Earliest Years at Vassar: Personal Recollections

EARLIEST YEARS AT VASSAR
1865
FRANCES A. WOOD (Librarian)
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. The Vassar College Press 1909
The Lord Baltimore Press
BALTIMORE, MD., U.S.A.
EARLIEST YEARS AT VASSAR.
Personal Recollections.
Frances A. Wood, Librarian .
The more I recall of the early times, the more unwritable any account becomes by reason of the personal element. The charm and delight lay chiefly in the close confidence of mutual friendly relations. A chiel amang us taking notes would not have been tolerated in those days. I never expected to regret not keeping a journal, but I do now as I realize how much precious and interesting history has been lost in consequence.
One of the first teachers in the Latin department had to deal with a student so literal as to afford much amusement by her continual habit of asking, What is the exact date of this event? One day in class, allusion was made to the story of Deucalion and Pyrrha, when the girl unthinkingly began her usual query. The teacher despairingly interrupted,— Thank heaven, Miss ——, there is a period in history in which there are no dates.
So you are invited to look back with me to the time in Vassar history when it began,—when practically there were no dates; the time when the word female was still carved over the entrance, and had not yet been stricken from the spoons. As to that word, there seems to have been much discussion about its use from the first and objections made to it, for the Evangelist in 1860 had a long article in defence, summing up the matter in this wise:— We hope the college will not be persuaded to change the title on account of any prudish antipathy on the part of a few who entertain a false prejudice against the word female, and who are utterly unable to find a substitute for it, or suggest any graceful circumlocution by which it can be avoided.