302 ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ 
why do I trouble you with all this now, when I am 
hoping so soon to see you back? We hear that you 
mean to come home the end of August; perhaps you 
will lengthen your stay a little later, but we shall 
have you next winter. I say we, but I really mean J. 
How we did miss you at Commencement! We tried 
in every way to do what you would like and as you 
would like it; and I shall always regret that you 
did not see Sanders Theatre filled with friends on 
that first occasion, when we had hoped for not more 
than a few. It was all so cordial and sympathetic — 
every one will tell you that... . 
Ever your attached 
Aenes Irwin 
The first Radcliffe Commencement in Sanders Theatre, 
held there by invitation of the President and Fellows of 
Harvard College, to which Miss Irwin refers in the above 
letter, was an event of great importance in Mrs. Agassiz’s 
eyes. To the uninitiated it may seem strange that she 
should have felt such deep emotion at this step as the fol- 
lowing letter indicates, but it was intended as a public 
demonstration of the more intimate relations now estab- 
lished between the two institutions and as such was signifi- 
cant. 
TO MISS SARAH G. CARY 
Casa Biondetti, Venice, July 8, 1895 
...Topay comes a letter from Lily Cleveland, 
bringing me such a pleasant surprise, with full 
accounts, both her own and newspaper reports also, 
