These candidates were all, of course, examined informally, _i.e._ by special favour of individual examiners. It was from the first desired by Mr. Sidgwick that any student who showed, by marked success in the Women's Examination or in any other way, that she had real aptitude for intellectual culture, should be encouraged to proceed to a Tripos. But in the early days the Tripos students were not the only ones who were capable of good intellectual work. Some, as has been said, for one reason or another, did not follow the lines then laid down for Triposes, and the variety was--socially and intellectually--an excellent thing for the students. Specialization in study is often bound to have a narrowing effect. But by student friendships, young people learn to care for things in heaven and earth that will never lie within their special province. It is a good thing for Cambridge, and consequently for Newnham, that there is no such iron bar fixed there between Sciences and Arts, as often, in other educational institutions, tends to prejudice and narrowness. There may be, before definite lines are fixed, tendencies to too much diffusion; this, however, was prevented by the general system of tuition. As yet, in 1879, there were not many resident tutors to settle the work of students in their several departments. But competent University men were always ready to put their knowledge and experience at the service of a student choosing her University course. Indeed the helpfulness of men on whom the students had no claim, is one of the brightest features, even of the bright days of Newnham's beginnings. Newnham Hall had from the first a fairly large garden, not very minutely laid out,[5] but large enough for tennis, for which game an ash court was made. A gymnasium, in the pre-games period, seemed a necessity, and was erected and opened in 1877. Before that time, students had been allowed to go at stated times to the gymnasium in the town, and strange now to relate, some did so with great enthusiasm. But the interest in indoor gymnastics declined with the greater facility for out-door sport, of which more later on. [Footnote 5: The present writer enjoyed one evening the privilege of being deputed, with some other students, by Miss Clough, to drive out some cows who had strayed into the garden.]