for a day or two. The occasion referred to in the following selections was the opening of the Geological Section of the Harvard Uni- THE LAST YEARS 381 verslty Museum, after the southwest corner of the fagade, which had been given by the children of Agassiz in the preceding year, had been finished. The event was impor- tant, for it marked the completion, except for a part of the south wing, of the building that had been the aim of Agassiz, whose plan for the Museum had had a far wider scope than its original name, the Museum of Comparative Zoology, impUed. June 12. — Meeting; Museum, speeches, etc. All went oflf successfully. — As I looked at the building of such magnitude as to be really impressive — and picturesque too with its drapery of vines, — and as I saw the crowds flocking towards us, I thought of [Agassiz's] shanty built of rough boards — not large enough to hold half a dozen people, its only furni- ture a kitchen table and a few pine shelves against the wall — and compared it with the huge building containing one of the finest collections of Natural History in the world; it seemed to me impossible that the one should have been the beginning and, as it were, the foundation of the other. July 16, Nahant. — Reading French at sight. It seems a little absurd to be pursuing modern languages when you are face to face with your eightieth birth- day. I wonder why I do it. August 16. — I have heard such good music at Emma's this morning. They sang things which carried me back to the old days irresistibly. What a strange thing it is to live things over, to find them as real and true as ever in your memory, and yet not be sure that you shall have them again. 382 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ January 34, 1903. — There was a man who said, "If it were not for my pleasures, I could get on very well." Sometimes the same reflection in which wit and wisdom are combined comes to me. Take Tues- day next for example; — Lunch at Clem Crafts'. Re- turn home for tea, 4-6. Go back to town to Ida's; with her to see Julius Caesar in the evening. All are tempt- ing, — one is rather much at eighty years of age — unless one has a temperament like my dear Julia Ward Howe. January 27. — Limch at Clem Crafts' very pleas- ant. Returned for afternoon tea at home. Then to Ida's, went with her to see Mansfield as Brutus in Julius Caesar. I did not care for him; stilted and posing, with no distinction, nothing noble in bearing. The actors of Shakespeare of my youth had much elegance both in their reading and action. Their diction and delivery were noticeably fine; witness Macready, Booth, Wallack, Fechter — you could not forget their phrasing of certain passages. February 6. — Brooks House tea this afternoon. I really think these teas are going to help in bringing the older and younger society of Cambridge together — that is, the society of the College. After all what is the life of Cambridge but the life of the students and the cultivated men who make the background of their academic education? That forms the whole community, and it surely ought to form a homogene- ous one. This will go far to make it so. November 10. — Opening Germanic Museum, after- noon. German play, evening. Ida and Henry to dine. THE LAST YEAHS 383 I am glad that this celebration of the Germanic Mu- seum was so dignified and worthy of an occasion which really was one of great significance for Harvard with a somewhat wider importance also. Ida told me that among the speakers WilUam James outdid himself. The closing address was his, and after the somewhat long speeches of the earlier afternoon he dismissed the audience in the best of humors by his wit and lighter touch. His wit has always a literary refine- ment and a certain elegance in the turn of phrase, while it is also perfectly spontaneous and natural. January 3, 1904- — A cold and stormy day which I devoted to William Story's Life. It is an extremely interesting book, not only for the given subject, but for the entourage, the stage setting. The scheme of the book is ingenious and original — the whole is presented as part of a vanished past, out of which the "Dramatis Personae" loom up, evoked as it were from the mists and haze of time, — so many "ghosts" as the author calls them; and so they seem indeed, outlined against the vivid foreground of Italian life and color and movement. Henry James's intricacies of style render it somewhat difficult of interpreta- tion, but happily the people of whom he treats are simpler than he is, and much of the material consists of the very frank famiUar correspondence, January k- — Was reading today Miss Crawford's account of John Eliot and his Indians. It is pictur- esque and effective, and she feels that had his plan been carried out the Indians would have been made an integral and serviceable part of the American nation. 384 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ Here I think she is entirely mistaken. The whole history is a story of failure, — a failure which makes the volume in the Harvard Library containing John Eliot's translation of the Bible into the Indian tongue one of the saddest sights in the world. One of the noblest and at the same time one of the most futile efforts to Christianize and civilize a savage people, it ends in a volume that no man can read, which re- mains a curiosity. Now and then some one asks to look at it, but only from that point of view. I do not think it has ever been used in the religious instruction of the Indians except by John Eliot himself. January 21. — The children came today; much enchanted. When after lunch they said, " What shall we do this afternoon?" I answered, "You like to help Amelia about her work; she may have something to unpack." They were enchanted — especially when they dived into the boxes and found dollies and beds and chairs and washstands, etc. They quickly ar- ranged a bed chamber for the new children, and had a lovely afternoon with them. I begin to find the con- venience of a telephone. I sent a list to Schwartz for what I wanted, and had the whole set before the children arrived, to my great joy as well as theirs. February 1. — I think the children are very ad- vanced in their music — they write it very nicely, drawing their lines and making their notes neatly and their intervals correctly. It is a very good begin- ning. February 3. — The children left me this morning. It has been a lovely fortnight with them, and I hope THE LAST YEARS 385 they will come later. They have been making and I have been renewing acquaintance with Miss Edge- worth, — Simple Susan, Lazy Lawrence, Barring Out, and all the rest of it. It is really pleasant to re- turn to these old friends. For my own reading, I have been deeply interested in Morse's Life of Holmes. Toward the end of his days one sees that he, too, came face to face with the great mystery. Dying do we leave this life a "futile failure" and return to unconsciousness, or do we meet another life full of inJBnite possibilities.'' February 11. — A black woman, or rather mulatto, came to see me yesterday about a negro school in Alabama. When we had finished about the school, she said, " You have been kind to me; I wonder if I could give you pleasure by singing for you the songs of my people." Of course I was glad. She went to the piano and touching a few chords began to sing. I have rarely been more moved. It was not dramatic, still less melodramatic. It was to the last degree genuine and unconscious. The first word or hne, "Were you there when He was crucified.''" was overwhelming. Not from its pathos — not from any attempt to make it touching, — but it was a person in the very time asking the question of another who might have been there. I can never forget it. It was as if I might have been present myself. Afril 24. — This has been the most heavenly Sun- day. We were^all at Luly Dresel's to hear a trio written by her father when he was about twenty and looked upon by Mendelssohn and Liszt and Schubert 386 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ as a most promising young musician. This trio was then played in Berlin, — brought forward by these older musicians and thought by them a remarkable production for so young a man. This was rehearsed — ah, such a delightful afternoon. We seemed behind the scenes, as it were, while the musicians discussed and criticized and analyzed their work. And then came songs of Dresel's; it seemed to us that he must be there. In the summer of 1904 the record in the diary is inter- rupted by Mrs. Agassiz's illness, and after this she was never again able to resume the ordinary course of her life. Although she was not constantly confined to her room or even to the house, her days were substantially those of an invalid. "The record for every day is much the same," she writes in her diaiy on January 21, 1905. "The variety comes from flowers sent in by friends — the visits of dear people who come to see me and brighten up my imprison- ment — many pleasant little incidents." Not the least of these "pleasant incidents" were the visits of children, in whom her joy remained imabated, and who flickered like little flashes of sunshine across the gray hours of her in- validism. It was about this time that she stationed a large woolly lamb of many charms in her window to delight the eyes of a neighbor's baby, it being understood that when he was able to call upon her, walking alone, he was to become its proud possessor. "The dearest children from Hamilton," the note in her diary for January 18, 1905, reads. "I had some paint-boxes for them made up in the form of little handbags and containing everything that juvenile artists could need. They were so pleased, and they THE LAST YEARS 387 ask for so little — just to sit in my room and read aloud to me — enough to make them quite happy." And on St. Valentine's Day of the same year she records a call from a yoimg lover, — "It was a Valentine visit; dear little fellow, he was so pleased to bring me a bunch of lihes of the valley, and he took home as his own Valentine a box of very fine paper soldiers." Flowers, too, never ceased to be a deUght to her. "Orchids — such heavenly things," "flowers of the most enchanting kind," "orchids — Ulac, purest amethyst and pale yellow — a beautiful combina- tion" — these are some of the terms in which she records the gifts that gratified her. Her diaries also contain numer- ous entries, showing the extent of her reading during much of this time, and how greatly she was able to enjoy it. January 17, 1905. — I have a great deal of pleas- ant reading: Morley's Gladstone, unfinished. John Andrew, brilliant story of an interesting and very monaentous lite. Roma, Maude Elliott — to the last de- gree interesting. Norton and Ruskin — a rare friend- ship, recorded in letters. Montaigne, Grace Norton — from various aspects and points of view, a very schol- arly work — a help to any one who would fain be better acquainted with Montaigne and his friends, not only as men of letters and as men of the world, but as companions and co-workers. March 8, 1905. — Mimi [Mrs. Theodore Lyman] brought me glorious carnations. She sent me the Stevenson letters a day or two [ago] and I have been reading them ever since ; very entertaining. She brought me also to read aloud a letter from Alex — There was a passage which spoke of our relation to each other 388 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ (his and mine) which I could hardly read myself with- out emotion. April 8, 1906. — I am reading for the second time Newman's Apologia pro Vita Sua. I confess I have found it diflficult tp understand how a man of so power- ful, so logical a nature could enter into the CathoUc Church. Does he himself give us a clew? He says (p. 44 of the Apologia), "From the age of fifteen dogma has been the foundation principle of my religion. I cannot enter into the idea of any other sort of reli- gion." How then should he find himself landed else- where than iu the headquarters of dogma, creeds, sacraments, sacramental rites? May 22, 1906. — I am re-reading Emerson's biog- raphy by Eliot Cabot. How far away and how de- lightful those days seem! May 25. — Finished Emerson today. He and his comrades made a most interesting set of men, and Eliot Cabot has put them together in a very effective and human sort of way. After 1904 Mrs. Agassiz did not return to Nahant, but on the advice of her physicians spent the remaining sum- mers of her life with her niece. Miss Louisa Felton, who owned an attractive cottage at Arlington Heights. Although Mrs. Agassiz at times thought wistfully of her beloved Nahant, she greatly enjoyed the beautiful view from Miss Felton's verandah over woodland and distant hills, and at the end of her first season there, she wrote to a friend, "It has been a summer of health and happiness for me and I am grateful for it." Eighty-three is not an age at which new surroundings, however desirable, are usually wel- THE LAST YEARS 389 corned, and it was doubtless the fruit of Mrs. Agassiz's life- long habits of adaptation that she accepted the charms of Arhngton Heights with the appreciation that she expresses in the following letters. TO MRS. JAMES T. FIELDS Quiney Street, Cambridge, April 1, [1905] My Well-Beloved Friend: The glimpse of Sarah [Jewett] and yourself in that dear South Berwick note from you took me down to the riverside and gave me all the country sights and sounds in which you are rejoicing. I too have had a lovely visit with my Emma and I understand from the few lines for her in your note how well you know our lives to- gether, between music and books and the mingled past and present which we share. You will have heard perhaps that I am again leaving my beloved Nahant this summer and going to my niece Lisa Felton, who has a dear little nest on Arlington Heights command- ing one of the finest views I know. Night is really a revelation of Heaven trembling with countless worlds above you — but I will not try to describe it though I wish you could see (it) with me. I went there last year at the command of the phy- sicians — "higb and dry," — such was the air they ordered and it certainly proved most salubrious, — beside its beauty in point of situation. I am just now expecting my son from across the water. He has had an enchanting winter on the Nile; after seven winter voyages of most laborious work 390 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ among the Coral islands of the Southern Pacific he has at last taken a vacation which he has greatly enjoyed. Now he is coming home for his Newport summer. I hear only dimly from the world outside; but I have tidings now and then of Radchffe and its affairs from Miss Irwin and from our President — Mr. Briggs, one of the faculty. He is a charming man and a great favorite with the students. When I remember our small beginniags — without buildings or books or apparatus which makes the outfit of an educational in- stitution, I can hardly beUeve that we are as it were anchored against the whole teaching force of Harvard. But I must not run on. Hoping that I may have the happiness of seeing you both as the warm weather sets us free. Your loving old friend, E. C. Agassiz "The carriage is just about to arrive," she wrote to an- other friend a few weeks later, " in order to take this old lady to her summer residence on Arlington Heights. I am ahnost reconciled to leaving Nahant for that beautiful summit, where stretches of woodland alternate with dis- tant towns and villages, lost at last in our big Boston and its far away harbor; and then comes night, crowned with the constellations and sometimes with the morning or the evening stars." One of the advantages of Arlington Heights was its accessibility to Boston, so that Mrs. Agassiz was not de- prived of the visits from step-children and friends, which were a great source of pleasure. No account of these years THE LAST YEARS 391 would be complete without a mention of the devoted com- panionship given her by her only remaining sisters, Mrs. Curtis and Miss Gary. Mrs. Curtis's visits were her contin- ual delight both in anticipation and in retrospect, while Miss Gary's music never lost its charm for her. "I long to see my Emma," she writes from Arlington Heights in Sep- tember, 1906, "to hear her play Ghopin, so full of passion and sweetness as his music is, with a touch all her own. Some one said one day on hearing her for the first time, 'I have heard aU the virtuosos who come to Boston, but here is something I do not recognize — a personal note which I hear for the first time.' I know it well and long for it." To the end of her life Mrs. Agassiz's afifections remained strong, and in the few following letters, found in draft among her papers and among the latest that she wrote, the note of friendship sounds as clear and sweet as an eve- ning belL TO OWEN WISTER Arlington Heights, [June, 1906] Deab Owen: You will think I have neither read nor enjoyed your book [Lady Baltimore], and yet I have done both; but an invalid (especially one whose failure makes part of her eighty-three years) has to postpone many things. To tell the truth when the book was brought to me it recalled the time when you were just on the threshold of life, when you used to look in upon me sometimes in the evening, having the kindness to give me a lesson in Wagner — I was, and still am, a very poor scholar on that ground. The older music is to me the dearest. I remember the 392 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ programme in an afternoon in the Conservatoire in Paris: — Ave Verum Corpus, Mozart; Gloria, Pales- trina; Fifth Avenue. But I want to talk to you of yoUr book and tell you how much I loved it. I, too, when I was before the river used to float down to the beach, the soft bells following me with their soft thrill. At that time Mr. Agassiz was living at the island, having the privilege of a cottage there to be used as a laboratory, and the girls and I used to go down to pass Sunday with him. And so, you see, this boOk had a special and personal charm for me and I thank you doubly for sending it to me. It is the delightful renewal of many old and pleasant associations. Good-bye, and may a blessing ever follow you and yours. Think of me always as Your faithful old friend, E. C. Agassiz TO PROFESSOR CHARLES ELIOT NORTON (Written after Mrs. Agassiz had received Henry Wadsworth LongfeUow, containing Longfellow's chief autoUographical poems and a sketch of his life by Norton.) [1907] My deab Mr. Norton: How shall I thank you? You have called up the fairest memories; you have knitted a chain which I had thought dissevered, from the "Prelude" to the closing lines, "And as the evening twilight fades away The sky ia filled with stars invisible by day." THE LAST YEARS 393 Its earlier chapters are interwoven with Shady Hill and all its attractions. Need I say how much of the happiness of my personal life is owed to that delight- ful circle, where the men were so intelligent and so kindly, and the women so cultivated and sweet? Such were some of the brighter rays that lighted Mrs. Agassiz's last years; but " the ship was nigh unto the har- bor, and the pilgrim was reaching the city, and Ufe was close unto its end." Slowly the day was fading, yet the clouds that gathered at evening never shrouded, even though they dimmed, the rare and delightful qualities that had been hers since the morning of life. Through the late winter and the spring of 1907 her strength gradually failed, but in June she was able to go to Arlington Heights. Three weeks later, on June 27, the release came, and her spirit returned unto God who gave it. CHAPTER XV COMMEMORATION ADDRESSES, AGASSIZ HOUSE DECEMBER 8, 1907 ON the afternoon of Sunday, December 8, 1907, a meeting in memory of Mrs. Agassiz was held in Agassiz House. President Briggs presided and the speakers were Miss Georgina Schuyler of New York, representing the Agassiz School, Professor WilUam Watson Goodwin, Professor Charles EUot Norton, and President Charles W. EUot. Perhaps nothing that was said that afternoon bet- ter conveyed the influence of Mrs. Agassiz's personality than the closing sentences of the few words spoken by President Briggs: "If it is true that 'Prayer is the soul's sincere desire. Uttered or unexpressed,' whoever came into her presence prayed; and his prayer was, 'Create in me a clean heart, O God.'" The addresses follow. MISS GEORGINA SCHUYLER Allow me to express to the Faculty and the students of Radcliffe College the gratification of a pupil of Agassiz School that the School is to be represented here today, and her appreciation of their indulgence in listening for a few minutes to the recollections of fifty years ago. It is the beloved and revered memory of Mrs. Agassiz, that unites School and College, that THE AGASSIZ GATE, EADCLIFFE COLLEGE COMMEMORATION ADDRESSES 395 brings us all here, and encourages me to address you, however madequately. For, to go back from Radcliffe College to Agassiz School is something like going back to the nursery. Yet the nursery holds an important place, and surely the good seed sown in Agassiz School has blos- somed in Radcliffe College! To the seventy school-girls or more, between the ages of fifteen and eighteen, who every morning came running up the staircase to the third story of Mrs. Agassiz's home in Quincy Street, to their cheerful, well-lighted, well-warmed, and well-ventilated class- rooms, the phrase "Higher Education of Women" was unknown. Yet, like M. Jourdain, who had spoken prose all his life without knowing it, we had the Higher Education offered to us. Indeed we had the Highest Education: the daily contact with superior minds imbued with a desire to impart their knowl- edge to us, to give us high standards, to awaken wide interests. And thus we school-girls had a glimpse and foretaste of the good things that were coming to women all the world over, and we can especially re- joice in Radcliffe's adult strength, in its organized growth and power. In her Life of Louis Agassiz, Mrs. Agassiz gives a few pages to the School. It owed its existence, she states, as many another school has done, to the desire of the wife, the son, the daughter, to lift a burden from the head of the family. The plans, she relates, were discussed in secret between the three, but, when the conspirators with many misgivings unfolded their 396 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ plot, to their surprise Agassiz seized upon the idea with delight — said his name must appear on the cir- cular — he himself would give instruction. This hearty cooperation of his made the School. At that time, 1855, he was widely known in the United States, not only as an eminent scientific man but as a most interesting lecturer. Although it was a day school, pupils came from far and near. I recall a group of in- telligent girls from St. Louis who took the highest courses we had. There were also pupils from Buffalo, a few of us from New York City, but the large pro- portion came from New England, from Boston and vicinity. The School opened in 1855, closed in 1863, and was a success in every way, educationally and financially. Associated with Professor Agassiz in teaching was Professor Felton, afterwards President of Harvard College. Professor Pelton's mind was a storehouse of information from which, like the householder in the Bible, "he brought forth out of his treasure things new and old." He taught History, English literature. Rhetoric, Greek, Latin, Greek history, American history. But, apart from his regular courses of in- struction, the incidental facts he told us have re- mained with us for a lifetime, recurring to illuminate our own experiences, whether of reading or of travel, and I cannot but recall, also, the courtesy and kind- ness shown by this distinguished and scholarly man to us ignorant girls. Mr. Alexander Agassiz had the classes in mathe- matics, geometry, trigonometry and chemistry, lee- COMMEMORATION ADDRESSES 397 tures on astronomy, and on chemistry with experi- ments. Miss Helen Clapp, afterwards head of the well-known school in Boston, taught Latin, botany with Gray's text-books, and arithmetic. Miss Clapp's winning personaUty endeared her to every pupil in the School. She was associated with it from begin- ning to end, and was greatly valued by Mrs. Agassiz. Miss Katherine Howard and Miss Emily Howard, Miss Augusta Curtis and Miss Katherine Ireland were also teachers in the School. Miss Le Clere, an admirable teacher, had the French classes and lec- tures in French hterature. Professor Schmidt, of Har- vard, had the German classes; Professor Luigi Monti, of Harvard, the ItaUan. Mr. Gurney, later Dean of Harvard University, taught Greek. Professor James RusseU Lowell and Professor Child of Harvard lec- tured to the School, and there were lectures on art by William J. Stillman. To Mr. Alexander Agassiz, in addition to his classes, was entrusted the business management of the school. Miss Ida Agassiz, now Mrs. Henry Higginson, gave able and devoted assistance when the School opened, and later, by teaching French and German. One of the younger pupils of our School was Pauline Agassiz, now Mrs. Quincy Shaw, who has done more for edu- cation than any of us, through the introduction of the Kindergarten system into the Public Schools of Boston, and by other educational work. Naturally, the central figure of the School was Pro- fessor Agassiz himself. He had a genius for imparting what he knew. This, joined with his personal charm. S98 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ the beauty of his animated face, his enthusiasm for his subject which he inspired in others, made the great attraction. For eight years, with few interruptions, he gave daily lectures to us girls, always illustrating by specimens, maps, and by drawing on the blackboard in his incomparable manner. His courses of lectures comprised zoology and botany, geology and embryology. These lectures in- cluded the classification of plants and their geograph- ical distribution. He also gave us his famous lec- tures on glaciers — he having originated the glacial theory — and an elementary course of anthropology and ethnology. It was a wonderful gift of his to keep a classroom of girls alert and interested while describing the struc- ture of a jelly-fish, the distinction between Discophora and Ctenophora. Mrs. Agassiz is kind enough to say of us: "He never had an audience more responsive and more eager to learn than the sixty or seventy girls who gathered at the close of the morning to hear his daily lecture, nor did he ever give to any audience lectures more carefully prepared, more comprehensive in their range of subjeicts, more lofty in their tone of thought." He spoke several times of the diflSculty of translat- ing to us, in simple terms, the technical language of Science, so that we could understand him. He gave us a deep respect for the laborious collecting of scientific facts and a mistrust and dislike of what is superficial. At the same time his ideality appealed strongly to us, and some of us listened with tears in our eyes as he COMMEMORATION ADDRESSES 899 unfolded his theories and emphasized his belief in the ability of the mind of man to trace in Nature the creative thought of God. "What I wish for you," I can hear him say in his clear tones, "is a culture that is alive, active, susceptible of further development. Do not think that I care to teach you this or the other special science. My instruction is only intended to show you the thoughts in Nature which Science re- veals, and the facts I give you are useful only, or chiefly for this object." And now to speak of Mrs. Agassiz, the hostess of our School, for so she seemed to us. To her fell the administration, the discipline of the School. The fact that there were no marks for good or bad conduct, a new departure in those days, made this all the more difficult. Though keeping herself in the backgroimd (she taught no classes — she never addressed us), it was her ceaseless vigilance, her constant watchfulness, that smoothed the path for the teachers, that kept going the daily routine of the School in its orderly succession. But more than this, she had it so at heart, that we girls should get the benefit of our teaching, that we should see and appreciate what was given us, that, unconsciously, perhaps, she made us feel it. Above all, we were trusted, — both as to our conduct and the amount of work we did, — and, as a whole, we responded to her confidence in us. Her kindness to the girls who came from a distance, and had no relatives here, but boarded in Cambridge, was marked. But there was one merry little party that came out from Boston every morning in an om- 400 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ nibus reserved for them, which trundled down the hill of old Beacon Street, stopping at many doors, on through Charles Street to the house of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and so on out over the bridge to Cambridge, — a merry little party which was very much afraid of Mrs. Agassiz. They felt her eyes con- stantly upon them and there was no reprieve. "My dear Mary," laying her hand on the culprit's shoulder, "you must study your French verses," this the mild penalty for repeated whisperings in EngKsh, in a school where French was supposed always to be spoken. When we first entered school she received each one of us. She told us she would always be there, — always to be found by us if, for any reason, we needed her. When the term closed, I recall a few words of com- mendation and encouragement which she doubtless gave to each pupil, sometimes a message to our parr ents. Every day she looked in upon the classes — looked in and passed on — and when the Agassiz lecture came she sat, as one of the listeners, more diligent with her note-book than any of us. For, with her, Agassiz School was a formative period. The seed sown there was to develop into Rad- cliffe College and come to its full and beautiful frui- tion on that eightieth birthday, five years ago, of which the permanent material memorials is this Eliza- beth Cary Agassiz House where we are now assembled. On that birthday, nearly fifty years had elapsed since the opening of Agassiz School, more than twenty years since her love and solicitude had been awakened in behalf of the Harvard Annex, which ultimately COMMEMORATION ADDRESSES 401 was to become the Woman's College of Harvard University. That day witnessed the fulfilment of an important career, the rounding out and perfecting of a noble exceptional character. It is a privilege, it is an education to let the mind dwell upon that charac- ter, but other friends of hers, here today, will speak of this. What she was to Radcliffe, you know. What she was as the head of Radcliffe, you have witnessed. That noble presence — that poise — that dignity — that graciousness of manner which veiled the force of her character — her reticence — her kindness — all this Radcliffe knows — but Agassiz School had it too ! As she told us, she was always there — as in a sense she is here today. God grant her influence, and the blessing of it, may be here — for years and years to come. PROFESSOR GOODWIN The earliest distinct recollection I have of Mrs. Agassiz is a very pleasant one. When we were begin- ning, more than thirty years ago, to read Greek trage- dies and comedies to the Harvard students, I was about to read either the Antigone or the Frogs one evening, when Mrs. Agassiz and Mrs. Robert Storer came into the room with their Greek books and fol- lowed the reading most attentively. I could not have had a more delightful addition to my audience. These ladies represented a company of cultivated women, who read the classics intelligently and with pleasure, long before there were any women's colleges to teach them. Mrs. Storer, who survived Mrs. 402 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ Agassiz only a few weeks, with her sister, Miss Eliza- beth Hoar, and other Concord ladies, more than seventy years ago, read all the Greek and Latin authors which their brothers were studying here in college, and through long lives they never lost their love of classic hterature. One of these brothers was our beloved and revered Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar. It was hardly a year ago that Mrs. Storer (who was then nearly 90 years old) asked me to lend her the Hippolyttts of Euripides "in good large Greek type." This period of classical study in Concord began before Mr. Emerson made that town his home. In- deed it may well be thought that the attraction of this cultivated society helped to draw him thither. I remember with pleasure another one of my Greek readings, before which I found Mrs. Samuel Hooper, with her niece, Mrs. Gumey, toiling up the long stair- case of Harvard Hall with their Greek books to hear a comedy of Aristophanes. Mrs. Gurney herself was a brilliant example, in the second generation, of the scholarly company of ladies into which she was born. Her coming to Cambridge made an era in our intel- lectual life. She brought into it a fresh vitality which I shall never forget. I never undertook any important work in connection with my professorship without consulting her as well as her husband, and I never failed to receive the best advice. She became at once most devoted to our new women's college, and Mrs. Agassiz always depended upon her in every for- ward step which was taken. She was one of a class of ladies who one year entered their names as students COMMEMORATION ADDRESSES 403 of the "Annex," paid their fees, and read Greek poetry with me in my study. I feel that this occasion would be incomplete without even this inadequate tribute of appreciation to her services in our cause. It is pleasant to think, as we recall these older times, that through her first President RadcUffe has in- herited some of the atmosphere of this simple, digni- fied society. .When we were getting ready to give the Oedipus Tyrannus in Sanders Theatre, in 1881, Mrs. Agassiz took the greatest interest in all the preparations. She frequently attended the rehearsals, and her advice about the musical performance and the choral songs was always of the highest value. Her knowledge of music made her an authority upon many of the hard- est problems with which we had to deal. Once she gave me a solemn warning which alarmed me a little, when she thought that "the music was running away with the play." "I know you will not suspect me of being prejudiced against music," she said, "but I am really sometimes afraid that at the end you will find that you have only a beautiful opera with a Greek play attached to it." But after she had heard the first rehearsal of the play as a whole, she at once took back her warning, saying, "It's all going to be splen- did." (I suspect, however, that her warning had already been of some effect.) At the public perform- ances it was seldom that we did not have the satis- faction of seeing her in her special chair in the centre of the front row. It was a most important step which the ladies and 404 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ gentlemen who were informally discussing plans for the collegiate education of women in Cambridge took in February, 1879, when they invited Mrs. Agassiz to be one of their committee. She accepted this invi- tation at once; and thus began her close connection with this important movement, to which she devoted her best energies for the rest of her life. As soon as there was any formal organization of the managing committee, she was made its President; and after its incorporation as the Society for the Collegiate Instruc- tion of Women and again as Radcliflfe College, she remained its President and gave her life and soul to its welfare. No words of mine can even attempt to express her great and lasting services during this period of more than 28 years to the cause of sound learning and especially to the higher education of women in this country. Her long experience as a teacher of girls, her almost unerring practical wis- dom, and the unfailing common sense which she al- ways brought to the difficult problems which constantly faced us in our almost unexplored way, have done more, in my opinion, to make Radcliffe College what it now is, than all other causes combined. But be- yond and above all this was that gracious personality which always made itself felt in everything that she said or did, and gave an indescribable charm to all her intercourse with both teachers and students. We are soon to listen to the striking story of her powerful aid, in 1894, in rescuing us from the greatest danger to which we were ever exposed, when our wise con- servatism in gratefully accepting the generous con- COMMEMORATION ADDRESSES 405 ditions ofFered us by Harvard College brought us into bitter conflict with those who wished us to insist on a more complete union with the College than most of us thought to be either necessary or expedient. It was that same strong personality of Mrs. Agassiz which then saved us from defeat and gained us a victory even greater than we hoped for. And the result has amply proved the wisdom of the action then taken. I think it would be hard to find any one connected with the teaching of Radcliffe who now thinks that we should have gained anything if our elementary in- struction had been merged with that of the under- graduates of Harvard in the College classes. On the other hand, we felt that the admission of our grad- uate students and other advanced scholars to many of the most important graduate coiu-ses in the Uni- versity was the greatest privilege which could be given us; and Mrs. Agassiz appreciated at once that this open door would ultimately admit us to all that we could reasonably ask. The first year's trial (in 1894-1895) fully confirmed her judgment, when Rad- cliffe was able to offer 63 graduate courses of high rank, of which 53J were given in Harvard Univer- sity, where our students were admitted to the same classes with the men. This early announcement of graduate instruction in the University classes gave Radcliffe College a distinction of which no other col- lege for women in this country could boast, and it gave most encouraging promise of future facilities for even the most advanced university study. The words with which Mrs. Agassiz closed her 406 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ first report as President of Radcliffe well show her appreciation of what had already been done, and of the wider and brighter prospect which our incorpora- tion as a college offered for the future: "I wish it were possible for me to make, in broad and simple language, a statement of the force and efficiency of the instruction given here from the be- ginning. The standard has always been high and in- spiring, and it has told upon the whole character of the institution. It has enabled us to accomplish the purpose with which we started, — that of making a large and liberal provision for the education of women according to their tastes and pursuits, and according also to their necessities, should it be needful for them to use their education as a means of support. With this hope we started; and the position of Radcliffe College today may well assure us of its final fulfil- ment, even in a larger sense than the present. The University has taken us under her charge, has made herself responsible for the validity of our degrees by the strongest official guarantees, while the liberal in- terpretation she puts upon her own pledges shows that they include more than they promise. Even in this first year she opens to us a greatly enlarged field of study, including a far larger number of ad- vanced courses than we had hoped for. We may well say that, since the opening of the institution fifteen years ago, no year of its history has been so important as the present, for it gives us what we most needed, security and a certain and safe future under the guardianship of Harvard University." COMMEMORATION ADDRESSES 407 PROFESSOR NORTON In looking back over the long, happy and beneficent life of Mrs. Agassiz, as a contemporary may do who has known it from beginning to end, the most strik- ing feature in the survey is its sweet and steady con- sistency of excellence; and if one ask in what this chiefly consisted, the answer is plain, that she pos- sessed, in larger measure than most persons, that quality which is the root of all the virtues, simplicity of heart. This kept her free from what is a common hindrance even of those with the best intentions, — self-reference, self-consideration. No one, I think, ever met Mrs. Agassiz without being helped into the pleasantest relations with her, through the complete absence on her part of self -consciousness. It was this forgetfulness of self which enabled her to discharge, without the strain of conscious effort, such diflficult duties as from time to time it fell to her to perform. The whole lesson of her life is a lesson of character; she was not a woman of genius or of specially brilliant intellectual gifts; what she did, what she accom- plished, — and she did and accompUshed much more than most women for the good of the society in which she lived, — was not so much due to exceptional pow- ers as to the possession of certain not uncommon qual- ities in remarkable combination, all perfected by her simplicity of heart. She represented indeed a rare and beautiful type of womanhood with singular completeness; for her naturally quick, tender and comprehensive sym- 408 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ pathies, rendering her at all moments alive to the interests of others as if they were her own, were guided and controlled by a discerning and wise judg- ment, and animated by a courageous spirit. To this combination, a hardly less rare quickness of appre- ciation of whatever is beautifxil or interesting in life, was added. A lover of music : with a lively interest in literature: and with an enthusiastic but not ex- travagant admiration for all that is heroic and noble in human character, her soul was always open to the best influences which the world can exert. The last time I saw her — not many months ago in her sitting-room upstairs — she was seated with a read- ing-desk before her on which lay open two books re- lating to the recent discoveries in Mars. She spoke of them with vivacious interest and intelligence, and our talk ran on naturally from the wonders of astron- omy to the mysteries of the universe; mysteries which she confronted and accepted as simply as she had confronted and solved the problems of earthly life. * It is a great blessing for an institution, the life of which is to be measured by centuries, and which is as closely connected as Radcliffe with the highest in- terests of the community, to have for its founders men or women of such character as to make them contem- poraneous with each successive generation, and exem- plary from the possession of character such as all may imitate; 'admirable and inspiring men and women yet not removed from the common lot by unusual bril- liancy of gift or marked superiority of intellectual COMMEMORATION ADDRESSES 409 power. Such was Mrs. Agassiz, delightful in life and in memory to all who enjoyed the blessing of her friendship. Whatever tradition may, in the course of centuries, gather around her person, she will surely stand as a noble figure of ever contemporaneous womanhood, modest, sympathetic, wise, sufficient for whatever duty, PRESIDENT ELIOT It was fourteen years ago next spring that I saw Mrs. Agassiz appear before a singularly hostile audience attending a hearing before the Committee on Educa- tion of the Massachusetts Legislature on a statute establishing and defining Radcliffe College. Now the Committee on Education is not one of the most dis- tinguished committees of the Legislature. It ought to be; but it is not. The ambitious and able members of the Legislature prefer service on the Judiciary Com- mittee, the Committee on Metropolitan Affairs, or the Committee on Railroads. And so it happens almost every year that the Committee on Education consists of a number of remarkably plain men, or, we may say, of good common citizens of Massachusetts. It was so fourteen years ago next spring. Radcliffe College, successor to the Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women, had come before the Legislature for its first charter. I have said that the audience which collected in that spacious committee room was singularly hostile. It was largely composed of women; but the expression on their faces, as I looked at them, was not tender. It 410 ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ was set, and set in opposition to the plan that Mrs. Agassiz was to advocate. The greater part of the audience was of the opinion that either there should be a completely separate college for women in Cam- bridge, with its own corporation, government, de- grees, and so forth, or that Harvard College should be opened to women on terms of complete equality with men. Either of these plans would have been accept- able to the great majority of the audience. The plan proposed was completely imacceptable. It was necessary to have a public hearing on the law chartering the new college. I need not say that Mrs. Agassiz shrank from this pubUc meeting. She never felt much confidence in her capacity to speak before a large audience. She always told me before the Radcliffe Commencement how much she dreaded her simple and dignified part in the ceremony. She thought she had no gift in public speech. She thought that the opposition would succeed. She knew that some members of the Committee had been primed by the opponents of the bill. The Chairman of the Com- mittee had been the head of a Massachusetts High School, accustomed to treating boys and girls on an equality and carrying them together through the same programme. The plan proposed could hardly be congenial to him. I went into the room with Mrs. Agassiz. On look- ing at the Committee it was plain that the task before her was going to be a diflScult one. On looking at the audience the task seemed more difficult still. She felt the situation keenly. The case was opened by a lawyer COMMEMORATION ADDRESSES 411 retained on behalf of the petition. He stated his case clearly and succinctly, but produced no eflfect, so far as I could judge, on the Committee. Several gentle- men addressed the Committee, most of them on be- half of the proposal. I spoke myself, explaining the relations which Harvard University would maintain in the future with the proposed Radcliffe College. The case looked perfectly hopeless when Mrs. Agassiz arose. She first read a paper which she had written, describing the aims of the college, and how they would be fulfilled in combination with Harvard University. I was looking straight at the Committee, and the soft- ening in the faces of the Committee was remarkable. Just her presence and her bearing changed the minds of those plain citizens of Massachusetts. The chair- man of the Committee was visibly affected by her reading of her exposition and argument. When her reading ceased, she said that she was ready to answer any questions the Committee might ask. Now that was really a terrible ordeal to her; but she felt it to be her duty and that it might prove a good way of serving her cause. And indeed it did. Her replies to the questions of the Committee were more effective than her paper. It was an effect produced by her personal bearing, by her speech, and by the abso- lute sincerity and disinterestedness of her petition. It was an effect of personality in public speech as strong and clear as I have ever seen. Before she ceased to speak, the case was won. The lawyer who was re- tained on the other side failed to make any adequate statement of the position of his clients. He was him- 412 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ self so impressed with Mrs. Agassiz's presentation of the case that he availed himself of a mode of retreat suggested to him by the counsel for the petition. He made no statement in opposition to Mrs. Agassiz. I suppose he did not feel equal to that task. I know I should have felt in that way, if I had been retained on the wrong side. Thereafter the petition for the estab- lishment of RadcUffe College went smoothly on its course, and the needed bill was passed. Mrs. Agassiz did not perceive at the moment the effect she had produced. She was agitated at the close of the meeting and felt that she had not suc- ceeded; so I had the pleasure of telling her that she had succeeded, and that she had succeeded all alone. The previous speakers have told of the womanly character of Mrs. Agassiz. She was cultivated, well- bred, and in her manner aristocratic, if you please, in the best sense; but there never was in this commu- nity a more influential woman, and in this case it ap- peared most clearly that her influence was of the strongest with common men. That is as it should be. I am sure those men said to themselves as they lis- tened to her, "I should like to do just what this wo- man wants me to do. I will vote for the establishment of any college of which this woman is to be the head. I will vote for the establishment of any college which is going to give this woman an opportunity to bring up some women like her." That was just the effect she produced. Everybody in the room felt it. "Let us have the college which this woman asks for, and let us hope that she will train up in it women hke herself." INDEX INDEX Adams, Charles Francis, 268, 273, 274. Agassiz, Alexander, 30, 37, 38, 45, 46, 56, 64, 93 £f., 171 ff., 175, 177, 178, 182, 185, 331, 372, 381, 387, 389, 396, 397. Agaasiz, Annie Russell, 64, 171, 172. Agassiz, Cecile Braun, 30, 32, 37, 58. AoAssiz, Elizabeth Caby (Mbs. Loais Agassiz) , ancestry and in- heritance, 1 ff.; birth, 9; child- hood in Brattleboro and New York, 9; life in Temple Place, Boston, 9 ff. ; brothers and sis- ters, 10; life at Nahant, 15, 16, 39, 172, 183, 277 ff., 367 ff ., 388; early education, 17; personal appearance, 17, 25, 35, 50, 218, 267, 401 ; her only misdemeanor, 18; girlhood, 18 ff., 30, 35; let- ters written in girlhood, 19 ff . ; at a dance, 24, 25; in The Waterman, 26; letters from New York, 28, 20; first impressions of Louis Agassiz, 30, 31; meeting with Agassiz, 34; her life compared with that of Agassiz, 35, 165, 171; marriage to Agassiz, 35; life in Oxford Street, Cambridge, 35 ff.; in Charleston, 40 ff.; letter from Charleston, 41; on Sulli- van's Island, 41 ff., 392; letter from Sullivan's Island, 42 ff.; letter from Washington, 44; ruse about a lost watch, 44; home in Quinoy Street, 45, 172; part in the Agassiz School, 45, 46, 48 ff., 399 ff.; attitude toward the School, 66, 104, 105; notes on Agassiz 's lectures in the School, 49, 400; assistance of Agassiz in his scientific work, 49, 51, 56 ff., 66, 69, 71, 81, 96, 113, 114, 118, 119 {see also below. Writings, A Journey in Brazil) ; on the fiftieth birthday of Agassiz, 54; interest in the Agassiz Museum, 56 ff., 92 ff., 372, 380, 381; summer in Europe, 58 ff . ; first visit to Mon- tagny and Lausanne, 59 S. ; let- ter from Lausanne, 59 ff. ; letter from Montagny, 62; her father's death, 63; resemblance to her father, 8, 63; style in scientific writings, 64, 107, 110; journey in Brazil, 68 ff.; records of, 69, 71, 96 (see also below. Writings, A Journey in Brazil) ; dance at an Indian lodge, 69; intercourse with the Imperial family, 70, 73, 74, 78 ff., 102, 124, 177 ff.; letter from the Colorado, 71, 72; study of Portuguese, 72; letters from Rio de Janeiro, 72 ff., 101, 102; ascent of Corcovado Peak, 75 ff . ; at lectures of Agassiz, Rio de Janeiro, 82 ff., 102; views on Brazilian women, 83, 89, 91, 92, 100; letter from Monte Alegre, 85 ff.; letters from Manaos, 88, 89, 93 ff . ; letter from the Ibicuhy, 91, 92; tribute to, from the la- dies of Manaos, 91, 92 ; letter from Pard, 95, 96; retrospect of Bra- zilian journey, 95, 96, 101 ; letter from Ceari, 96, 97; letter from Pacatuba, 97 ff.; ride to Paca- tuba, 97 ff . ; return to Cambridge, 103; visit to Washington, 110, 111; teas in Cambridge, 111, 112; summer in an absence of Agassiz, 112, 113; interest in the Humboldt celebration, 114; care of Agassiz in his illness, 115; at Deerfield, 115; letter from Deer- field, 115 ff.; on the Hassler ex- pedition, 118 ff. {«ee also Hassler Expedition) ; record of the expedi- 416 INDEX tion, 119; letters written on the expedition, — at sea, 119, 120, 122, 123, 133 £F.; at St. Thomas, 120 S.; Barbadoea, 122; Rio de Janeiro, 123, 124 ft.; Sandy Point, 126, 127; Monte Video, 127, 128; Bahia Blanca, 128 ff.; Port San Antonio, 130 ff.; Tal- cahuana, 145 ff. ; Curicu, 152 ff . ; Panama, 163; San Francisco, 164; return to Cambridge, 165; at Penikese Island, 166 ff.; be- reavement in the death of Agas- siz, 171 ff. ; care of the children of Alexander Agassiz, 171, 172, 175, 182, 185; views on happiness, 173, 175, 176; membership on a committee for collegiate instruc- tion for women, 192, 194, 196, 199, 201 ff., 403, 404; poUcy in regard to the aims of the com- mittee, 205; elected president of the Society for the Collegiate In- struction of Women, 207, 404; negotiations for the affiUation of the Society with Harvard Univer- sity, 231 ff., 243; consideration of the name " Radcliffe College," 241, 242; satisfaction in the pro- posed incorporation of Radcliffe College, 244; repUes to criticisms of the incorporation, 245; policy toward Harvard, 245 ff . ; at the hearing for the charter of Rad- cliffe College, 165, 249, 256, 257, 404, 405, 409 ff.; elected Presi- dent of Radcliffe, 258, 404; de- sire for a dean for Radcliffe, 258, 259; ideals for RadcUffe, 261 ff., 326 ff., 338 ff., 357, 358; services to the college, 263, 324, 325, 404; loyalty to Harvard, 263, 265; views on the education of women, 264, 358 ff.; influenced by her life with Agassiz, 264, 265; Wednesday teas. Fay House, 266, 342, 343, 353; dread of Commencement exercises, 267, 318, 319, 343; family interests, 276; her mother's death, 275; in- terest in the Kindergarten for the Blind, 275, 276; visit to the Pacific coast, 279; year in Eu- rope, 280 ff . ; letters from Paris, 282 ff., 287, 288, 308; memories of Agassiz abroad, 282, 283, 288, 307; letters from Rome, 284 ff.; letter from Florence, 287; visit to Fontenay-aux-Roses, 287; let- ters from London, 288, 296; visit to Cambridge, 282, 289 ff.; at Girton College, 282, 290, 291, 298; at Newnham College, 182, 291 ff., 298 ff.; visit to Oxford, 282, 294 ff . ; letters from Venice, 297 ff., 302 ff.; hears of first Rad- cliffe Commencement in Sanders Theatre, 302, 303; letter from Perarolo, 304, 305; letter from Cortina, 305 ff. ; letter from Mu- nich, 307; second visit to Mon- tagny, 282, 307, 308; return to Cambridge, Massachusetts, 309; receives the Elizabeth Gary Agassiz scholarship as a gift, 309; correspondence in regard to the Radcliffe Gymnasium, 311 ff.; at the opening of the Gymna- sium, 317; resignation as honor- ary president of Radcliffe, 341 ff., 347; called "President Emerita," 348; gratitude to President Eliot, 348; on Commencement Day, 1903, 350 ff.; illness, 356, 386; visit to Agassiz House, 358; notes for the opening of Agassiz House, 357; as an ideal for Rad- cliffe students, 358, 366, 408; visit to Harvard Observatory, 361, 382; occupations of later years, 367 ff.; at College (Brooks House) teas, 368, 382; sor- row on the death of her sister Sarah, 369, 371; views on old age, 371, 372; at the "Queens," 371, 374; ill health, 373; visit at Hamilton, 373, 377 ff.; reading of Carlyle, 373; views on Chris- tian Science, 375; seventy-ninth birthday, 375; visit to the mu- INDEX 417 seum of Mrs. John L. Gardner, 377; oritieism of Richard Mans- field, 382 ; criticism of John EUot, 383; invalidism, 386 ff.; at Ar- lington Heights, 388 ff.; failing strength, 393; death, 393; ad- dresses in memory of, 394 ff.; article on, by A. Oilman, 193. Addresses by: — for the Soci- ety for the Collegiate Instruc- tion of Women, 211 ff., 223 ft.; at Commencement exercises, 218, 219, 221 ff., 227 ff., 261 ff., 314, 316, 358 ff., 360 ff.; at the State House, 251 S.; at Bertram Hall, 326 ff.; announcing the gift of Agassiz House, 337 ff. Characteristics : — 1, 8, 26, 35, 46, 48 ff., 55, 63, 64, 71, 172, 189, 205, 217, 223, 259, 263, 281, 282, 333, 334, 358, 367, 387, 391, 401, 404, 407 ff., 412; love of chUdren, 81, 82, 90, 97, 367, 386 (see ako below. Relations with grandchildren and great-grand- children) ; love of flowers, 23, 122, 125, 126, 146, 149, 279, 387; love of Nahant, 15, 96, 282, 297, 298, 367, 388, 389. i Comments on books : — 42, 53, 54, 123, 372, 374, 376, 377, 379, 380, 383, 385, 387, 388, 392. Letters of, to: — Associates of Radcliffe College, 343, 346; L. B. R. Briggs, 333; Mrs. L. B. R. Briggs, 353, 354; S. Cabot, 21; Emma F. Cary, 106, 350; Sarah G. Cary, 27 ff., 44, 52, 65, 75 ff., 93 ff., 106, 110 ff., 112, 115, 150, 166, 282, 285, 287 ff., 296 ff., 302 ff., 308; T. G. Caiy, 19, 46; Mrs. T. G. Cary, 38, 55, 59, 62, 71 ff., 82 ff., 89 ff., 104 ff., 119 ff., 128 ff., 152; Elizabeth H. Clark, 369; Mrs. C. P. Curtis, 127, 174 ff.; C. W. EUot, 231, 348; Mrs. C. C. Felton, 276; Louisa Felton, 350; Mary Felton, 164, 283 ff.; Mrs. J. T. Fields, 377, 389; friends who gave the Stu- dents' Hall at Radcliffe College, 339; A. GUman, 205; Mrs. A. Gil- man, 298; some graduates of the Annex, 245; J. C. Gray, 238; Mrs. A. Hemenway, 313; H. L. Higginson, 342; E. R. Hoar, 272; E. W. Hooper, 234; Agnes Irwin, 317, 319 ff.; A. Mayor, 185, 191; Cecile Mettenius, 184, 187, 375; C. E. Norton, 392; Grace Nor- ton, 209, 280, 370, 371; Mrs. W. B. Richardson, 352; Mrs. W. B. Rogers, 190; the students of Radcliffe CoUege, 286; Mrs. Q. A. Shaw, 81, 88, 126, 149, 163; O. Wister, 391. Letters to, from : — L. B. R. Briggs, 332; C. W. Ehot, 239, 241, 347; A. Gilman, 197; G. S. Hale, 257; Mrs. A. Hemenway, 312; H. L. Higginson, 319, 342; E. R. Hoar, 268, 273; E. W. Hooper, 234; Agnes Irwin, 300, 318, 346; W. James, 335; H. W. Longfellow, 180; C. E. Norton, 322; Sarah W. Whitman, 330; Sarah B. Wister, 335. Musical interests : — Com- ments on, Chopin, 391: Fidelia, 368; Fiftieth Birthday of Agassiz, setting for, 52; II Giuramento, 28, 29; Mendelssohn, Elijah, 115; Oedipus Tyrannus, music for, 403; Rubinstein, 174; Von Bu- low, 174; Wagner, 391; waltzes, 371. — Music lessons, 17, 19, 52, 53. — Musical tastes, 16, 22, 24, 26, 28, 29, 43, 116, 284, 334, 368, 371, 378, 381, 391, 403. — Sing- ing, 13, 16, 52, 53. Relations with : — Alexander Agassiz, 37, 38, 95, 171 ff., 175, 331, 332, 387; Ida and Pauline Agassiz, 37; the Agassiz family in Switzerland, 59, 60, 62, 282, 308; the aliunnae of Radcliffe College, 352; the Braun family, 187, 188; L. B. R. Briggs, 334, 343, 390; Mrs. L. B. R. Briggs, 353, 354; Mary Cary [Felton], 418 INDEX 16; Mr. Christinat, 36; F. J. Child, 209; her colleagues at the Annex and Radcliffe College, 208 ft., 322, 323, 343, 346; Mr. and Mrs. Otto Dresel, 52; C. C. Felton, 17, 66; her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, 65, 81, 88, 105, 106, 172, 173, 175, 182, 372, 378 £f., 384, 386 ft. (see aUo Shaw, Louis A.); Agnes Irwin, 259 ff., 303, 317 ft.; Elizabeth Cabot Lee, 18, 108, 374; C. E. Norton, 209; the students of Kadclifie College, 254, 265 B.; Sarah W. Whitman, 355, 356. Writings of : — Manuscript Memoir of Thomas G. Cary, 3, 5, 63; Actaea, a First Lesson in Nat- ural History, 64, 204; Methods of Study in Natural History, 66; A Journey in Brazil, 69 ff., 103, 104, 106 ff., 110, 112; SeaMde Studies in Natural History, 93, 95; An Amazonian Picnic, 102; A Dredg- ing Excursion in the Gulf Stream, 103; The Hassler Glacier, 119; In the Straits of Magellan, 119; A Cruise through the Galapagos, 119; Louis Agassiz : His Life and Cor- respondence, 181 ff. Agassiz, George, 172, 182. Agassiz, Ida. iSee Higginson, Ida Agassiz. Agassiz (Jean) Louis (Rodolphe), early liJEe, 35; in Mimich, 307; in Paris, 283; arrival in Boston, 30 ff.; Lowell Lectures, 30, 31; at East Boston, 32 ; appointment to professorship at Harvard Uni- versity, 32; life in Oxford Street, 32 ff.; Cambridge friends, 32; friendship with Longfellow, 32, 62, 180, 186; his wife's death, 32, 37; his children, 32, 37; meeting with Elizabeth Cabot Gary, 34; marriage with Elizabeth Cabot Cary, 35; zoological specimens in Oxford Street, 34, 38, 39; labora- tory at Nahant, 39; professor- ship at Charleston, 40 ff.; lec- tures in Washington, 41 ; labora- tory on Sullivan's Island, 40 ff., 392; library in Quincy Street, 45; part in the Agassiz School, 47 ff., 397 ff.; fiftieth birthday, 52; is offered a professorship in Paris, 55 S. ; summer in Europe, 58 ff . ; friendship with Alexander Bratm, 58, 187, 188; visit to Montagny, 59, 60, 62; Methods of Study in Natural History, 66; on the Thayer expedition to Brazil, 68 ff., 70, 71, 75, 81, 85 ff., 91, 93, 94, 96, 97, 99 ff.; lectures on the Colorado, 71; friendship with the Emperor of Brazil, 68, 72 ff., 78 ff., 102, 179, 180; lectures in Bio de Janeiro, 82 S., 102; return to Cambridge, 103; failing health, 103; journey in the West, 103, 112, 113; expedition in the Gulf Stream, 103; his mother's illness and death, 104, 105; at the Hvunboldt Celebration, 114, 115; illness, 115; at Deerfield, 115 ff.; recovery, 118; on the Hassler expedition, 118 ff., 127, 128 ff., 137, 143 ff., 147, 151 ff., 160, 161; return to Cambridge, 165; school on Penikese Island, 165 ff. ; failing health, 170; death, 170; biography of, 181 ff.; mem- ory of, in Switzerland, 190, 191; memoir of, by Ernest Favre, 185; as a teacher, 264, 288, 351. Agassiz, Maximilian, 172, 182. Agassiz, Pauline. iSee Shaw, FauL> ine Agassiz. Agassiz, Rodolphe, 172, 182, 378; daughters of, 378 ff., 384, 386. Agassiz Museum, 56 ff., 92 S., 372, 380, 381. Agassiz School, 46 ff., 204, 264, 351, 394 ff. Albatross, 130. Alexander, Francesca, 282. Alexander, Lucia S., 282, 287. Amazon, the, 68, 59, 91, 95, 102. Andes Mountains, 146, 156, 159, 162. INDEX 419 Appleton, Thomas G., 112. Association of Collegiate Alumnae, 245, 248. Atlantic Monthly, 66, 102, 103, 119. Boston, about 1840, 13 ff.; Globe Theatre, 116, 117; King's Chapel, 35; Pearl Street, 9; Temple Place, 9 ff. Brattleboro, 4, 9. Braun, Alexander, 58, 59, 187, 188. Braun, Maximilian, 58. Briggs, L. B. R., 173, 203, 333, 341 ff., 351, 352, 358, 366, 390, 394. Briggs, Mary DeQ. (Mrs. L. B. R.), 173, 353, 354. Bronte, Charlotte, Jane Eyre, 53, 54, 123; Life of, by Mrs. Gaskell, 53. Browning, R. and E. B., Letters, 372. Burkhardt, Jacques, 36, 43. Byerly, William E., 202, 203, 207, 210, 249, 323. Cabot, Elizabeth. See Lee, Eliza- beth Cabot. Cabot, Samuel, 21. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 32, 33, 112. Gary, Caroline. See Curtis, Caro- line Cary. Gary, Elizabeth Cabot. See Agas- siz, Elizabeth Cary. Gary, Emma Forbes, v, 10, 25, 39, 106, 110, 169, 350, 370, 381, 391; extracts from manuscript notes by, 10 ff., 24 ff., 45. Cary, Georgiana S., 82, 90, 280, 368. Cary, James, 2. Cary, Margaret Graves (Mrs. Samuel Cary), 2. Gary, Mary. See Felton, Maiy Cary. Gary, Mary Perkins (Mrs. Thomas Graves Cary), 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 31, 275. See Agassiz, Elizabeth Gary, Letters of, to. Gary, Richard, 10, 17, 25. Cary, Mrs. Richard, 280, 281. Cary, Samuel, 2. Cary, Samuel, 2 ff., 46. Gary, Sarah Gray (Mrs. Samuel Cary), 3, 4, 46. Gary, Sarah G., 10, 20, 25, 26, 52, 54, 112, 257, 368. See also Agas- siz, Elizabeth Carj*, Letters of, to. Gary, Thomas, 10, 25. Cary, Thomas Graves, 3 ff., 7, 10, 12, 19, 39, 46, 62 ff. Gary, William, 8. Chanal, Madame de, 117. Chantilly, 283. Charlestown, 2. Chelsea, 2, 109; Bellingham estate, the, "Retreat," 2 ff. Child, Francis J., 207, 209, 397. Christinat, Mr., 33, 34, 36. Clough, Athena, 292, 293, 299. Goes, Maiy, 258, 346i Conte d'Eu, 124. Cooke, Mary H. (Mrs. Josiah B.), 196, 201, 323, 346. Corcovado, Gulf, 145; Peak, 75 ff., 125, 145. Coutinho, Major, 85, 97, 99, 100. Curtis, Caroline Gary (Mrs. Charles P.), 10, 25, 34, 35, 127, 174, 177, 391 ; extracts from Memories by, 10, 16, 18, 48, 172, 263. Gushing estate, Belmont, 22. Darwin, Charles, 134, 137. Davis, Andrew MoF., 241, 242. Dresel, Anna Loring, 52. Dresel, Otto, 52, 53, 334, 385. Duck, steamer, 143. EUot, Charles W., 194, 195, 199, 200, 204, 205, 231, 239, 241, 250, 310, 311, 321, 347, 348, 350, ad- dress by, commemorative of Mrs. Agassiz, 256, 409 ff. Eliot, John, 383, 384. Emerson, R. W., 14, 32, 388, 402. Emmanuel College, 238. Esperan^a, lodge of, 70, 163. 420 INDEX Farlow, Lilian Horsford (Mrs. William G.), 196, 201, 207. Fawoett, Miss, 293, 299. Fay, Maria, 220. Fay, Samuel P., 220. Fay House, 220, 221. See Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women. Felton, Cornelius Conway, 17, 32, 34, 48, 65, 66, 180, 209, 264, 396. Felton, Louisa, 350, 388, 389. Felton, Mary Gary (Mrs. Cornelius Conway Felton), 10, 13, 16, 34, 39, 52, 371, 372. Felton, Mary, 163, 280, 283, 292. Felton, Una Farley (Mrs. Cornel- ius Conway Felton), 276, 277. Fleming, Mrs. W. P., 361, 362. Francillon, Marc, 59. Francillon, Olympe Agassiz, 59, 60. Froude, J. A., 123, 373. Gallison, Mrs. H. H., 372. Gambardella, 13. Gardner, Mrs. John L., museum of (Fenway Court), 377. Gaskell, E. C, Life of Charlotte BrontS, 53, 54. Gilman, Arthur, 192 «., 205 ft., 210, 220, 258, 259, 346; Notes, 192, 193, 195, 200, 204 S.; article on Mrs. Agassiz, 193 ; articles on the Harvard Annex, 193; account of the hearing for the charter of Radclifie CoUege, 249 S. Gilman, Stella S. (Mrs. Arthur Gilman), 193, 195 ff., 201, 208, 220, 258, 259. Gladstone, Helen, 292, 299. Goodale, George L., 203, 249. Goodwin, William W., 203, 207, 249, 256, 324; address commemo- rative of Mrs. Agassiz, 401 ff. Gray, John C, 235 ff., 323. Gray, Mrs. John C, 237, 239. Greenough, James B., 194 ff., 198, 202, 203, 208, 323. Greenough, Mary B. (Mrs. James B.), 194 ff., 201, 207. Guanacos, 132, 134, 138, 139. Gumey, Ephraim W., 208, 303, 397. Gumey, Ellen H. (Mrs. Ephraim W.), 201, 207, 303, 402. Hale, George S., 248, 257. Harcourt, Lady (Lily Motley), 282, 288, 289. Harcourt, Sir William, 289. Hare, J. C, Life of Sterling, 42. Harvard Annex. See Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women. Harvard Graduates' Magazine, viii, 193, 210, 230, 235. Harvard University, 4, 32, 34, 40, 45, 192, 212, 216, 233, 237, 241 ff., 252, 255, 263, 269 ff., 368, 374, 382, 383. iSee also Agassiz Museum, Society for the Collegi- ate Instruction of Women, Rad- cliffe College. Hassler Expedition: plan of, 118; life aboard ship, 119, 123, 126; at St. Thomas, 120 ff.; at Bal^ badoes, 122; at Rio de Janeiro, 124 ff.; at Sandy Point, 126; voyage fronl Rio to Monte Video, 128; dredgings, 128 ff., 136, 144, 151; at Port San An- tonio, 130 ff. ; in Gulf of San Ma- thias, 133; in a "pampiro," 135, 136; discoveries on Mt. Aymond, 137 ff . ; Patagonian dinner aboard ship, 138; sunset on Elizabeth Island, 139, 140; Fuegian settle- ment on Elizabeth Island, 140; on Marguerita Island, 140 ff.; voyage from Otter Bay to Owen's Island, 142, 143; at Mayne's Harbor, 144; at Puerto Bueno, 144 ff.; in Corcovado Gulf, 145; in Port San Pedro, 146; at An- cud (San Carlos), 146 ff.; at Lota, 148; at Talcahuana, 149 ff., 160; expedition to Juan Fernan- dez and Valparaiso, 149; at ranch near Talcahuana, 150, 151 ; at Concepcion, 152, 153; road from Talcahuana to Tome, 152; at Tome, 153; at a Chilian haci- INDEX 421 mda, 153 0.; road to Chilian, 156; at Chilian, 157; at Sinaroz, 158; road to Talca, 159; at Talca, 160; at Curicu, 152, 161; at Panama, 163; at San Francisco, 163. Hemenway, Harriett L. (Mrs. Au- gustus Hemenway), 311 £f. Higginson, Heniy L., 64, 106, 207, 208, 319, 329, 332, 342. Higginson, Ida Agassiz (Mrs. Henry L.), 37, 44 S., 64, 106, 114, 329, 372, 382, 397. Higginson, Thomas W., 57. Hill, Thomas J., 118, 144. Hoar, Ebenezer R., 268 ff., 402. Hoar, Joanna, 269 ff. Holbrook, John E., 40. Holbrook, Mrs. John E., 40. Holmes, O. W., 32, 107, 220, 385, 400. Hoppin, Eliza M., 326. Horsford, Lilian. See Farlow, lilian Horsford. Howe, Julia Ward, 382. Ireland, Nathaniel, 220. Irwin, Agnes, 259 ff., 300, 310, 317 ff., 324, 340, 341, 346, 351, 364, 390; Commencement ad- dress by, 364 ff. Italy, 284. Jamea, Henry, W. W. Story and his Friends, 383. James, William, 68, 72, 88, 195, 335, 336, 375, 383. Johnson, Andrew, 111. Johnson, Captain P. C, 118. Johnson, Mrs. P. C, 118, 123, 130, 137, 144, 145. Kimball, Mrs. David P., 316, 325, 326. Kindergarten for the Blind, 275, 276. Leach, Abby, 197, 198. Lee, Elizabeth Cabot (Mrs. Henry Lee), 18, 28, 108, 374. Lincoln, Abraham, 77. Longfellow, A. W., 325, 341. Longfellow, Alice M., 195, 201, 207, 276, 346. LongfeUow, H. W., 32, 107, 110, 178, 180, 184, 186, 188, 220; The Fiftieth Birthday of Agassiz, 52, 63; Three Friends of Mine, 180; sketch of his life by Norton, 392, 393. Lyman, Miss (governess), 17, 113. Manaos, 91, 336. See also Agassiz, Elizabeth Gary, Letters from. Martineau, Stixdy of Religion, 376, 377. Mary, Queen of Scots, 295. Mason, Ellen F., 207. Mayor, A., 184, 185, 191. Mettenius, Cecile, 59, 184, 187, 189, 190, 375. Motier, 35. Mt., Buokland, 127; Darwin, 127; Melimoya, 145, Osorno, 146; Sarmiento, 127. Mowlson, Lady. iSee Radcliffe, Anne. Mowlson, Sir Thomas, 242. MaUer, Max, 296, 297. MuUer, Mrs. Max, 296, 297. Museum of Comparative Zoology. See Agassiz Museum. Neuch&tel, 30, 35, 184. Newman, J. H., Apologia, 388. Norton, C. E., 207, 209, 238, 249, 322, 323, 374, 392; address com- memorative of Mrs. Agassiz, 407 ff. Peabody, Andrew P., 108. Peabody, Josephine P., Marlowe, 354. Pechet Harbor, 140. Peck, Thomas Handasyd, 6. Peirce, Benjamin, 118. Peirce, J. M., 203, 207. Penguins, 141, 142. Perkins, Alice, 6. Perkins, Edmund, 6. INDEX Perkins, Edmund (son of Edmund Perkins), 6. Perkins, Elizabeth Peek (Mrs. James Perkins), 6, 7, 46. Perkins, James, 6. Perkins, John, S. Perkins, Mary. See Gary, Maiy Perkins. Perkins, Sarah Elliott (Mrs. Thomas Handasyd Perkins), 7. Perkins, Thomas Handasyd, 4, 5, 7, 9 ft. Perkins Institution for the Blind, 5, 7, 275. Pourtalfes, Count Francois de, 118, 120, 122, 132, 133, 137 ff., 140, 144. Itadcliffe, Anne, 241 S., 252, 253, 269. Radoliffe College, naming of, 241 ff. ; proposed incorporation, 243 ff., opposition to its charter, 244 ff . ; hearing for its charter, 248 ff.; incorporation, 25S; reorganiza- tion, 258; ofScers, 258 S.; rela- tion to Harvard University, 245 ff., 261 ff., 265, 268, 271, 287, 301 ff., 344 ff., 349, 357, 390; the Joanna Hoar Scholarship, 268 ff. ; halls of residence, 299, 301, 310, 311, 313 S.; first Commencement in Sanders Theatre, 302, 303; needs in 1895, 310; purchases of land, 311, 314, 325; architectural scheme for its buildings, 313 ff.; Gymnasiimi, 311 ff.; library building, 315, 340; Bertram Hall, 316, 325 ff. ; Associates, 322, 323, 343, 346; Students' House (Elizabeth Gary Agassiz House), 25, 329 ff., 336 ff., 341, 354, 356, 357, 394, 400; Whitman Room, 355; ideals and tradition, 358, 364 ff.; relation to the Agassiz School, 48, 394, 395, 400. See oho Society for the Collegiate In- struction of Women; Agassiz, Elizabeth Cary. Bancho, 98. Revere, Paul, 6. Ropes, J. H., 350, 351. Schuyler, Georgina, address com- memorative of Mrs. Agassiz, 49, 394 ff. Seward, William H., 77. Shaw, Louis A., 65, 66, 81, 82, 88, 94, 105, 110, 113, 114, 163. Shaw, Pauline Agassiz (Mrs. Quincy A.), 37, 45, 54, 68, 64, 81, 88, 113, 126, 149, 163, 183, 280, 281, 287, 356, 372, 379, 380, 397. Shaw, Quincy A., 64, 183, 281, 372. Smith, Clement L., 207. Sidgwick, Henry, 291 ff. Sidgwick, Mrs. Henry, 291 ff., 299. Society for the Collegiate Instruc- tion of Women, formation and early activities, 192 ff.; pub- lished accounts of its origin, 193 ; founders, 194 ff.; relation to Harvard University, 194, 196 ff., 200, 206, 215 ff., 219, 225, 227, 228, 230 ff.; first circular, 200; officers, 202, 203; students, 202, 212, 213, 218, 224, 254, 364; rooms in Appian Way, 203, 219, 221 ; opening of its courses of in- struction, 202, 203; list of its in- structors, 203; called "Harvard Annex," 203, 206, 207, 212, 251, 252; becomes a legal cori>oration, 206, 207; adopts as name, "The Society for the Collegiate In- struction of Women," 206; sign- ers of its Articles of Association, 207 ff.; officers, 207 ff.; raises an endowment fund, 211 ff., 219; development from 1879-1883, 211 ff.; from 1883-1884, 217, 218; purchases the Fay House, 220 ff.; enlarges the Fay House, 223, 224, 226, 227; purchases land and equips its first labora- tories, 224; library. Fay House, 226; proposed change in its or- ganization, 230 ff . ; memorandum of its agreement with Harvard University, 240; adopts the INDEX 423 Dame Radcliffe College, 241 ff. See also Agasslz, Elizabeth Gary ; Radcliffe College. Spain, war of United States with, 370. Steindachner, Franz, 118, 123, 131, 139, 144, 152, 160, 161. Storer, Mrs. Robert, 401, 402. Straits of Magellan, 118, 126, 130, 145. Thayer, Nathaniel, expedition to BrazU, 68, 336. Thayer, Van Rensselaer, 68, 72. Venice, 297, 304, 305. Vogeh, 111. Wagnon, Cecile Agassiz, 69 ff. Warner, J. B., 193, 202, 207, 230, 234, 249, 258. Wendell, B., Literary History of America, 374. Whiting, H., 214. Whitman, Sarah W. (Mrs. Henry Whitman), 164, 323, 325, 330, 331, 351, 354 ff. Whittier, J. G., 179. Wilder, B. G., 58, 166, 168. Wolcott, R., 373. Women's Educational Association, Boston, 228. Zell-am-See, 281. CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS V . S . A