personality that was identified with them, and that was the main
secret of the unusual effectiveness of Fraulein Wenckebach's teaching.

"But this German professor had not only live methods and virile
personal qualities to help her along; she also had what a great
many of the foreign language teachers in this country must as yet
do without, that is, the absolute confidence, warm appreciation,
and financial support of an enlightened administration. President
Freeman and the trustees seem to have done practically everything
that their intrepid professor of German asked for. They not only
saw that all equipments needed... were provided, but they also
generously stipulated, at Fraulein Wenckebach's urgent request,
that all the elementary and intermediate classes in the foreign
language departments should be kept small, that is, that they
should not exceed fifteen. If Fraulein Wenckebach had been
obliged, as many modern language teachers still are, to teach
German to classes of from thirty to forty students; if she had
met in the administration of Wellesley College with as little
appreciation and understanding of the fine art and extreme difficulty
of foreign language work as high school teachers, for instance,
often encounter, her efforts could not possibly have been crowned
with success.

"Another agent in enabling Fraulein Wenckebach to do such fine
constructive work with her Department was the general Wellesley
policy, still followed, I am happy to say, of centralizing all
power and responsibility regarding department affairs in the person
of the head of the Department. Centralization may not work well
in politics, but a foreign language department working with the
reformed methods could not develop the highest efficiency under