THE HARVARD ANNEX 215 
commend ourselves to Harvard College and estab- 
lish a definite relation with the University, we must 
renounce our attempt for this time. And yet that 
would seem a pity, for we believe there was never a 
better opportunity for securing what is by so many 
so greatly desired, — a share for women of the educa- 
tional advantages to be had at Harvard. 
Nor was there ever a moment when the University 
could so safely grant us this boon. In the form in 
which this effort in behalf of women’s education has 
been started and is likely to be continued, it stirs no 
prejudices, excites no opposition, involves no change 
of policy for the University. Our students themselves 
manifest no desire for coeducation. The element of 
competition with men does not enter into their aims. 
They simply want the best education they can get, 
and they seek it at Harvard because the means to 
that end exist there. We only ask the College, there- 
fore, in case we can provide for our own expenses, to 
continue a work which has thus far been conducted 
so quietly and inoffensively that it has hardly at- 
tracted observation. 
It may, and no doubt will, be asked, why we desire 
to establish a college for women in Cambridge when 
several successful ones exist elsewhere; when we have 
Vassar, the Boston University, Smith, and Wellesley. 
We readily admit that such a college would be both 
undesirable and superfluous, unless we can connect 
it directly with Harvard College. Failing this, we 
should miss the distinctive thing for which we have 
aimed. 
