I peeped out of my
door, and seeing the bell at the head of the stairs nearby, I gave
it one kick and away it went rolling and ringing to the bottom. The
halls were instantly filled with teachers and scholars, all in
white robes, asking what was the matter. Harriet and I ran around
questioning the rest, and what a frolic we had, helter-skelter, up
and down stairs, in each other's rooms, pulling the beds to pieces,
changing girls' clothes from one room to another, etc., etc. The
hall lamps, dimly burning, gave us just light enough for all manner
of depredations without our being recognized, hence the unbounded
latitude we all felt for mischief. In our whole seminary
course--and I was there nearly three years--we never had such a
frolic as that night. It took all the teachers to restore order and
quiet us down again for the night. No suspicion of any
irregularities were ever attached to Harriet and myself. Our
standing for scholarship was good, hence we were supposed to
reflect all the moralities.

"Though strangers, we have a bond of union in all these memories,
of our bright companions, our good teachers, who took us through
the pitfalls of logic, rhetoric, philosophy, and the sciences, and
of the noble woman who founded the institution, and whose unselfish
devotion in the cause of education we are here to celebrate. The
name of Emma Willard is dear to all of us; to know her was to love
and venerate her. She was not only good and gifted, but she was a
beautiful woman. She had a finely developed figure, well-shaped
head, classic features, most genial manners, and a profound
self-respect (a rare quality in woman), that gave her a dignity
truly royal in every position. Traveling in the Old World she was
noticed everywhere as a distinguished personage. And all these
gifts she dedicated to the earnest purpose of her life, the higher
education of women.

"In opening this seminary she could not find young women capable of
teaching the higher branches, hence her first necessity was to
train herself. Amos B. Eaton, who was the principal of the
Rensselaer Polytechnic School for boys here in Troy, told me Mrs.
Willard studied with him every branch he was capable of teaching,
and trained a corps of teachers and regular scholars at the same
time. Sh