Part 5 (1/2)

Professor Burrell, Miss Shafer's student, and later her colleague in the Departenuine interest in all sides of the social life of the students, sy of thee” And the members of the Greek letter societies bear her in especial re in 1889 of the societies Phi Sigma and Zeta Alpha, which had been suppressed in 1880, under Miss Howard

In 1889 also the Art Society, later known as Tau Zeta Epsilon, was founded; in 1891, the Agora, the political society, cas of Alpha Kappa Chi, the classical society Miss Shafer also approved and fostered the departan to be formed at this time And to her wise and sye periodicals,--the old Courant, of 1888, the Prelude, which began in 1889, and the first senior annual, the Legenda of 1889

The old boarding-school type of discipline which had flourished under Miss Howard, and lingered fitfully under Miss Freeave place in Miss Shafer's day to a systeovernnity of the students At the beginning of the academic year 1890-1891, attendance at prayers in chapel on Sunday evening and Mondaywas iven ”with necessary restrictions, the privilege of leaving college, or the town, at their own discretion, whenever such absence did not take thee duties” On Septeown throughout the year

Other notable events of these five years were the opening of the Faculty Parlor on Monday, Septeifts of Professor Horsford, its gold and garlands now vanished never to return; the dedication of the Farnsworth Art Building on October 3, 1889, the gift of Mr Isaac D Farnsworth, a friend of Mr Durant; the presentation in this same year, by Mr Stetson, of the A, also in 1889, of Wood Cottage, a dorift of a boathouse from the students, in 1893; and on Saturday, January 28, 1893, the opening of the college post office We learn, through the president's report for 1892-1893, that during this year four professors and one instructor were called to fill professorshi+ps in other colleges and universities, with double the salary which they were then receiving, but all preferred to re an annual report to the trustees urated by Miss Shafer It is true that Miss Freeman had printed one such report at the close of her first year, but not again Miss Shafer's clear and dignified presentations of events and conditions are models of their kind; they set the standard which her successors have followed

Of Miss Shafer's early preparation for her e have but few details She was born in Newark, New Jersey, on Septeational church, of led Scotch and German descent Her parents irl, and she entered the college and was graduated in 1863 The Reverend Frederick D Allen of Boston, as a classmate of Miss Shafer's, tells us that there were two courses at Oberlin in that day, the regular college course and a parallel, four years' course for young woe course, but only a few availed thee, and Miss Shafer was not one of these But Mr Allen re the wo froht two years in New Jersey, and then in the Olive Street High School in St Louis for ten years, ”laying the foundation of her distinguished reputation as a teacher of higher mathematics” Doctor William T Harris, then superintendent of public schools in St Louis, and afterwards United States Cohly; and her old students at Wellesley witness with enthusiasm to her remarkable powers as a teacher President Pendleton, as one of those old students, says:

”Doubtless there was no one of these who did not receive the news of her appointret No one probably doubted the wisdo that the inspiration of Miss Shafer's teaching should be lost to the future Wellesley students Her record as president leaves unquestioned her power in administrative work, yet all her students, I believe, would say that Miss Shafer was preee to be one of a class of ten or e life (1884-1886) elected Miss Shafer's course in Matheive adequate expression to the impression which Miss Shafer raciousness in hera class which established at once a feeling of syht us to aiance of ive to our work a certain finish which belongs only to the scholar

I believe that it has often been the experience of a Wellesley girl, that once on her feet in Miss Shafer's classroo a subject ht possible before the recitation The explanation of this, I think, lay in the fact that Miss Shafer inspired her students with her own confidence in their intellectual powers”

When we realize that during the last ten years of her life she was fighting tuberculosis, and in a state of health which, for the ordinary woman, would have justified an invalid existence, we appreciatethe winter of 1890-1891, she was obliged to spend soia, and in her absence the duties of her office devolved upon Professor Frances E Lord, the head of the Depart of Miss Shafer's ideals enabled her to carry through the difficult year with signal success Miss Shafer rallied in the ed if she had chosen to retire froe; but her whole heart was in her work, and undoubtedly if she had known that her co back to Wellesley meant only two more years of life on earth, she would still have chosen to return

Miss Shafer had no surface qualities, although her friends kneell the keen sense of hurave and rather aard exterior But when the alumnae who knew her speak of her, the words that rise to their lips are justice, integrity, sympathy She was an honorary member of the class of 1891, and on December 8, 1902, her portrait, painted by Kenyon cox, was presented to the college by the Alurees were from Oberlin, the MA in 1877 and the LLD in 1893

Mrs Caroline Williaomery (Wellesley, '89), in a enda says: ”I have yet to find the Wellesley student who could not and would not say, 'I can always feel sure of the fairness of Miss Shafer's decision' Again and again have Wellesley students said, 'She treats us like wos' Often she has said, 'I feel that one of Wellesley's strongest points is in her alumnae'

And once more, because of this confidence, the alumnae, as when students, were spurred to do their best, were filled with loyalty for their alma mater If I should try to formulate an expression of that life in brief, I should say that in her relation to the students there was perfect justness; as regards her own position, a passion for duty; as regards her character, simplicity, sincerity, and selflessness”

For more than sixteen years, froe as head of the Department of Mathematics, to January 20, 1894, when she died, its president, she served Wellesley with all her strength, and the college reh standards and wise leadershi+p

IV

In choosing Mrs Irvine to succeed Miss Shafer as president of Wellesley, the trustees abandoned the policy which had governed their earlier choices Miss Freee al They had known its problems only from the inside Mrs Irvine was, by comparison, a newcomer; she had entered the Department of Greek as junior professor in 1890 But almost at once her unusual personalityher election to the presidency, she had arisen, as it were in spite of herself, to a position of power both in the classroom and in the Academic Council As an outsider, her criticism, both constructive and destructive, was peculiarly sti and valuable; and even those who resented her intrusion could not but recognize the noble disinterestedness of her ideal for Wellesley

The trustees were quick to perceive the value to the college of this unusual cohtedness, detach service They also realized that the junior professor of Greek was especially well fitted to complete and perfect the curriculuurated For Mrs Irvine was before all else a scholar, with a scholar's passion for rectitude and high excellence in intellectual standards

Julia Josephine (Thohter of Owen Thomas and Mary Frame (Myers) Thorandparents, strong abolitionists, are said to have moved to theto live in a slave state Mrs Irvine's henies, and her mother's sister also studied e, Ohio, but later she entered Cornell University, receiving her bachelor's degree in 1875 In the same rear she was ave her the degree of Master of Arts After her husband's death in 1886, Mrs Irvine entered upon her career as a teacher, and in 1890 came to Wellesley, where her success in the classrooet the vitality of her teaching, the enthusiasm for study which pervaded her classes

Wellesley has had her share of inspiring teachers, and a these Mrs Irvine was undoubtedly one of the most brilliant

The new president assu that she should be allowed to retire after a brief terested her appointe, and she knew herself

With certain aspects of the Wellesley life she could never be entirely in accord She was a Hicksite Quaker The Wellesley of the decade 1890-1900 had elical revivalision, but it was not until 1912 that the Quaker students first began to hold their weekly h the kind offices of the Wellesley College Christian association, a list of the Roiven to the Roman Catholic parish priest That the trustees in 1895 illing to trust the leadershi+p of the college to a woious convictions differed so widely from those of the founder indicates that even then Wellesley was beginning to outgrow her religious provincialisnize that a wise tolerance is not incoious services which Mrs Irvine, in her official capacity, conducted for the college were impressive by their simplicity and distinction An alu-desk of the old chapel in College Hall made every one, in those days, rejoice when she was to lead theservice” But the trustees, anxious to set her free for the academic side of her work, which now demanded the whole of her time, appointed a dean to relieve her of such other duties as she desired to delegate to another This action was made possible by amendment of the statutes, adopted Novearet E Stratton, professor of the Department of Rhetoric, as it was then called, was appointed the first dean of the college

The trustees did not define the precise nature of the relation between the president and the dean, but left these officers to make such division of work as should seem to them best, and we read in Mrs Irvine's report for 1895 that, ”For the present the Dean ree of all that relates to the public devotional exercises of the college, and is chairious services She is the authority referred to in all cases of ordinary discipline, and is the chairman of the committee which includes heads of houses and permission officers, all these officers are directly responsible to her”

Regarded from an intellectual and academic point of view, the administrations of Miss Shafer and Mrs Irvine are a unit

Mrs Irvine developed and perfected the policy which Miss Shafer had initiated and outlined By 1895, all students orking under the new curriculu years the details of readjustes in the courses of study, certain other changes were also necessary;which were advanced for the '70's and '80's had been superseded in the '90's, and ood To all that was involved in this ungrateful task, Mrs Irvine addressed herself with a courage and determination not fully appreciated at the ti unwelco mind without irritation; neither had she Miss Shafer's self-effacing, sy of situations and individuals e are accustomed to call masculine; it had, as the French say, the defects of its qualities; but the general result was tonic, and Wellesley's gratitude to this fir of years

In November, 1895, the Board of Trustees appointed a special coanize the instruction in these subjects, and as a result the fine arts and ular electives in the acaderee The heads of these departments were made members of the Academic Council and the terms School of Music and School of Art were dropped from the calendar