Broad, spreading elms, fresh green lawns, tables set with tempting dainties, white-gowned girls moving in and out, wise seniors in caps and gowns, a pervading atmosphere of joyousness, and a pleasant hum of conversation punctuated by merry peals of laughter - such was the picture and such the sounds that delighted the eyes and ears of a graduate who had gone to Mount Holyoke during the first week in June to renew the associations of her seminary days. The occasion of these gayeties was the introduction of the strangers who had come to the college for their entrance examinations, to those who had already been through similar trials and were then enjoying the benefits beyond. All anxieties as to "originals" and "Latin at sight" were for the time forgotten under the influence of such charming hospitality, and it is safe to say that every one of those young sub-freshmen is now looking forward with enthusiasm to the opening of the Autumn term.
Situation.
The graduate of Mount Holyoke returning to visit her alma mater (and no mother could be more gracious than this college has ever been to her daughters) is glad to catch the first glimpse of those two familiar mountains which approach each other so closely that they barely give the Connecticut River space to pass between. Mount Holyoke and Mount Tom having been brought into view, with the long ranges of hills stretching to the east and west, other well known land-marks are noted as the village of South Hadley, two miles back from the river, is approached, and then the main building of the college appears, standing in quiet dignity, an unpretentious and substantial monument that truly symbolizes the spirit of the founder.
Buildings.
The original structure, built in 1837, was greatly enlarged and the south wing added in 1841; but the number of students increased so rapidly that in 1853 the north wing was built, and twelve years later the gymnasium was erected, completing the quadrangle. The rooming capacity of the building has been greatly augmented since that time by the refitting of recitation rooms, which have been transferred to the new buildings. The splendidly equipped library with its recent addition is connected with the main building by a corridor, so that the students can frequent its cosy alcoves on stormy as well as pleasant evenings.
Lyman Williston Hall, situated a short distance to the north, contains the laboratories and lecture rooms for botany and zoology on the first floor, the remarkably fine geological and mineralogical cabinets on the second, and the art galleries on the third; and there are also large, attractive recitation rooms for history and literature.
The new Science Building, north of Williston Hall, is devoted to physics and chemistry, being entirely occupied by lecture rooms, laboratories for individual experiment and investigation, and recitation rooms. The Observatory, Music Hall, and two dormitories that accommodate the overflow from the main college complete an admirable group of buildings; there is, however, great need of an increase in the dormitory accommodations.
Grounds.
The value to a college of a beautiful situation can hardly be overestimated, and Mount Holyoke enjoys this advantage in an extraordinary degree. For a long distance, the grounds border the elm-shaded street of old South Hadley, and the lawns and groves extend back beyond the college buildings and down the long, wide slope to the lake, and rise again to the top of Prospect Hill with the name of Goodnow Park. The summerhouse on the summit of the hill has become a popular resort for afternoon teas and spreads; and the lake and boat-house below, the broad fields, gardens and orchards, the buildings half hidden by the trees, the pleasant glimpses of the town, and beyond, the free open country to the mountain-bordered horizon, compose a picture of rare loveliness.
Equipment.
No college for women and few for men are better equipped in the department of science than Mount Holyoke. The arrangements are such that the students can investigate for themselves, and learn by direct contact with the processes of nature, as well as from books.
The botanical department possesses the Auzoux models, representing the more difficult orders of plants in gross anatomy of the flowers and fruits, and also the Brendel models, showing the more minute - the microscopical structure of plant organs, especially those of the Cryptograms; and ten new Lietz microscopes have just been added to those already in use. The herbarium, begun more than thirty years ago by Miss Shattuck, the most distinguished woman botanist in the country, contains thousands of pressed plants brought from every part of the world; as well as woods, seeds, and seen-vessels, and an economic collection representing the uses of plant fibres and products. The botanic garden is the great glory of the department. More than an acre of solid plants is easily accessible to the laboratories, and here the students can study rare varieties of wild flowers and ferns, from the earliest arbutus in the Spring to the last purple aster in October. A series of artificial ponds add much to the beauty of the garden and bring the lotus and Egyptian papyrus, the Victoria Regia, and many other rare aquatics within reach of the students; and a plant house gives Winter shelter to foreign plants, still further increasing the range of types studied.
Zoology rivals her botanical sister in the advantages offered. Ziegler's wax models of chick embryos, Ward's casts of fossil animals, a remarkably fine bird collection, stuffed animals, fishes, insects, shells, corals, etc., all contribute to the progress of the learner. The large, well lighted laboratories are equipped with the best appliances for practical work, each table being furnished with running water after the Gottingen models. A carefully selected biological library of more than eight hundred volumes is convenient to the work rooms, and the students can also profit by the best scientific periodicals.
The students of geology are provided with maps and charts illustrating the successive formations of the earth, and especially the great geological map of the United States, prepared by Prof. Hitchcock, of Dartmouth College, which covers an entire wall of the large recitation room. The progress of life is studied in connection with Ward's university series of casts, and various collections of fossils. The students use the section cutter with great skill in preparing specimens for the lithological microscope.
In the completion of the new building, the chemistry and physics departments have been afforded enlarged oppo[r]tunities for advanced work. The physical laboratory is provided with fine apparatus for the demonstration of principles and natural law, as well as the most modern appliances for the students' individual use; and adjoining are dark rooms, a constant-temperature room, a library and a study.
The chemistry department is equally well supplied. Its lecture and preparation room, study and library, qualitative, quantitative, organic and general laboratories, and room for advanced work fully meet the demands for investigation in theory and practice.
It is expected that the mathematical department will at the beginning of the Autumn be in possession of a set of models, manufactured in Germany, that are calculated to make the higher and more abstruse mathematics appear attractive to those least interested in the subject.
The art gallery in Williston Hall contains copies of masterpieces by Giotto, Fra Angelico, Raphael, Titian, Guido Reni, Domenichino, Rembrandt and others, and also works by Bierstadt, Inness and other famous American painters; and a collection of more than four thousand photographs and hundreds of lantern slides illustrate the history of architecture, sculpture and painting as seen in Egypt and the East, Greece, Italy and Spain, and the cathedrals and picture-galleries of Northern Europe. Among the new treasures of the art department is the valuable publication of the Sidon Sarcophagi, which includes fifty plates that richly demonstrate the beautiful effects of polychrome decoration in relief sculpture as practised by the Greeks.
The department of astronomy is not backward in its equipment. The John Payson Williston observatory contains a fine equatorial telescope, made by Clark, which is provided with an eight-inch object glass, clock-work, finding clock, filar and ring micrometers, spectroscope, solar eye-piece, etc. Among the other valuable appliances are an astronomical clock, a chronograph, a sextant, a spectroscope; a meridian circle (Fauth & Co.), which has a telescope of three inches aperture and circles of sixteen inches diameter, reading to seconds by two microscopes; and also a latitude level, and a micrometer adapting it to zenith telescopic work.
The studios for drawing and painting occupy the upper floor of Music Hall. This department has been enlarged and brought into prominence since being admitted among the electives. Casts, models, photographs and studies, all adapted to systemic work, are amply provided; and the outdoor sketching classes delight in the old brown mill at the end of the lake, the rugged stone bridge, the lovely brook, now quietly reflecting the ferns and tall grasses, now dashing over the miniature dam above the foot-bridge, and the beautiful effects of light and shadow through the long vistas of old elms.
Exercise and Social Life.
Faithful, earnest work brings enthusiastic recreation. The tennis courts in front of Williston Hall present a lively picture, and the admiration of those who watch the games is divided between the grace and beauty of the girls and the skilfulness of their playing. The shaded walks, the rowing, the skating and coasting when the short days come, all tempt the students to seek amusement in the open air and thus at the same time gain the requisite amount of exercise.
The most attention is given to the health of the students. Dr. Sargeant's system of gymnastics has been adopted, and careful measurements are taken in accordance with the recommendations of the American Association for the Advancement of Physical Education. Every girl is examined on entering under the direction of the resident physician, and the course of exercise that is best suited to her individual development is at once prescribed. Pure water is obtained for the college from an Artesian well four hundred and fifty feet deep, and the fine sanitary arrangements, elevator, steam heat and electric lights contribute their share to the general good health of the students.
The gymnasium is the scene of the dramatics, concerts by the college Glee and Banjo Clubs, promenades, and informal frolics of all kinds. During the year each class gives an entertainment for the whole college; and there are also many exchanges of courtesies among the classes. Since the granting of the college charter the students have been bound together more closely by class feeling, and it has undoubtedly added spirit and interest to all enterprise, whether religious, intellectual or merely in the nature of entertainments. Yet so long as the large majority of the girls room in the main college building and form one household, so long will all continue to be drawn together by the strong ties of that cordial, helpful friendliness which has ever been a marked feature of life at Mount Holyoke. Corridor divisions have supplanted the "sections"; each teacher, however, bears to the occupant of her corridor a relation similar to that which she formerly bore to the members of her section - a relationship which every graduate holds in loving memory.
The "Contemporary Club" succeeds in making current topics both instructive and interesting to all who attend its meetings. Lectures on various subjects are frequently given under its auspices by members of the faculty, as well as by distinguished speakers from other colleges.
Domestic Work.
The annual catalogue contains this simple statement: "Every student is expected to share in the care of the family. The time necessary for this service does not exceed fifty minutes daily." This economical plan has given rise to the misapprehension that young ladies go to Mount Holyoke to learn methods of house-work. Such is not the case. It was in the benevolent mind of the founder to place a broad and thorough education within the reach of girls of limited means who desire to fit themselves for a life of usefulness. The division among the students of the lighter household duties dispenses with the services of a regiment of servants, and much comfort results. The merry chatter of the girls in the domestic hall would convince anyone, no matter how little in sympathy with the arrangement, that it is considered no hardship. Every daughter of Mount Holyoke has learned through it one of the most useful lessons of her life - the dignity of labor. More than fifty years have tested the advantages of the system and proved its wisdom.
Expenses.
The practical benefits appear in the price of board and tuition, two hundred and fifty dollars per year. In return for this sum the student is provided with a comfortably furnished room, well heated by steam and lighted by electricity; good, wholesome board; superior educational advantages; courses of lectures given by distinguished professors from other colleges; concerts and other entertainments; the constant use of the library and of a reading-room provided with all the important magazines and periodicals, as well as several daily papers; and the benefits of the gymnasium. In fact, this charge includes all expenses except that for instruction in instrumental and vocal music, the item of laundry work, and a small laboratory fee.
Government.
As to the mode of government, the conditions which now exist could only be possible in an institution where a high moral tone and years of established precedent make the students feel what attitude they should take in thoughtful consideration for each other and the general good of all. The old reporting system, which for many years was followed by every conscientious pupil to the letter, has been discontinued, but those rules remain as a benign influence. There is now all the freedom compatible with thorough work. The students feel the honor of confidence placed in them by the faculty, and the elevated moral atmosphere develops the best there is in them. While it cannot be denied that the former system produced strong, womanly character, yet the alumnae, old and young, rejoice with the students of the present generation in their freedom. The girls are not even hampered by an association for self-government, but if it shall become necessary later to adopt such a system, Mount Holyoke will profit by the experiments now being tried in other colleges.
Religious Life.
If Mount Holyoke has fulfilled one more than another of the purposes to which she was consecrated, it has been that of character building. She has been called "unique," and so she certainly is in her power for good, which the ends of the earth have felt. When Miss Lyon opened the seminary in 1837 with eighty pupils, she said: "Every brick of this house is sacred to the Lord. I would have you ever remember that you are being educated in an institution built by the hand of the Lord, and that you are not to live for yourselves." Not the advancement of women alone, but to help on the complete salvation of the world, was her desire. The principles she taught, the high ideals she set before the girls, have ever been held sacred by her successors, and now, notwithstanding the rapid growth and consequent changes of the past few years, the same spirit prevails of devotion to Christ and the spread of His kingdom in the world. Is it then to be wondered at that the college which that good woman originated has ever been quick to respond to the world's needs, in whatever form they may have been presented?
The college is non-sectarian. Ministers of all denominations address the students from time to time, weekly prayer-meetings are held in the college chapel in care of the Christian Endeavor Society, and the teacher in every corridor meets the students in her division once a week in a prayer-meeting that is of especial helpfulness. Interesting meetings relating entirely to mission work at home or abroad are frequently held, and are often addressed by returned missionaries, and occasionally by natives from heathen lands. The Young Woman's Christian Association is doing most efficient work in the small outlying settlements a mile or two from the town, and their enthusiastic efforts result in mutual benefit. A systematic course of Bible study is continued throughout the four years, recitations occurring on Monday of every week.
Growth.
The progress made by Mount Holyoke since the first year of its existence, 1837, has been steady and normal. It was the first institution chartered by legislative authority to hold permanent funds for the education of women. In these days of rapid advancement in the intellectual life of women it is difficult to realize that our grandmothers considered any knowledge of Latin unladylike, and held that a girl's school days should be finished when she had arrived at the age of fifteen or sixteen, and that the rest of her education should be devoted to more feminine accomplishments. In the midst of these prevailing prejudices and in the face of strong opposition, Miss Lyon succeeded in establishing a course of study higher than any that had previously been offered to women. Again and again she said, "Plans for the education of women, if they are to be of permanent value, must include substantially the same principles and courses of study as those given to young men." She was too modest and too discreet to use the word college at a time when the community was not prepared to receive it, but her plans admitted, and, indeed, required indefinite expansion. Studies were placed at the option of the students which were not in the required course, but which by degrees were grafted into it; and new ones were added as rapidly as public sentiment would permit. As time went on and a new movement created colleges for women, Mount Holyoke Seminary had kept pace with this progress. She had graduated women who became teachers in the new colleges.
When, on the fiftieth anniversary of the birthday of their alma mater, hundreds of Mount Holyoke's loyal daughters returned with affection to bring their tributes and join in her praises, a great alumnae meeting was held at which the fifty classes were represented, and Mrs. Cowles, the personal friend of Miss Lyon, came forward bearing this message, "Speak to the daughters of Holyoke, that they go forward." That her words found a response in every heart, has been proved by the changes which quickly followed. It became clear that the college work would only be recognized under that name. The conditions that made it possible to claim a college charter at this time were the result of the untiring zeal of the principal, Miss Blanchard, and her associate, Miss Edwards. The college charter was granted on March 8th, 1888.
Curriculum.
The college now offers three full courses, classical, scientific and literary. After the first year many electives are at the option of the student, and during the junior and senior years they exceed the requirements, although not more than fifteen hours are allowed to any student per week. Forty-two full courses are required as the minimum for graduation. Students receive the degree of "B.A.", "B.S.", or "B.L.", according to the course pursued. The degree of "A.M." requires a full year's resident study under the direction of the faculty after the first degree has been conferred. Special students are admitted, and great advantages are offered to graduates and teachers.
Alumnae.
If the strength of a college lies in its alumnae, Mount Holyoke may well be proud. The world has been uplifted by the six thousand cultured women who have gone forth from her walls. They have formed local associations, nineteen in number, from Boston and New York to California, Hawaii and Constantinople. These associations work loyally to promote the interests of their alma mater, and they are at present making strong efforts to raise money to endow the different departments and to provide new dormitory buildings, of which the college at present stands in great need. Among the alumnae of Mount Holyoke are many of the most prominent educators of the country. Many have entered the professions, others have continued their studies with credit at foreign universities, and not least among the number are the homemakers whose inspiring influence is everywhere recognized as the highest product of intellectual and Christian development.
Emily Florence Paine, '86