330 ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ 
December 2.— This week, although it comes in 
festive guise is an anxious one. 
December 4. — Tomorrow is the great day, but I 
feel calmer as it grows nearer. I am trying to keep 
quiet and tranquil. 
In the meantime a committee of forty-one friends had 
undertaken to collect the money required for the Students’ 
House, and as a result of their efforts $116,000 was given or 
pledged within the time designated. In the words of the com- 
mittee it was intended as a testimonial of “the respect of the 
community for a woman who has given a shining example 
of distinguished public service perfectly performed.” ‘“‘The 
house was given,” as President Briggs said later, “not so 
much to Radcliffe College as to her for Radcliffe College; 
and into the building of it went such affection as man or 
woman has rarely won.” The matter was kept a profound 
secret from Mrs. Agassiz until the morning of the fifth of 
December, when she received the following note from Mrs. 
Henry Whitman. 
TO MRS. LOUIS AGASSIZ 
Boston, December 5, 1902 
Most BELovED Lapy: What joyful news do you 
think there is for you this happy day? Simply that I 
have to tell you that a little company of family and 
friends — all your lovers — have ready a hundred 
and eight thousand dollars to build a Students’ Hall 
at once and call it by your name, as a birthday gift, 
and in token of their everlasting love and gratitude. 
Yours ever more and more, 
S. W. 
