January 1883

Julia Ward Howe, feminist, author of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and a frequent visitor to Vassar noted in her journal, “a peaceful day at Vassar College…. In the afternoon met the teachers and read some poems, to wit, all of the Egyptian ones, and the poem on the Vestal dug up in Rome. At bedtime last night I had a thought of ghosts. I spoke of this to Maria Mitchell to-day. She told me that Mr. Matthew Vassar’s body had been laid in this room and those of various persons since, which, had I known, I had been less comfortable than I was.”

Laura E. Richards and Maud Howe Elliott, Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910