Page 226 - The Story of My Lif

Since receiving my certificate of admission to Radcliffe last July, I have been

studying with a private tutor, Horace, Aeschylus, French, German, Rhetoric,
English History, English Literature and Criticism, and English composition.

In college I should wish to continue most, if not all of these subjects. The
conditions under which I work require the presence of Miss Sullivan, who has
been my teacher and companion for thirteen years, as an interpreter of oral

speech and as a reader of examination papers. In college she, or possibly in some
subjects some one else, would of necessity be with me in the lecture-room and at
recitations. I should do all my written work on a typewriter, and if a Professor
could not understand my speech, I could write out my answers to his questions
and hand them to him after the recitation.

Is it possible for the College to accommodate itself to these unprecedented
conditions, so as to enable me to pursue my studies at Radcliffe? I realize that
the obstacles in the way of my receiving a college education are very great—to
others they may seem insurmountable; but, dear Sir, a true soldier does not
acknowledge defeat before the battle.

TO MRS. LAURENCE HUTTON

38 Brattle Street, Cambridge,

June 9, 1900.

…I have not yet heard from the Academic Board in reply to my letter; but I
sincerely hope they will answer favorably. My friends think it very strange that
they should hesitate so long, especially when I have not asked them to simplify
my work in the least, but only to modify it so as to meet the existing
circumstances. Cornell has offered to make arrangements suited to the conditions

under which I work, if I should decide to go to that college, and the University of
Chicago has made a similar offer, but I am afraid if I went to any other college, it
would be thought that I did not pass my examinations for Radcliffe
satisfactorily….