r without you. There's
nothing to point to!"

"May 5, 1889. In all the great wonder of life, you have given me more of
what I have wanted than any other creature ever gave me. I hoped I
should amount to something for your sake."

Dr. Eliza M. Mosher, at one time resident physician at the college, said
of her: "She was quick to withdraw objections when she was convinced of
error in her judgment. I well remember her opposition to the ground I
took in my 'maiden speech' in faculty meeting, and how, at supper, she
stood, before sitting down, to say, 'You were right this afternoon. I
have thought the matter over, and, while I do not like to believe it, I
think it is true.'"

Of her rooms at the observatory, Miss Grace Anna Lewis, who had been a
guest, wrote thus: "Her furniture was plain and simple, and there was a
frank simplicity corresponding therewith which made me believe she chose
to have it so. It looked natural for her. I think I should have been
disappointed had I found her rooms fitted up with undue elegance."

"Professor Mitchell's position at Vassar gave astronomy a prominence
there that it has never had in any other college for women, and in but
few for men. I suppose it would have made no difference what she had
taught. Doubtless she never suspected how many students endured the
mathematical work of junior Astronomy in order to be within range of her
magnetic personality." (From "Wide Awake," September, 1889.)

A graduate writes: "Her personality was so strong that it was felt all
over the college, even by those who were not in her department, and who
only admired her from a distance."

Extract from a letter written after her death by a former pupil: "I
count Maria Mitchell's services to Vassar and her pupils infinitely
valuable, and her character and attainments great beyond anything that
has yet been told.... I was one of the pupils upon whom her freedom from
all the shams and self-deceptions made an impression that elevated my
whole standard, mental and moral.... The influence of her own personal
character sustains its supreme test in the evidence constantly
accumulating, that it strengthens rather than weakens with the lapse of
time. Her influence upon her pupils who were her daily companions has
been permanent, character-moulding, and unceasingly progressive."

President Taylor, in his address at her funeral, said: "If I were to
select for comment the one most striking trait of her character, I
sho