• • ••••■••

" The Russian Czar determined to found an observ-
atory, and the first thing he did was to take a million
dollars from the government treasury. He sends to
America to order a thirty-five inch telescope from
Alvan Clark, — not to promote science, but to surpass
other nations in the size of his glass. * To him that
hath shall be given.' Read it, *To him that hath
should be given.'

" To give wisely is hard. I do not wonder that the
millionaire founds a new college — why should he not?
Millionaires are few, and he is a man by himself — he
must have views, or he could not have earned a million.
But let the man or woman of ordinary wealth seek out
the best institution already started, — the best girl
already in college, — and give the endowment.
"I knew a rich woman who wished to give aid to
some girls' school, and she travelled in order to find
that institution which gave the most solid learning with



1 84 MARIA MITCHELL

the least show. She found it where few would expect
it, — in Tennessee. It was worth while to travel.
"The aid that comes need not be money; let it be a
careful consideration of the object, and an evident
interest in the cause.
