The result of all this activity along unexpectedly opened lines cannot yet be estimated. Certainly proof was given of the efficiency of educated women in carrying on work that had never been open to them before. In some regions (_e.g._ that of police work) it has been agreed upon that even in normal times it is highly desirable that some women should be employed. The issue must be awaited in patience.
It would, of course, be unworthy of the College to suppose that in their activities these women were moved by a wish to better their position and that of their College. Common humanity and genuine patriotism were at the bottom of their efforts. But doubtless the capacity and energy which they displayed helped indirectly towards the grant of the Suffrage. It is a very notable thing that when the Suffrage came, past students of Newnham and Girton of the qualified age, who had the "equivalent of a degree," were adjudged capable of using the parliamentary vote for the University of Cambridge. Parliament was, however, not so liberal as Dublin had been, as it did not recognise as "equivalent" the Tripos Certificates given before the Graces of 1881.
One more change awaited the College at the end of the last academic year, in the retirement of the Principal, Miss Katharine Stephen, a loss much deplored, though Miss Stephen retains her seat on the Council. Her devotion to the work she had undertaken, and the ability with which she discharged it need no eulogies here. Happily, her place has been filled by the niece and biographer of the First Principal. Miss B. A. Clough has not only spent many years within the College precincts and watched its continuous progress, with occasional drawbacks, from comparatively early days; she has also been intimately associated with its pioneers and has acquired an unrivalled knowledge of the aspirations and the needs of student life. As, in old times, the rule of a Foundress Abbess seemed sometimes to be best carried on by a niece who had lived much in her environment, so we may hope good things in future from the fact that our Principal is in more than name the honoured successor of Anne Jemima Clough.
As these chapters were being written, the struggle was again begun for membership in the University of Cambridge, and--as we know only too well--the result was a failure, though not so crushing a failure as the attempt in 1897 when the demands were far more modest. It is not desirable to dwell on this event, but we hope we may accept the assurance of many friends that it cannot be long before we obtain what we are asking. Meanwhile we may console ourselves by thinking that the Women's Colleges have earned the respect even of opponents, and that there is no probability of their being deprived of the privileges which they still enjoy. It would be unwise to pretend indifference to our defeat. Yet we have full reason to celebrate our Jubilee in joy and hope. For, after all, the treasure to seek which our pioneers came to Cambridge fifty years ago, is in our possession and likely to remain with us permanently. That treasure is Education: the opportunity of learning from the best teachers; of co-operation with like-minded learners; the opening up of opportunities of learning more of nature and of man; fitness for doing whatever tasks the future may offer to those who seek, like our first benefactors, a life of active and intelligent service. That was their ideal and it may well continue to be ours.