autumn of 1887. In 1889, the Courant printed an article on
College Settlements, and students of the later '80's and early '90's
will never forget the ardor and excitement of those days when
Wellesley was bearing her part in starting what was to be one
of the important movements for social service in the nineteenth
century. All her early traditions and activities made the college
swift to understand and welcome this new idea.

From the beginning, the social impulse has been inherent in
Wellesley, and settlement work was native to her. Professor Whiting
tells us that there used to be a shoe factory in Wellesley Village,
about where the Eliot now stands; that the students became interested
in the girl operatives, most of whom lived in South Natick, and
that they started a factory girls' club which met every Saturday
evening for years, and was led by college girls. In Charles River
Village, also at that time a factory town, Mr. Durant held
evangelistic services during one winter, and "teacher specials"
used to help him, and to teach in the Sunday School.

In 1890-1891, probably because of the settlement impulse, work
among the maids in the college was set going by the Christian
Association. A maids' parlor was furnished under the old gymnasium,
and classes for the maids were started.

In 1891, the Wellesley Chapter of the College Settlements Association
was organized. It was Professor Katharine Lee Bates (Wellesley '80)
who first suggested the plan for an intercollegiate organization,
with chapters in the different colleges for women; and her friend
Adaline Emerson (Thompson), a Wellesley graduate of the class
of '80, was the first president of the association. Wellesley women
have ever since taken a prominent part in the direction of the
association's policy and in the active life of the settlement houses
in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Wellesley has
given presidents, secretaries, and many electors to the association
itself, and head-workers and a continuous stream of efficient and
devoted residents, not only to the four College Settlements, but
to Social Settlement houses all over the country. The College
Chapter keeps a special interest in the work of the Boston
Settlement, Denison House; students give entertainments occasionally
for the settlement neighbors, and help in many ways at Christmas
time; but practical social service from undergraduates is not the
ideal nor the desire of the Coll