habits, modest and unassuming, she had the respect and kind
regard of every member of the class and faculty. As an operator
she was not surpassed by her associates. Her opinion was asked
and her assistance sought in difficult cases almost daily by her
fellow-students. And though the class of which she was a member
was one of the largest ever in attendance, it excelled all
previous ones in good order and decorum--a condition largely due
to the presence of a lady. In the final examination she was
second to none.

Having received her diploma, she opened an office in Iowa; from
thence she removed to Chicago, and practiced successfully. The
following letter from Mrs. Taylor (formerly Miss Hobbs) gives
further interesting details. Writing to Matilda Joslyn Gage, she
says:

I am grateful to you for giving me the opportunity to place in
history the fact of my study of dentistry. I was born in Franklin
county, New York, in 1833. You ask my reason for entering the
profession. It was to be independent. I first studied medicine,
but did not like the practice. My preceptor, Professor Cleveland,
advised me to try dentistry, and I commenced with Dr. Samuel
Warde of Cincinnati, finishing my studies in March, 1861. At that
time the faculty of the Ohio Dental College would not permit me
to attend, and there was not a college in the United States that
would admit me, and no amount of persuasion could change their
minds. So far as I know, I was the first woman who had ever taken
instruction of a private tutor.

I went to Iowa to commence practice, and was so successful that
the dentists of the State insisted I should be allowed to attend
the college. Their efforts prevailed, and I graduated from the
Ohio Dental College at Cincinnati in the spring of 1866--the
first woman in the world to take a diploma from a dental college.
I am a New-Yorker by birth, but I love my adopted country--the
West. To it belongs the credit of making it possible for women to
be recognized in the dental profession on equal terms with men.
Should you wish any further proof, write to Dr. Watt, who was
professor of chemistry at the time I graduated, and I know he
will take pleasure in giving you any additional information.

As early as 1866 a system of safe-deposit companies was inaugurated
in New York, which