] Only
those who knew Vassar College in its earlier days can tell of the life
that the father and daughter led there for four years.
Mr. Mitchell died in 1869.
[Illustration: THE FATHER AND DAUGHTER]
"Jan. 3, 1868. Meeting Dr. Hill at a private party, I asked him if
Harvard College would admit girls in fifty years. He said one of the
most conservative members of the faculty had said, within sixteen days,
that it would come about in twenty years. I asked him if I could go into
one of Professor Peirce's recitations. He said there was nothing to keep
me out, and that he would let me know when they came.
"At eleven A.M., the next Friday, I stood at Professor Peirce's door. As
the professor came in I went towards him, and asked him if I might
attend his lecture. He said 'Yes.' I said 'Can you not say "I shall be
happy to have you"?' and he said 'I shall be happy to have you,' but he
didn't look happy!
"It was with some little embarrassment that Mrs. K. and I seated
ourselves. Sixteen young men came into the room; after the first glance
at us there was not another look, and the lecture went on. Professor
Peirce had filled the blackboard with formulae, and went on developing
them. He walked backwards and forwards all the time, thinking it out as
he went. The students at first all took notes, but gradually they
dropped off until perhaps only half continued. When he made simple
mistakes they received it in silence; only one, that one his son (a
tutor in college), remarked that he was wrong.
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