Wellesley College - Legenda Yearbook (Wellesley, MA)

Page 17 text:

WELLESLEY COLLEGE LEGENDA 13 the knolls, tennis-courts invite, class yells reverberate. Imagine a time when there was neither the echo of song nor the rustle of pub- lication; when the life of the college was pliant, supple, unshaped; when beaten path or blazed trail was not; and zest of life gave impetus to the zeal for initial trial. An effort was made in our behalf when by legislative act (1873) our name was changed to Wellesley College in lieu of the Wellesley Female Seminary set forth in the charter signed by Gov. William Claflin, our friend. A building and a name did not suffice. The college had yet to be made ; for this our Founders, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Fowle Durant, selected as their co-operator Miss Ada L. Howard of Mt. Holyoke Seminary. Many of our customs found a beginning in those seven fledgeling years (1875-1882). At Mr. Durant ' s suggestion Flower Sunday was inaugurated, the text being then as now, God is Love. In referring to a sermon preached from those same words by the Founder himself, one of the early daughters of the college wrote home, His sermon was full of enthusiasm setting forth a high standard of true, noble womanhood. We are to be reformers, teachers. We are to mould the country. One sentence of his I remember, ' O children, I want you to remember all of your lives that God is Love. ' The death of his little son placed such high ideals in the heart of the father, and the mother joyfully furthered their realization. Strolling through the grounds, Mr. Durant stooped to pick a wee, white clover, saying, I need no higher miracle than that. ' In every way during the few years he was permitted to work he planned for his calico girls. The Zeta Alpha and Phi Sigma societies were the expression of his thought, and Shakespeare society was formed soon after. The first Tree Day [1877) belongs to this early period. The Students ' Aid Society and Teachers ' Registry

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12 WELLESLEY COLLEGE LE G ' E ' N DlA rur ivi! Utistovt) of ZZttUt ltt) Concur ARNSWALLOWS ! Wellesley Magazine and College News ! ' Try-outs for Glee and Man- dolin Clubs! Christian Association! Athletic Association ! Even so do large placards of cabalistic black-letter art, or gayly alluring posters whose curves defy the wriggles of a Stanlaws-maid, or perchance, the honeyed accent of a Financial Committee so dread beguile the student during the opening weeks until suddenly the new Senior realizes with an odd, lumpy throb that the wheels of a precious last year are flying fast in an unceasing and relentless clickity- clack clicking of days; and dreamily she recalls that there is a certain sadness about doing anything for the last time. The Freshman, too, is now, more new; and she also is sad from an uncalloused excess of doing things for the first time; she seeks to find a meaning in the bewildering rush of life. What does it mean? That a college, a great one, has swung into motion like some ponderous piece of mechanism whose piston rod drives slowly at first but with increasing speed as screw, nut, wheel and pivot wears down to its bearings. Our college life of today is intricate, established ; the fruition of years of experiment, it asks of its students little more than re-adjustment and adaptation. Usages are mellowing with age; traditions haunt the memory; and a college spirit, illusive but not ephemeral, abides with us. Buildings crown

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14 WELLESLEY COLLEGE LEGENDA were established; and in 1879 the Pioneers were graduated. With a dignified Alumna? once recognized the preparatory-school reached a vanishing point; but not until it had proved its efficacy, for only a tenth of the entering three hundred were prepared for college work. With this cutting of leading-strings the college waxed and increased. The original building, College Hall, no longer sufficed. The Teachers Specials were gathered together in a home provided through the munificence of Mrs. Valeria G. Stone. Poor Specials ! for it is rumored that a certain exacting Head required the furniture in each room to be placed according to one model. There would have been no difficulty then in granting Matthew Arnold ' s request to see a student ' s room. About the same time the corner-stone of the College of