“ Under more favorable auspices in Ipswich their marked success and the call from all parts of the Union for their graduates as teachers warranted the desire to perpetuate their school, and they pleaded for endowment, urging that it was as necessary for the permanence of a seminary for young women as of a college for young men. ”

“ On 11th February, 1836, the Governor of Massachusetts signed the charter incorporating Mount Holyoke Seminary, and on 3rd OctoWr the corner-stone was laid for a building to accommodate eighty students and their teachers. It was only half the size of the original plan, but was all that funds would then allow. As fast as money was received, it was used upon the building, and for furnishings Miss Lyon appealed to benevolent women. Sewing-societies in different towns gave each a bed and bedding or money for furniture and apparatus. ”

“ Such was her skill in systematizing the work and in organizing her forces, every student giving an hour a day, that all the details of household cares were faithfully provided for, and without infringing on school work That feature of the plan, least understood and most ridiculed, was not introduced to teach housework. ”

“ She laid her plan before a few gentlemen in Ipswich, invited together for the purpose, 6th September, 1834. They appointed a committee to act till trustees should be incorporated. The committee issued circulars and delegated Rev Roswell Hawks to solicit funds. Miss Lyon's aims were pronounced visionary and impracticable. Her motives were misunderstood and misinterpreted. Many people had no faith in appeals for free gifts, a low salary for teachers was disapproved, and the domestic feature, regarded unadvisable by many, was ridiculed by others. ”