Part 9 (1/2)

In 1913, Madae as head of the Depart recess after a three days' illness Madame Colin had studied at the University of Paris and the Sorbonne, and her ideals for her depart Wellesley's own alu the first forty years have died Of these are Caroline Frances Pierce, of the class of 1891, as librarian fro e the conveniences and co which she did not live to see completed

In 1914, the Department of Greek suffered a deep loss in Professor Annie Sybil Montague, of the class of 1879 Besides being a ue was one of the first to receive the degree of MA froree for the first tiue was one of the two candidates who presented themselves

One of her old students, Annie Kimball Tuell, of the class of 1896, herself an instructor in the Departue would wish that another of her pupils, one orked with her for an unusually long time, should say--what can ratefully be said--that she was a good teacher So I want to say it formally for myself and for all the others and for all the years For I suppose that if ere dooment, the best and the least of us would care just for the simple bit of testimony that we knew our business and attended to it And of all the good people who e days so rich for me, there is none of whoue

Often as I have caught sight of her in the jostling crowd of the second floor, I have felt a lively regret that she was known to so few of the girls, and that her excellent ability to give zest to drill and to stablish fluttering wits in order, could not have a fuller and freer exercise In the old days we valued what she had to give, and in the usual silent, thankless way, elected her courses as long as there were courses to elect; but we have had to teach ift of hers was Just as closer acquaintance with herself proved her breadth of mind and syent knowledge of her methods showed them to be broader and more funda, rules and sub-rules ceased to jostle and confuse one another, but grouped theht a very beautiful discovery, and grammar took on a reasonable unity which seemed a marvel So we took our laborious days with cheer and enjoyed the energy, for we quite understood that our ould lead to sorace and I could take a gift froue's personality, I would rather have what she in a ranted, but what is harder for us who are beginners here to coether fine and blairls outside the classroom She was a presence always heartily responsive, but never unwary, without the slightest reflection of her personality upon us, with never a word too much of praise or blaure of familiar friendliness, ready with sympathy and comprehension, but wholesome, sound and sane, without trace of sentiularly honorable spirit, toe always turned our best side, to e o with talk wanton or idle or unkind or critical, but alith our very precious thoughts on whatsoever things are eager, and honest and kindly and of good report And so she was able to do us ood and no harm at all She can have had no ue used to have a little class in Plato, and I have not forgotten how quietly we read together one day at the end of the Phaedo of the death of Socrates After Miss Montague died, I turned to the book and found the place where the servant has brought the cup of poison, but Crito, unreconciled, wants to delay even a little:

”For the sun,” said he, ”is yet on the hills, and ht late”

”Yes,” said Socrates, ”since they wished for delay But I do not think that I should gain anything by drinking the cup a little later”

In January, 1915, while this story of Wellesley was being written, Katharine Coman, Professor Emeritus of Economics, went like a conqueror to the triumph of her death Miss Coe, but she will be ree and outside as more than a teacher Her books and her active interest in industrial affairs, her noble attitude toward life, all have had their share in infore she loved

”A mountain soul, she shi+nes in crystal air Above the smokes and clamors of the town

Her pure, majestic brows serenely wear The stars for crown

”She coe and rustic chirim ere he earn Her mountain look

”Her th of folded granite, and the calreen branches strow A healing balm

”For lovely is a mountain rosy-lit With dawn, or steeped in sunshi+ne, azure-hot, But loveliest when shadows traverse it, And stain it not”

[From a poem, ”A Mountain Soul,” by Katharine Lee Bates, 1904]

CHAPTER IV

THE STUDENTS AT WORK AND PLAY

The safest general statement which can be made about Wellesley students of the first forty years of the college is that more than sixty per cent of theland, from the Middle West, the Far West, and the South Possibly there is a Wellesley type Whether or not it could be differentiated from the Smith, the Bryn Mawr, the Vassar, and the Mt Holyoke types, if the five were set up in a row, unlabeled, is a question Yet it is true that certain recognizable qualities have developed and tend to persist airls are in the best sense democratic There is no Gold Coast on the cae More money is spent, and irls, and irls, to spend it; yet the indifference to it except as a e and an opportunity for service, continues to be naively Utopian

But money is not the only touchstone of democratic sensitiveness

At Wellesley there has always been uneasiness at the hint of unequal opportunity When the college grew so large that membershi+p in the six societies took on the aspect of special privilege, restiveness was as ed, and more outspoken The first result was the Barn Ss, a social and dra if she wished The second was the reorganization of the six societies on a more de”, favoritism, cliques, and all the ills that itation for these reforms came from the societies themselves, and they endured with Spartan determination the enerous idealisht upon their heads

Enthusiasm for equality also enters into the students' attitude toward ”the academic”, and like most enthusiasts, fro the issue In the early days, they were not allowed to know their e should rouse an unworthy spirit of competition; and of all the rules instituted by the founder, this is the one which they have beento see abolished Silent Time they relinquished with relief; Do; Bible Study shrank from four to three years and fro it But when, in 1901, the Honor Scholarshi+ps were established, a storraduates, and thundered and lightened for several weeks in the pages of College News And not the least veheirls”