COMMEMORATION ADDRESSES 403 



of the "Annex," paid their fees, and read Greek 

 poetry with me in my study. I feel that this occasion 

 would be incomplete without even this inadequate 

 tribute of appreciation to her services in our cause. 

 It is pleasant to think, as we recall these older times, 

 that through her first President Radcliffe has in- 

 herited some of the atmosphere of this simple, digni- 

 fied society. 



When we were getting ready to give the Oedipus 

 Tyrannus in Sanders Theatre, in 1881, Mrs. Agassiz 

 took the greatest interest in all the preparations. 

 She frequently attended the rehearsals, and her advice 

 about the musical performance and the choral songs 

 was always of the highest value. Her knowledge of 

 music made her an authority upon many of the hard- 

 est problems with which we had to deal. Once she 

 gave me a solemn warning which alarmed me a little, 

 when she thought that "the music was running away 

 with the play." "I know you will not suspect me of 

 being prejudiced against music," she said, "but I am 

 really sometimes afraid that at the end you will find 

 that you have only a beautiful opera with a Greek 

 play attached to it." But after she had heard the 

 first rehearsal of the play as a whole, she at once took 

 back her warning,. saying, "It's all going to be splen- 

 did." (I suspect, however, that her w^arning had 

 already been of some effect.) At the public perform- 

 ances it was seldom that we did not have the satis- 

 faction of seeing her in her special chair in the centre 

 of the front row. 



It was a most important step which the ladies and 



