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. Wlien 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 withdrawn.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- 



