The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-11-06
sured Mr.. Gilman that she was as we'll
fitted as any of the candidates who had
heen throu oh the usual courca

6ured MIR. Gilman that she was ag we'll
fitted as any of the candidates who had
been through the usual course
Helen's first examination was the most
difficult, advanced German. She and
Mr.. Gilman took their places in a room
where they could be uninterrupted. The
papers were given out at Harvard College
at o'clock and were brougt to Mr.. Gill
man under seal. Helen sat at her type
writer and Mr.. Gilman took position at
her side 80 that his right hand could
grasp hers In his own words:
"We had often done the same thing
before, but no previous effort had been
quite like this one, and we were both
conscious of it. On other occasions we
tried to seeiif I'VE could cope with the
paper; now we were actually to write
something to be submitted to Harvard
examiners-as final test. 1t was plain to
me that Helen felt this. l read the en-
tire paper through at first, then sentence
byEsentence. Helen repeated the words
with her voice as my hands made the
signs.
The paper was not an easy one. Ii
was evident that Helen felt that. Her
brow was knit. her fingers seemed to
want to clutch an idea; perspiratlon
came, but with regularity the typewriter
spelled out the English of the German
text. Helen forged ahead, and anxious
ly kept her supplied with new sentences
to translate. By Al she had put all OF
the German from the German looks that
she had read into English. Then she
took up the English to be translated into
German. At HOS this, too, had been
done. Next there was passage from
book that Helen had never seen. This
was completed at 11.44. then read to
Helen what she had written, and she die
tated such changes as she thought neces-
sary. These interlined. 1t then went
to the examiners with certificate that
it was the sole and unaided work of can
didate No. 233.
AT on Thursday the examination in
Latin began. l read the paper as 1 had
that in German. 1t was not easy, but it
was plain that it did not present tho
difficulties that the German paper had
and Helen was very cool. She was con-
fdent. The work went steadily forward
and was duly completed and sent to the
college as before On July 2. little
before noon, we began the one-hour
paper on the history of Greece and Rome.
and 1t was followed after Slight inter-
mission by the two-hour paper in Eng
lish. These were unevent full. They
were play to Helen, though naturally
there were matters in the history paper
that she had never heard of. We had
spent weeks in the critical study of
Burke's speech, but not question was
asked on 1t. We had thought that De-
oe's Journal of the Plague WAS too
horrible to trouble Helen with, and but
a few pages had been read to her. She
found some questions on it, however,
and was able to write satisfactorily on
the subject.
Son Saturday there was one hour for
elementary French and one for elemen-
tary German. Both Of these were easy.
While we were going through this, there
was a ring at the door and Prof. Schill-
ing was announced. He had come to let
me know that Helen had been successful
in her advanced German, the paper being
pronounced excellent"
Helen WAS successful in every subject,
and took honors in English and German.
No candidate in Harvard or Radcliffe
College was graded higher than Helen in
English. Mr.. Gilman concludes his re-
port with the statement: mo man or
woman has ever in my experience got
ready for these examinations in SO brief
a.time. How has it been accomplished
By union of patience. determination,
and affection, with the foundation of AN
uncommon BRAIN" .g wa
Helen is again this year at the Cam
bridge School happily and busily engaged
upon her second years work in preparing
for college.