"The recitation-room was very common-looking--we could not tolerate such at Vassar. The forms and benches of the recitation-room were better for taking notes than ours are.
"The professor was polite enough to ask us into the senior class, but I had an engagement. I asked him if a young lady presented herself at the door he _could_ keep her out, and he said 'No, and I shouldn't.' I told him I would send some of my girls.
"Oct. 15, 1868. Resolved, in case of my outliving father and being in good health, to give my efforts to the intellectual culture of women, without regard to salary; if possible, connect myself with liberal Christian institutions, believing, as I do, that happiness and growth in this life are best promoted by them, and that what is good in this life is good in any life."
In August, 1869, Miss Mitchell, with several of her Vassar students, went to Burlington, Ia., to observe the total eclipse of the sun. She wrote a popular account of her observations, which was printed in "Hours at Home" for September, 1869. Her records were published in Professor Coffin's report, as she was a member of his party.
"Sept. 26, 1871. My classes came in to-day for the first time; twenty-five students--more than ever before; fine, splendid-looking girls. I felt almost frightened at the responsibility which came into my hands--of the possible _twist_ which I might give them.
"1871. I never look upon the mass of girls going into our dining-room or chapel without feeling their nobility, the sovereignty of their pure spirit."
The following letter from Miss Mitchell, though written at a later date, gives an idea of the practical observing done by her classes:
MY DEAR MISS ----: I reply to your questions concerning the observatory which you propose to establish. And, first, let me congratulate you that you begin _small_. A large telescope is a great luxury, but it is an enormous expense, and not at all necessary for teaching.... My beginning class uses only a small portable equatorial. It stands out-doors from 7 A.M. to 9 P.M. The girls are encouraged to use it: they are expected to determine the rotation of the sun on its axis by watching the spots--the same for the planet Jupiter; they determine the revolution of Titan by watching its motions, the retrograde and direct motion of the planets among the stars, the position of the sun with reference to its setting in winter and summer, the phases of Venus. All their book learning in astronomy should be mathematical. The astronomy which is not mathematical is what is so ludicrously called "Geography of the Heavens"--is not astronomy at all.