"The greatest object in educating is to give a right habit of study....
* * * * *
"... Not too much mechanical apparatus--let the imagination have some
play; a cube may be shown by a model, but let the drawing upon the
blackboard represent the cube; and if possible let Nature be the
blackboard; spread your triangles upon land and sky.
"One of my pupils always threw her triangles on the celestial vault
above her head....
"A small apparatus well used will do wonders. A celebrated chemist
ordered his servant to bring in the laboratory--on a tray! Newton rolled
up the cover of a book; he put a small glass at one end, and a large
brain at the other--it was enough.
* * * * *
"When a student asks me, 'What specialty shall I follow?' I answer,
'Adopt some one, if none draws you, and wait.' I am confident that she
will find the specialty engrossing.
"Feb. 10, 1887. When I came to Vassar, I regretted that Mr. Vassar did
not give full scholarships. By degrees, I learned to think his plan of
giving half scholarships better; and to-day I am ready to say, 'Give no
scholarships at all.'
"I find a helping-hand lifts the girl as crutches do; she learns to like
the help which is not self-help.
"If a girl has the public school, and wants enough to learn, she will
learn. It is hard, but she was born to hardness--she cannot dodge it.
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