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 university towns of England. To me Cam- 

 bridge had a wonderful picturesqueness, and a kind 

 of rural quality 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 



