So Gertrude applied for enrollment and was admitted to Vassar College.  Rooms were assigned her in Strong Hall.  She liked Vassar’s sensible way of hazing, a cordial reception being given to freshmen by the sophomores.  She was glad to be under both men and women professors, for this in part fulfilled her idea of the education that women should receive.

At Vassar were several girls from Harrisville whom Gertrude knew, but no boys.  She wrote her mother that she would be better pleased if Vassar had less Greek and more boys.  She could not understand why co-education at the high school in Harrisville, that worked perfectly, should stop at the threshold of Vassar, or other women’s and men’s colleges.

The two following years on the beautiful Hudson were happy years for Gertrude.  She conquered mathematics, stood well in Latin, and was enthusiastic in the study of psychology, the science of mind, which teaches the intimate relation of mental phenomena to the physical organism.  German was an elective study with Gertrude, which she had studied at the high school, but at Vassar she learned to write and talk the language with accuracy and freedom, which is not usual, unless one lives in a German family.

Gertrude was already planning to study history and some of the sciences in original German text-books, if occasion offered.  She cared little for music, though she was extremely fond of poetry and now and then contributed verses for publication.  Her essay on architecture at the close of the second year elicited applause from the students and praise in red ink across the first page of the composition.

Self-government of the Vassar girls develops self-respect and self-control.  A Vassar girl is bound on her honor to retire every night at ten o’clock, with three exceptions a month, to exercise in the gymnasium three hours a week, and to take at least one hour of outdoor exercise daily.  Regular exercise, regular meals, nine hours of sleep, and plenty of mental work were rapidly preparing Gertrude to fill some noble position in the world.

At Vassar other sources of mental rest and physical strength are, tennis-court tournaments, basket ball, rowing and skating on the lake, bicycling, or five-mile tramps, studying birds, photographing scenery, or gathering wild flowers.  The Vassar girl is also enthusiastic over the “Tree and Trig Ceremonies” and amateur dramatic entertainments.

Gertrude closed her second and last year at Vassar with regret.  The farewell “fudge” party was for Gertrude, and given in her own room by a score of her warm personal friends.  The rule for “fudge-making” is, two cups of sugar, milk, two rolls of butter melted with chocolate in a copper kettle over a gas stove.  The fused compound is poured into paper plates and cut into tiny squares.  So eager is the Vassar girl for “fudge” that the struggle is earnest for the first taste, and for the cleaning of the big spoon and kettle.  The Vassar girl has a sweet tooth, and “fudge” parties always evolve love stories and fun in abundance.