216 ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ 
... In the presence of our old University at Cam- 
bridge, with all its traditions of learning and experi- 
ence, possessing ample means of higher instruction, 
officered by teachers of well-known ability, among 
whom are always to be found men of real eminence in 
their departments, we find the only good reason for 
presenting our scheme to you and asking your help 
and sympathy in carrying it on. It may not be easy 
to define why the older University has the advantage. 
But we must all admit that its relation to the intellec- 
tual world outside, its maturity of thought and meth- 
ods, its claim on cultivated minds everywhere, give it 
a hold on our respect and affection which women 
share with men. We must not wonder if some of them 
long also for a share in the gracious gifts it has 
garnered up in years gone by, and which perhaps 
may have in years to come, a still wider use and 
beneficence. ... 
There is a general impression that Harvard College 
is very rich, — that what she will do, she can do, so 
far as her means are concerned. Her large deficits for 
several years past tell us that this is not true. Harvard 
needs all that she has and more, for the institution as 
it now exists, — to fulfil the objects.for which it was 
originally founded. We ask her to enlarge her bor- 
ders, to assume new responsibilities, involving new 
expenses, and we must come not as charity scholars, 
but with full hands, to strengthen rather than impov- 
erish her. To this end we appeal to the public, feeling 
that we are justified in doing so, now that our enter- 
prise has passed out of the stage of doubtful experi- 
