it in. I have never known the college without him, and
it will make all things different.

"Personally, I have always been fond of him; he was very enjoyable
socially and intellectually. Officially he was, in his relations to the
students, perfect. He was cautious to a fault, and has probably been
very wise in his administration of college affairs. He was broad in his
religious views. He was not broad in his ideas of women, and was made to
broaden the education of women by the women around him.

"June 18, 1881. The dome party to-day was sixty-two in number. It was
breakfast, and we opened the dome; we seated forty in the dome and
twenty in the meridian-room."

This "dome party" requires a few words of explanation, because it was
unique among all the Vassar festivities. The week before commencement,
Miss Mitchell's pupils would be informed of the approaching gathering by
a notice like the following:

CIRCULAR.

The annual dome party will be held at the observatory on
Saturday, the 19th, at 6 P.M. You are cordially invited to be
present.

M. M.

[As this gathering is highly intellectual, you are invited to
bring poems.]

It was, at first, held in the evening, but during the last years was a
breakfast party, its character in other respects remaining the same.
Little tables were spread under the dome, around the big telescope; the
flowers were roses from Miss Mitchell's own garden. The "poems" were
nonsense rhymes, in the writing of which Miss Mitchell was an adept.
Each student would have a few verses of a more or less personal
character, written by Miss Mitchell, and there were others written by
the girls themselves; some were impromptu; others were set to music, and
sung by a selected glee-club.

"June 5, 1881. We have written what we call our dome poetry. Some nice
poems have come in to us. I think the Vassar girls, in the main, are
magnificent, they are so all-alive....

"May 20, 1882. Vassar is getting pretty. I gathered lilies of the valley
this morning. The young robins are out in a tree close by us, and the
phoebe has built, as usual, under the front steps.

"I am rushing dome poetry, but so far show no alarming symptoms of
brilliancy."

A former student writes as follows about the dome poetry:

"At the time it was read, though it seemed mere merry nonsense, it
really served a more serious purpose in the work of one who did nothing
aimlessly. This apparent nonsense serv