330 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ 



December 2. — This week, although it comes in 

 festive guise is an anxious one. 



December ^. — Tomorrow is the great day, but I 

 feel calmer as it grows nearer. I am trying to keep 

 quiet and tranquil. 



In the meantime a committee of forty-one friends had 

 undertaken to collect the money required for the Students* 

 House, and as a result of their efforts $116,000 was given or 

 pledged within the time designated. In the words of the com- 

 mittee it was intended as a testimonial of '* the respect of the 

 community for a woman who has given a shining example 

 of distinguished public service perfectly performed." "The 

 house was given," as President Briggs said later, "not so 

 much to Radcliffe College as to her for Radcliffe College; 

 and into the building of it went such affection as man or 

 woman has rarely won." The matter was kept a profound 

 secret from Mrs. Agassiz until the morning of the fifth of 

 December, when she received the following note from Mrs. 

 Henry Whitman. 



TO MRS. LOUIS AGASSIZ 



Boston, December 5, 1902 

 Most beloved Lady: What joyful news do you 

 think there is for you this happy day? Simply that I 

 have to tell you that a little company of family and 

 friends — all your lovers — have ready a hundred 

 and eight thousand dollars to build a Students' Hall 

 at once and call it by your name, as a birthday gift, 

 and in token of their everlasting love and gratitude. 

 Yours ever more and more, 



S. W. 



