James Blackstone Memorial library BRANFORE), CONM. Timothy D wight, X).B,/l^:i3>, M^ sv ^.•^vt'l' t^.> >/ ^> i:>'i: ;^ K4.^1^nm{^^'^ n\/'\ mmmmi^Mi *■/ ,?&'■ ^M <^^^^^^ /£\^ 3l|^ l^^^ ^f^ ^^^^^w^i^^^k ^^^^ !^3^^^?y '^^ ^ ^^^^^^ ^P Mw[|^ W^m m^^p ^i^ ^ (^Ife^^^S mm ^^ >^&^. ^^^i^^^^^ m ^ V? "^SEiJt J EXERCISES AT THE OPENING , Jame^ Blae^^tone Memorial h\iMi BRANKORD, CONN 'June 17, i8p6 NEW HAVEN: The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Press 1897 CONTENTS. Page Introductory Note, 7 Act of Incorporation, 9 Program of the Exercises, 13 Address by the President of the Board of Incorpo- rators, Edward F. Jones, 15 Monograph — James Bi^ackstone and his Famh,y. Hon. Lynde Harrison 19 Address — ^The Library as an Educational, Force. Prof. Arthur T. Hadi,ey, of Yai,e University, .... 27 Address to the Chii,dren — The Library, Branford's Crown. Rev. M. K. BaiIvEy, 39 Description of the Building, 49 Description of the Paintings in the Dome, .... 53 2GM8S© LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Page The James Blackstone Memorial Library, . . Frontispiece Portrait of Timothy B. Blackstone, 15 Portrait of James Blackstone, 19 Bronze Entrance Doors, 27 Book Stack, 29 Reading Room, 33 Rotunda, showing entrance to Lecture Room, ... 37 Lecture Room, 39 Stair Case, 43 Corridor of the Rotunda, 45 Paintings in the Dome, 47 • 49 51 53 INTRODUCTORY NOTE. The James Blackstone Memorial IvIbrary, of Branford, is the gift of Timothy B. Blackstone of Chicago, to his native town. To his purpose that nothing should be wanting to its completeness, and that it should be at the same time a worthy memorial of his father, whose name it bears, the architect's description of the building and the accompanying illustrations abundantly testify. Just what the building has cost we have not been permitted to know, but it is safe to say that with the generous endowment for the maintenance and increase of the library the whole gift cannot fall much short of half a million dollars. The library, a catalogue of which has been printed since the opening, consists substantially of the 5,000 volumes selected by the American Library Association for a popular library, with 1,500 additional volumes. Branford, July, 1897. ACT OF INCORPORATION OF the; James Blackstone Memorial Library Association. Section i. That T. F. Hammer, Edward F. Jones, C. W. Gaylord, Edmund Zacher, William Regan, Henry W. Hub- bard, and their successors, as hereinafter provided, be, and they hereby are constituted a body politic and corporate by the name of the James Blackstone Memorial Library Association, to be located in the town of Branford, and by that name shall have perpetual succession, and may sue and be sued in all courts and places whatsoever ; may have and use a common seal, and alter the same at pleasure ; and may take, receive, and hold, either by purchase, gift, or devise, or otherwise, any estate, real or personal, which may be used, or the income from which shall be used for the purposes for which said cor- poration is established ; and it may invest, use, appropriate, convey, and dispose of the same at pleasure, for the purposes hereinafter set forth ; provided, however, that it shall not have power to sell, convey, mortgage, or dispose of any real estate, or the buildings theron, which may be conveyed to it for the purposes of a library, reading room or lecture hall ; and pro- vided fiirther , that all real estate held b3r said corporation shall be subject to any conditions or provisions contained in the deeds or instruments conveying such estate to said corporation. Sec. 2. The librarian of Yale University shall, ex-officio, be a member of said corporation. If the person holding the office of librarian of Yale University shall at any time decline to lO PROCEEDINGS AT THE PUBLIC OPENING act, the other members of the corporation ma)'- appoint the person who may at such time be assistant librarian of Yale University to act with them, until such time as the person holding the office of librarian shall consent to serve. Sec. 3. The purposes for which said corporation is created are to establish and maintain a public library and reading- room, and in its discretion a lecture hall, gymnasium, and rooms for purposes of science and art, in the town of Branford. Sec. 4. Said corporation shall have power to make and adopt such b5'-laws and regulations as, in its judgment, may be necessary for electing its officers and defining their duties, and for the management, safe-keeping, and protection of its property and funds, and from time to time to alter or repeal such by-laws, rules, and regulations, and to adopt others in their place. Said corporation may appoint and emplo}^ from time to time such agents and emplo5^es as its officers may deem necessary for the efficient administration and conduct of the library and other affairs of the corporation. The provisions of any will, deed, or other instrument by which endowment is given to said association and accepted by the same, shall, as to such endowment, be a part of this act of incorporation. The managers of said association shall not have power to invest any of its propert}' or funds, except in accordance with the pro- visions of an)^ instrument of endowment, or in accordance with the general laws of the State of Connecticut controlling invest- ments by savings banks, but may accept donations, and in their discretion hold the same in the form in which they are given, for the purposes for which said corporation is created. It shall be the dut}'^ of said corporation, b)'^ its proper officers, to render in the month of Januar}^ in each year, to the Governor of the State of Connecticut, an account of the income and expendi- tures of said corporation, for the year ending on the 31st of December preceding, together with an inventory of the assets and investments of the same in detail, and in the event that such an account shall not be so rendered the state attorney for the count}^ of New Haven shall have power, in the name of the State of Connecticut, to compel the officers of said corporation to file such account with the governor. None of the members of said corporation shall, as such members or officers of the same, be entitled to receive any compensation for services ren- OF THE JAMES BI^ACKSTONE MEMORIAL LIBRARY. II dered for said corporation, or on account of the purposes of the same, but they may be allowed reasonable charges for expenses incurred by them in the performance of their duties. Sec. 5. All the real and personal estate which may be held and used, or the income from which shall be used by said cor- poration for one or more of the purposes for which it is estab- lished, as defined in section three of this resolution, shall be free from taxation. Sec. 6. Upon the death, resignation, or declination of any one of the persons named in the first section of this act, or any of their successors, the remaining members of the corporation shall select and appoint a suitable person, who shall be a resi- dent of the town of Branford, to fill the vacancy caused by such death, resignation, or declination. Approved March 23, 1893. PROGRAM. Public Exercises at the dedication of the James Blackstone Memorial I^ibrary, 12.30 p. m., June 17th, 1896. Opening Address, Edward F. Jones, President of the Board of Incorporators Prayer, Rev. Timothy DwighT, D.D., LL.D., President of Yale University Song — Their sun shall no more go down, . Caroi. Club, Bradford Monograph — James Blackstone and Family, . Hon. Lynde Harrison Song — Welcome to This Place, . . . Carol Club, Branford Address — The Library as an Educational Force, Prof. Arthur T. Hadley, of Yale University Song — " Auld Lang Syne, " .... Carol Club, Branford Benediction, REV. T. S. Devitt, D.D. Exercises for the children of the public schools were held in the Iyibrar>^ at an earlier hour with the following program : Prayer, Rev. P. G. WighTman Song by the Children — Hark ! the Song of Jubilee. Dedication Ode, Margaret T. B. Callahan Song by the Children — Our Holiday. Address— The Library, Branford's Crown, . . Rev. M. K. BailEy Song by the Children — America. Benediction, Rev. T. S. Devitt, D.D. TIMOTHY B. BLACKSTONE. ADDRESS By EDWARD F. JONES, President op Board of Incorporators. Citizens of Branford^ Ladies and Ge^itle^nen : We very much regret the unavoidable absence to- day of Mr, and Mrs. Blackstone, owing to arrange- ments made some time ago, which takes them from their home at a time when their presence here would be so gratifying to us all. The earliest record we have of the founding of any library or institution of learning in Branford dates back nearly two centuries, when in the year 1700 ten Connecticut clergymen, — as we learn from President Clap's " History of Yale College,"—'' met at New Haven, and formed themselves into a body or society, to consist of eleven ministers including a Rector, and agreed to found a college in the Colony of Connecticut, which they did at their next meeting at Branford in the following manner, namely : each member brought a number of books and presented them to the body, and laying them on the table, said these words, or to this effect : ' I give these books for the founding a l6 PROCEEDINGS AT THE PUBLIC OPENING college in tliis Colon}'.' Then the trustees as a body took possession of them and appointed the Rev. Mr. Russel, of Branford, to be the keeper of the librar}', which then consisted of abont forty volnmes in folio. Soon after they received sundry other dona- tions, both of books and mone}^, which laid a good foundation. This library, with the additions, was kept at Branford in a room set apart for that purpose near three 3'ears, and then it was carried to Killing- worth." The giving of these books at Branford v/as the be- ginning of what is to-day the great University at New Haven. Whether an}'' of the books can be found to- day on the shelves of the Yale University Library I am unable to say. Since that early period Branford has had several libraries, all of which, for one cause or another, ceased to exist. Early in 1890 a few gentlemen met at the home of one of their number for the purpose of forming them- selves into a committee or association to solicit contri- butions for a fund to be used for building and furnish- ing with books a free public library. Their efforts were heartily seconded by our citizens generally, and it is pleasant to record that they met with greater success than perhaps might reasonably have been expected. In their endeavor to raise the necessary means for the building and the books with which to start a library, it was suggested that invitations to contribute OF THE JAMES BLACKSTONE MEMORIAI, LIBRARY. 1 7 for this purpose be extended to such non-resident natives of Branford as they felt might be willing and pleased to contribute to so laudable an undertaking. Among the number so invited was a gentleman, a native of Branford, of a family well and favorably known to many now present, a gentleman now a well- known and respected citizen of a great Western city, a gentleman well known for his great liberality and generosity, and, I may add, a gentleman unwilling his name should be inscribed on this grand structure, lest some might feel that it is not a public library in the most complete sense of the term. This gentleman, in replying to the committee, suggested that if it would be agreeable to the committee he would be glad to undertake to erect a building, furnish it with a liberal supply of books, and present it to the citizens of Branford, a free public library, as a memorial to his father, the late Captain James Blackstone. We meet to-day in this magnificent building to dedicate it to the use for which it has been erected and presented to the citizens of his native to^vn by the munificence of Timothy B. Blackstone, of Chicago, Illinois. JAMES BLACKSTONE. MONOGRAPH. James Bi^ackstone and his Family. By LYNDK HARRISON. Mr. President^ Ladies and Gentlemen : While tlie primary purpose of the generous donor of this building, and its endowment fund, is to benefit the people of the town of Branford, it will never be forgotten that it serves also as a memorial to Hon. James Blackstone, who spent his long life of ninet}^- three years in this town, where he was born, and to the welfare of which he devoted so much time during the years of his young and mature manhood. For nearly two centuries, the Blackstone family has occu- pied a conspicuous place in this community, and for the same length of time, representatives of the family have been tillers of the soil, the title to which has always been in a Blackstone. We cannot properly dedicate this building to the purposes for which it is intended without calling your attention briefly to James Blackstone, his life, his fam- ily, and his ancestors. He was born in Branford in 1793, in a house located opposite that home, which 20 PROCEEDINGS AT THE PUBLIC OPENING was during nearly his whole life his residence, and where he died on the 4th of February, 1886. His first ancestor in this country was Rev. William Black- stone, a graduate in 161 7 of Knianuel College, Cam- bridge, He received Episcopal ordination in England after graduation, but like John Davenport, of New Haven, he soon became of the Puritan persuasion, left his native country on account of his non-conformity, and became the first white settler upon that famous neck of land, opposite Charlestown, which is now the city of Boston. When the Massachusetts Company came to New England, they found William Blackstone settled on that peninsula. He had been there long enough to have planted an orchard of apple trees. Upon his invitation, the principal part of the Massa- chusetts Colony removed from Charlestown, and founded the town of Boston, on land which Mr. Blackstone desired them to occupy. He was the first inhabitant of Boston, and the Colony records of May 18, 163 1, show that he was the first person admitted a freeman of that town. His house and orchard were located upon a spot about half-way between Boston Common and the Charles River. A few years passed, and the peculiar notions the Puritans of Boston had on the subject of church organization and government satisfied William Blackstone that, while he had not been able to conform to the Church of Archbishop Laud, neither could he conform to the Puritan Church of Boston, and when the Puritans invited him to join them, he constantly declined, using this language : OF the; JAMES BI.ACKSTONE MEJMORIAI^ I^IBRARY. 21 " I came from England because I did not like tlie Lord Bishops ; but I cannot join with you because I would not be under the Lord Brethren." In 1633, an agreement was entered into between himself and the other settlers, in the division of the lands, that he should have fifty acres allotted to him near his house forever. In 1635 he sold forty-four of those acres to the company for thirty pounds, retain- ing the six acres upon which was his orchard, and soon afterwards he moved to Rhode Island, living near Providence until the time of his death, which occurred on the 26th of May, 1675. A few years after leaving Boston, he sold the orchard of six acres to a man named Pepys. He was not, in any manner, driven away from Boston by the Puritan Fathers, but holding certain ideas which did not agree with those of his neighbors, he concluded to move to a new location, actuated by similar motives to those which led John Davenport to leave New Haven, and go to Boston after the union of the New Haven Colony with the Connecticut Colony at Hartford. All of the accounts and records of the Rev. William Blackstone show him to have been a religious man, with literary tastes, of correct, industrious, thrifty habits, kind and philan- tropic feelings, living for several years on Boston Neck, and demonstrating the ability of the white man to live in peace with only Indians for his neighbors. While living in Rhode Island he frequently went to Provi- dence to preach the Gospel, and was highly esteemed by all the settlers of that Colony. In July, 1659, he 22 PROCEEDINGS AT THE PUBLIC OPENING married a widow named Sarah Stevenson, and by her had one son, John Blackstone. The inventory of his estate after his death describes him as having a house and orchard, 260 acres of land, interests in the Provi- dence meadows, and a library of one hundred and eight3^-six volumes of different languages. A river of Rhode Island and a town in Massachusetts were named Blackstone in his honor. His only son, John, married in 1692, and about 17 13 moved to the town of Branford, where he took up his residence on lands south-east of the center of the towm, and bounded southerl}- on the sea. The son of this John Blackstone M-as bom in 1699, and died in Branford, January 3d, 1785, aged nearly eighty-six. His son, John Blackstone, was bom in Branford in 1731, and died August loth, 1816, aged eighty-five. The son of this last John Blackstone, Timothy Blackstone, was bom in Branford in 1766, and died in 1849, ^^ ^^^ ^S^ ^^ eighty-three. This Timothy Blackstone was the father of Hon. James Blackstone, who was born in Branford, in the old homestead of his father and grandfather, in 1793. Here were five generations of the Blackstones living and d3ang upon the old famil}- farm in Branford. All of them seem to have possessed mau}^ of the traits of their first ancestor in this country. They were noted for their force of character, industr}^, modesty, and marked executive ability. James Blackstone, like his ancestors, was a farmer. At the age of twenty he was elected a captain in the Connecticut Militia, and as OF THK JAMES BI.ACKSTONE MEMORIAI, LIBRARY. 23 sucli, commanded his company for several months, while serving as Coast Guard on Long Island Sound, during the war of 1812-15. He held at one time or another, during his life, the important local offices of the town, such as assessor and first selectman. Before the separation of North Branford in 183 1, the town- ship of Branford, as one of the original towns, was entitled to two representatives in the General Assem- bly, and on several occasions Captain James Black- stone, of Branford, and Captain Jonathan Rose, of North Branford, were the representatives of the town, at Hartford and New Haven. In 1842 James Black- stone represented the sixth district in the State Senate. In politics he was a Federalist, a Whig and a Repub- lican. His advice and counsel were sought by peo- ple, not only of his own town, but of neighboring towns, when occasions arose concerning the settlement of estates, or other matters where the opinion and advice of a man of marked good judgment were needed. The first time I ever saw Captain James Blackstone, he was pointed out to me by a resident of the town, as he was driving past the old public square, with the remark, " That is Capt. James Blackstone. When he rises in a town meeting and says ' Mr. Moderator, in my humble opinion it is better for this town that a certain course be taken,' the expression of his opinion always prevails with the majority of the voters, in the meeting, so great is the confidence the people of the town have in his judgment." His character and remarkable ability can be easil}^ read by any student 24 PROCEEDINGS AT THE PUBLIC OPENING of plij'siognoiii}' who will look at the admirable life- size portrait of him, now placed in this building. If his tastes had led him to a larger place for the exercise of his abilit}', no field would have been so large that he would not have been a leader among men. Yet here he chose to dwell, performing his part well through the whole of his long life. I never knew a man to whom the description of the good old farmer Israel, in Dr. Holland's dramatic poem of Bitter Sweet, so well applies. " Here dwells the good old farmer, Israel. In his ancestral home — a Puritan Who reads his Bible daily, loves his God, And lives serenely in the faith of Christ. For three score years and ten his life has run Through varied scenes of happiness and woe ; But, constant through the wide vicissitude, He has confessed the giver of his joys, And kissed the hand that took them ; and whene'er Bereavement has oppressed his soul with grief, Or sharp misfortune stung his heart with pain. He has bowed down in childlike faith, and said, " Th}' will, O God — thy ^-ill be done, not mine." The donor of this Library was the youngest son of James Blackstone. To many of you his history and life are well known. He left the Bast more than forty years ago to pursue his chosen profession. He mar- ried in 1868 Miss Isabella Norton, of Nonvich, and since that time his home has been upon JMichigan avenue, in that great metropolis of the West, Chicago. There, for over thirt}'^ years, he has managed \vith con- summate skill the affairs of the most successful OF THE JAMES BLACKSTONE MEMORIAI, I^IBRARY. 25 of all the great railroads of the West. Of him, his character, his generosity and his remarkably modest, but great ability, I am not at liberty to speak in this monograph ; but it is not complete as a memorial of James Blackstone, unless I men- tion briefly the other descendants. The oldest son of James Blackstone, George, died in 1861, never having been married. The oldest daughter, Mary, married Samuel O. Plant, and one of her daughters, Bllen Plant, lives with her in Branford to-day. Three grandchildren of Mrs. Mary Blackstone Plant, being the children of her daughter Sara, are William L., Paul W., and Gertrude P. Harrison. The second son of James Blackstone, Lorenzo Blackstone, who lived for many years in Norwich, and died there in 1888, had five children. The oldest, De Trafford Blackstone, has one son Lorenzo. The second child of Lorenzo is Mrs. Harriet Blackstone Camp, of Norwich, who has three children, Walter Trumbull, Talcott Hale, and Elizabeth Norton Camp. The second daughter of Lorenzo is Mrs. Francis Ella Huntington, of Norwich. The fourth child of Lorenzo Blackstone is William Norton Blackstone, of Nor- wich ; and his youngest son, Louis Lorenzo Black- stone, died in 1893. The second daughter of James Blackstone, Ellen, married Henry B. Plant, now of New York City. She died in 1861, leaving one son, Morton F. Plant, who is married and has one son, Henry B. Plant, Jr. James Blackstone's third son was John Blackstone, who died 26 PROCEEDINGS AT THE PUBLIC OPENING. several years ago, leaving three children, George and Adelaide Blackstone, and Mrs. Brama Pond. Sir William Blackstone, the great authority upon the common law of England, was a cousin in the fifth degree to our James Blackstone, and the portraits of the two men bear a marked family resemblance. Ten years ago James Blackstone passed to his reward. His influence for good still exists in this community, where the old New England ideas are yet strong, though modified by the leaven of modem in- dustr}^, education and thought. What degree of pros- perity and growth may come to this old town in the future, no one can foretell. There is an abundance of energy and intellect here anxious to press forward in the twentieth century in those paths of intelligence, sobriet}'', morality and honest industry, which assure good government and happiness for all. The people will ever cherish with thankfulness the example set by their New England forefathers in providing for the education of all the children in the common schools ; but the residents of this favored towm, for all the gen- erations to come, will congratulate themselves that James Blackstone lived here, and gave to them a son whose affection for his native town, and filial devotion to his father's memory, led him to place here this enduring monument of architectural beauty, this ever flowing fountain of education, culture and refinement. *y BCi BRONZE ENTRANCE DOORS. ADDRESS By Prof. ARTHUR T. HADI.EY. Ladies and Gentlevten : Our President has already described to you the founding, nearly two hundred years ago, of the first of the historic libraries, not of Branford only, but of Connecticut. In external circumstances there could be no contrast more marked than that between the library of 1 700 and the library which we now dedicate in 1896. That was for the founding of a school which has since grown into a college and a university. This is for the use of an active and stirring business com- munity. That was given devotedly out of poverty. This is given generously out of abundance. That had but the fewest books and appliances and the most pre- carious of homes. This is admirably equipped in everything which goes to make a library a place of education, and has a building of which not only the donor, not only the town of Branford, but the whole State of Connecticut may well be proud. And yet, when we look below the surface we find that the two gifts, the two libraries, were animated by the same fundamental purpose, and are a part of that 28 PROCEEDINGS AT THE PUBLIC OPENING educational system of which the people of Connecticut alwa3^s have been and always will be proud. Most of us can remember, amid the fragments of our forgotten geograph}^ lessons that we learned a list of products for which different states were celebrated, and if we were Connecticut boys or girls, we learned with pride that the product in which Connecticut stood pre-eminent was its public schools. Whatever monopoly our state may have once enjoyed in this respect, is now a thing of the past. Means of communication have been so rapid, interchange of ideas so full and free, that any improvements made in the school system of one state are rapidly copied by her neighbors. But there is a ^\dder sense of the word education in which a gift like this enables Connecticut to maintain to-daj^ a promi- nence like that which she enjoyed in her school system one hundred years ago, an education which is not confined to the school, but which lasts through life ; an education of men and women as well as of boys and girls. Of education in this sense, the library, the art museum, and the lecture hall are no less important parts than is a college or a school. But some of you will, perhaps, ask, " Is it not a narrow view to take of the use of the library, to think of it simply as a place of learning rather than as a place of enjoyment?" I reply, "No." So far from being a narrow view of the library, to regard it as an educational force, it is the very broadest view possible ; for the modem idea of education includes ever5'thing that goes to make life worth living. It is not as an OP THE JAMES BLACKSTONE MEMORIAL I.IBRARY. 29 exponent of the narrow view of the use of the lyibrary that I come before you to-day, but as a representative of the broad view of the use of education. This is, perhaps, an opportune time to consider how our con- ception of education has widened in the past fifty years. In the first place we have ceased to separate, as our fathers once did, the work of training from the work of action. We have ceased to draw a sharp line between preparation and performance. We have come to un- derstand that learning and doing are parts of the same thing. And in the second place we have come to see that it is essential for the public welfare that people should learn to play as well as work ; that any system of education which looks at one of these things only is one-sided and partial ; that the best life is attained by the man who finds his freest play in educational work, his most e£B.cient work in enlightened and un- selfish playing. You will pardon me, I am sure, if I delay a moment to trace the progress of the change, or these two changes. Under the old idea we conceived of learning as a preparation sharply distinguished and separated from the subsequent performance. A boy went to school and studied arithmetic in his books, and then made use of its application in the counting-room as something quite distinct. He learned the theory of a few things that he would need to do afterward, and then, when he had finished his education, he proceeded to put them in practice. Now, this whole idea of " finishing " an education is one that we are rapidly 30 PROCEEDINGS AT THE PUBUC OPENING getting out of ; and the sooner we get out of it the better. When a man has finished his education he has ceased to grow ; and when he has ceased to grow he might as well cease to live. I think always that the best education and the best life go hand in hand. Where did General Grant learn to become a military leader ? At West Point ? A few elements he learned there ; but his really great experience in generalship was slowly attained at Fort Donelson and Shiloh and Vicksburg and at Chattanooga, and these contributed to make him the final conqueror in the war. Had he allowed his education to cease, and had he attempted to take Richmond with only the knowledge which he possessed at Fort Donelson, he would have failed. What is true of the arts of war is true of the arts of peace also. I need not multiply instances. Every day we come more and more to rely on practice as the best method of teaching. Instead of learning our school work wholly from books, we are putting more action into it. Instead of doing our life-work without the aid of books, we are basing it on others' experience ; which can be gained by reading, by the use of libraries and museums, and by every form of higher culture. Under the modem idea of life-work, education is not a period of training to be ended ; it is a method of getting experience, which continues as long as life is worth living. In this experience, play as well as work must have its due proportion. A well-rounded man must learn to play as much as to work. Only in the combination OF THE JAMES BI.ACKSTONE MEMORIAI, I.IBRARY. 3 1 of the two things can the community realize its highest welfare. Now this is far from the old idea ; very far indeed. Our commonwealth was founded by men who, for the most part, made a sharp separation between play and work. I doubt, after what our friend, Mr. Harri- son, has told us, whether James Blackstone himself was a man of that kind, for it seems to me that his unwillingness to live under the tutelage of the " Lord Brethren " perhaps is allied to our more modem view of life. But for the most part the original settlers of New Bngland were people who thought much of work and little of play. To the Puritan the whole world was divided into two parts ; one trivial, the other immensely serious. They were prone to relegate all sport and all enjoyment to the former and to think that the concerns of the earn- est and honest men all belonged to the latter. In their protest against the excesses of sport they were prone to condemn sport itself ; as one of their critics has pithily said, " They objected to bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators." Now, in early New Bngland there was enough to be done by men like these. Far be it from me to say anything against the heritage that we have obtained from our Puritan fathers. They had hostile tribes to conquer ; they had hostile land to conquer, as many of their descendants can still testify ; and, between the two, small wonder that the concern of the grown man was thought to be with work rather than play. But 32 PROCEEDINGS AT THE PUBLIC OPENING we have reached a point where we can now enjoy, not only the good which they achieved and which they gave us, but a wider range of good which was impos- sible for them to achieve, but which their work has made possible to their descendants. The Declaration of Independence proclaims the equal rights of all men to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The two first were realized by our fathers. It is because they were realized by our fathers that we are to-day in a position to go on to the full fruition, and to realize the third for ourselves and for our children. It would have been small honor to the founders of New England had we used their work as a model to imitate instead of a foundation to build upon. They have given us ideas of life which furnish a basis that has made happiness for the people possi- ble. It is for us to make that general happiness a reality ; and it is in the work of gifts like these gifts, like the Blackstone Library, that we may hope for such realizations of what is highest and best in the life of America in the future. So much for our ideal of education and of life. How are we making progress toward the attainment of this ideal ? This is the question which we may well pause and ask ourselves. No single answer to this question will cover the whole ground. A vast number of things have combined and are combining to make the diffusion of an enlightened enjoyment possible. The improvement in manufacturing has done some- thing for it. Alodem machinery has brought within OP THK JAMES BI.ACKSTONE MEMORIAL LIBRARY. 33 reach of hundreds of thousands what formerly were the exclusive possessions of the few. Modem machin- ery may have concentrated production, but it has generalized consumption ; it has given to the poor man many comforts of which the rich a hundred years ago could hardly avail themselves. Facili- ties of travel have done no less than improvements in manufacturing. Before the invention of the rail- road a journey was a luxury forbidden to all except for the few who could travel by coach. To-day the railroad brings variety of scene and variety of life within the reach of everyone ; and apart from those facilities of travel, it makes a free interchange of pro- ducts between different persons and different places that of itself makes life wider and better worth living than it ever was before. The development of national sports and national games has done something. We are long past the time when games and sports were regarded as indulgences unworthy of a dignified man. Base ball has begun the work ; the bicycle has carried it much further ; both together have given to us all ideas of enlightened recreation and of the benefit to be obtained from such means of enjoyment. The diffusion of art work by wood-cuts like those of the magazines, and the diffusion of literature at a wonder- fully cheap price, has had its share in the educational work. All these things will help us, but they cannot do everything. The progress of our country must have its moral as well as its aesthetic side. We must have 3 34 PROCEEDINGS AT THE PUBLIC OPENING institutions about whicli an enlightened public senti- ment can crystallize, so as to prevent material progress from hiding moral degeneracy ; institutions which shall prevent the comforts of manufacturing from degenerating into luxuries ; which shall make travel a means of improvement instead of a means of dissi- pation ; which shall make sports a training to the mind and body rather than a feverish basis of gambling ; which shall cause the art and the literature furnished by the periodical press to become a means of educating the public rather than of degenerating into worthless- ness. In such waj^s the work that can be done b}^ a public library is inestimable. What may we expect a founda- tion like this to do for the citizens of Branford ? What should a library do for the people who use it ? In the first place it can give them wider conceptions of enjoyment. Twenty-five years ago we used to hear the complaint that the American people had no idea of rational pleasure ; that most people associated the idea of a holiday with drunkenness at least, if not wdth breach of some of the ten commandments. We have passed out of this stage of thought. The various causes that I have enumerated have taught the people to enjoy themselves more rationally than the}' once did. But much yet remains to be done. Our enjo3''ment may not be as lawless and destructive as it was a generation ago, but it is confined in rather narrow channels. For such narrowness the people of Branford need no longer have any excuse. The library and the OP THE JAMES BI.ACKSTONE MEMORIAI. LIBRARY. 35 art museum, and the gymnasium and the various things with which the wisdom of the founder of this library, and the Committee of Trustees who act for him, have endowed this town gives the opportunity of enlightened diversification of enjoyment. It is here, I think, that the educational work of the library must have its foundation. Some people look with regret on the statistics of public libraries, and sneer when they see how large a part of the reading is fiction, and how little is a means of solid improvement. I cannot sympathize with this view. It seems to me that in beginning with fiction the community is beginning at the right end. The first important thing in making a public library a means of popular education, is the certainty that it will be enjoyed. You may be sure that enjoyment of one book will lead to enjoyment of another ; that the man or woman who starts with interest in a few books, provided it is a real interest, will soon come to have an interest in many books, and will in the end accom- plish far more than the one who begins library work with ideas of self-improvement which are too laborious to carry out to their completion. And as surely as a library fulfills this first function as a means of enjoyment, it will tend also to become a means of productive efficiency. Bvery man or woman works better if he or she knows how to play rationally. If we can use a part of our time for enlightened and intelligent enjoyment instead of facing the alterna- tive, which has so often stood before our fathers, of 36 PROCEEDINGS AT THE PUBLIC OPENING continuous drudger}- on the one hand or destructive and riotous amusement on the other, the gain in pro- ductive power to the community will be inestimable. As people learn to use a library they will learn to make their reading a help in the things that they have to do. They will do better work because the library gives them a means of contact, not merely with the methods of those about them, but ^vith the methods of all ages and all countries. They will have higher possibilities of achievement if their ambition is not bounded by a standard set by their neighbors, but is inspired by the high ideals of art and of literature. IVIore important still, a foundation like this will contribute to good citizenship as nothing else can. In this respect the library to-day stands where the public school stood a generation or two ago. Our fathers established a system of public education because they thought that people who had votes must know how to read and write and understand the elements of intel- lectual life. As time has gone on, the problems on which we have to vote have become wider. We are in touch with more interests. The man who can merely read and write has but the beginning of fitness for exercising a vote, when on the turn of that vote may hang the destinies of remote regions. To vote intel- ligently in our dealings with problems covering three thousand miles of territory, we must be in touch with large things and with large men ; and such touch can be obtained only by him who has access to the infor- mation books and libraries have placed within his reach. OF THE JAMES BLACKSTONE MEMORIAL LIBRARY. 37 In all these three things, then, in enjoyment, in productive efficiency and in good citizenship, we may regard the library as an indispensable factor. Enlightened Europeans who travel in the United States are often most impressed, — not with our scenery, grand as it is, not with our material prosperity, enor- mous as has been our advance in this respect ; not even with our political and social system, which is the most wonderful of all ; but in the fact that we can rely on private munificence, on voluntary gifts, for the higher forms of popular education. It is this which strikes with the utmost surprise the residents of the old world who have been accustomed to see so much done by the government that we do by private initiative. And it is this, perhaps, more than anything else, which may lead us to feel the assurance that freedom will continue to make progress in the future as it has done in the past. It shows that our rich men are not accumulating wealth for their own sake, but for the sake of what they can do with it. It shows that we can rely on such men to have the public interests of the community rather than their own personal power or personal enjoyment first at heart and most strongly in view in the direction of their lives and of their property. I have regretted with the rest of you that we could not have here with us the man to whom we owe this building and this library, and yet, Mr. President, I can not help feeling that his absence is in the truest and highest degree characteristic ; that the same thing 38 PROCEEDINGS AT THE PUBLIC OPENING. which made him earn his wealth houestly, and give it with far-sighted public purpose, has made him anxious to suppress rather than to bring into promi- nence his own personalit3\ It is in such works as this is and in such men as he is, that we can see the fruit, the best fruit, of our institutions. It is in what this man has done, and in what men like him have done and shall do, that we have the strongest assur- ances that our civilization is not a failure ; that Amer- ican freedom shall go on educating itself, educating the world, and giving grander results, morall}^ as well as materially, than the past has ever dreamed. LECTURE ROOM. ADDRESS TO THE CHIIvDREN. The Library : Branford's Crown. By the Rev. MELVILLE K. BAILEY. My Dear Children : I have to bring you a story of a mother and her son. She came in days long ago from a beautiful home across the ocean, a fair green island that was skirted by four stormy seas ; but she wished to go far across the ocean and find another home. So she came, and she found another beautiful home, and builded her a beautiful house, also by the sea. In the course of time she had many sons, and she loved all of her sons, and all of her sons loved her and were proud of her. Some remained and tilled the beautiful fields, and the smooth green meadows about her house, and some went out to' the seats of learning and sought wisdom and became distinguished, and others went away and put their hand to commerce, and they directed great enterprises, and they also became distinguished, and their names were widely known. At last she had a son who went away to a far city, and he put his hand to commerce, and great enterprises flowed from under 40 PROCEEDINGS AT THE PUBLIC OPENING his touch, and his fellow citizens were ver}' proud of him, and they put man}' rewards into his hands, and they honored him. After a time it came into his heart to return and see his mother ; so he came and visited her, and saw her beautiful house by the sea, and saw how proud she was of him, and he said I will make her a beautiful crown. So he called together the wise artificers of the land, and he bade them to make the most beautiful crown which their hand could fashion : that it should be as white as the driven snow ; that it should be decorated with jewels and with gold ; and then he would set this crown so that his mother would be honored by all who came that way. Now, children, do you ask me who is the mother, and who is the son, and what is the crown ? I answer, when you go out of the doors this da}'', when you pass out of these beautiful bronze doors, look about and you will see the mother, for our native town is the mother of all who are bom within her limits. This is the beautiful mother, with a beautiful home, who long ago came from her old home across the sea, and built this house by a more beautiful sea, and has lived here for many 3'ears, and has had many sons who have brought her distinction, and who have honored her by their deeds. And I need not remind 3'ou that the son of whom I speak is that man who this day gives to this town this beautiful building ; and I need not remind you that the crown is the building itself. If you have not thought of the crown, think of the hill on which it stands, and how it crowns all of this OF THE JAMES BLACKSTONE MEMORIAL LIBRARY. 41 fair town by the sea ; and look about and see there the crown over your heads ; the paintings which are like jewels ; the gilded ornaments which are like the gold of a crown. And so, to-day, Mr. Blackstone has crowned the • town of his nativity with an honor and a distinction which will be hers as long as these marble walls shall stand. And this day, children, is the crowning of all the best days that have come to Branford before this time. There have been many days of distinction; every day when a town or the citizens of a town do a great and noble deed is a day of crowning the town with honor; it was a day of distinction when our fathers first came, and in their courage and by their resolution founded this village by the sea. It was a day of distinction when our fathers spoke for freedom, for liberty ; when they declared that they were willing to lay down their lives in order that we might possess the blessings of a free country. It was a day of dis- tinction when, for the sake of others, the sons of Bran- ford went out and were willing to lay down their lives, and some did lay down their lives, on the field of battle for the freedom of their fellow men. Those were days of honor and distinction when our industries were founded. When all these deeds were done they were days of honor; they were days of distinction. But this day is the crowning of them all, for this day represents the finest things which can come into human lives. We do not labor for the sake of labor itself. We do not make war for the sake of making 42 PROCEEDINGS AT THE PUBLIC OPENING war, for the sake of taking other men's lives or laying down our lives ourselves. All of these things are done for the sake of something else. The town was founded, not merely because men loved to sail across the sea ; the war of the revolution was not merely that men might die and that they might strive ; our in- dustries are not founded merely that we may live, that we may have our daily food ; there are things more honorable than all these which are the crowning of life, and it is these which this library represents. It is distinguished and it is beautiful, and this day is a distinction and is a crown, because the library is dedicated to learning and to art ; and it is learning which crowTis life with power and crowns it with honor ; and it is art, it is the arts of life, which crown it with joy. And so, of all the notable days which Branford has had before this time, this is the crowning day of all, that which gives it its greatest distinction. And now, children, we may learn the same lesson as we look about the building and study its parts. I wonder how man}' children have studied the plan, the ground plan of the library, and have thought of the outside of it and what it all represents. If you ha^-e not, just think with me for a moment while I describe to you what the ground plan is, the idea which is ex- pressed by these walls of marble and this soaring dome ; if 3'ou take the plan and study it you find first there is a Latin cross. Now the cross alwaj^s stands for painful toil ; it always stands for the utmost labor STAIR CASE. OF THE JAMES BLACKSTONE MEMORIAI< I^IBRARY. 43 whicli man can do with body, soul and mind ; it stands for the greatest sacrifice which we can make for the sake of some noble deeds ; the cross, not for itself, as war and industry not for themselves, but the cross for the sake of something else. And the Latin cross stands, then, first of all, for this labor, for this looking fonvard to some achievement, for this painful toil. There is the Latin cross, which is the cross of the west; and the keynote of the west is power and authority and order. And so the Latin cross in this building stands for effort directed by power and order and authority laboring for some great end. Men ruling themselves, and so ruling others, and so ruling and conquering the world. That is the first thing then; the basis of this building is the Latin cross. But as you look a little further and observe the lines, you will see there is enlaced with it and laid upon it a Greek cross ; and what does the Greek cross stand for ? It stands also for effort, for self-sacrifice, for the sake of some achievement that is to come after ; but it stands for particular things as well ; the Greek cross stands for light and aspiration. Wherever you see that gift from the East, the far Bast, there is always the thought of light, of the soul having an illumination, of truth, of aspiration, looking up to the heavens and aspiring to all noble things. And so, enlaced with this Latin cross and laid upon it, is the Greek cross ; and there we have the mean- ing of effort, of labor, of self-sacrifice ; first, in power 44 PROCEEDINGS AT THE PUBLIC OPENING and order and authority, and tlien in light and illumi- nation and aspiration. And now, as we study a little more, what else do we find on the ground plan ? We find the circle, and as we look at the library from the outside, and as we come within and look again at this beautiful and noble and splendid dome, we find that there is the crown. That, my dear children, is the meaning of this whole building ; the Latin cross of power enlaced with the Greek cross of light and intelligence and illumination, surmounted by the crown of aspiration and achievement. And so there is wrought into this building all the meaning of the great civilizations of Europe since the times of history began. They are expressed here as if they were crystallized into some perpetual and beautiful shape which would teach their lesson to all that came after, and that represents the da}' and the time and the deed. The labor is all over. For many years the sons of Branford, the citizens of this town, have toiled and desired that their village should be crowned with some distinction ; that it might have something splendid and noble which would make it famous through all this land ; that it might possess something which would be worth the while of an}'- man to come across the sea to behold. They have thought about it ; they have labored for it ; they have passed through all the times of indus- try and of self-sacrifice, and at last the deed is done, and done, children, by Branford. Never forget that. Never think or feel as if it were a missionary field OF THE JAMES BLACKSTONE MEMORIAL, I^IBRARY. 45 which had a gift brought from outside. It was Bran- ford's own son, who here first breathed his native air ; whose fathers lived here, and whose names already had crowned the town with honor ; it was Branford's own son who went out and gave good gifts and did good deeds for other people, and who then, with the rewards which they gave him for what he had worthily wrought for them, came to express his pride in his own native village, by erecting this beautiful building in which to-day we are met. This, then, is the crown of honor of our village of all the days that have passed before, — not the only one, but the crowning crown of all. I spoke of the meaning : briefly let us think what it means to us ; if I were to ask you what the name of this building is you would say " The James Blackstone Memorial Library." It is a library, but it is more than a library ; it is not intended that the life which shall go on here of those who meet and assemble shall be limited to books. It is not simply a house where you may come and find things to read; it is more than that. As we go into the assembly hall we find there opportunities for lec- tures, for music, which means that we shall assemble socially for the highest forms of social art. The rotunda itself, and the paintings and the rooms about it express pure art, and the library has an equal part with all the rest. And so it is a building of rejoicing and of joy in the social life, in all the opportunities in which it may 46 PROCEEDINGS AT THE PUBLIC OPENING most nobly exhibit itself in the village life. It is the library and more than the library ; it is the common home of beauty for all the people of this town. A crown has jewels, and there is one peculiar thing about this crown : When the Czar of Russia or any other king is crowned, the jewels are placed on the outside of the crown, but in this crown the jewels are within ; the jewels are mthin the dome ; each pic- ture there is a gem of a most beautiful art ; the dec- oration is as the ornamentation on the outside of a crown ; and it signifies that we must look within ; that we must search and must labor and must toil if we would find the gems which are stored here. That is signified, too, by the wisdom and truth which are stored within the books, which are to be had only by labor ; which are stored awa}^ and concealed within ; which are not evident from without ; but for which we must give labor and toil. For, children, just as surely as many long days and years of labor went into the making of this building, which is the crown of the village life, so surely if we would crown our- selves with wisdom and with truth and with learning, we must labor and toil in the books and in the life wherein those are contained. And now, children, I hope that this day will be a day in your memories which will never pass away ; that there will linger a thought of this great achieve- ment, of this great deed which has been done here ; that all its meaning will sink into your minds ; that it wiirbe appreciated to the full ; that you will use Ui \ l^ \ ^ \° i\ ^ Is l\ o lJ l\ o 2 11 ^ o 1 °^ Q ■ I LU , I 1 H 1 V ;r-^Y :^ 1 : :7 OP THE JAMES BIi''.'-■ i«.«SJDftEg