RADCLIFFE COLLEGE 311 



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- 

 chffe, 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 ability 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 publicly than she had been in behalf of 

 Radcliffe, 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 affection 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 in 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 

 Radcliffe gymnasium at this time occupied a small wooden 



