RADCLIFFE COLLEGE 329 
the higher qualities both of character and culture 
may be held in religious reverence and developed 
side by side. 
December, 1902, brought Mrs. Agassiz to her eightieth 
birthday. The celebration of the occasion was intimately 
connected with Radcliffe. In the autumn of that year her 
children and grandchildren, knowing that her dearest wish 
was for a Students’ House at Radcliffe, offered unknown to 
her to give the college $50,000 for that purpose, provided 
that an equal sum were raised before the fifth of December, 
Mrs. Agassiz’s birthday, in order that the building might 
be presented to her as a birthday gift. Another novel and 
beautiful tribute was prepared by Major and Mrs. Higgin- 
son who arranged for a concert to be given in her honor by 
the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Choral Art So- 
ciety in Sanders Theatre on the evening of the birthday. 
“Tt is a lovely plan, but I have sworn that I would never 
have one of these semi-public birthdays,” Mrs. Agassiz 
wrote in her diary when she learned of it, “but this time I 
must yield, not without dread.” The day when it came 
proved memorable in her experience, and her acceptance 
of it highly characteristic, as extracts from her diaries and 
letters show. 
December 1, 1902. —'The week opens and I try 
to turn my thoughts away from the eightieth birth- 
day. I dread the celebration.... But one often 
shrinks from what seems quite pleasant in the ac- 
tual experience. I am, however, nervous and agitated 
in the prospect and so afraid that I may have a cold 
or be out of condition and disturb every one’s plans. 
