250 ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ 
the committee how he had found the woman mind, 
and as a member of the management, he emphasized 
the economical merits of the Annex plan. President 
Eliot surprised me, at least. He had been friendly to 
the Annex from the beginning. In fact, it could not 
have taken its first step if he had not been. Now he 
took a step in advance. We were asking the legisla- 
ture to permit us to do something; but Mr. Eliot 
took the ground that Harvard was the active agent. 
He outlined the history of the advance of the college, 
showing how, established to insure a godly minis- 
try, its scope of activity had been widened by tak- 
ing up instruction in law, in medicine, in whatever 
else, and he asked emphatically, if Harvard College 
takes up the education of women is there any reason 
to suppose that it will ever renounce it? This re- 
mark appealed to the committee, and it overthrew 
at once the argument of the opposition that Rad- 
cliffe College might not be permanent. 
The greatest surprise was now to come. When our 
presentation was closed, one of the opposing attor- 
neys .. . rose, and announced that his client with- 
drew all opposition! The senior attorney remarked 
that this was a little too sudden, and stated a few 
unimportant points that he wished guarded. We 
at once gave our consent, and all opposition was 
withdrawn. The hearing was closed. The chairman of 
the committee told me that he had never attended a 
hearing at which he had learned so much, nor one at 
which both sides seemed so completely satisfied. 
The committee reported to the legislature, favor- 
