More Reminiscences of the
Wellesley Half-Dozen'
 

n"H the thought that the reader might like to know
more about the 'Wellesley half-dozen' (see the pre¬
ceding article), we have extracted from the archives
of the Library a bundle of letters whose faded pages bring to life
the Columbia Library of the Eighties, Melvil Dewey, President
F. A. P. Barnard, and their 'six little girls from school' Here are
some excerpts:

Mr. Gordon Wasson, son of Mary DeVeny Wasson, sends some
reminiscences of his mother. The letter was written in November,
1^)2, when Mrs. Wasson, the last survivor of the Wellesley girls,
was <)2.

"My mother confirmed that she went to work for Melvil
Dewey immediately after she graduated from Wellesley in the
spring of 1883. She says that the great man was well-known on
the ^^'ellesIey campus, and around Boston, where he was discuss¬
ing his system [the Dewey Decimal Classification System] with
everyone interested in the subject. It was on a visit to Wellesley,
she thinks, that he engaged her and the five other girls. They were
all pretty, and full of the vivacity of youth and health: my mother
was known for her laughter. They went to work in July. They
all lix'ed together in the same boarding house, an arrangement that
gave them a cheaper rate. She thinks that they each paid $7.00 a
week for room and board, and in addition her own wash came to
about 50 cents. Since Melvil Dewey paid the girls only $1 i.oo a
week to begin with, there was not much left over after meeting
the essential weekly outlays. My mother's recollection is that Mr.
Dewey was always parsimonious in his payroll.

"The girls worked together in the library,—a 'large well-floored

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