THE HARVARD ANNEX 223 
but a daring expenditure is sometimes a wise economy 
and so I think it will prove in this case. 
And so it seems to me a memorable fact that we 
meet here today, —that for the first time our cer- 
tificates for graduation and for honors are given under 
our own roof. 
Within the next four years such had been the growth 
of the Annex that the limits of the Fay House had become 
all too restricted, and in February, 1890, the Executive 
Committee began to consider ways and means for enlarg- 
ing its walls. The ways presented less of a problem than 
the means. In the late spring a meeting was held in Boston 
for such good Bostonians as might be interested, at which 
Mrs. Agassiz reported on the success of the Society and the 
disadvantages of its narrow habitat. The following por- 
tions of her address describe the conditions of the four years 
after the purchase of the Fay House and again illustrate 
her powers of persuasion. Her only references to the sub- 
scriptions for which she hoped are quoted below: 
... Inorder to state the object of this meeting fairly 
from the beginning I would add that if we succeed 
in winning your sympathy for the work in which we 
are engaged and which we hope to carry on hereafter, 
we will ask you to help us in raising a certain sum to- 
ward the enlargement of our building which has been 
insufficient for our increased numbers and beside want 
of room lacks many conveniences for the work carried 
on there. 
I have often been told that as President of our So- 
ciety I should call attention from time to time in a 
