330 MARIA MITCHELL. Every one receives a motto paper, containing a few- amusing lines about some member of the company, writ- ten by Miss Mitchell or her assistants. These are often witty but never caustic, and their reading is productive of much mirth. When they have all been read, the host- ess brings out a good sized basket which, during the few days preceding the dome party, has been filled with some- what similar effusions, dropped in anonymously by college poets. Songs follow, by the "Pleiades" Glee Club, and to this impromptu rhyming by those present succeeds, the subjects selected being personal or scientific, and the best verses composed are hastily set to familiar tunes, and sung by a chorus of girls perched above their fellows on the movable observatory stairs. Sometimes the spirit of poetizing becomes so prevalent that no one speaks except in rhyme, Miss Mitchell herself, whom all pro- nounce to be the most delightful of hostesses, bearing a leading part in the game. Beside her constant and successful labors in teaching, the public is indebted to Miss Mitchell for several import- ant essays upon scientific subjects. Until a short time ago she edited the Astronomical Notes in the Scientific American. These appeared every month, and were based on calculations made by her students. At one time also she made a journey to Colorado to observe a solar eclipse. At another she had traveled as far as Providence on her way to visit friends in Boston, when she learned of the discovery of a new comet, and at once renounced the expedition and returned to Vassar to observe it. For five nights all went well ; on the sixth a large apple tree obstructed her view, but she promptly summoned a man to cut it down, and carried her observations to a satisfac- tory conclusion. She has always been noted for her liberal and enlight- ened opinions upon religious and social affairs, and has
