THE PASSING OF THE ANNEX ~— 259 
the educational boards of Radcliffe, and an officer to whom 
all matters regarding the life of the students in Cambridge 
should be brought by them and their relatives for consulta- 
tion and advice. “Nor will this,” Mrs. Agassiz wrote in 
some notes found among her papers, “(at least, we surely 
hope that it will not) diminish in any way the friendly, we 
might almost say motherly interest which Mrs. Gilman 
has always taken in the students and which has been so 
valuable to them, while we also hope that it may in some 
measure relieve her of a responsibility which she has volun- 
tarily and generously taken upon herself’’; and in the same 
notes she continues: “It is difficult to define the duties 
of an officer who has been ready to accept so much and 
such various work as Mr. Gilman has cheerfully taken upon 
himself. Something of what has fallen upon him in the way 
of discipline and personal direction of the students will 
now naturally pass into the care of the lady in residence as 
general guide and adviser of the students.” These tributes 
to the earliest friends of the college illustrate the spirit 
of loyalty and the appreciation of the efforts of others 
that were characteristic of Mrs. Agassiz. 
So unusual was the combination and degree of the quali- 
ties demanded for the dean by Mrs. Agassiz and the Cor- 
poration that it seemed doubtful if the possessor of them 
could be found, until a member of the Council suggested 
Miss Agnes Irwin, who since 1869 had been principal of a 
widely known private school for girls in Philadelphia, 
through which she had become an important influence in 
the life of the city. The executive ability that had fitted 
her for this position was partly hereditary. Not only did 
she count Benjamin Franklin and Alexander James Dallas 
