Q i ,P My CHE trees spread cool patches across the grass as horse- ' 7' ' drawn carriages driven by mustached young men mire the young ladies playing croquet or badminton on the front lawn. But any girl caught speaking to, or even just smiling at a passer-by, was severely punished. These crin- olined and parasoled gentlewomen, who had come to Lasell to learn the beaux arts, were the reality of a dream. While visiting a friend in Auburndale in the early part of 1851 Professor Edward Lasell, inspired by the beauty of the surrounding countryside, decided that this was the ideal spot to build his school for young ladies. At that time Auburndale was not the busy residential district it is today, but a peaceful village dotted here and there with homes of the imposing archi- tecture of the day. Professor Lasell built upon a hill what is 'f ' y Q. stopped in front of the Seminary to watch and ad- 4' - Af'-iffx . 1 i K X Page two today Bragdon Hall, and what was then the Lasell Female Sem- inary. At first the Seminary was limited in its number of boarders to S0 girls. The young ladies and the teachers lived harmo- niously together in a family atmosphere. The boarding pupils were severely restricted in their social permissions and were never allowed to attend parties or theatres or to Walk, ride, or except by permission of their parents, to correspond with any gentle- man other than a father, brother, uncle or guardian. On 'Friday evenings and during Saturday the young ladies could receive callers in the parlors, but never, never, were they allowed to have gentlemen callers outside the members of their families. The Seminary was most emphatic in requesting parents not to send their daughters swectmeats, because the eating of con- fectionary was thought to be a great evil and detrimental to the health of body and soul. But even with such a rigid rationing of calories, the young ladies gained weight rapidly on the ex- cellent fare served at the Seminary tables. Even if the maidens of the day were modestly hidden under voluminous skirts and betraying folds and tucks, these retiring ladies were by no means lacking in feminine vanity. They lamented just as woefully as we do the addition of a pound or two or the loss of a hand-span waist. The young ladies took daily walks along the shaded paths of the village, but always in the company of a faculty member. The passers-by would stop for a moment to admire this youth- ful procession in their billowy skirts and perky bonnets. The ladies kept their eyes modestly lowered whenever they passed anyone on their walksg but sometimes there would be one girl who, if the attention of the chaperone were drawn somewhere else, would be so daring as to lift her skirts to show an inch of black-stockinged ankle. In order to give each girl agility and grace, the Seminary offered excellent facilities for physical education. All those
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