264 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ 



President Felton and the group of men whom she first 

 met under his roof, but more especially to the deep at- 

 tachment of Agassiz to the college and his unflagging 

 efforts for its development. Although Mrs. Agassiz's letters 

 from Brazil indicate her interest in the condition of her 

 own sex there, she was never one to spell "woman" with a 

 capital W, and she gave her time and efforts not to the 

 higher education of women in general, as a "cause," but 

 specifically to Harvard education for women as a means of 

 extending the benefits of the University to enrich the lives 

 of women and so of children. Moreover, her interest in 

 women's colleges was not independent of her interest in 

 the Annex and was usually focused about the experiment 

 in Cambridge. 



It is true that any educational enterprise had a 

 certain attraction for her because of Agassiz's character 

 and reputation as one of the greatest teachers that Har- 

 vard has ever had; and it is largely in his enthusiasm for 

 education, the ideals for the instruction of girls that he 

 had expressed in the school, and his affection for Harvard 

 that the springs of Mrs. Agassiz's activity in behalf of 

 Radcliffe may be found. The school that she originated to 

 assist him financially and which afforded her pleasure only 

 in so far as they worked together in it, led her, according to 

 her own testimony, to associate herself with the plan that 

 resulted in Radcliffe College. Her relation to Radcliffe, 

 therefore, which seems to form a separate chapter in her 

 existence, does not in reality break the unity of her life, 

 which found its completion by being merged in that of 

 Agassiz; it was, on the contrary, the expression to a 

 greater extent, probably, than she was herself aware of 



