CHAPTER VI.

Vassar College-Professor Maria Mitchell-President Caldwell-Life of the students-Effect of study upon health-Improvements in the direction of out-door amusements between visits in 1873 and 1883 -Riding, lawn-tennis, and boating-Wellesley College and its firebrigade manned by girls-Mills' Seminary, the Vassar of the Pacific coast-Miss Haskell at Godfrey-Payment of female teachers in public schools-English governesses-Colonel Higginson on the gross injustice of the inequalities existing between the salaries of men and women teachers in the United States-Kate Field on the difficulties surrounding journalism—Anna Dickinson-The growing taste for plays versus lectures.

MISS MARIA MITCHELL, to whom I alluded in the last chapter, gave me my first invitation to Vassar College, where she holds the position of Professor of Astronomy and Director of the Observatory. Her reputation in the New World is as deservedly great as Caroline Herschel's was in the Old.

I was not prepared for the beautiful surroundings of the College, which is charmingly situated on the banks of the magnificent Hudson river, with the Catskill mountains stretching along the north and the Fishkills on the south. The first day I knocked at the portal, on which I did not find the poet's ideal inscription, "Let no man enter in, on pain of death," though Tennyson's "Princess" had always been associated with my thoughts of Vassar. Nor did I

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find within the "academic silks; in hue the lilac, with a silken hood to each, and zoned with gold"-collegiate costumes so familiar to playgoers of the season, thanks to the brilliant setting of the Gilbert and Sullivan burlesque of the Princess Ida and her girl graduates.

It was a bright but bitterly cold morning. The Ice King had set his seal on land and water, the snow deep on the ground at Poughkeepsie, and

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Every pine and fir and hemlock

Wore ermine too dear for an earl,
And the poorest twig on the elm-tree
Was ridged inch deep with pearl."

When I revisited Vassar in 1883 the spring was far advanced, the atmosphere was balmy, the skies were clear, the landscape exquisite in its early verdure, and the sun shone forth in marvellous splendour. On this occasion, as the guest of the College, I was ensconced with due pomp and ceremony in the Founder's Room, with its quaint old furniture of the First Empire, and the portraits of various distinguished people on the walls. Among them Matthew Vassar," the founder, friend, and father" of the College, who appeared to be solemnly watching me as I entered in my note-book before retiring to rest a few remarks respecting the splendid memorial he left behind him for the benefit of American girls.

With pardonable pride I first record the fact that Mr. Vassar was an Englishman, born on the Norfolk coast. Having acquired a vast fortune in America, he determined to found an institution which should be to girls what Harvard and Yale are to boys. In 1860 he obtained a

charter from the Legislature of New York, transferred 400,000 dollars to trustees, chose the site, and erected the magnificent building in which some of the brightest and best American women have spent their happiest years. Several mothers complained to me that daughters are always asking "to spend another year at Vassar." After the pleasant time I spent there with President and Mrs. Caldwell, and what I saw of the life of these bright and enthusiastic girls, I do not wonder that they are loath to quit a place full of such pleasant companionship, happy experiences, and perfect freedom from care.

Mr. Vassar's munificence did not end with his first gift: 20,000 dollars were expended on an Art Gallery, 75,000 dollars on building purposes, and at his death the College was found to be his principal inheritor.

Some idea of the size of Vassar-which stands on its own 200 acres may be gathered from the fact that, in the main building, besides accommodation for 400 students, there are six independent dwellings for the president, resident professors, rooms for managers and 100 servants, lecture-halls, class-rooms, parlours, a library, dining-hall, and chapel. The laboratory is a separate building in the grounds, and so is the observatory, containing some splendid instruments, over which Professor Maria Mitchell reigns supreme. As you look into that strong, good face, shadowed by grey curls, which soften its outline and grace it with a beauty which often comes with age, you can understand the magnetic sympathy which holds her youthful scholars spellbound, and makes their scientific investigations full of delight as well as of wonder.

The students "room" together in groups, three or four

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sharing a pleasant little study, round which their separate small but well-ventilated bedrooms are arranged, and these are furnished according to individual taste. Pleasant glimpses into character were afforded me of the owners thereof by sundry conversations in them. Some of these little "parlours" would have even gladdened the heart of Oscar Wilde, had he been permitted to peep into them-so "utterly too-too" are they in colouring and furniture.

In speaking on the health question, Miss Mitchell and the doctor in charge of the physical well-being of the girls at Vassar stated that those who studied the hardest were the healthiest, and they did not hesitate to attribute the general delicacy of American women to the terrible severity and extremes of the climate, the mode of heating the houses, and the widespread disinclination to physical exercise, to say nothing of the intemperate use of iced water. I may note here, that while inspecting the steward's department I learned that one item for that day's dinner was 200 quarts of ice-cream. Founder's day is the greatest in the calendar at Vassar; it is the anniversary of Mr. Matthew Vassar's birthday. Studies are laid aside, and the evening is devoted to festivity. Cards of invitation are sent out weeks previously by the students, and scores of young gentlemen and friends from all parts of the country respond, and "a real elegant time" is generally the result.

There was an excellent riding-school attached to Vassar when I first went there is 1873, and I was very sorry to find it had disappeared; "want of funds" was the reason assigned. A welcome was given to the girls at the Harvard Annex to Dr. Sargeant's gymnasium there, but so little advantage was taken of it that he told me he was obliged

after a short time to discontinue the classes. Considering that the physical education of the future mothers of the Republic is as important as the mental, these facts are much to be regretted. Fortunately the Hudson river and the lake in the Vassar College grounds are available for boating in the summer and skating in the winter, and many a student has achieved honourable distinction for herself in handling the oar.

On the whole, however, it struck me during my last visit to America that a great improvement had been effected generally respecting out-door healthy amusements. Lawn tennis had become quite popular, and many girls I saw were expert players. Considerable rivalry was displayed, not only in point of skill, but costume; and very attractive these bright American girls look in their tight-fitting jerseys and short skirts. Many of the New York girls ride well, too, and are very particular about the cut of their London habits. You often see in the early morning parties of ten and twelve riding together in Central Park, with well-mounted grooms behind them. As one of the leaders of society remarked to me as we were driving together, the "magnificence of the horses and carriages and sleighs to be seen at the fashionable hour is one of the greatest signs of the growth of wealth and luxury in this republican city." Some of the girls frequent the fencing-school, but are too much inclined to be content with the simplest movements; only a few of the more daring spirits encounter the thrust. "As soon as one of them makes a pass they both run away," confessed one of the teachers of the noble art.

I was greatly disappointed to be unable to visit Wellesley College, but was fortunate enough, at ex-Governor Claflin's