An Oakland Girl in the East

AN OAKLAND GIRL IN THE EAST

She Writes “The Call” a Newsy Letter from Smith College, where She is Attending School.

NORTHAMPTON, Mass., Jan.,1, 1888--To THE CALL:--Thinking that perhaps some of the Oaklandites would like to hear a little about one of the old New England towns, so fast becoming famous as an educational centre, I have gathered a few items which will perhaps be of interest.

This “city of magnificent distances,” as it has been called, with a population of about 25,000, is not many miles from Boston, near the banks of the broad flowing Connecticut. It is sometimes called the “city of meadows,” yet it is bounded on all sides by hills, and but a few miles off, so near that the “house on the mountain” can be distinctly seen, is Mt. Holyoke and its range, including Mt. Nonotuck, more commonly called Mt. Tom. These and the river combine to makes a most beautiful landscape, the charm of which not even the seeing it daily can destroy. I think as fine a view of the surrounding country can be obtained from Round Hill, as from any place near. This is a hill in the northern part of the town, perfectly round, and having chestnut woods on the top. It was on account of this advantage that my first sight of it was gained. There are on the hill some very fine residences, as also the Calk Institute for Deaf Mutes.

Everywhere in the town the predominance of old houses is noticed,- old houses such as no one ever sees in Chicago. One of the most interesting of those is Jonathan Edwards’ house, with the immense elm in front, about twenty feet in circumference. But there are also many handsome buildings which have been completed late of years. A new court-house has just been completed and dedicated. The public library is also Memorial hall, having been built in memory of soldiers and sailors of Northampton who gave their lives for their country. There is a very fine Catholic cathedral opposite the college. I think visitors are generally shown the insane asylum, which is situated prominently on Hospital Hill. It is a large handsome building, with wings on either side, and very fine grounds.

But of course it is the college in which I am most interested. This college, founded by Miss Sophia Smith for higher education of women, now numbers above 300 students, of which I am sorry to say only about half-a-dozen belong to Chicago. It pursues a high course of studies, and grants degrees similar to those of men’s colleges. The buildings, eleven in number, occupy College Hill. The college buildings proper are College Hall, Lily Hall of illegible words, Ar Gallery, Music Hall, and the Observatory. Then there are the Gymnasium, and the cottages where the students live.

There are no secret societies in the college, but three dramatic societies flourish, and two of them give two plays apiece each term. The third, the Senior Dramatics, only gives one each year. The first two are named “Olla Podrida” (Spanish for hash, so named because it was formed in one of the houses where the girls formerly claimed that they lived chiefly on that luxury) [I believe she is referring to the Spanish-style stew of meat and vegetables], and “Tertium Quid.” The way the last one got its name was rather odd. As there were already two societies, they did not know what to call the third one. So they went to one of the professors, and told him their difficulty, saying they wanted it to be third something. “Tertium quid?” asked the professor, and they took that for their name.

Then there is the Smith College Glee Club, said to be an institution peculiar to this one girls’ college, and to contain the first girl whistler and the first girl warbler of the country. If I neglected to mention President Seelye, I should omit the main-spring of the whole. He is one of the finest men it has ever been my pleasure to see. He is a brother of President Seelye of Amherst, where he educates his boys, his girls partaking of the benefits of Smith. There are several germans and receptions held here each year, but the chief one is that held on the 22d of February, when the doors are opened to the young men who are such strangers here.

Down behind the college campus is a patch of woods through which the Mill river flows, which is so lovely that it has been named Paradise. But opposite of this, on the other side of the river, is a snakey region which the girls call Purgatory,. Leading from Paradise, somewhat further down, is Paradise road, and on this, at the top of a hill, is the dwelling of George W. Cable, the novelist, who has been living here now somewhat over two years.

There are many pleasant drives about Northampton, but I cannot stop to describe them, so I will close with a stanza by J.G. Holland, who spent many years of his boyhood here:

“Queen village of the meads,

Fronting the sunrise and in beauty throned,

With jewelled homes around her lifted brow

And coronal of ancient forest trees,

Northampton sits and rules her pleasant

realm.

There where the saintly Edwards heralded

The terrors of the Lord, and men bowed low

Beneath the menace of his awful words;

And there where nature, with a thousand

tongues,

Tender and true, from vale and mountain

top

And smiling streams, and landscapes piled

afar,

Proclaimed a gentler gospel, I was born.”

E.L.G.

Located in Folder 9 of Writings About Smith College, 1873 - 1922. Smith College Archives, part of Five College Archives Digital Access Project.