or and to
dedicate their lives to His service. They promised to abide by
the laws of the association and seek its prosperity; ever to strive
to live a life consistent with its character as a Christian
Association, and, as far as in them lay, to engage in its activities;
to cultivate a Christian fellowship with its members, and as
opportunity offered, to endeavor to lead others to a Christian life.
Wellesley is rightly proud of the Christian simplicity and
inclusiveness of this pledge.

The work of the association included Bible study, devotional
meetings, individual work, and the development of missionary
interest. Three hundred and seventy signed as charter members,
and Professor Stratton of the Department of Rhetoric was the first
president. The students held most of the offices, but it was not
until 1894 that a student president,--Cornelia Huntington of the
class of 1895--was elected. Since then, this office has always
been held by a student. From its inception the association received
the greatest help and inspiration from Mrs. Durant, for many years
the President of the Boston Young Women's Christian Association,
which was one of the first of its kind.

Early in its career, the Wellesley Association adopted, besides
its foreign missionary, a home missionary, and later a city
missionary who worked in New York. An Indian committee was
formed, and Thanksgiving entertainments were given at the Woman's
Reformatory in Sherborn and the Dedham Asylum for released prisoners.
In this prison work, the college always had the fullest help and
sympathy of Mrs. Durant. The Wellesley Student Volunteer Band
was organized May 26, 1890, and in 1915 there were known to be
about one hundred Wellesley girls in the foreign field, and there
were probably others of whom the college was uninformed. It is
a noble and inspiring record.

In 1905, after the union of many of the Young Women's Christian
Associations and the formation of the National Board, Wellesley
was urged to affiliate herself with the National Association, but
she was unwilling to narrow her own pledge, to meet the conditions
of the National Board. She felt that she better served the cause
of Christian Unity by admitting to her fellowship a wider range of
Christians, so-called, than the National Board was at that time
prepared to tolerate; and she was also more or less fearful of too
much dictation. It was not until 1913, at the Fourth Biennial
Convention of t