character and personality,
this book takes its place with Professor Palmer's "Life of Alice
Freeman Palmer", among literary biographies of the first rank.

Professor Wenckebach came to Wellesley in 1883, and we have the
story of her coming, in her own letters, given us in translation
by Professor Muller. She was attending the Sauveur Summer School
of Languages at Amherst, and had been asked to take some classes
there, in elementary German, where her methods immediately attracted
attention; and presently we find her writing:

"Hurrah! I have made a superb catch--not a widower nor a bachelor,
but something infinitely superior! I must not anticipate, though,
but proceed according to program....

"The other day, when I was in my room digging away at my Greek
lessons, the landlady brings in three visiting cards, remarking
that the three ladies who wish to see me are in the reception room.
I look at the cards and read: Miss Alice Freeman, President
(in German, Rector Magnificus) of Wellesley College; Mrs. Durant,
Treasurer; and Miss Denio, Professor of German Literature at
Wellesley College (Wellesley, you must know, is the largest and
most magnificent of all the women's colleges in the United States).
I immediately comprehended that these were three lions (grosse
Tiere), and I began to have curious presentiments. Fortunately,
I was in correct dress, so that I could rush down into our elegant
reception room. Here I made a solemn bow, the three ladies
returning the compliment. The president, a lady who must be a
good deal younger than myself, a real Ph.D. (of Philosophy and
History), told me that she had heard of me and therefore wished
to see me in regard to a vacancy at Wellesley College, which,
according to the statutes, must not be filled by a man so long
as a woman could be procured. The woman she was looking for must
be able, she said, to give lectures on German Literature in German,
and to expound the works of German writers thoroughly; she would
engage me for this position, she added, if she found that I was
the right person for it.

"I was dumfounded at the mere suggestion of this gift of Heaven
coming to me, for I had heard so many beautiful things about
Wellesley that the idea of possibly getting a position there
totally dazed me. Summoning up courage, however, I controlled
my wild joy, and pulling myself together with determination, I
gave the ladies the desired account of my studies, my journalistic