The Annex

It seems to be a duty to give from time to time as urgent an appeal as is possible, in behalf of the Annex. The writer has been called to this duty by a recent suggestion which has come to his notice, a suggestion which bears with it, however, more of fiction than of truth, more of air-castle building than of tangible reality. This suggestion is that the Annex buy the grounds and buildings of the Episcopal School on Brattle street. The suggestion is at least an ingenious one, and is important inasmuch as it emphasizes the great need of the Annex to-day; it also arouses a little bit of poetic feeling in even the most prosaic mind. One has to acknowledge that all the grounds of the Episcopal School need to make them the most pretty and attractive grounds in Cambridge, is that they be associated with some purpose, with some real life, with which they can hardly be said to have association now; and one also recognizes that no better purpose and no truer activity could be established there than those embodied in the Annex. It is quite true, too, that for the Annex no prettier, no more appropriate, no more convenient and more beautiful locality could be found than these grounds; and it would seem quite as true that these grounds and buildings would do more good in the hands of the Annex than in those of their present owners, that to the world the "sweet girl graduates" of the Annex would be of more worth than the few embryo apostles of Episcopacy from the Episcopal School. But these ideas are all exceedingly poetic, or at least imaginative, and proleptic. The Annex is poor and the corporation of the Episcopal School is not likely to consent to a sale. The removal of the Annex from its present quarters on Appian Way, a street not at all pleasant and inspiring, to the grounds on Brattle street is not very probable, however pleasant to others and advantageous to the Annex it might be. But the fact that this great good fortune is denied to the Annex is no reason why no other fortune should fall to it. It is to be hoped that there will soon appear some wealthy person or persons who will bestow upon this really worthy institution, the Harvard Annex, some good and well equipped buildings and spacious grounds, which shall be at once modestly far from and conveniently near to the university. If it is desirable, and the writer does not presume to say that it is not, to advance the higher education of women, surely no better and no more promising means could be taken. A college for women under the shadow of Harvard University, with no restrictions from poverty and narrow quarters, would grow rapidly into an institution which would not only rival but even out-strip any similar institution in the country. In whom and how soon is the Annex to find a benefactor?

W. P. C.