The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-12-21

g
matter with those gentlemen. The gov
eminent of the university had nothing
to do with their coming and gong
1t was just as If a professor should in
vite a party of friends. The women
paid no fees, attended no examinations
and their presence was not offlclally
recognized in any way The majority
of the professors would not admit them.
In fact, only three or four of the facul-
ty We're courteous enough to do SO. Inc
innovation was due entirely to Amerl-
can women. They first broke through.
the red tape that tied the doors against:
their sex, and their action was not APP
proved by the people of Germany On
the contrary, it was considered a bold.
unwomanly and dangerous precedent,
and the liberalfty of the professors who
admitted them was severely criticised
by their conservative colleagues and
the public generally.
The first women to obtain rermls-
. sion to attend lectures were Mrs. Dickie.s
wife of the pastor of the American.
| church in Berlin; Miss LAVAL cf Vas
sar, Miss Browning and Miss klrkwood
| of Elgin, Ill. Professor Hermann
| Grimm, who lectures on art, inherited
| warm affection for America from his
| father, the famous writer of fairy tales,
|
| ent of Thomas Jefferson. They became
acquainted in Paris when Mr. Jefferson
was representing the young nation at
| the French capital during the revOlu-
| ton.
Professor Grimm was a great favor
| lite in the American colony, and it was
natural that he should be the first to
permit American women to attend his
lectures. But I shall take no notice or
you,' he said. You may slip in quiet
ly after the lecture has begun and take
seats by the door, and if the students
do not throw you out l certainly will
not do so.'
, One day, however, DR.. Grimm vio-
lated this arrangement. The room was
| crowded and the seats were all Occu-
| pied by men students, who never
| thought of Offering their places to Ia
dies. That courtesy is not customary
| in Germany. Professor Grimm left his
desk, brought out his own arm chair
from the platform and offered it to
Mrs. Dickie, saying:
You are the first woman who has
ever occupied a chair of the faculty of
the University of Berlin
The next year, however, DR.. Grimm
stubbornly refused to admit women to
his lectures. He made two eXplana-
tions. To one friend he said: I'm an
old fashioned man and have old-fash-
toned ideas. My lectures this winter
are on the nude art and I cannot ex-
hibit nude pictures to women"
To President Merrill E. Gates of Am
herst college he gave another reason.
BY this time the fashion had spread UNI
til 20 or 30 women, mostly young Ameri-
cans, We're regular attendants at Dr.
Grimm's lectures, and he said: II am
employed by the university to teach art
to lot of stupid boys. Some of them
have a high order of genius, but the
greater number must have ali ideas
hammered into them, which, of course
taxes my patience and is very tiresome
Last winter found myself growing in
i, different to my regular students and
talking over their heads to those bright
sympathetic and responsive American
girls. My students made no progress
at all, hence l must remove the ;empta.
! tion.''
Since the university was opened tt
women only three have taken degrees
Two of these are Americans and ont
a Jewess The latter was one of thu
! first women to enter the university and
the first to win a degree.
The second girl to take a degree wal
. Miss Caroline T. Stewart of Texas
whose graduating thesis was on Ger
manic philology, and they say it wa
I the most learned and comprehensive
] essay on that subject ever read by tn
instructors in German literature. Mis-
! Stewart and her sister came here Il
) 1895 from Bryn Mawr college, having
! previously graduated at Michigan uni
! versity, and Miss Caroline took her de
: gree last year. She has returned to tn
United States.
( This year the honors at the Berli
. university have been carried off by
J delicate looking little Yankee girl wit
bright blue eyes and rosy cheeks, VIII
: looks frail and tiny, as If a strong gus
of wind might pick her up and carr
her away. 1t seems incredible that s
8 much learning can be compressed int
such a small compass. She is Mary v
( Montgomery of New Haven, Conn.,, til
daughter of a Congregational ministe
and former missionary, and a gradual
of Wellesley college for women. ST
& took her degree last summer for Orien
tai languages. She knows Sanskri
< Hebrew, Turkish, Arabs. Greek ar
Egyptian, and Is probably the most a.
complished woman in the world
those branches Of learning. While Mi!
Montgomery has passed her examina
& tons and received her diploma, she hs
yet to go through the Formally VI pr,
8 notion" as they call it. The ceremon
takes place next month. after whie
l ho will of,,rv 70 tho TOT