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 GIFT OF 
 
 J . J.Cudv/orth 
 
(J. W. HINCKLEV 
 
THE 
 
 STORY 
 
 OF 
 
 GOOD 
 
 WILL 
 
 FARM 
 
 C. W. HINCKLEY 
 
X 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 When it began. Three women. A petty theft. 
 Boyhood's dream. Disappointment. Fighting 
 against God. Surrender. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A school debt. A definite promise to begin work. 
 The beginning of the boys' fund. A search for lo- 
 cation. Strange sickness. The farm purchased. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Philanthropy. First meeting with Mr. George 
 Henry Quincy. Work on Good Will Cottage. 
 Jamaica Ginger hinders. The fresh air children. 
 Their first night in the country. The boys argue 
 and win the day. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Good Will Home Association organized. Hon. 
 Moses Giddings becomes president. By-laws of 
 the Association. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Mr. Quincy a strong helper. Sunshine Cottage dedi- 
 cated. Golden Rule Cottage. Prospect Cottage. 
 First meeting with Mr. C. M. Bailey. Bailey Cot- 
 tage. Mr. H. H. Fogg's gift. Fogg Cottage dedi- 
 cated. 
 
 615239 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Commercial travellers have a project; it fails. 
 Knights of the Round Table begin work. The 
 fair at Sherry's. The Authors' Reception. Queen 
 Wilhelmina. Another failure. The Harper Li- 
 brary. The Tablet. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Christian Endeavorers propose a cottage. The plan 
 succeeds. C. E. Cottage dedicated. Sunshine 
 Cottage and Record Hall burned. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The letter in the Christian Union. My first trip to 
 Stamford, Conn. First meeting with Mr. Walter 
 M. Smith. Seventy-five pairs of blankets. The 
 story is told in the Presbyterian church. Second 
 visit to Stamford. Mr. Thomas W. Hall gives a 
 cottage. "Tom's dress suit." Mary Louisa Hall 
 Cottage dedicated. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Crowded school in Prospect Cottage. A letter from 
 Miss Mary D. Moody. A trin to Bath. The 
 death of Mr. Charles E. Moody. The Misses 
 Moody provide a school building. Death of Miss 
 Mary D. Moody. The building dedicated. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 A definite plan. Shall girls be helped? $10,000 
 wanted. Two nickels. Criticism. The purchase 
 of more land. The Volunteer Good Will Club. 
 Hon. E. S. Converse visits Good Will. His gift. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Walter M. Smith give a cottage for 
 girls. Elizabeth Wilcox Smith Cottage dedicated. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Miss Mary D. Moody's will. Miss Frances S. 
 Moody gives a chapel. The chapel dedicated. 
 Dedicatory hymn. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Grange Cottage for girls is proposed. The plan suc- 
 ceeds. Grange Cottage dedicated. The "white 
 house" for school. Mr. and Mrs. A. N. Ryerson 
 give a building for girls. The Emily F. Ryerson 
 Building dedicated. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Manual Training needed. Possible sites for a build- 
 ing. Unsuccessful attempts to secure it. A new 
 plan proposed, and $10.000 pledged. A Welcome 
 telegram. Ground broken for Manual Training 
 Building. The laying of the Corner Stone of the 
 "Quincy." The dedication of the "Buckminster." 
 The dedication of the "Quincy." 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 An address in New Haven, Conn. My first meeting 
 with Mr. Edwin Bancroft-Foote. A visit to 
 Rangeley, Me. An interesting letter. A $50.000 
 gift. The Bancroft-Foote House dedicated. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A disaster at Good Will. The Charles E. Moody 
 
 Building destroyed. The Sunday following the 
 
 fire. A new Library founded. Letters that 
 cheered. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Another fire. The Carnegie Library. The Willie 
 Sage Tuttle book fund. Moody Hall rebuilt. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 A growing debt. Another generous gift. Breaking 
 ground for the Whitney Home; the home dedi- 
 cated. Addresses. David Whitney. The raising 
 of Good Will's debt of $30,000. The Calista S. 
 Mayhew Lectureship Fund. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 Things deserving mention. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 The Good Will Record. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 What Good Will stands for. Home Life; Industry; 
 Discipline; Religious training. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Three things of worthy mention. Financial need. 
 Endowment. Possible Enlargement. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 What boys are received at Good Will. How to 
 proceed. Terms of admission. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Camping out with boys. The first Assembly. 
 Progress. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The following pages are a simple story of 
 small beginnings. The book is a recital of the 
 leading facts in a history which will be of 
 increasing interest as Good Will grows. If 
 while furnishing this account of the beginning 
 of a benevolent and educational institution the 
 little volume proves to be a testimony to the value 
 of one of a multitude of scriptural texts, (Psalms 
 37:5) I shall be satisfied. 
 
 G. W. HINCKLEY. 
 HINCKLEY, MAINE, November, 1902. 
 
PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION. 
 
 The third edition brings the Story of Good 
 Will up to the time of going to press, December 
 i, 1909. The illustrations have been changed; 
 but historical facts are unchangeable and the 
 first fourteen chapters are the same as in the 
 second edition. 
 
 G. W. HINCKLEY. 
 
 HINCKUX MAINS, December i, 1909. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 I do not know when the work at Good Will 
 Farm began. Possibly it was when I was four- 
 teen years old, and listened to the Divine call, 
 "Follow me ;" possibly when I was three months 
 old and mother consecrated me to the service of 
 her Lord; possibly long before that time. If I 
 understand the situation, when the final account 
 is rendered and the real value of Good Will 
 Farm is revealed, the world will owe its debt of 
 gratitude, not to myself but to three women 
 a mother who consecrated me to God's service; 
 a wife who kept house and home for me, while 
 I was trying to solve the problem of more homes 
 for the homeless ; a sister who stood by me with 
 rare devotion in the days of little things the first 
 decade of Good Will's history. 
 
 Scores of times I have given an account of the 
 beginning of the work, each time hoping to make 
 it clear to the audience that it is of God's own 
 planting and just as many times I have had rea- 
 
son to fear at the close that I have given a wrong 
 impression and appeared to take credit to myself. 
 This is because I always use the personal pro- 
 noun "I." As a matter of fact, at one period in 
 life for a few years I tried to get away from the 
 conviction that these homes must be established 
 and that the peculiar work for which Good Will 
 stands must be done. 
 
 In early life I thirsted for an education, which 
 I could not secure. When a small boy, one of 
 my schoolmates, the only son of his widowed 
 mother, was sentenced to the State Reform 
 School. The specific crime with which he was 
 charged was stealing food from a working man's 
 dinner pail. He was not a vicious boy. He was 
 hungry. For three days in succession he had 
 been dinnerless. Over his arrest I was sorrow- 
 ful and indignant. As I was only a boy, I could 
 not understand why people did not take an 
 interest in the lad before he put his hand 
 into that dinner pail, instead of waiting until 
 hunger had driven him to petty crime. It 
 was then that I began to fancy I would some- 
 time become a man. If I became a man I would 
 build a house; I would build houses, and if I 
 
 10 
 
knew nf a hoy in peril as that one had been, I 
 would extend a helping hand. 
 
 A few years later there came to my native 
 town a boy. only a few years younger than 
 If, but one who, to me, was interesting 
 beyond any youth I had ever known interesting 
 because I understood that he was fatherless and 
 motherless. I did not know in those days that 
 there was anything sadder for a child than that 
 he be without father or mother. Since then I 
 have learned otherwise. The tenderest, strongest 
 kind of friendship sprang up between that boy 
 and myself; and through it the determination 
 to devote my life to the needy and imperilled 
 was strengthened. 1 
 
 My failure to secure a four-years' course and 
 graduation from Yale College; my inability to 
 graduate from the Yale Theological Seminary 
 came near embittering my life. That which is 
 worth doing is worth doing well ; and I believed 
 that college and theological courses were essen- 
 tial to the best work, as I was planning it. A 
 year in a State Normal school I regarded as such 
 a poor substitute for seven years in college and 
 seminary, that I "kicked in the traces" and pro- 
 
 1. See "Ben," in "Some Boys I Know." 
 II 
 
posed to have nothing toi do with either preaching 
 or philanthropy. 
 
 It seemed strange that the school which I was 
 to teach after leaving the normal course should 
 have in it so much to appeal to me and to keep 
 before my vision the dream and hope of my boy- 
 hood. Although the school was the ordinary 
 "District School" two terms of the year, two out 
 of every three of the older boys the boys in my 
 own department were fatherless. Though they 
 had homes they needed counsel; the fatherless 
 were always with me. I was not permitted to 
 forget that in the world are the fatherless and 
 the orphan. I could not stand the pressure. 
 For three years I had been teaching that school, 
 in Kingston, R. I. I had studied college cata- 
 logues, and seminary catalogues, for anything 
 that would throw light upon the problem of my 
 own equipment for this work. Then I rebelled. 
 I would not preach, or teach or think always of 
 the fellow less fortunate than myself. I said I 
 had a right to do as others did a right to make 
 money and take pleasure. I gave up teaching. 
 
 A position was offered me as first clerk in a 
 general supply store. This I accepted ; drew my 
 salary and spent it ; was like one who is dazed. 
 
 12 
 
I avoided religious services on Sunday and 
 shunned religious people on week days. I knew 
 the best friends I had in the world were grieved, 
 and so was I ; but no one knew it, save He who 
 knows the secrets of the heart. I had been 
 reared an anti-tobacconist, and narrowly escaped 
 a mutiny in school once by my attack upon cer- 
 tain "users of the weed." I took to cigars and 
 the pipe readily, because I was told there was 
 "lots of comfort" in them. It took a good share 
 of my salary to pay my bills at the livery stable. 
 I needed to set a watch upon my lips. I was 
 ready to say "All men are liars" and to include 
 myself in the "all." 
 
 Spinning along Westminster street, in Provi- 
 dence, R. I., one bright day, behind the finest 
 team an acquaintance could get in the city, he 
 turned to me and said : "How do you like it ?" 
 
 "This is great," I replied. "All I ask for solid 
 enjoyment is a friend like you, a good cigar and 
 a fast horse." I suspect the man believed it; 
 but I was as far from enjoyment that afternoon 
 as midnight is far from noonday. I had no rea- 
 son for calling that man friend, for there was no 
 basis for friendship between us ; I had no love 
 for the cigar held between my teeth; I hated 
 
 13 
 
horse flesh. Fellows told me that there was fun 
 at the races. I had spent three afternoons in 
 succession on the grandstand watching proceed- 
 ings with the same interest and enthusiasm that 
 one has for a freight train passing, or a man 
 trundling a wheelbarrow, and tried to believe I 
 was having a good time. It was what boys 
 would call bluff a great bluff. Life was 
 losing its meaning; heart was becoming void of 
 hope; there was only darkness before me. A 
 few days later I surrendered. Then I was ready 
 to preach, to pray, to make any sacrifice which 
 might be suggested. The effort I had made to 
 supplant the cherished plan of my earlier life 
 with a career of selfishness had failed and I was 
 glad. 
 
 This surrender was followed by my first ser- 
 mon; call to a pastorate in West Hartford, 
 Conn., and two years later to a pastorate in the 
 town of Windsor, Conn. Then came my jour- 
 ney to Maine to engage in Sunday School mis- 
 sionary work. I believed that each of these 
 changes was a step toward the realizing of my 
 hope, and the accomplishment of the definite 
 plan for the needy and imperilled. I made my 
 home in Bangor. 
 
MOSKS GIDDINGS. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE BEGINNING. 
 
 A debt of several hundred dollars had been 
 incurred in my short course at the Normal School 
 a debt which had increased considerably by 
 accruing interest during the ye^ars of my rebel- 
 lion. Who goes warring against his Creator 
 must go at his own charges; fighting against 
 God costs. The years of pastoral work had 
 presented various obligations, and little progress 
 had been made in reducing the school debt. 
 
 I promised God that if I ever could pay the last 
 dollar of my own educational debt, I would make 
 a definite effort toward the establishing of homes 
 for boys. The day came when I could pay the 
 last dollar. That same day I made a covenant, 
 saying "I will take to my home the neediest boy 
 I have ever seen in Maine. I will ask no one to 
 aid me in caring for him. If anything comes 
 into my possession above my stated salary of $800 
 which I can use for the boy, I will regard it as 
 
 15 
 
coming from heaven for the boy's support. At 
 the end of each month, I will use one-tenth of 
 my own income and anything else which comes 
 to me, in paying the boy's expenses. If I have 
 more than enough for the boy, I will deposit it 
 in the savings bank, as the Boys' Fund. Now, 
 if I can care for him a year without incurring 
 debt, I ought to be satisfied, but I want a token 
 from God, for I must know whether this is a 
 conviction from Him, or whether 1 am cherish- 
 ing a boyish whim all these years. If in addition 
 to the boy's expenses, I shall receive during the 
 year enough so I can have a boys' fund of $100 
 for further operations, I will take it as a token 
 that God calls, and He will bless, and bring to 
 pass." 
 
 I took the boy, in need of clothes, food, and 
 training to my home in Bangor. At the end of 
 each month I paid his bills. Now it would 
 sometimes happen that someone would hand me 
 a dollar and say, "you are working hard, do what 
 you want to with this dollar." Sometimes, as 
 I was in the scattered districts, in the employ of 
 the American Sunday School Union, some good 
 woman would say, "I have not money to give to 
 the union as I wish I had, but I want to give you 
 
 16 
 
a pair of stockings which I knit with my own 
 hands, and for your personal use." Or, sometimes 
 it would be two pairs of stockings, or a pair of 
 mittens. One evening a company of friends drove 
 in from Kenduskeag and spent the evening. 
 Many of them were young converts, and before 
 they said good night, they placed a sum of money 
 in my hands, a token of their friendship. Now, 
 no one knew at this time about the ''Boys' Fund" 
 or about my covenant. These things were given 
 to me personally. But they were not mine. 
 According to my covenant they belonged to the 
 "Boys' Fund." If I used the knit articles, I paid 
 for them. In other cases I sold them, the pro- 
 ceeds always going to swell the fund. At the end 
 of the year, the boy had been cared for and I had 
 about $215 in the bank. I had asked God for a 
 token. He had given it to me. He knew I had 
 no courage and so He had more than doubled the 
 token. There could be no mistake. 
 
 About this time I spoke to two or three men 
 about my purpose for the boys. They said: 
 4< Why don't you tell people what you want to do?" 
 I replied : "If I had $500, to begin with, I would 
 do so. But the work will call for thousands and 
 tens of thousands. Men will laugh at a paltry 
 
 17 
 
$215." The fund grew in a few weeks to $500. 
 These friends said : "Why don't you tell people 
 what you want to do and they will help you." I 
 replied : "Oh, if I only had a thousand dollars, 
 I would gladly do it. If I tell people I have $500 
 toward a work which will call for thousands and 
 tens of thousands I will only be ridiculed for my 
 pains." One day a lady told me she had placed 
 an invested fund of $500 at my disposal, the 
 interest only to be used for the "boys' fund." I 
 had then the $1,000. I did not dare defer the 
 public announcement longer. 
 
 The next month I published the first issue of 
 a little paper which I named the "Boys' Fund" 
 and which stated the purpose of the fund, and 
 asked for assistance. Four hundred and fifty 
 copies were printed. Just as these were to be 
 mailed it was discovered that the apostrophe 
 was on the wrong side of the "s" in the word 
 "boys,' " a mistake which occurred not only on 
 the title page, but through all the columns. The 
 edition was destroyed, and a new one was printed, 
 and copies sent through the mail. Small cash 
 contributions began to arrive. 
 
 On the first day of January, 1888, I received 
 a letter containing a check for fifty dollars for the 
 
 18 
 
"Boys' Fund." It was the first check, and up to 
 that time the largest gift. I was the richest man 
 in Bangor that day. 
 
 As I traveled in the work of organizing Sun- 
 day schools in the eastern and northern parts of 
 the State of Maine, every township at first was, 
 in my eyes, a possihle location for the boys' home. 
 As my acquaintance with that part of the State 
 increased, towns and counties dropped out of the 
 bounds of possibility in rapid succession. But 
 one morning, while engaged in my regular work 
 as Sunday-school Missionary, I took a walk in 
 North Newport, and came to a spot from which 
 there is a fine view of Lake Sebasticook and 
 the surrounding country. I sat on a fence and 
 feasted my eyes on the scene. Looking eastward 
 across the north arm of the lake to a great hill, 
 whose top is crowned by an oak tree, and well 
 up toward whose summit is a group or * 'stand" 
 of buildings, it seemed to me that the farm on 
 which those buildings stood must be beautiful 
 for situation, and I decided to investigate. An 
 opportunity to visit the spot soon presented itself 
 and I improved it. The owner gave me a cordial 
 welcome and seemed greatly pleased at the possi- 
 bility that his farm might be devoted to the use 
 
 19 
 
of boys and become the foundation of benevolent 
 work. On subsequent visits he discussed his 
 interests in a familiar and confidential way. It 
 was his avowed intention to aid me all he could 
 by making various concessions, and interesting 
 others in the project as much as possible. It 
 seemed quite probable that the work would be 
 located there. 
 
 My second child, about two years old, was 
 losing his hold on life and it was clear that 
 nothing but removal from the city would save 
 him. A house was hastily rented in Newport, 
 and a flight made into the clean, sweet country, 
 to which I wanted to see other boys transferred 
 from the blight of unfortunate environment. The 
 change in the boy's condition seemed little less 
 than miraculous, and furnished evidence of the 
 healthfulness of the locality. 
 
 Several things commended the Newport farm. 
 It was on a hill, and the purest of fresh air was 
 assured; it was near a railroad; the soil was 
 fertile; the orchards were fruitful. Several 
 things were unfavorable. The hill was a high 
 one, and the hauling of building materials up its 
 slope, would add to the cost of building projects ; 
 the water supply, while sufficient for the family 
 
 20 
 
GEORGE HENRY QUIXCY. 
 
which had lived there and for the amount of stock 
 owned, might prove insufficient for a large com- 
 munity, and a supply from off the hill would be 
 out of the question ; though Sebasticook Lake 
 was in full view from the buildings, the boys, if 
 desiring a swim or row would be compelled to 
 descend the hill and trespass on neighboring 
 farms, in order to get to the lake; the mail boy, 
 wnoever he might be, would have to go into the 
 heart of the village several times each day, an 
 arrangement which almost as much as the above 
 considerations influenced me. But I could not 
 hope to find the ideal place. There would be 
 some disadvantages in any location which might 
 be selected. So the work of advertising the plan 
 went on, and pledges toward the purchase of the 
 place were made, and at the same time small sums 
 were received for the purpose. 
 
 At this juncture I faced a peculiar problem. 
 I had come to believe that the homes would be 
 established in Maine. Divine Providence seemed 
 to point to it. But one day I received a letter 
 from a man in Hartford Co., Conn., asking me 
 to come to Hartford at once. I knew that he 
 wished to confer about work for boys, and I 
 accepted the invitation. Upon reaching Hart- 
 
 21 
 
ford he took me down the Connecticut river val- 
 ley to his native town, and up the hill to his birth- 
 place. The old homestead where he had spent 
 his boyhood days, belonged to him. On the farm 
 was the house in which he was born, and a more 
 modern one which he had built for a member of 
 the family. 
 
 He explained to me his plan. He was a trus- 
 tee of the Mt. Hermon school, founded by D. L. 
 Moody. The trustees at Mt. Hermon had just 
 decided not to receive boys under sixteen years 
 of age, while it was my plan to receive boys from 
 the ages of seven to fourteen. He would make 
 me a free gift of the farm and the two houses 
 already on it. The fifty acres more or less 
 could be added to by purchase ; we would take boys 
 from seven to fourteen, and when they reached 
 sixteen they could be sent to Mt. Hermon. We 
 would call this new plant Mt. Lebanon. We 
 would thus have Mt. Lebanon on the south, and 
 Mt. Hermon on the north both on the banks of 
 the Connecticut river. The situation was inter- 
 esting. 
 
 Years before, when my whole life was influ- 
 enced by the cherished plan for saving boys, I 
 had read one day that Mr. Moody, the evangelist, 
 
 22 
 
had purchased a farm and was to open a school 
 for poor boys. The announcement was a shock. 
 I had been planning, hoping, praying ; but I was 
 a poor boy, without money or philanthropic 
 friends. Here was a man, who it seemed to me 
 had the wealth of the Christian world behind 
 him : he had a hold on the throne as well. It 
 was great news for the world, and enough to 
 quicken the blood of every one interested in poor 
 boys, and I rejoiced in it. It meant something 
 different to me, however. If Mr. Moody had 
 taken up that work, then, beyond all controversy, 
 God had called him to it, and it would succeed ; 
 but I had fondly believed that God had called me 
 to such a work also, and I must be mistaken. 
 Under such circumstances the inspiration and 
 the goal of my life having been taken from me, 
 life seemed scarcely worth the living. Here I 
 stood for months living the saddest of all sad 
 lives namely, a purposeless one. But it occurred 
 to me one day to put it thus : "It is plain as any- 
 thing can be that I cannot do Evangelist Moody's 
 work. This is fact incontrovertible. It is also 
 plain that Mr. Moody cannot do my work. This 
 is also incontrovertible. Therefore, since Mr. 
 Moody is doing his work, which is very great, 
 
 23 
 
I must do mine even though it be very small." 
 I gained courage thus, and a few years later 
 learned to my surprise, that the age limit for 
 entrance at Mt. Hermon had been raised to six- 
 teen. The offer of the farm which should be 
 known as Mt. Lebanon was a temptation. The 
 plan unfolded to me was the offspring of the 
 mind of only one of the Mt. Hermon trustees; 
 but if it should meet the approval of Mr. Moody 
 and the other trustees, the project would at once 
 come to the attention of people prominent in 
 religious and philanthropic work. The approval 
 and sympathy of such people was what I craved, 
 and what my project needed. But to the propo- 
 sition I said "No, I cannot accept it. The plan 
 seems feasible ; but to transfer the interest from 
 Maine is to trample upon all my convictions as 
 to locality, and ignore what I have regarded as 
 Providential leadings. I must not do it." My 
 friend recognized the strength of my position and 
 instead of urging the change upon me, became 
 the largest contributor to the fund for the first 
 purchase of land for the work in Maine. He 
 gave me a check for $250.00. 
 
 The fund steadily grew, and each interview 
 with the owner of the farm in Newport seemed 
 
 24 
 
CHARLES M. BAILEY. 
 
to bring the coveted property nearer. One day 
 I rode twenty miles with the owner, in the inter- 
 est of the purchase, his hope being that an aged 
 relative would become a contributor. At nine 
 o'clock that evening we stopped at the fork of the 
 road near the foot of the hill and leaving the car- 
 riage, I extended my hand for a parting saluta- 
 tion. "Two weeks from tonight I'll see you at 
 your house," I said, by way of a resume of a long 
 conversation, and we parted. 
 
 On the trip that day, he had explained why he 
 was so anxious that the plan for the transfer of 
 the property be consummated. He was suffering 
 from a disease which was beyond the skill of 
 physicians. "I may live a year ; I may live only 
 two weeks," he said. "There is one symptom 
 which may appear any day; and when that 
 appears, I shall know how many days I can live 
 somewhere from six to ten." He endeavored 
 to impress upon me the necessity of securing the 
 property while he lived, as, by so doing many 
 complications and delays could be avoided. The 
 remark that two weeks from that night we would 
 meet at his house meant that I hoped and 
 expected the transfer of the property would be 
 effected at that time. 
 
 25 
 
I left Newport on an early train the next morn- 
 ing for an absence of two weeks, but in response 
 to a telegram just one week later, I returned in 
 order to give an address at his funeral. His pre- 
 diction as to the nearness of his own death, and 
 also as to the obstacles to the purchase of the 
 farm, after his demise, were all fulfilled. With 
 his death the Newport project died. Sums, 
 aggregating several hundred dollars, which had 
 been pledged for the purchase of the farm, had 
 been made because of the location, and when the 
 project failed these pledges became worthless. 
 The fund, therefore, which had been growing, 
 was suddenly and unexpectedly reduced by a 
 considerable amount. I was all at sea. Having 
 fixed my heart on that place, I had been blind to 
 the claims of others, and had not even looked for 
 anything better in my journeyings. 
 
 "What do you think now?" said some of my 
 friends, after the farm had gone beyond my 
 reach. "You prayed that the farm you selected 
 might be secured for the work. What becomes 
 of your prayers now ?" 
 
 "I think this ; God was able to make it possi- 
 ble for me to secure that farm. I prayed much 
 for it. The fact that he does not give it to me 
 
 26 
 
 
means that there is somewhere in the State a bet- 
 ter place, and I shall have it." 
 
 It became necessary to acknowledge in the 
 "Boys' Fund" the little monthly published in 
 the interest of the work that the Newport farm 
 would not be bought, btit that some other place 
 would be selected. The press had been uni- 
 formly kind, and many helpful, encouraging 
 things had been said in the public prints. No 
 paper in the State had been more helpful than 
 the Bangor Commercial. In fact it had called 
 attention to the undertaking oftener than any 
 other paper, and always in a helpful way. But 
 its announcement that the Newport place would 
 not be purchased was worded unfortunately, and 
 was practically an announcement that the plan 
 for boys' work had been abandoned ; that my 
 family had gone to Rhode Island, and I was to 
 leave the State in a few weeks. I saw the item 
 and smiled. It was true that my family was in 
 Rhode Island, on a two weeks' visit. It was also 
 true that I was going out of the State in a few 
 weeks at the end of my family's visit in Rhode 
 Island, to bring it back again. The item would 
 not have received a second thought, only that 
 friends in Bangor wrote me that the item was 
 
 27 
 
likely to do much harm to the project, and to me 
 personally unless contradicted. It seemed to me 
 the best refutation was the pushing of the work ; 
 but where was the farm to be purchased ? Two 
 or three were examined. One held at ten thou- 
 sand dollars was offered as a free gift, on the 
 one condition that the family cemetery on the 
 farm be always kept in good order. But the loca- 
 tion was not convenient for the public ; there was 
 no place on or near it, where a summer meeting 
 such as I contemplated could be held. 
 
 Weeks grew into months, and as spring drew 
 near, I made several visits to Fayette, Me., to 
 look at a farm there. It did not seem to be just 
 the place for the reason that it was removed from 
 railroads, though not more so than two or three 
 very prosperous schools in Maine. There were 
 two houses on the farm one old one, and the 
 other just completed. It was thought that the 
 farm could be bought for about what the new 
 house had cost $2,000. I made one journey to 
 see the owner a widow. She was on a visit in 
 Massachusetts, and would be home on a certain 
 date. On that date I went again she had not 
 returned but was on her way home. 
 
 28 
 
Before the third trip I pondered the problem 
 much, and finally settled the matter in this way ; 
 "I don't know whether or not I ought to locate 
 the work there. I wish I did know, and that I 
 might have some token something to guide me. 
 Now, if on my next trip the owner says she will 
 take two thousand dollars for the place as it is, I 
 will regard it as a token that it is right to locate 
 there even though there are unfavorable features 
 about the situation. If she asks more than two 
 thousand dollars it shall be a token that I ought 
 not to buy it." 
 
 Having thus decided the matter as I thought 
 so far as it could be decided I began to arrange 
 for immediate activities. I wrote for a carpenter to 
 meet me at the farm to estimate the cost of needed 
 repairs on the old house, and the finishing touches 
 on the new one. A lawyer was asked to meet me 
 there to prove a clear title and make out the deed. 
 It was now early spring, and as I started on the 
 trip I took a supply of garden seeds, so that some 
 farmer might be set at work immediately, and 
 that vegetables might be raised for the family of 
 boys which would be gathered there in the fall. 
 
The owner's son-in-law met me at the station, 
 and as we drove away I said : "What will she 
 take for the farm ?" 
 
 "I have talked with her about it," was the 
 reply, "and she says she will take two thousand 
 and last year's taxes." 
 
 That ought to have settled it. The token was 
 to be two thousand dollars; the price was two 
 thousand dollars, plus. It would have been the 
 part of wisdom for me to have said : "Stop the 
 horse ; take me back to the station. I have rea- 
 sons for not purchasing the farm." Instead of 
 this, I reasoned within me, that "last year's 
 taxes" on a two thousand dollar farm could not 
 be very heavy, and that I could not afford to let 
 so small a sum stand between a farm home, and 
 the boys that needed it. 
 
 Little was said, as we rode toward the place. 
 We reached our destination at noon, and as soon 
 as we entered the house we were asked to dinner. 
 I had felt as well as usual that morning ; but as 
 my host was passing me food, my head dropped on 
 my shoulder; I indistinctly heard some one say, 
 "Oh, he's sick," and was only conscious that there 
 was a great commotion, and I was being removed 
 to a bed in an adjoining room. In the general 
 
 30 
 
alarm a physician was called, who, after a careful 
 examination said I was suffering from complete 
 nervous prostration, and advised my return home 
 for a long course of treatment by my family 
 physician. The advice was accompanied by the 
 information that it would probably be two years 
 before I would be able to do any work. 
 
 The people carefully nursed me that night, and 
 the next morning, helped me into the carriage 
 which was to take me to the train. I was cer- 
 tainly sick and weak. As we neared the station, 
 and increased the distance between us and the 
 farm I rallied rapidly. At the station, unaided, 
 I boarded the train, which was to take me still 
 farther. On reaching Waterville, I left the train, 
 and took a street car to the office of the Fairfield 
 Journal, where my paper was being printed. 
 
 "You have made the mistake of your life," said 
 the editor of the Journal. 
 
 "How?" I inquired. 
 
 "By locating your work where you have so 
 far from railroad and other facilities. It's too 
 bad." 
 
 "But I haven't done it," I remonstrated. 
 
"Well, we are just going to press with your 
 own statement that you have bought a place in 
 Fayette." 
 
 "Yes/' I replied, "but I have called to make a 
 correction in the proof," and I made it. 
 
 "Now," said the editor, "six miles to the north 
 of here is a farm, which I have often thought 
 was the place for your work. I had planned to 
 speak to you about it, but did not know you were 
 in such haste to buy." 
 
 "Can I see the place today?" I asked. 
 
 "Certainly, I'll have a team here in fifteen 
 minutes," and fifteen minutes later we started 
 on the drive northward the editor, and the man 
 who the day before, by a physician, had been laid 
 aside from all work for two years at least to 
 inspect a farm. When we drove up in front of 
 the Chase farmhouse now Good Will Cottage 
 to the editor I said with my lips, "This is the 
 place;" in my heart I said "Thank God I have 
 found it. After all these years of trying to follow 
 the leading of Divine Providence the finger 
 points to this place. Here the work will be 
 established; here God will honor and bless the 
 effort." The physician's diagnosis was without 
 foundation in fact. The next two years instead 
 
 32 
 
of being given over to nervous prostration, were 
 among the most active, laborious, and exacting of 
 my life. 
 
 The farm contained one hundred and twenty- 
 five acres. It was purchased in June, 1889. It 
 took all the money in the Boys' Fund to pay for 
 it. 
 
 As soon as purchased it was necessary to give 
 it a name. Several Sunday school classes had 
 organized themselves into clubs, each member 
 pledging one, two or five cents per week toward 
 the fund, with which a farm for boys was to be 
 purchased. I had suggested that they take their 
 name from the song of the herald angels recorded 
 in the second chapter of St. Luke, and call them- 
 selves Good Will Clubs. This they did. In 
 their honor the farm was named, and the farm- 
 house was called Good Will Cottage. 
 
 33 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 To me, in early life, the noblest word in the 
 English language was "Philanthropist." I had 
 read of philanthropy and philanthropists, but it 
 was not my privilege to know the philanthropic. 
 While the work of raising the funds to pay for a 
 farm was in progress, I read with great interest 
 in the Boston papers an account of a concert 
 given by a company of young men the Long- 
 wood Minstrels in aid of a project to establish 
 a Home for boys at Dedham, Mass. This was 
 to be a branch of the work of the Boston Chil- 
 drens' Friend Society whose headquarters were 
 at No. 48 Rutland street. 
 
 So near as I could judge from the article, Mr. 
 George Henry Quincy of Boston was the prime 
 mover in the project, and with an extended 
 acquaintance was accomplishing, and was able 
 to accomplish large things. I said in my heart, 
 "Oh, for the friendship and co-operation of such 
 a man !" From a human standpoint, I was very 
 much alone in the effort. The discovery of Mr. 
 
 34 
 
HIRAM H. FOGG. 
 
Quincy's project did not have the effect on me 
 that the announcement of Mr. Moody did, 
 because I regarded it as local in its aim, not gen- 
 eral in its scope, as I intended Good Will should 
 be. There was not therefore, the appearance of 
 any conflict, or any reason in the existence of the 
 Dedham project, why the farm in Maine should 
 not be purchased. 
 
 The day I reached my temporary home, after 
 having been laid aside for a two years' rest by 
 the physician who examined me, and after hav- 
 ing been shown the farm at East Fairfield by the 
 editor of the Fairfield Journal, I consulted my 
 family physician in Newport. He assured me 
 that if I followed his instructions carefully, I 
 would be able to go to work again in a much 
 shorter time than two years possibly in six 
 months. Five days later, he accosted me as I 
 passed his house, with a valise in my hand, going 
 toward the railroad station. 
 
 "What does this mean?" he inquired, "Where 
 are you going?" 
 
 "Going to Old Orchard" I replied. 
 
 "Good!" exclaimed the doctor, "It's the very 
 best thing you can do ; stay as long as you can ; 
 keep perfectly quiet ; don't you dare preach." 
 
 35 
 
I had not the courage to tell him that on that 
 very day Friday I was on my way to Old 
 Orchard, not to keep perfectly quiet, but to 
 preach twice on Sunday, to do some special work 
 through the week, and to preach twice again on 
 the following Sunday. I carried out my plan, 
 and having done so I took a train for Boston, 
 with the avowed purpose of attending a great 
 National Convention to be held in Tremont 
 Temple. But I made what seemed at the time an 
 awkward blunder, went to Boston a day earlier 
 than was necessary. I did not realize this until 
 I reached the city and it dawned upon me that 
 there would be nothing of interest in the conven- 
 tion for me until the next afternoon. I might far 
 better have remained at Old Orchard until a day 
 later. Sitting down in my room, a sense of lone- 
 liness stealing over me, an entire stranger in the 
 city, and mystified that I could make such a 
 stupid mistake, I said to myself, "Hinckley, what 
 are you here for? Why didn't you stay in the 
 quiet of Old Orchard till you ought to come 
 here?" The only answer I could give the prob- 
 lem of my own propounding was this ; "I'll wait 
 and see. Perhaps I ought to be here. I've com- 
 mitted my way and I'll see what comes of it." 
 
 36 
 
After an evening meal, I started out for a walk. 
 As I strolled along Tremont street, I noticed 
 many people hurrying into a building. It was 
 Tremont Temple. Large posters announced the 
 seventh anniversary of the Salvation Army in 
 New England. Not having seen the work of 
 the Army under favorable circumstances, I pur- 
 chased a ticket and secured a seat in the balcony. 
 Happening to look down on the audience below, 
 1 saw Rev. N. D. Curtis of Fairfield, and we 
 nodded a recognition. A few minutes later, 
 looking in the same direction, a man of noble 
 appearance who sat by Mr. Curtis' side motioned 
 me to meet him in the vestibule. The man was 
 a stranger to me, but I obeyed the summons. In 
 the vestibule the man seized my hand, and said : 
 "My name is Quincy George Henry Quincy. 
 Mr. Curtis tells me you are interested in a boys' 
 home; so am I. It's at Dedham. I want to 
 know you." 
 
 This introduction thrilled me. I stood on no 
 conventionality, but replied, "Why, I'm supposed 
 to be here to attend a convention which opens 
 tomorrow. But really, I'm here to visit the Ded- 
 ham home for boys, for I have read about it, and 
 about you. I'm going there tomorrow." 
 
 37 
 
"No, no," he replied, "wait till the next day, 
 and Mr. Curtis and I will accompany you." 
 
 When I returned to my room that night I 
 understood why I had been allowed to so stupidly 
 reach Boston ahead of time. 
 
 Wednesday we lunched at the newly opened 
 home for boys in Dedham the home for which 
 the Longwood Minstrels sang, and for which 
 Mr. Quincy had labored so unremittingly. It 
 was after lunch, while we were yet lingering at 
 the Home, when I said to Mr. Curtis : "I expect 
 to purchase the farm at East Fairfield, as soon as 
 I return, but it's a pity that the property should 
 remain idle till September 1st, when the first boys 
 will be received. I wish I could arrange for 
 some 'Fresh Air' work for children this sum- 
 mer." As promptly as though he had been con- 
 sidering the matter for days, Mr. Quincy said, 
 "If you will be responsible for the support of 
 fifteen boys and girls and two lady attendants for 
 six weeks this summer, I'll select the children, 
 and be responsible for their transportation." 
 "I'll do it" was my reply. 
 
 The convention which I attended was a 
 great one, but my heart was not there. Mr. 
 Quincy did not attend the meetings; at least I 
 
 38 
 
did not see him again that week, and had it not 
 been for my seemingly ill-timed arrival in Boston 
 I might never have known him. Upon returning 
 home at the earliest date I could, negotiations for 
 the purchase of the farm at East Fairfield were 
 completed. Notice was served on the tenant to 
 quit the premises. As soon as the place was 
 vacated work began. East Fairfield was an iso- 
 lated place, and it was difficult to get any help. 
 There was a demand for cleaner, painter, plas- 
 terer, and paper-hanger. The ceiling of the 
 kitchen was first scraped with hoes, and then 
 treated to a liberal coat of lime. A French Can- 
 adian woman was secured to scrub the floors. 
 She arrived one morning at seven o'clock. At 
 seven thirty she asked me for an advanced pay- 
 ment of twenty-five cents. She had left noth- 
 ing in the house to eat. She had brought 
 one of her grandsons an eight-year-old boy 
 so he could go to the store and buy some salt 
 pork for their dinner. She would have him go 
 to the store a mile to the north and make the 
 purchase, and take it home, a mile to the 
 south. I advanced the money, and the boy 
 started on what I supposed was an errand of 
 mercy. The journey resulted in one twenty-five 
 
 39 
 
cent bottle of Jamaica Ginger, which being some- 
 what diluted with water, developed a case of 
 semi-drunkenness. She declared her knees had 
 given out entirely, and that she could not do any 
 more work that day. It was then 1 1 : 30 ; she 
 would come the next morning at seven. This 
 was vexation ; but there was no alternative, as 
 there was no one else to scrub. She appeared the 
 next morning at 7:30. At eight she asked for 
 an advance payment of twenty-five cents, as a 
 relative of hers had died suddenly, and she 
 wished to send a telegram. I groaned in spirit ; 
 assured her that if she didn't complete the work 
 that day I should pay her nothing beyond the 
 amount I was advancing. As her grandson was 
 not with her she started in the direction of the 
 nearest store, a mile away, and came back with 
 another bottle of Jamaica Ginger. She was more 
 temperate, however, than on the preceding day, 
 and by dint of coaxing, and threatening, she was 
 kept at work till the task was completed after 
 a fashion. 
 
 The paper-hanger came to "do" several rooms, 
 and when all were done but one the one that 
 must be papered anyway he informed me that 
 he had a chance at a six weeks' job in Augusta, 
 
 40 
 
which he would lose if he remained another day 
 in order to paper the remaining room. He left. 
 Arming myself with a pair of shears and a paste 
 brush, I completed the task he had left, and no 
 one ever suspected the room was not papered by 
 skilled hands. 
 
 I went for a plasterer; the only one I could 
 learn of, to do the small but important job in his 
 line. He couldn't come. I left his house and 
 went away. These delays were getting- to be 
 serious. I laid the matter before Omnipotence, 
 and plead for aid. Then I sent to the plasterer 
 again; I wished he could do the little work 
 required. He gave no reason for changing his 
 mind ; but he did the work and seemed to be glad 
 to do it. 
 
 The woodwork of some of the rooms had never 
 been painted, and as I could not learn of any 
 painter near by, whose services were available, 
 and as there was no money in the treasury, Mr. 
 Arthur Curtis, a theological student, who was 
 spending his vacation in Fairfield village, vol- 
 unteered his services, and together we undertook 
 the job of painting the interior, and completed 
 the task on time. 
 
The through train from Boston stopped at the 
 Farm, July I5th, and a family of seventeen per- 
 sons alighted for a stay of six weeks twelve 
 girls, three boys, and two lady attendants. That 
 night at nine o'clock the farm house was still; 
 the fifteen tired little pilgrims were asleep. At 
 9 130 Harry notified me that his brother Joe was 
 sick "awfully sick." It proved to be a case of 
 too many raspberries, in conjunction with liberal 
 libations of new milk. When his stomach was 
 finally unloaded Joe was comfortable, and quiet 
 reigned again. Tt was ten o'clock. At 10 145 
 Mason informed me that Harry had the nose 
 bleed "he did sometimes" and a lamp was 
 lighted. The flow of blood was staunched, the 
 deck cleared, and all hands slept. At 1 1 : 30 we 
 were all awakened by a series of cries calculated 
 to make one's hair stand on end, and his voice 
 "stick in his throat." Mason had the nightmare. 
 "He did once in a while." At 1 : 30 Isabel, 
 dreaming that her mother had come from Boston, 
 and was ringing the front door bell, sprang out 
 of bed, and with sundry exclamations, started 
 down stairs in her sleep to meet the woman at 
 the door. At 3:15 Molly Duffy fell out of bed 
 striking the floor with a heavy thud. The other 
 
 42 
 
GOOD WILL COTTAGE 
 
 GOLDEN RULE COTTAGE 
 
incidents of that first night at Good Will are not 
 worthy of mention. The six weeks passed 
 quickly and the end was near at hand. 
 
 The three boys interviewed me one day, and 
 asked if they could stay at the farm, after the 
 girls went back. I promised to give thought to 
 the matter and to render a decision later. The 
 next day another interview took place thus : 
 
 "You are going to have a boys' home here, 
 aren't you ?" 
 
 "I hope to." 
 
 "It will be a home for boys in need of a help- 
 ing hand, wont it ?" 
 
 "Yes, that's what it's for." 
 
 "Well, we are the first boys that came here, 
 ain't we?" 
 
 "You certainly are." 
 
 "Then we ought to have the first chance, hadn't 
 we?" 
 
 "I'll think about it." 
 
 It was decided that the three boys should 
 remain, and thus it happened that the first day 
 of September, 1889, Good Will Cottage was 
 formally opened for boys, and these three from 
 Massachusetts were the first occupants. 
 
 43 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 There had been no time when I felt like asking 
 for an organization; in fact there was nothing 
 to organize. But I wanted any property which 
 might be secured to rest in other hands than mine. 
 But my acquaintance was slight. I called on 
 Hon. Moses Giddings of Bangor, who received 
 me cordially. To my great satisfaction he con- 
 sented to act as president of an association, if it 
 were organized. From that time Mr. Giddings 
 proved to be a wise counsellor, a generous helper, 
 though his benefactions were seldom 
 announced, a sympathizer whose words of 
 encouragement were a constant inspiration. 
 
 In November, 1889, a meeting was called and 
 the Good Will Home Association was organized 
 under the general statutes of the State of Maine. 
 The following officers were elected : 
 
 President Moses Giddings, Bangor, Me. 
 
 Vice-President J. B. Mayo, Foxcroft, Me. 
 
 Secretary N. W. Brainerd, Fairfield, Me. 
 
 Treasurer George Gushing, Skowhegan, Me. 
 
 44 
 
Trustees George Henry Quincy, Boston, 
 Mass.; F. C. Jones, Hartford, Conn.; J. G. 
 Blake, Bangor, Me. ; J. O. Smith, Skowhegan, 
 Me.^; V. Richard Foss, Portland, Me. 
 
 Directors G. W. Hinckley, East Fairfield, 
 Me.; Charles Dunn, Jr., Portland, Me.; Frank 
 B. Philbrick, Waterville, Me.; C. C. Nichols, 
 Foxcroft, Me. ; L. L. Walton, Skowhegan, Me. ; 
 E. P. Mayo, Fairfield, Me. ; D. W. Allen, Fair- 
 field, Me. 
 
 The by-laws adopted were as follows, a few 
 changes having since been made : 
 
 ARTICLE I. Name. 
 
 The name of this corporation shall be Good 
 Will Home Association. 
 
 ARTICLE II. Membership. 
 
 Any person may become a member of this 
 Association by the annual payment of two dol- 
 lars to the Association ; a life member by the 
 payment of fifty dollars at one time. Each mem- 
 ber shall have the right to vote at the annual 
 meeting. 
 
 45 
 
ARTICLE III. Officers. 
 
 The officers of this corporation shall be a 
 President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Clerk, 
 Superintendent, not less than three nor more than 
 seven Directors and five Trustees. The Presi- 
 dent, Vice-President and Superintendent shall be 
 chosen by the Directors and shall be, ex oflicio, 
 members of the board of Directors. 
 
 ARTICLE IV. Duties of Officers. 
 
 President. It shall be the duty of the Presi- 
 dent to preside at all meetings of the members 
 and of the Directors, and with the advice and 
 consent of the Directors to appoint all necessary 
 committees. 
 
 Vice-President. It shall be the duty of the 
 Vice-President to act for the President in all his 
 duties when the President is absent; and in the 
 absence of both President and Vice-President the 
 members at a members' meeting and the Direc- 
 tors at a Directors' meeting shall choose one of 
 their number to preside and fulfill all the duties 
 of said officers as the President pro tern. 
 
 Treasurer. It shall be the duty of the Treas- 
 urer to collect, safely keep and disburse the 
 moneys of the corporation, in the manner here- 
 
 46 
 
THOMAS W. HALL. 
 
in-after provided. He shall give a bond, when 
 required to do so, by a vote of the Directors at 
 any regular meeting, in such sum and with such 
 sureties as the vote may direct. 
 
 Clerk. It shall be the duty of the Clerk to 
 keep a correct record of all meetings of the 
 Directors and of the members and to hol3 such 
 records open for the inspection of any member 
 at all reasonable times. In his absence a Clerk 
 pro tern, may be chosen. 
 
 Superintendent. It shall be the duty of the 
 Superintendent to have general supervision of the 
 interest of the work ; to attend to the correspon- 
 dence of the Association ; to fill all business 
 papers including surrenders, indentures and cer- 
 tificates of life membership ; to keep a list of all 
 children received, with such particulars as the 
 Board of Directors may prescribe. To make an 
 annual report, and to appoint such assistants and 
 employees, with the advice and consent of the 
 Directors, as the work demands. 
 
 Board of Directors. The duties of the Board 
 of Directors shall be as follows : 
 
 ( i ) To have general charge of the property 
 and business of the corporation, its officers and 
 committees, to act upon and confirm or reject all 
 
 47 
 
committees nominated by the President, and 
 finally to have control of all matters connected 
 with the corporation. 
 
 (2) To act as an auditing committee upon 
 all expenditures and all bills presented, and by 
 vote to authorize any expenditure. 
 
 (3) To make all contracts or to authorize the 
 making of them by the officers of the corpora- 
 tion ; and no contract shall be binding upon the 
 corporation unless previously authorized or sub- 
 sequently ratified by a vote of the Directors. 
 
 (4) To provide for the care of the property 
 of the Association, its buildings and grounds. 
 
 Trustees. It shall be the duty of the Trustees 
 to receive charge of the property of the corpora- 
 tion when the same shall be turned over to them 
 by the Directors. 
 
 ARTICLE V. Meetings. 
 
 The regular annual meeting of the Associa- 
 tion for the election of officers and the transac- 
 tion of other business, shall be held on the Mon- 
 day preceding the first Wednesday of July in 
 each year. Notice of such annual meeting and 
 of the business proposed to be transacted shall be 
 given by posting a written notice thereof in some 
 
 48 
 
conspicuous place upon the buildings or grounds 
 owned by the Association, at least seven days 
 prior to the date of said meeting. The Board of 
 Directors may regulate the time of calling their 
 own meetings, but a majority of the Directors 
 must be present to constitute a quorum for the 
 transaction of business. 
 
 ARTICLE VI. Amendments. 
 
 These By-Laws may be altered or amended by 
 a two-thirds vote of the members present and 
 voting at the annual meeting, provided that notice 
 of such alteration or amendment was given in the 
 written notice of the meeting as directed in Arti- 
 cle V. of these By-Laws. 
 
 49 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Mr. Quincy was greatly impressed by what he 
 saw on his first trip to Good Will. There were 
 one farm house, two old barns, and rods and rods 
 of "Virginia Rail Fence." That was all. There 
 were few trees, no shrubbery, no flowers, no 
 cleanly cut walks or roads. A favorable loca- 
 tion, and great possibilities were what he dis- 
 covered. It did not occur to me that his affec- 
 tions could be transferred from the Dedham 
 Home to Good Will : and I would not have asked 
 it. But each month seemed to strengthen his 
 conviction that the work at Dedham was geo- 
 graphically restricted, while almost unlimited 
 developments at Good Will were possible. He 
 did much for this new interest himself. Some- 
 times he would say, "I cannot do all I would like 
 to do myself ; but when I cannot do a thing that 
 should be done, I can sometimes find one who can 
 do it." Thus he accomplished much for Good 
 Will and was a strong helper in tiding the work 
 over some critical periods in its early history. In 
 
 50 
 
addition to his cash gifts, a row boat, a small 
 tent, a stereopticon, a span of horses Kentucky 
 thoroughbreds were among his direct gifts. 
 He secured contributions of needed articles from 
 others such as a pair of rubber boots for each 
 boy at the Farm ; and cash gifts, including an 
 individual contribution of two thousand dollars, 
 as a kind of emergency fund. This sum, a very 
 large one in that stage of the development, was 
 not acknowledged in the Good Will Record, but 
 was carefully expended for things most needed, 
 and with Mr. Quincy's approval. It was known 
 as the "Q" fund while it lasted. 
 
 In 1890 a very small house on an acre of land 
 joining Good Will Farm on the north was made 
 vacant by the death of the sole occupant. I was 
 not pleased with the possibilities of that vacant 
 house. It was very small, and no one with a 
 good business would be likely to occupy it. It 
 might be rented by some irresponsible party, with 
 a family of vicious boys, over whom we could 
 have no control, but whose influence on the Good 
 Will boys might be pernicious. On the other 
 hand, it might be purchased by some one, who, 
 as the work grew would see our necessity and 
 hold it at a fabulous price, or refuse to sell for 
 
any consideration. I viewed the farms on the 
 north and south of Good Will with designing 
 eyes. The west boundary was a mile and a quar- 
 ter and twenty-seven rods from the eastern 
 boundary, and the eastern boundary was the 
 Kennebec river. If the farm on the north should 
 be added to Good Will, and that single acre with 
 its little buildings should be wilfully held by some 
 future owner, it would be a blot on the land- 
 scape an annoyance all the year round. So 
 money was secured and it was purchased. The 
 price was two hundred and fifty dollars. There? 
 is a promise in Holy writ a promise for those 
 who are faithful in little things. This added acre 
 and its house and stable were little things, no 
 doubt, but there was an opportunity for the faith- 
 ful use of them. The house was converted into 
 a home for seven boys who all slept in one 
 room, which was at once chamber and attic, as 
 the house was one story. A circle of King's 
 Daughters from Skowhegan, the Sunshine 
 Circle was present on the day of its dedication, 
 and in that Circle's honor, it was named Sun- 
 shine Cottage. 
 
 Up to the time of this purchase we had held 
 religious services on Sunday in one of the rooms 
 
 52 
 
CHAS. E. MOODY. 
 
in Good Will Cottage, but we needed that room 
 for other purposes. Very near Sunshine Cot- 
 tage was a stable ; the hay loft of which could be 
 converted into a place of worship. By placing 
 a stairway on the outside of the building, we 
 secured a room about 18 x 20 feet, with windows 
 in the two ends. This became our meeting place. 
 Pine tables were provided, and the school, which 
 had also been held in Good Will Cottage was 
 transferred to this room. It was my plan to have 
 the first floor of the building for the Good Will 
 Record, and so we named the structure Record 
 Hall. Sunshine Cottage was an apology for a 
 home only an apology. Record Hall was a 
 feeble attempt at equipment for educational and 
 religious work. It seems almost pathetic, as I 
 think of it now. It is not strange if some people 
 regarded the whole thing as a forlorn hope, as 
 they now tell me they did, though they were kind 
 enough in those days not to express their 
 thoughts to me. 
 
 "Sunshine Cottage" was dedicated on Septem- 
 ber I, 1890, the first anniversary of the opening 
 of Good Will Cottage. At the dedicatory ser- 
 vice, in which the 37th Psalm was read, I told 
 
 53 
 
the boys that one year from that day we would 
 have another dedicatory service. 
 
 Soon after, a fund was commenced for a new 
 cottage. Contributions came mostly in very 
 small sums from all parts of the country, and in 
 the April number of the Boys' Fund, which, in 
 the meantime had been changed to the Good Will 
 Record, I was able to announce $2,500 in hand 
 for a cottage. It was built by contract, named 
 Golden Rule Cottage, and dedicated September 
 I, 1891. The 37th Psalm was read; the Dox- 
 ology was sung. 
 
 At the dedication of Golden Rule Cottage I 
 announced that one year from that day there 
 would be another dedicatory service. I had no 
 money or the promise of money for a building, 
 any more than I had the year before for Golden 
 Rule Cottage, but I had Psalm 37 : 5. Now it 
 came to pass, for God brought it to pass, that the 
 following spring a farm of seventy acres, joining 
 Good Will Farm on the south was purchased. 
 On this stood a one story farm house. Midsum- 
 mer came, and there was no prospect of a dedica- 
 tion September i ; but, just then, the legacy of 
 Mrs. Susan D. Copeland, about $450, was paid, 
 and the amount used in making the one story 
 
 54 
 
farm house into a two-story cottage, and on 
 September i, it was dedicated. The 37th Psalm 
 was read; the Doxology was sung. This cot- 
 tage, which we named "Prospect" could not be 
 used for a family, as we needed the room for 
 offices, school, and other purposes. 
 
 At the dedication of Prospect Cottage I 
 announced that one year from that day, there 
 would be another dedicatory service. There was 
 not a dollar in hand for building purposes, nor 
 the promise of a dollar. Nothing but Psalm 
 
 37:5. 
 
 The M. C. R. R. consented at first to stop 
 trains at Good Will Farm when there were three 
 passengers to leave or board the train. One day 
 as I took the train a man said to me "Mr. C. M. 
 Bailey of Winthrop is in the next car. Do you 
 know him ?" 
 
 "No, I do not," I replied. 
 
 "Do you know who he is," was asked. 
 
 "No," I said, "I don't think I do." 
 
 "Well, he's a man who could build you a cot- 
 tage at the Farm, if he chose, and he ought to 
 do it." 
 
 "I take exceptions to a part of your statement," 
 I said. 
 
 55 
 
"I don't doubt that he is able, but whether he 
 ought to do it, I would not dare to say. People 
 tell me what this man ought to do, and what that 
 man ought to do with their money. It is not my 
 province to decide what such men ought to do. 
 It is for each man to decide for himself. I know 
 I ought to be here ready to receive gifts, that's 
 all I know about it." 
 
 It was weeks after that, when, boarding the 
 train again, a man passed me on the platform of 
 the car, and as he did so hastily handed me a 
 $5.00 bill. "It's for the work," he said, and he 
 disappeared into another car, saying as he did 
 so, "You needn't mention any names." 
 
 "Do you know who that man is," I asked of 
 one of the train men. He replied, "Yes, he is Mr. 
 C. M. Bailey of Winthrop." 
 
 My heart gave a bound. Mr. Bailey's heart 
 had been touched, but through no appeal or word 
 of mine. This was in the spring. In November 
 of that year, I was invited to preach in the 
 Friends' church, at Winthrop Center, and was 
 Mr. Bailey's guest. He asked his sons and 
 daughters to dine with us, and at the dinner table 
 in their presence, told me that I might build, at 
 his expense, at Good Will a home for fifteen boys 
 
 56 
 
to be known as Bailey Cottage. This would 
 relieve Sunshine Cottage, as it was the plan to 
 transfer the seven boys there to the new home as 
 soon as it could be completed, and Sunshine Cot- 
 tage would then be held for a hospital in case of 
 the appearance of contagious diseases. 
 
 On two or three occasions I had met Mr. H. H. 
 Fogg of Bangor, Me. He was a large hearted, 
 sympathetic man to whom a work like that pro- 
 posed for boys would strongly appeal. Our few 
 meetings had been happy, and I felt that in Mr. 
 Fogg, I had a real friend. I was asked repeat- 
 edly by acquaintances if Mr. Fogg had ever aided 
 the project for helping poor boys. If I replied 
 in the negative it was quite probable that the 
 inquirer would say, "Well, he ought to," and I 
 would as promptly reply that it was for Mr. 
 Fogg to decide ; that I had no right to say who 
 ought, and who ought not to assist. "Ought" is 
 a strong word it expresses duty. I could not 
 have been persuaded to say anything to Mr. 
 Fogg about building a cottage at the Farm. 
 
 In the first place I felt it was quite safe to 
 leave the man's personal matters in his own 
 hands; in the second place, I shrunk from any 
 course which might result in a change of rela- 
 
 57 
 
tions becween us. If I should ask him to build 
 a cottage and he should consent to do it, how 
 would I ever know that he had done it because 
 he wanted to, and not simply because I asked 
 him. I would feel that he had done something 
 upon my solicitation which possibly his own 
 judgment might not approve. If I should ask 
 him and he should refuse, I could never meet 
 him without thinking of it, and fancying also, 
 that thoughts of the same incident were in his 
 heart. Money seems to be a necessity in this 
 world; and money was needed for the work in 
 hand, but I have always placed friendship above 
 money. I would rather lose money than 
 friends. To be penniless is less of a misfortune 
 than to be friendless. I could not afford to sac- 
 rifice friendship for money, or for a cottage. 
 Perhaps in those days I was abnormally sensi- 
 tive. It may have been easier for Mr. Fogg to 
 say "no" to an appeal for a cottage than I imag- 
 ined ; but this is a statement of my views at that 
 time. 
 
 Mr. Bailey's gift came in November. In the 
 following January Mr. Fogg met me one morn- 
 ing in the Y. M. C. A. building of Bangor, Me., 
 and gave a check for $2,500 for a cottage. This 
 
 58 
 
gift was afterwards increased to $3,000 dollars. 
 Fogg Cottage was dedicated September i, 1893, 
 at eleven o'clock, the same hour of the dedication 
 of Bailey Cottage. A business man told me that 
 several weeks after the gift was announced he 
 met Mr. Fogg, and congratulated him upon what 
 he had done, whereupon, Mr. Fogg remarked : 
 "I like sometimes to help people who don't ask 
 me for anything. Hinckley never asked me for 
 a cent in his life." It was true that I had not 
 asked him, but I had been begging daily, 
 begging the divine spirit to prompt the gift that 
 came. Whatever may happen in the future, the 
 two cottages dedicated on that September day 
 are and will be, as long as they stand, silent testi- 
 monies to the truthfulness of promises in God's 
 word regarding the efficacy of prayer. 
 
 59 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Some of the greatest successes in life are based 
 on temporary failure. Some of the happiest 
 experiences are the fruit of disappointment. It 
 is the opinion of many friends of Good Will that 
 her history has been an uninterrupted success and 
 development. So it has to the present ; but there 
 have been events which looked like failure for a 
 time. 
 
 The opening of two new cottages Fogg and 
 Bailey on Seotember i, 1893, added thirty boys 
 to the little community, and Prospect Cottage, 
 where school was held, became crowded. The 
 desks were on the second floor, but the scholars 
 studied and recited where they could. Some- 
 times a couple of diligent students might be 
 found at the foot of the stairway, trying to solve 
 some problem or commit a lesson. Large classes 
 recited daily in the hall-way on the second floor. 
 Fears were entertained that evil might result 
 from foul air; but by paying much attention to 
 ventilation, sickness or any other ill was avoided. 
 
 60 
 
But the need of a school building was great. I 
 lived in a state of expectancy ; and did not hesi- 
 tate to affirm that such a building was "on the 
 
 way." 
 
 One day an interesting proposition and one 
 which met with very general approval was made. 
 A commercial traveler proposed that the numer- 
 ous class to which he belonged raise a fund, and 
 build a school building at Good Will Farm. A 
 meeting of commercial travelers was called at a 
 Portland hotel, and I accepted an invitation to 
 be present, and made a statement of the plan and 
 purpose of the Good Will Home Association, the 
 need of a school building, and answered ques- 
 tions. The reception accorded me was most 
 cordial, and the statements seemed to be satis- 
 factory. An organization was effected; and, at 
 that time or later, it was decided to build a school 
 building at a cost of ten thousand dollars, which 
 should accommodate one hundred scholars, and 
 provide for both mental and manual training. 
 Another meeting was subsequently held in Ban- 
 gor, which I also attended upon invitation. This 
 was not well attended, and there were signs of 
 weakening. 
 
 61 
 
While it was intended that the project should 
 be aided by the commercial travelers of New 
 England, it was early announced that for some 
 reason the White Mountain Division did not 
 propose to co-operate. I had understood that 
 the commercial travelers were to raise the money, 
 but I was troubled by reports that hotel keepers 
 were to be assessed in behalf of the project ; that 
 wholesale houses were to be called upon, and that 
 various other schemes were proposed. I was 
 exceedingly desirous that all that was done for 
 Good Will by whatever party or organization, be 
 done freely and gladly. I was as opposed to 
 collecting from unwilling contributors as I was 
 to making every taxpayer in the State a contrib- 
 utor to the work nolens, volens by accepting 
 a State appropriation. 
 
 Plans for a building were prepared by an 
 architect ; several hundred dollars were collected ; 
 a quarry at Good Will Farm was opened, and, 
 as I understood it, about four hundred dollars 
 were spent in getting out foundation stones, and 
 hauling them to the selected site. One day two 
 commercial travelers visited the Farm and told 
 me that work on the excavation was to begin the 
 following Monday. I was surprised at this, and 
 
 62 
 
FOGG COTTAGE 
 
 BAILEY COTTAGE 
 
inquired how much money had been raised. I 
 learned that the funds received amounted to 
 about a thousand dollars. The men took the 
 ground that the first thousand having been raised, 
 the other nine thousand would come much easier. 
 I had to tell them that the theory was wrong; 
 that the first one thousand was always the easiest 
 to raise ; that it had taken nearly a year to secure 
 the first thousand ; it would take much longer to 
 raise any one of the other nine thousand dollars ; 
 that the commercial travelers of New England 
 could not afford to have a half completed build- 
 ing at Good Will or elsewhere ; and finally that 
 they would not be allowed to commence the 
 building- until they knew it could be completed 
 within a reasonable time. 
 
 "How long a time?" one of the men inquired. 
 
 "I'm sure I don't know," I replied, "it might 
 be six months, or a year, or more; but it must 
 be some definite time." 
 
 I could not learn that any contract had been 
 made with any builder. If it had been, of course 
 there would have been a time specified for the 
 completion of the building. My experience in 
 building had not been extensive, but I had twice 
 tried to contract for the completion of a three 
 
 63 
 
thousand dollar cottage in three months, and in 
 neither case could I find a contractor who would 
 agree to it ; and of course I knew that a reason- 
 able time must be allowed for the completion of 
 a ten thousand dollar brick structure. The time 
 limit was not the subject of my contention. It 
 was essential that the building be completed 
 sometime, and within a reasonable limit. If the 
 $10,000 was not raised within a year it could 
 never be. 
 
 A few days later a letter was sent to the mem- 
 bers of the Commercial Travelers' Organization, 
 signed by two men. The letter read as follows : 
 
 Office of the Secretary of the Good Will Farm 
 
 Industrial Building Association. 
 
 WATERVILLE, October 16, 1893. 
 
 Dear Sir: While in Waterville Thursday, 
 
 July 2Oth, in company with I visited 
 
 Good Will Farm to look over the site for our 
 Industrial Building, and while there we were 
 informed by Mr. Hinckley the Association did 
 not purpose to let us commence on the building 
 until we could guarantee the completion of it, 
 and expressed his idea that we should complete 
 
 64 
 
it in three months, and if we were going to build 
 it they wanted us to do it before January i, 1894. 
 
 He, Mr. Hinckley, also informed us he thought 
 the traveling men had done Good Will Farm 
 more harm than good and he would advise us to 
 abandon the idea of building. The stone for the 
 foundation (which we got out last winter) he 
 also said was an eye sore to him and he had 
 wished many times it had never been placed 
 there. 
 
 He continued by saying the Association 
 objected to the traveling men soliciting subscrip- 
 tions from any one but traveling men. 
 
 At their annual meeting in July they appointed 
 a committee to confer with us and also gave 
 them power to stop us from commencing on the 
 building until we would guarantee to complete it 
 in so long a time, but this committee has never 
 given us any notice of their appointment on the 
 work for which they were appointed, and by 
 mere chance we were made known of the facts. 
 
 Our building committee had let the contract 
 for the foundation and the Monday following 
 Thursday (the day we were there) workmen 
 would have been there to go to work, but they 
 would have been refused. Now my object in 
 
 65 
 
placing these facts before you is this. The only 
 thing left for us to do according to my ideas is 
 to have a meeting of our committee, settle up all 
 of our accounts, return what money we have 
 collected, and bid adieu to Good Will Farm Asso- 
 ciation. When and where will it be convenient 
 for you to attend such a meeting? Awaiting 
 your reply, I am 
 
 Your obedient servant. 
 
 This strange letter purported to be signed by 
 the president and secretary of the organization. 
 
 Several weeks later I learned that a meeting 
 was to be called at a Portland hotel to adjust 
 matters. I notified the secretary that I wished 
 to be present, and make a statement, as I had 
 been present at the first meeting. I was not 
 notified of the date of the meeting, or of the out- 
 come of it. Many friends regretted the failure 
 of this project ; but I could see no cause for sad- 
 ness or regret. I was satisfied that the school 
 building was to be. It would come in God's 
 time, and in his way. 
 
 Not long after the failure of the commercial 
 travelers' project, I received a letter from the 
 office of Harper Bros., publishers of New York 
 
 66 
 
HON. E. vS. CONVERSE. 
 
City. The editor of the Round Table Depart- 
 ment of Harper's Young People (afterwards 
 changed to Harper's Round Table) inquired in 
 his letter if I would like to have the Knights of 
 the Round Table, an organization consisting of 
 readers of the "Young People" raise money 
 and build a school building for Good Will boys. 
 I thought I was prepared for almost anything; 
 but this letter surprised me. It suggested great 
 possibilities. The prestige which the endorse- 
 ment of a great publishing house, like that of 
 Harper Bros, would give Good Will ; the amount 
 of advertising which would result for the Homes 
 from the carrying out of such a scheme; the 
 multitude of friends likely to be secured in all 
 parts of the country ; these considerations seemed 
 weighty indeed, aside from the school building 
 itself. 
 
 I assured the writer of the letter that his plan 
 was very acceptable; and waited with patience 
 for the first announcement in the pages of Har- 
 per's Young People. It came in due time and 
 the Knights of the Round Table began to secure 
 subscriptions to Harper's Round Table, each new 
 subscription netting the building fund fifty cents. 
 The idea took. There was evidence of consider- 
 
able enthusiasm. After a time the Knights began 
 to give entertainments, and hold fairs in behalf 
 of the Good Will school building. Then a great 
 fair was proposed for New York City. It was 
 to be held at Sherry's at the corner of 37th 
 street and Fifth avenue. Articles were to be sent 
 from all parts of the country for sale ; there were 
 to be exhibits from various manual training 
 schools ; an authors' reception ; a concert by 
 Princeton College Glee Club, and various other 
 attractions. I arrived in New York City on the 
 morning of the opening day of the fair, and went 
 to Sherry's in the afternoon. It was nearly time 
 for the opening. I was dismayed for I could 
 not see how anything good could come out of 
 the confusion, and apparent lack of organization. 
 In some way the program was carried out ; but 
 I could see that the building project was doomed. 
 In one of the rooms at Sherry's there was an 
 excellent water color sketch of the proposed 
 building a building the very plan of which was 
 a disappointment. In the same room was a copy 
 of Queen Wilhelmina's certificate of membership 
 in the Knights of the Round Table. 
 
 The New York Sun of December 7 said: 
 "The authors' circus, which is to be opened 
 
 68 
 
tomorrow, will certainly be worth the admission 
 fee. Nearly a hundred of our most renowned 
 literary characters, women and men, have prom- 
 ised to appear for three days, in the afternoon, 
 at the "Round Table" at Sherry's place for a 
 charitable purpose. Ticket holders will not only 
 be permitted to look at them, but will be intro- 
 duced to any one of them who desires to form 
 new acquaintances. Think of seeing the author 
 of a favorite poem, a thrilling bit of fiction, a 
 solid piece of biography ! The list of the names 
 of the authors who have accepted an invitation 
 to appear at the Round Table is very attractive. 
 We believe there have been small things of the 
 kind before, but this week's spectacle will be of 
 unequalled magnitude if the programme is car- 
 ried out. It is fully justified by its worthy 
 object." 
 
 The authors' reception was well attended, 
 many of the best known names in literature being 
 present but the endorsement of Harper Bros. ; 
 the membership of Queen Wilhelmina ; the friend- 
 liness of a galaxy of authors was not enough to 
 insure the school building. It became necessary 
 for me to watch and wait. Again there was 
 great disappointment; but it was in the hearts 
 
 69 
 
only of friends of the Homes, who did not under- 
 stand the details. The fact that Good Will had 
 been selected as a popular object to aid, and was 
 being used simply in an effort to increase the 
 circulation and popularity of a New York young 
 people's publication, in the New England States, 
 was not referred to in public by me ; and few if 
 any understood the episode. The publication 
 referred to was afterwards discontinued. Occa- 
 sionally the questions are asked "What became 
 of the Commercial Travelers' Building Fund?" 
 and "What became of the Round Table Fund?" 
 The sum of $1,500 invested as the Harper's 
 Round Table Library Fund, and a section of the 
 Good Will Library, consisting largely of volumes 
 published by Harper Bros., and a brass tablet 
 over that section answers both questions. The 
 tablet says : 
 
 HARPER'S ROUND TABLE LIBRARY. 
 THIS LIBRARY WAS PURCHASED AND IS MAIN- 
 TAINED WITH MONEY CONTRIBUTED BY THE SUB- 
 SCRIBERS TO HARPER'S ROUND TABLE, WITH THE 
 
 ASSISTANCE OF THE COMMERCIAL TRAVELERS' 
 ASSOCIATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 At the State convention of the Y. P. S. C. E. 
 of Maine, held in Bangor in 1893, Mr. V. Rich- 
 ard Foss, president of the convention and at that 
 time a trustee of the Good Will Home Associa- 
 tion, proposed that the Endeavorers of the State 
 raise funds for the building of another cottage 
 for fifteen boys this new home to be called 
 Christian Endeavor Cottage. A committee was 
 appointed, and the work of raising the money 
 began. The first gift was a dime sent by an 
 Endeavorer of Hampden Center. Each month 
 the Good Will Record reported progress ; and on 
 the first page of the April number, 1894, were 
 these words : 
 
 SUCCESS! 
 
 ENDEAVOR COTTAGE ASSURED. THE FUND NOT 
 QUITE COMPLETE. 
 
 The statement which followed showed that the 
 C. E. Cottage fund stood at $2,130.77. This was 
 afterwards increased. April fourth workmen 
 
began excavation for the foundations. Each 
 year since the opening of Good Will Cottage 
 there had been a dedicatory service at the Farm 
 on September ist, the anniversary of that event. 
 The order was thus: Sunshine Cottage Sep- 
 tember i, '90; Golden Rule Cottage September 
 I, '91 ; Prospect Cottage September I, '92; Fogg 
 Cottage and Bailey Cottage September, '93, and 
 it was planned that C. E. Cottage should be 
 dedicated on the anniversary day. But in order 
 to accommodate the Endeavorers who would be 
 returning from their annual convention, it was 
 decided to have the exercises on the last day 
 of August. One hundred and ten Endeavorers 
 arrived on the morning train. 
 
 At each dedicatory service the thirty-seventh 
 Psalm had been read. The custom was honored, 
 and still holds at all services of the kind at Good 
 Will. We had added a cottage to the equip- 
 ment, but the number of cottages remained 
 unchanged. Little Sunshine Cottage was burned 
 to the ground on August loth, about three weeks 
 before the dedication of C. E. Cottage, and with 
 it went Record Hall. 
 
 72 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 NEW HELPERS. 
 
 In 1891 the Christian Union (now the Out- 
 look) gave considerable space in its columns to 
 the Burnham Industrial Farm, now the Berkshire 
 Industrial Farm, at Canaan Four Corners, N. Y. 
 I was glad to have that excellent institution 
 brought before so large a number of intelligent 
 and benevolent people, and I read all the items in 
 the Union regarding it. In one issue there 
 appeared a letter from Rev. T. E. Busfield, pastor 
 of the First Baptist Church, Bangor, Me. It 
 was an excellently written letter, but the first 
 few sentences caused me to groan in spirit. I 
 could not take exceptions to what Mr. Busfield 
 said, and I was deeply touched by the knowledge 
 that, without any suggestion from me, he had 
 written in Good Will's behalf. What troubled 
 me was the way the first few sentences of his 
 letter brought Good Will into competition with 
 the Burnham Industrial Farm. If he had shown 
 the letter to me I would have begged him not to 
 
 73 
 
send it ; or the editor not to publish it. But that 
 single epistle accomplished more for Good Will 
 eventually than all the columns I had written. 
 
 It happened that a benevolent lady in Stam- 
 ford, Conn., was greatly exercised about two 
 imperilled boys in that city. She sat on a veran- 
 dah one afternoon, the burning question being, 
 "What can I do for those boys?" While she 
 still pondered, her mail was brought to her, and 
 a part of the parcel was that week's issue of the 
 Christian Union. "As I live," she exclaimed, "I 
 believe that's the place for those two boys," and 
 she proceeded to write me a letter in their behalf. 
 She had never heard of Good Will Farm before, 
 and her only knowledge of it now was Mr. Bus- 
 field's letter. In the course of time the boys 
 were accepted and arrived at Good Will. They 
 were like other boys and soon adjusted them- 
 selves to their new surroundings. The first 
 result of Mr. Busfield's letter, therefore, was a 
 home for two boys from Connecticut. It was 
 natural that others should hear of the new home 
 for boys to which the two Stamford lads had been 
 sent. 
 
 One day I received a letter from a Stamford 
 lady asking if I would come to that place and tell 
 
 74 
 
the story of Good Will Farm in the Presbyterian 
 Church. I replied in the affirmative and the 
 date was fixed. The trip from East Fairfield, 
 Me., to Stamford, Conn., was to be made for the 
 purpose of giving the address. After leaving 
 Boston, Mass., on my way to Stamford it 
 occurred to me that I was making a long journey 
 in order to speak in a church, and I had received 
 no invitation from the pastor. The invitation 
 from a lady whom I had never met, and whom 
 I knew only by the letters which she had written 
 about the address was the only reason for my 
 appearing in Stamford. In accepting that invi- 
 tation I had inferred that the pastor of the church 
 would write me, but he had not done it. I had 
 no means of ascertaining whether I would be 
 welcome in the Presbyterian pulpit ; nor could I 
 in any way at that stage of proceedings learn 
 anything about the woman who had invited me. 
 I was hurrying along at the rate of forty-five 
 miles an hour toward an appointment for Sun- 
 day morning. Why did I start on such a trip? 
 What stupidity not to have waited until I had 
 received some word from a church official ! 
 
 The only thing to do under the circumstances 
 was to let the train proceed on its way, and I 
 
 75 
 
would try and ascertain on reaching Stamford, 
 why I was there. When the station was reached, 
 I decided to call at the house of my correspondent 
 empty handed. I could easily determine in a 
 few minutes after reaching the house whether I 
 had made a vain journey. I rang the bell with 
 strange misgivings, but a moment later received 
 a welcome which quite relieved me of all doubt. 
 I was obliged to confess to my host and hostess 
 the doubt I had entertained and the misgivings 
 which led me to leave my baggage at the station 
 till I could spy out the land. The information 
 that Rev. Dr. Vail, the pastor, and Mr. Walter 
 M. Smith, one of the officials of the church, were 
 to call on me in the evening was reassuring. 
 Not long after the evening meal the two gentle- 
 men arrived, and after a brief interview in which 
 arrangements for the service the next day were 
 completed, the callers were asked into another 
 room. But Mr. Smith soon returned and mani- 
 fested deep interest in the work which I judged 
 was new to him. He seemed to be specially 
 interested in the boys' summer camp, and after 
 asking several questions he said "I should think 
 you would need a good many blankets for the 
 encampment." 
 
"We do," I replied. 
 
 "What do you do for blankets" he asked. 
 
 "Oh, we do the best we can," I answered, "and 
 get along comfortably." 
 
 "But I should think you would need a good 
 many blankets," he repeated. 
 
 "Yes, we do, but we use old blankets, and 
 quilts the worse for wear, and get along as well 
 as we can," I replied. 
 
 "Well, if seventy-five pairs of new blankets 
 will do you any good, I will order them shipped 
 to you Monday." 
 
 I was facing a new friend of Good Will great 
 hearted and strong, whose influence in my own 
 life, and in the history of the work was to be 
 felt beyond that of any living person. These 
 blankets for the boys' camp were his first gift. 
 Of course I did not foresee that evening how 
 great was to be Mr. Smith's influence, or how 
 strong was to be his friendship, any more than 
 I could foresee this first gift to the work. The 
 next day the "Story of Good Will Farm" was 
 told in the Presbyterian pulpit just as it had been 
 told in a score of other places. I had sowed. It 
 was for God to give the increase. 
 
 77 
 
Months later when Mr. Smith made his first 
 visit to East Fairfield he seemed to be as deeply 
 impressed with the possibilities of the place as 
 had Mr. Quincy, whose sudden death occurred 
 just after my Stamford trip. 
 
 On my second visit to Stamford I was invited 
 to preach at the regular morning service in the 
 Presbyterian Church. Nothing had been said in 
 the sermon about Good Will Farm, or benevolent 
 work. Mr. Thos. W. Hall met me at the foot 
 of the stairs, and asked to speak to me. He 
 explained that he had a good mother, to whose 
 counsel and prayers he owed his success in life, 
 and he commissioned me to build a cottage in her 
 memory to be known as Mary Louisa Hall Cot- 
 tage. In the hall of this cottage are two objects 
 of interest, viz : A memorial window, and a plain 
 ash case, with a glass front. The window is 
 inscribed with these words : 
 
 To THE MEMORY OF A GOOD MOTHER, 
 
 MARY LOUISA HALL, 
 
 SKANEATELES, N. Y. 
 
 The emblems are two torches representing 
 "Wisdom" and "Knowledge," and a wreath of 
 laurel significant of a triumphant life. 
 
 78 
 
MISS FRANCES E. MOODY. 
 
When Mr. Hall was eighteen years old he left 
 the home and his mother in Skaneateles, N. Y., 
 and started out in life to win. Fourteen years 
 later, just after his mother's funeral he discov- 
 ered that when he left home, she had taken the 
 garments he wore on the farm garments of 
 faded blue cotton washed and ironed them, tied 
 them with a bit of white ribbon and labeled them, 
 
 TOM'S DRESS SUIT. 
 
 Mr. Hall took the garments to his home in 
 Connecticut and cherished them there. When 
 he came to Good Will to attend the dedication of 
 the cottage, he brought the garments with him ; 
 at his request they are in the case in the front 
 hall, a silent reminder of the depth and potency 
 of mother-love, and an evidence of noble son- 
 ship. They are still marked, "Tom's dress suit." 
 
 Marv Louisa Hall Cottage was dedicated 
 December 31, '95. The thirty-seventh Psalm 
 was read. 
 
 79 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Our school had been accommodated in the 
 chambers of Prospect Cottage. The narrow 
 entry was sometimes used for a recitation room. 
 Lessons were occasionally prepared by young 
 students sitting on the front stairs. We feared 
 disaster from overcrowding ; but by paying con- 
 stant attention to ventilation we escaped. We 
 felt confident that a school building would be 
 provided. The commercial travelers' plan for a 
 building had failed a building which was to 
 have accommodated one hundred scholars. We 
 already had over ninety scholars, and prospects 
 of growth. The letter from the commercial 
 travelers' committee advising abandonment of all 
 effort, and a return of the money which had been 
 collected was dated October 16, '93. I think 
 their final meeting was held several weeks later. 
 
 In February, '94, I received a letter from Miss 
 Mary D. Moody of Bath, Me., requesting me to 
 call at her home, and stating that she wished to 
 ask some questions. In this request she was 
 
 80 
 
joined by her sister, Miss Frances E. Moody. 
 The writer of the letter and her sister were 
 unknown to me. I had not heard of Mr. Charles 
 E. Moody, their brother, to whom the letter 
 referred. But I responded to the invitation and 
 went to Bath, and to the Charles E. Moody estate. 
 Here I met two sisters rare Christian char- 
 acters. Their life had been full of sweet experi- 
 ences ; and in every thing they had enjoyed the 
 sympathy and counsel of their brother, who, 
 though in business in Boston, regarded the old 
 homestead in Bath his legal residence, and his 
 real home. Mr. Moody with his younger sister, 
 Miss Frances E. Moody, had visited the Colum- 
 bian Exposition, and on their way home, he had 
 been seized with fatal illness and died in Detroit, 
 Michigan. His death was a crushing blow to 
 the sisters. Their first impulse was to give 
 themselves up to the great sorrow. Life had 
 lost much of its meaning for them. But in their 
 soul was a desire to carry out, if possible, some 
 of the brother's benevolent plans. Mr. Moody 
 had expressed his faith in the work at Good 
 Will; and without doubt it was his purpose to 
 aid it. They wished to do that which would 
 meet the brother's approval were he living. 
 
 81 
 
The April, '94, issue of the Good Will Record 
 announced the gift of a school building. The 
 names of the donors at their earnest request were 
 for a time withheld from the public ; but it was 
 stated that the gift was unconditional, except that 
 it was to be "a fine building, constructed after 
 the most approved modern principles in every 
 respect, a building that shall give satisfaction in 
 future years, as well as at the present time." 
 
 Ground was broken for the Charles E. Moody 
 Building July 4, '94; the corner stone was laid 
 June 27, '95; it was dedicated January I, '96. 
 On each of these occasions, the thirty-seventh 
 Psalm was read. God had again brought to 
 pass. 
 
 There was a feeling of sadness through the 
 services of dedication occasioned by the absence 
 of Miss Mary D. Moody, who had greatly longed 
 to see the building dedicated. She died Novem- 
 ber, '95, nearly two months before the dedicatory 
 exercises took place. Mr. Elmer I. Thomas, the 
 gifted young architect, who drew the plans for 
 the building, died on the day it was dedicated. 
 
 82 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 There was a definite plan at Good Will. It 
 was gradually unfolding. To have announced 
 it in full when the first farm of one hundred and 
 twenty-five acres was purchased at East Fairfield 
 for boys, would have brought ridicule upon the 
 whole project. Talking with a farmer in the 
 neighborhood, after the work had been in prog- 
 ress six or seven years, I said: 
 
 "WTiat would you people have said when the 
 first purchase for this undertaking was made, if 
 I had predicted that at this time there would be 
 these buildings here, and nearly a hundred boys 
 in them." 
 
 "We would have said you were out of your 
 head that you were crazy," was the prompt 
 reply. 
 
 The changes which took place would have been 
 simple and trifling indeed if the one who inaug- 
 urated them had possessed wealth ; but the people 
 understood my own poverty, and could not 
 understand the rest. I had nothing ; they did not 
 
 83 
 
understand that it was God who was bringing 
 to pass. 
 
 A noted preacher of Scotland exclaimed in my 
 hearing on one occasion : 
 
 "What is that in thy hand?" 
 
 "Nothing." 
 
 "Nothing? Oh ! that is the stuff out of which 
 God makes worlds." 
 
 With nothing of my own available; and with 
 Psalm 37 : 5 always before me it was easy to 
 believe. But there were some things I did not 
 want to do. I did want to establish a similar 
 work for girls. I did not want to begin in such 
 a small way as the boys' project had been under- 
 taken. 
 
 A mile from Good Will was a farm which in 
 my judgment ought to be devoted to work for 
 girls, and made the foundation for homes and 
 school for them. In the event of such an under- 
 taking the farm north of Good Will would be 
 needed as the site for a chapel. While the boys 
 and girls would then be in separate homes and 
 schools, they could attend the same religious ser- 
 vices, and could meet in various social gather- 
 ings. 
 
In reply to the question frequently asked, 
 "Why do you not undertake a similar work for 
 girls?" I had this uniform reply: "I am will- 
 ing to undertake a similar work for girls when- 
 ever anyone will come forward with $10,000 or 
 even $5,000 as a beginning. I do not propose 
 to start with a paltry twenty dollars as I did in 
 the boys' case, and wait years for it to grow." 
 
 But the $10,000 did not come for the girls. 
 The $5,000 did not materialize. But something 
 came to pass. Much of the work in the boys' 
 homes is done by the smaller boys themselves. 
 With other duties they wash and "wipe the dishes. 
 It has been the rule for years that if a boy washes 
 or wipes dishes two weeks in succession without 
 breaking a dish he shall receive five cents. This 
 money is not wages, it is a reward for careful- 
 ness. As a matter of fact these nickels are about 
 all the money some of the boys see from January 
 to December; and what use they shall make of 
 the money when it arrives is sometimes a matter 
 of much thought on the boys' part. 
 
 On the tenth of November, '94, a small boy 
 entered my office at Good Will and said : 
 
 "W r atson and I have been on dishes for two 
 weeks and haven't broken a dish. Each of us 
 
 85 
 
will have five cents just as soon as Miss Marshall 
 gets time to fill out the order. We've talked it 
 over, and as soon as we get the money we are 
 going to give it to you to help start the girls' 
 homes, so the girls can have just as good homes 
 as we boys have." 
 
 I knew how much that five cent piece meant 
 to each of those boys, and could hardly believe 
 I had heard correctly. 
 
 "Say that over again" I said, and the boy 
 repeated the statement. 
 
 The sacrifice the boy was making was aston- 
 ishing; but it is always "more blessed to give." 
 Turning to my assistant I said : 
 
 "I shall take this money. Several times I have 
 tried to dictate to my Creator, but have never 
 been successful. If refusal to undertake any- 
 thing for girls unless the work can begin with at 
 least $5,000, is of the nature of dictation, then I 
 am through with it." 
 
 The story of the two nickels was published, 
 and a lady in Bangor sent two dimes, one for 
 each boy who had sacrificed his all for the girls' 
 home. The letter said: "I have not talked it 
 over, but I have thought it over, and I've con- 
 cluded I could not have done it at their age." I 
 
 86 
 
saw Watson and read the letter to him, and he 
 immediately returned the dime and said : 
 "Put it in with the rest ; it will all help." 
 The boys had been influenced to their initiative 
 act by an article in the Good Will Record of that 
 month November. Aside from their gift, 
 which began the girls' fund, there was no prog- 
 ress for several weeks. The article in the 
 Record provoked some criticism which appeared 
 chiefly in the Republican of Belfast, Me. The 
 attack was uncalled for; the critics were at a 
 disadvantage, for the reason that they did not 
 understand the situation or the motive at Good 
 Will. The antagonism, however, was brief. 
 Others in various parts of the country freely dis- 
 cussed the plan for the girls, and, of course, some 
 were opposed to it. It was predicted that all 
 manner of evil would fall upon the project if it 
 were undertaken; that my cares would be mul- 
 tiplied, and my sorrows increased ; that a great 
 mistake was about to be made. Such discussion 
 resulted in much thought and added caution, but 
 I was satisfied that the principle was right. In 
 my own home I had two sons; I did not want 
 them to grow up far removed from girls of their 
 own age. I had two daughters, I did not want 
 
them to grow up far removed from boys of their 
 age. A father's instincts played a prominent 
 part in the solution of the problem. At the same 
 time I was following the method I had adopted 
 in the work for boys. The plan was being made 
 known ; no personal solicitation was made to 
 anyone. 
 
 On the twenty- seventh of February, '95, I 
 made this entry in my journal : "On my return 
 home from an absence of several days much mail 
 matter is waiting for personal attention. One 
 letter says, "Dear Sir and Brother : Please find 
 enclosed $i for the girls. God bless you in your 
 work." Another letter is from an earnest Chris- 
 tian worker, notifying me that a strong church 
 and its pastor have taken preliminary steps in the 
 formation of a Good Will Club, the object of 
 which is to aid in the opening of Good Will 
 Homes for Girls This will be the first club 
 formed for the purpose, and I shall watch it with 
 interest and shall announce its formation in the 
 Good Will Record. I have frequently said that 
 I would arrange for the opening of such Homes 
 whenever any person or persons would come for- 
 ward with a definite sum. But I acknowledge I 
 have no right to dictate. If the plan I have 
 
 88 
 
clurished is God's plan, I must be willing that 
 'He shall bring to pass" in his own way. If 
 the Girls' Homes are established near Good Will 
 Farm they must rest on the same basis as do 
 those for boys." 
 
 April 2 I wrote : "April 2. About two years 
 ago I addressed a union congregation in the 
 Congregational Church, Farmington, Me. The 
 service resulted in many friends for the Homes. 
 At the close of that service I met, for the first 
 time, Mr. G. F. Thurston of Portland, who 
 immediately became an earnest co-worker, and 
 was soon after a director of the Good Will Home 
 Association. He was an enthusiastic friend of 
 the Boys' Homes till the end of his life. So I 
 have always regarded the Farmington service of 
 two years ago an important one, and it was far 
 reaching in its influence. Last Sunday evening, 
 March 3ist, I addressed another union congrega- 
 tion in the same church. On several occasions, 
 at the close of addresses, I have been asked some 
 questions by persons in the audience about the 
 plan for girls. But last Sunday evening, for the 
 first time, I devoted a part of the time to a plea 
 for the plan for girls. The plan seemed to meet 
 with hearty approval. I announced that this 
 
 89 
 
week I would open a set of books and be prepared 
 to receive and acknowledge cash contributions 
 for the proposed homes for girls at this place. 
 To the present time I have only received a few 
 separate contributions to the girls' work, and 
 these will in due time be acknowledged in the 
 Record. This morning I am notified that the 
 Volunteer Good Will Club has just been organ- 
 ized among young people, in the Congress St. 
 M. E. Church, Portland. This is the first Good 
 Will Club organized to aid the Good Will Homes 
 for Girls. Success to the Volunteers !" 
 
 Up to this time there had been an obstacle 
 which might prove insurmountable. In such an 
 event I would have acknowledged that for some 
 reason it was better that the plan for girls should 
 not be carried out. Two or three tracts of land 
 were involved. If these were held by parties 
 who would not sell, or would sell only at an 
 exorbitant price ; or if these tracts should in the 
 meantime be purchased by parties who would 
 hold them at a price beyond our reach, the project 
 would necessarily be abandoned. 
 
 At this juncture Mr. G. A. Matthews bought 
 all the land referred to, holding it at a stated 
 rate of interest, until it could be transferred to the 
 
 90 
 
CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR COTTAGE 
 
 MARY LOUISA HALL COTTAGE 
 

 ; 
 
Good Will Home Association. This reduced the 
 problem to a financial basis. It was now only a 
 question of money. 
 
 The Volunteer Good Will Club the first 
 organization in the interest of the girls' fund 
 did valiant service. It consisted of thirteen 
 young men in the Congress St. M. E. Church, 
 Portland. In the annual report to the trustees 
 of the Good Will Home Association in June, I 
 reported that the girls' fund, including a gift of 
 $1,000, amounted to $1,150. The October 
 Record announced the gift of the first cottage 
 for girls a home to be built as soon as the land 
 could be purchased. The donors' names were 
 withheld from the public for a time at their 
 request. The gift was made September 29, '95. 
 The fund at that time amounted to $1,250. This 
 was progress or rather it was just a happy, 
 healthy growth. 
 
 October fifteenth Hon. E. S. Converse of Mai- 
 den, Mass., visited Good Will. Accompanied by 
 his private secretary he arrived on the 10.10 
 A. M. train. Mr. Converse had previously mani- 
 fested his interest in the work in many ways and 
 I had reason to believe that he gave the two 
 thousand dollars earlier in the history of the 
 
 91 
 
work, which was to meet special needs, and 
 known while it lasted as the "O" fund, because 
 secured by Mr. George Henry Quincy of Boston. 
 
 Mr. Converse seemed greatly pleased with the 
 possibilities of the place. After looking about 
 for an hour he sat down in my own home and 
 said: 
 
 "Now what would you like to have me do?" 
 
 I was not prepared for such a question. It 
 had never occurred to me that such an inquiry 
 would ever be made by anyone. 
 
 "Really," I replied, "I don't know what you 
 would like to do, nor how much you can do ?" 
 
 Then I told him of the five cent contributions 
 by the boys; the Volunteer Club of Portland, 
 Me. ; the proffered gift of a cottage for girls and 
 the land still held by Mr. Matthews. Mr. Con- 
 verse listened attentively and then drew his check 
 for seven thousand three hundred dollars a sum 
 which covered everything I had mentioned to 
 him. I did not know what to say. There was 
 nothing I could say. I think my only expression 
 of gratitude was, "Thank you." But that day 
 I had received a benediction; my faith had got 
 a new stimulus; and though not one dollar of 
 that gift could ever touch me personally, I was 
 
 92 
 
the richest man in the State. Had I not waited 
 and believed? Was not God bringing to pass? 
 In the Good Will Record the money for each 
 purchase of land was announced separately ; but 
 the payment was received in that single check. 
 
 As soon as the land on which the girls' homes 
 were to be located had been purchased and paid 
 for it was announced that the donors of the first 
 cottage were Mr. and Mrs. Walter M. Smith of 
 Stamford, Conn., and that the home was to be in 
 memory of their daughter Elizabeth Wilcox 
 Smith. Ground was broken on the afternoon of 
 April 22, the first sod being turned by my own 
 boy, Walter Palmer Hinckley who was then 
 eleven years old. 
 
 The beautiful structure was completed and 
 furnished in time for the day of dedication, 
 which early in the season was fixed for July 2Qth. 
 At the dedicatory service the thirty-seventh 
 Psalm was read. 
 
 In presenting the home, Mr. Smith said: 
 "Mr. President: Since 1888 my family have 
 sought the opportunity, (which God has so 
 clearly shown us within the past year,) to erect 
 to the memory of a darling daughter and sister, 
 some monument that would seem to accord with 
 
 93 
 
her sweet, active and beneficent life. She loved 
 to make others happy. 
 
 This occasion is so full of tender and precious 
 memories that I dare not trust myself to speak 
 at any length of her whose name this cottage 
 bears. 
 
 By the kind permission and co-operation of 
 yourself, sir, as president, and of the board of 
 directors of Good Will Home Association we 
 have been permitted to erect upon this lovely spot 
 the beautiful home which we now dedicate in 
 sacred memory to her who was all that is lovely, 
 pure and true in young womanhood, to be held 
 in trust as a home for girls in need of a helping 
 hand. 
 
 Permit me, sir, to express the hope that no 
 impure thoughts may ever find lodgment here. 
 
 May Elizabeth Wilcox Smith Cottage ever 
 stand as the embodiment of all that is chaste and 
 pure in life. And may our Heavenly Father 
 graciously smile upon this offering from loving 
 hearts." " 
 
 In his speech of acceptance President Gid- 
 dings of the Good Will Home Association said : 
 "Before formally accepting the generous gift 
 which you have made us, sir, today, let me call 
 
 94 
 
A. N. RYERSON. 
 
your attention to two or three facts that are to be 
 considered in connection with such an event. All 
 the knowledge we have in this world springs 
 mainly from three sources. The first as you 
 well know is the Bible, the revelation from God, 
 in which we read His wonderful declarations and 
 in which we also read profound histories and 
 prophecies; some we understand and some we 
 do not understand. But to the devout soul He 
 reveals more or less from time to time, of those 
 mighty truths, some of which will remain mys- 
 teries to us through all our mortal lives ; but step 
 by step we see new revelations. The next source 
 of our knowledge is nature. We look abroad 
 and see the glorious works of nature, the sun 
 rising day by day and the moon by night; the 
 stars filling the sky ; the ocean full of beauty and 
 usefulness to man ; the earth and the wonderful 
 things that God has made. Many things are 
 mysteries that we cannot understand. But step 
 by step He leads us on. Man has come almost 
 to control the great forces of nature by the great 
 discoveries which he has made; but still there are 
 mysteries which elude his grasp. There is still 
 another source of knowledge Divine Provi- 
 dence more mysterious than all the rest. He 
 
 95 
 
says to us : "Be still and know that I am God," 
 and so we ponder on and travel on, searching 
 ever to know more and more of those great 
 mysteries which surround us and which so deeply 
 concern us. To you, sir, there came one of those 
 mysteries. In 1888 there came to your home a 
 dark providence, so dark that with all the devo- 
 tion of a Christian heart there must be a yearn- 
 ing to know the reason why. Why, O why, 
 must we bear such a trial as this? That there 
 must needs have gone out from a happy home a 
 light and a joy was as mysterious as it was full 
 of tribulation. To-day there comes one of these 
 illuminations that sometimes Divine Providence 
 permits His creatures to behold. A light is let 
 in upon that darkness, and what was then dark- 
 ness is now light. Good Will Farm had not then 
 been projected, or rather only in the mind of a 
 man. It had no place on this footstool. These 
 cottages had no existence. The industrious 
 farmer was tilling the soil, all unconscious of the 
 purpose for which Providence had designed it, 
 and you were pursuing your avocations in your 
 homes and places of business all unconscious of 
 the future. Can anyone deny that he who was 
 "working out the plan" was the Divine architect? 
 
 96 
 
He said, "I will enter that home on the banks of 
 Long Island Sound and I will take from it one 
 that shall be an inspiration in a home, not for 
 one but a score of young lives. I will take out 
 of a home one, that I may make a home for many 
 more." And to-day this home stands as a 
 memorial of that event in the life which that day 
 passed away from earth. Is it any wonder that 
 we adore the riches of His grace, when He 
 reveals to us the purposes with which he has 
 dealt with us? Accept the confidence, a Divine 
 hand was dealing with you and yours, my 
 brother, in that dark day of tribulation. 
 
 And now on this hillside there stands this home 
 in all its beauty, its convenience and its comforts, 
 that shall brighten future days and years for 
 many a one who is in need of such a home. If 
 one must be taken from a happy home in order 
 that others may have a home, is it too great a 
 sacrifice to make ? I trust you will be able to say 
 on this day, "Even so, Father, for so it seemed 
 good in Thy sight." 
 
 My dear brother, we accept this donation 
 which you have made, with all the conditions 
 which you have affixed. Here we propose to 
 have young girls educated who shall be the object 
 
 97 
 
of the utmost care, whose minds, whose hands, 
 whose hearts shall be cultivated and they will 
 come here year after year, and read the name and 
 look upon the portrait of the one for whom this 
 is a memorial ; and may it be that the light of that 
 heaven to which she has gone shall shine down 
 upon your home and this one, and that this home 
 shall cast back its light and its prayers in many, 
 many benedictions upon your own. Even so 
 may the Lord bless you and yours." 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 One of the farms which was paid for with a 
 part of the proceeds of Mr. Converse's check 
 joined Good Will on the north. The chief rea- 
 son for its purchase was, that it would be a most 
 convenient site for a chapel, if the girls' homes 
 were opened. In her will, Miss Mary D. Moody 
 left $10,000 to build a memorial to her brother, 
 Charles E. Moody, at Good Will Farm. But 
 after the will was made, she united with her 
 sister, Miss Frances E. Moody, in building the 
 Memorial School Building. The directors of 
 the Good Will Home Association therefore voted 
 to quit all claim to the legacy provided for in the 
 will. The ten thousand dollars therefore 
 reverted to Miss Frances E. Moody, who at once 
 decided upon a Moody Memorial Chapel, and 
 devoted the amount of the legacy to that purpose 
 placing with it an additional five thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 Ground was broken with appropriate ceremo- 
 nies July TI, 1896, the first sod being turned 
 
 99 
 
by my daughter Faith then five years old. Miss 
 Moody was present. The thirty-seventh Psalm 
 was read. 
 
 Just one hour before the exercises of breaking 
 ground for the chapel, painters finished their 
 work on Elizabeth Wilcox Smith Cottage, and 
 pronounced that building completed. 
 
 The corner stone of the chapel was laid, in the 
 presence of a great assemblage, August 3rd. 
 Again the Psalm which contains the passage 
 upon which the work rests was read to the peo- 
 ple, viz : "Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust 
 also in him, and he shall bring to pass." 
 
 The chapel was dedicated June 16, 1897. The 
 thirty-seventh Psalm was read. The dedicatory 
 hymn, written for the occasion by Rev. A. J. 
 Lockhart, was sung by the boys' choir. 
 
 DEDICATORY HYMN. 
 
 Written for the dedication of the Mary D. Moody 
 Memorial Chapel, and sung by the Good Will boy choir, 
 
 June 16, i8Q7. 
 
 AIR: "O for the peace that floweth as a river/' 
 Gospel Hymns. 
 
 "See that thou make all things according to the 
 pattern showed to thee on the mount." Heb. viii: 5. 
 
 100 
 
As Moses, in the holy mount appearing, 
 Received the pattern of Thine ancient shrine, 
 
 Thy word, O Lord, with awful rapture hearing, 
 So now we wait that perfect will of Thine. 
 
 Here no* inspire us from Thy sacred Mountain, 
 To which we look, as if Thy face to see; 
 
 And consecrate, out of Thy heart's deep fountain, 
 These walls we rear a temple unto Thee. 
 
 O Thou, who sav'st the helpless and the lowly, 
 The outcast souls who gath'rest in Thy fold, 
 
 Gather them here Thou gracious One and holy! 
 And let their tearful eyes Thy love behold. 
 
 Here come to youthful souls with Thy salvation; 
 
 Here let the voice of prayer and praise arise ; 
 Here shape the stones for Thy sublime foundation 
 
 The Temple Thou art rearing in the skies. 
 
 How frail our work, however wrought and gilded; 
 
 Transient our lives, where all is insecure! 
 Lord ! in the House Thy glorious Hand hath builded 
 
 May we behold the things that shall endure! 
 
 101 
 

 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The annual meeting of the Maine State Grange 
 in 1896 was held in Bangor. At one of the 
 sessions Mrs. Lewis Beale, North Fairfield, pro- 
 posed that the granges of the State build a cot- 
 tage for girls to be a home for a family of 
 fifteen, and to be called Grange Cottage. The 
 proposition was not received with much enthu- 
 siasm. 
 
 A year later the State Grange met at Augusta ; 
 the committee which had been appointed at Ban- 
 gor the year before reported eight hundred dol- 
 lars in hand for the proposed cottage. The 
 effort had some strong supporters notably Hon. 
 Edward Wiggin, the worthy master. The report 
 of the committee, and the discussion which fol- 
 lowed, created new interest, and a fresh impetus 
 was given the work of raising funds. The effort 
 could not fail. 
 
 The corner stone of Grange Cottage was laid 
 October 4, '97, many prominent members of the 
 order being present. The thirty-seventh Psalm 
 
 102 
 
was read. Again on December 2Oth the place 
 was visited by a good number of grangers, and 
 Grange Cottage was dedicated. The keys were 
 presented by Worthy Master Wiggin, and 
 accepted by President Giddings. The scripture 
 lesson read on this occasion was Psalm thirty- 
 seven. 
 
 On the farm purchased for the girls were two 
 small barns, and a one story house. The barns 
 were moved. The house was "fixed over" and 
 used for a school building. It was called the 
 "White House" because it had once been white, 
 though small traces of paint remained. It 
 offered poor educational facilities ; but much bet- 
 ter than the boys had enjoyed at the correspond- 
 ing stage of development of the plan for them. 
 But it was possible to seat thirty girls at desks 
 in the "White House" and at the same time have 
 one room for the sewing school. 
 
 On the way to Good Will one day in 1900 
 travelling on the M. C. R. R., Mr. A. N. Ryerson 
 of Noroton, Conn., asked me if I would like 
 another cottage for girls at Good Will. I 
 explained to him that we could not wisely open 
 another cottage when we had no place to educate 
 the girls who would find a home there. After 
 
 103 
 
this interview Mr. and Mrs. Ryerson, who were 
 mourning the death of their only daughter, 
 decided to build a memorial school building for 
 girls to be known as the Emily F. Ryerson 
 Building. 
 
 Ground was broken in the summer of 1900, 
 Mrs. Ryerson turning the first sod. The build- 
 ing was dedicated July 31, 1901. 
 
 In presenting the keys to the Good Will Home 
 Association Mr. Ryerson said, addressing myself: 
 
 "My Brother: The occasion of our meeting 
 here this morning, while one of the pleasantest, 
 also brings to mind one of the saddest experi- 
 ences in our lives. 
 
 On December 30, 1899, our Heavenly Father, 
 in His infinite wisdom and love, took from our 
 home unto Himself, our darling daughter, in the 
 bloom and beauty of young womanhood. 
 
 In the following February, I visited the Tines' 
 as the guest of my very dear friend, Mr. Walter 
 M. Smith. During that visit I had several con- 
 versations with you, sir, in which we discussed 
 the needs of the homes, and I learned from you 
 that there was a very pressing need of a school 
 building for girls. 
 
 104 
 
Before leaving my home in Connecticut, my 
 wife and I considered building a girl's cottage, 
 but as the more important need seemed to be a 
 school building for girls, before taking my leave, 
 I promised you if, after prayerfully considering 
 the matter with my dear wife, it seemed clearly 
 the leading of the Divine will, that we would 
 erect a school building for the girls as a memorial 
 to our darling daughter, and a thank offering 
 to our Heavenly Father for his many, many 
 mercies to us. 
 
 In planning this building, it has been our aim 
 as far as possible to meet the various require- 
 ments of the girls in the Good Will Homes. 
 Aside from rooms devoted to ordinary school 
 work, we have provided for domestic training, 
 suitable rooms for cooking and sewing classes, 
 a hall where they can hold their weekly prayer 
 meetings and such literary and social entertain- 
 ments as seem desirable. 
 
 It is the earnest wish and prayer of the donors 
 that there may go forth from these homes hun- 
 dreds, yes, thousands of young ladies whose 
 minds will be stored with useful knowledge, 
 whose hands and eyes shall be skilled in the 
 domestic duties of the home life. We hope they 
 
 105 
 
will have strong and noble characters that shall 
 fit them for the bufferings and sorrows, as well 
 as the joys and pleasures incident to life, with 
 hearts filled with love to God, love for humanity, 
 love for all that is highest, noblest, purest and 
 grandest in life. We pray that their lives may 
 be a blessing and a benediction to all with whom 
 they come in contact ; that in the day when Christ 
 shall make up his jewels, there shall not be one 
 missing of those who have received spiritual, 
 moral and mental training in the Emily Fox 
 Ryerson Memorial School Building. 
 
 Now, my dear sir, with gratitude to our Heav- 
 enly Father that it has pleased Him to use us 
 as his stewards, giving us a part in this grand 
 and noble work, I now formally present to you 
 the Emily Fox Ryerson Memorial School Build- 
 ing for girls." 
 
 In the absence of President Giddings, who was 
 detained by illness, I accepted the gift for the 
 Association, saying: "My Dear Brother: I 
 regret the absence of the honored president of 
 the Good Will Home Association, on this occa- 
 sion. I hold in my hand a telegram just received 
 from him, in which he says : "May the occasion 
 be auspicious. God's blessing on the donors." 
 
 1 06 
 
THE CHARLES E. MOODY SCHOOL HUILD1NC 
 
 THE MOODY MEMORIAL CHAPEL 
 
In the president's absence, it becomes my duty, 
 in behalf of the Association to accept this beauti- 
 ful gift. I am reminded of the scene in Eliza- 
 beth Wilcox Smith Cottage a few years ago 
 when that home was presented bv its donor and 
 dedicated to the service of GoJ and of needy girl- 
 hood. President Giddings, in his address of 
 acceptance, reminded us that God had taken a 
 daughter from a beautiful home on the shores of 
 Long Island Sound, but through that strange 
 dispensation of his providence there had sprung 
 up, a home and shelter for a multitude of girls, 
 on the banks of the Kennebec. And now some- 
 thing of a similar nature has occurred. As I 
 walk through this beautiful building, so admir- 
 ably adapted to its purposes for which you offer 
 it, I am profoundly impressed with the enlarged 
 life of that loved one, whose loss you so deeply 
 mourn. It is said of her: "She is dead." But 
 she lives ; and the influence of her short life will 
 be felt in ever increasing power, as the years 
 come and go. and multitudes of girls are educated 
 here. If your daughter had spoken to you and 
 said : "Father, if I go, out of my short life there 
 will arise a building which shall be a blessing 
 to the world," I know what you would have said. 
 
 107 
 
In your great love for her you would have 
 exclaimed : "My child, I cannot let you go ; you 
 must not go." But if I have understood the 
 disposition and the spirit of your daughter, I 
 think, in her love for humanity, and her sym- 
 pathy for the needy, she would have said : "Let 
 me go and let the many be helped." If I know 
 my own heart, could I be assured that out of my 
 own death there would come as great a blessing 
 to humanity, as I believe this building will be, 
 much as I value life, and much as I love my home 
 and my family, I would say : "Let me go." It 
 is not all of life these few short years allotted 
 to us here. Long after you and I have gone 
 hence, this building will continue to bless 
 humanity; your daughter's influence will con- 
 tinue to broaden ; this beautiful gift from your- 
 self and your companion will still be a beacon 
 light. With a deep sense of gratitude to the 
 donors of this building, and a deeper sense of 
 gratitude to God who graciously prompted it, I 
 accept this building for the Good Will Home 
 Association, and join in the prayer of our absent 
 president : 'God's blessing on the donors.' " 
 
 108 
 
Of course that portion of the scripture which 
 contains the text on which the work is founded 
 Psalm 37 : 5 was read on this occasion. 
 
 109 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 From the very beginning I had hoped and 
 expected that "manual training" would be a 
 prominent feature at Good Will. If I could 
 have had my own way, a manual training build- 
 ing would have followed the first cottages, and 
 preceded the school building. But I was not 
 determining the order of things, nor was I 
 "bringing to pass." But next in importance to 
 Psalm 37 : 5 "Commit thy way unto the Lord, 
 trust also in Him and He shall bring to pass," 
 as a basis for operations, is Proverbs 22 : 6, which 
 in the original reads, "Train up a child in his 
 way," i. e. according to his bent [margin] and 
 when he is old he will not depart from it." 
 
 But years of patient waiting were necessary 
 before we could have equipment for such work. 
 From the beginning our school was carefully 
 graded and included a college preparatory course. 
 Comparatively few Good Will boys enter college, 
 but the high school department is a strong incen- 
 tive to good work in the lower grades, and a very 
 
 1 10 
 
large percentage of the boys in those grades aim 
 at a year or two at least in the high school before 
 leaving the Farm. 
 
 An attempt at manual training was made in 
 Prospect Cottage. Carpenter benches were pro- 
 vided and classes arranged ; but the room was 
 soon needed for other purposes, and wood work- 
 ing was crowded out. The building proposed 
 by the Commercial Travelers' Association was to 
 have had one floor devoted to manual training. 
 The Harper Round Table Building was to be of 
 a similar character. These projects failed only 
 that larger things might be inaugurated, and that 
 a more complete educational plant might mate- 
 rialize. 
 
 An examination of files of the Good Will 
 Record reveals repeated calls for a manual train- 
 ing plant. But there was never a time when, 
 had the thing been done it would have been done 
 right. There was a time when the manual train- 
 ing building would have been located in the rear 
 of Golden Rule Cottage. This would have been 
 a blunder. At another time it would have been 
 placed between the railroad and the Kennebec 
 river. This was before we learned by experi- 
 ence that this site may at any time of freshet be 
 
 in 
 
covered with water and drifting ice to a depth of 
 two feet, though it has really happened only once 
 in the history of Good Will. At still another 
 period it would have been situated on the side- 
 hill between .Fogg Cottage and the railroad. 
 This would Have been unfortunate. I had 
 repeatedly said that I did not believe we would 
 have a manual training building until the right 
 location was selected. I am confident that the 
 site chosen is the only wise one at Good Will for 
 it, though to place it where it is to be, involved 
 much planning, and considerable expense. 
 
 One day in April, '01, I called on a business 
 man in New York city. I had met him but two 
 or three times in my life ; but possessed proof of 
 his sympathy and helpfulness. He told me he 
 had been thinking of Good Will and its needs. 
 He thought that at least fifty thousand dollars 
 ought to be raised for a manual training build- 
 ing, its equipment and partial endowment, and 
 offered to give ten thousand dollars toward the 
 project, on condition that the other forty thou- 
 sand dollars be raised on or before May I, 1902. 
 This gave a year in which to secure the amount. 
 
 A few days later two men pledged five thou- 
 sand dollars each on same conditions. Other 
 
 112 
 
sums were added, until iliirty-oiu 1 thousand dol- 
 lars was pledged, and the remaining nineteen 
 thousand dollars looked like an insurmountable 
 difficulty. 
 
 The year was almost gone. It was April, 
 1902, and May ist was the last day of grace. 
 One day I was ill in bed, a faithful attendant by 
 my side, when a telegram came reading thus: 
 
 "Fifteen thousand dollars pledged on condi- 
 tion that last four be raised. Come to New York 
 at once." 
 
 Obedience to the summons seemed physically 
 impossible. I was sick. But I decided to make 
 the trip by easy stages. The next morning I 
 started for New York, accompanied by my 
 attendant, but went only as far as Portland, Me. 
 The following day I continued the trip. Friends 
 of Good Will made provision for the remaining 
 four thousand dollars. The success of this 
 project was due under the blessing of heaven, 
 to Mr. Walter M. Smith, the vice-president of 
 the Good Will Home Association. 
 
 At a special meeting of the directors of the 
 Association, a building committee was appointed 
 consisting of Mr. Walter M. Smith, Stamford, 
 Conn.; Mr. A. L. Prescott, New York; Judge 
 
Nathaniel Hobbs, North Berwick, Me., and G. 
 W. Hinckley, East Fairfield, Me. 
 
 Plans were prepared, and duly accepted. The 
 site selected was north of the Charles E. Moody 
 Building, and in line with it. To make this site 
 available it was necessary to move Prospect 
 Cottage three hundred and fifty feet to the west. 
 
 Ground was broken, with appropriate exer- 
 cises. The first sod was turned by Rev. Harry 
 Kimball of Skowhegan. The thirty-seventh 
 Psalm was read. It was planned that the build- 
 ing should be opened in September, 1903. 
 
 It was necessary to make some provision for 
 teachers and for boys who would wish to take 
 courses in the manual training building. The 
 boys would be older than those for whom the 
 cottages were built, and the committee decided 
 that a part of the manual training plant must be 
 a dormitory. Plans were prepared and Prospect 
 Cottage was incorporated into a building con- 
 taining a spacious dining hall, kitchen, store room 
 and twenty-six sleeping rooms. Several years 
 before the first pledge was made toward the 
 manual training building, Mrs. T. Buckminster 
 of Saco, Me., had told me that eventually she 
 would give several thousand dollars toward the 
 114 
 
endowment of a manual training school if some 
 one else provided the building, but she did not 
 wish to contribute any part toward the building. 
 The pledge thus made strengthened my faith 
 that the building would some day be secured ; 
 but I cherished my knowledge of what had thus 
 been promised and said nothing. The amount 
 pledged by Mrs. Buckminster was included in 
 the fifty thousand dollars finally raised, and when 
 the dormitory was nearing completion I sug- 
 gested to the committee that it be called the 
 "Buckminster." This was done in gratitude to 
 one who had shown her confidence in the final 
 success of the manual training school even when 
 there was nothing visible to indicate that it would 
 ever be installed at Good Will. 
 
 Tuesday, May 12, 1903, was an important day 
 at Good Will. At 10.15 A. M. a meeting of the 
 directors was held in the office of the Charles E. 
 Moody building. At 10.30 exercises appropriate 
 to the laying of the corner stone of the Manual 
 Training building were held. The congregation 
 sang, "How Firm a Foundation." It was my 
 privilege to say: 
 
 "From the earliest beginning of the work at 
 Good Will a manual training school has been a 
 
part of the plan. The waiting has been long and 
 patient; the building is now in process of con- 
 struction; the time for the laying of the corner 
 stone is come. No one can fully understand the 
 feelings of gratitude in my heart toward those 
 who in the days of smallest things here did not 
 hesitate to stand by the project and work earn- 
 estly for it. One day Mr. George Henry Quincy 
 of Boston came here, and from the day of his 
 first visit he worked and planned for Good Will. 
 At the time of his unexpected death he was 
 hoping and working for large things here. This 
 structure is not being built as a memorial to him ; 
 but out of the gratitude of my heart I have sug- 
 gested that it be named after him, and I am 
 happy to announce that by vote of the directors 
 this is to be the "Quincy Building." We will 
 listen to the reading of scripture by Rev. W. H. 
 Spencer, D. D., of Skowhegan, and be led in 
 prayer by him ; we will sing the hymn which has 
 been written for this occasion, and the corner 
 stone will then be laid by the honored president 
 of the Good Will Home Association, Mr. Moses 
 Giddings of Bangor. He will use the same 
 trowel which was used at the laying of other 
 
 116 
 
corner stones here, and it will then be placed in 
 the museum to await further occasions of this 
 kind." 
 
 Dr. Spencer read a part of the thirty-seventh 
 Psalm and offered prayer. The congregation 
 then sang the following hymn which I had writ- 
 ten for use at this time : 
 
 HYMN 
 
 For laying of corner stone, Good Will, May 12, '03. 
 TUNE : ERNAN. 
 
 Father of mercies, hear our humble prayer, 
 To thee we come ; we worship thee alone ; 
 Grant thou a blessing on thy work today, 
 As in thy name we lay this corner stone. 
 
 We know not what thy power shall bring to pass 
 As days and months and years to cycles grow; 
 But this we pray, that on the work begun, 
 Thy gracious blessing thou wilt still bestow. 
 
 Grant that within the walls that here arise, 
 Rich streams of wisdom ever more may flow: 
 Direct the work that daily here is done; 
 Let sturdy youth to stalwart manhood grow. 
 
 We do not ask to hear the story told 
 
 Of all the good which on this hill shall be; 
 
 Eternity alone can tell the tale, 
 
 And then the blessed fruitage we shall see. 
 
To thee who dost alone bring all to pass, 
 Bid those who labor here commit their way; 
 Help them to trust; let love triumphant rule, 
 Till on their vision breaks supernal day. 
 
 G. W. H. 
 
 Mr. Giddings laid the corner stone and said : 
 
 "The corner stone of the Quincy Industrial 
 Building is laid. It is plumb and true and of the 
 vnost enduring material. 
 
 "The trowel used in the laying of this stone 
 was used in laying the corner stone of the Moody 
 School Building, donated to learning, and also 
 in laying the corner stone of yonder chapel, dedi- 
 cated to the worship of God. We have here, 
 when these walls shall have been erected, three 
 buildings, one donated to learning, this one to 
 industry, and the other to religion. The educa- 
 tion of the mind, the training of the hand, and 
 the culture of the heart these if rightly used will 
 form a foundation on which a character may be 
 built that will assure success, usefulness, and 
 happiness." 
 
 The audience was then invited to attend the 
 dedicatory exercises of the new dormitory, and 
 the service closed with the singing of the dox- 
 ology. 
 
 118 
 
The copper box in the corner stone contains a 
 copy of the May number of the Good Will 
 Record, "The Story of Good Will Farm," Ken- 
 nebec Daily Journal of May 12, a copy of the 
 original hymn written for the occasion, a few 
 other articles including coins bearing the date 
 1903. 
 
 The day was perfect, and there was no excuse 
 for attempting to accommodate the people in the 
 dormitory which was to be dedicated. Those 
 who had any share in the exercises were assigned 
 places on the veranda; the audience gathered 
 south of the building. A choir from the girls' 
 school sang a selection, and I took occasion to 
 say: 
 
 "I have already referred to the gratitude I 
 cherish in my heart toward those who in days of 
 small things proved to me their faith in this 
 philanthropic and educational project. About 
 four years ago a benevolent woman in the west- 
 ern part of the State invited me to her home. 
 We had never met. In our first interview as I 
 responded to her invitation, she expressed her 
 willingness to provide for a partial endowment 
 several thousand dollars for a manual training 
 
 119 
 
school whenever a building should be provided. 
 She did not wish to have any part in providing 
 the structure ; but wanted to have a share in sup- 
 porting the school which she seemed to feel sure 
 would some time be opened here. I cannot 
 explain to you how this woman's faith increased 
 my courage, and strengthened my purpose: or 
 been reared as a memorial ; but I have suggested 
 how grateful I am to her. This structure has not 
 that this dormitory which is to be a part of the 
 manual training plant, and at the service of stu- 
 dents in the manual training school be named in 
 honor of Mrs. T. Buckminster of Saco, Maine, 
 the woman who showed her own faith in the 
 project and increased mine, when there was no 
 material evidence that such a day as this would 
 ever come. By vote of the directors of the Good 
 Will Home Association this is to be called the 
 "Buckminster." Scripture will be read, and 
 prayer offered by Rev. F. M. Preble, D. D., of 
 Auburn, Maine." 
 
 Dr. Preble read the same portion which had 
 been read a few moments before by Dr. Spencer. 
 
 Mr. Walter M. Smith, vice president of the 
 association and chairman of the building com- 
 mittee, then said : 
 
 120 
 
"Mr. 1 'resident, ladies and gentlemen, boys 
 and girN : 
 
 "To every nation of the earth, to every insti- 
 tution of learning, to every man born of woman 
 there eome> a day which more than any other 
 marks an epoch in the life of the nation, in the 
 life of the institution, in the life of the man. 
 That day, so far as it relates to Good Will Farm, 
 will ever stand out clearly and distinctly as May 
 12, 1903. History will record that on that day 
 the corner stone of the "Quincy Building" was 
 laid and that its handmaiden "The Buckminster" 
 was lovingly dedicated. Permit me to say, sir, 
 that in my judgment this is the most important 
 building ever erected upon these grounds as an 
 integral part of the manual training plant. In 
 behalf of my associates I beg to report progress 
 and to turn over to you, sir, this completed build- 
 ing in part fulfillment of our duties." 
 
 In response President Giddings said : 
 
 "Mr. Chairman: In behalf of and in the 
 name of the Good Will Home Association your 
 proffered gift is accepted, in the spirit in which 
 it is given, of kindness and good will, and in full 
 appreciation of its noble generosity. There are 
 
 121 
 
few words in the speech of mankind of whatever 
 language, that convey so much to all, both young 
 and old, as the one word home. Among all the 
 beneficent provisions made by our Creator for 
 the comfort of humanity, that which instituted 
 the family and consequently the home, is the 
 greatest. However high or low, however far 
 from friends or from native land, the heart ever 
 turns to its home. 
 
 "In a world where evil as well as good exists 
 it sometimes happens that some one is deprived 
 of the blessings of a home. To provide for such 
 is the purpose for which this building is to be 
 used, and as its name would seem to imply, so 
 far as possible a mother's love and care. To 
 such noble use it is today dedicated. 
 
 "To you who are now in charge of these inter- 
 ests, and to those who may come after you, I 
 bespeak that care be taken that it shall be forever, 
 in the largest possible degree, to those who have 
 been, in the ordering of Providence, deprived of 
 it a home." 
 
 The congregation then sang "My Faith Looks 
 up to Thee" and the benediction was pronounced 
 by Rev. Dr. Spencer. Dinner was served in the 
 
 122 
 
lining room of the Buckminster. At 1.15 the 
 directors held a meeting at which important busi- 
 ness was transacted. The election of officers of 
 the Good Will Athletic Association took place at 
 two o'clock. At 2.30 a lively game of base-ball 
 was witnessed on the school diamond between 
 the first and second Good Will nines, the second 
 niiu scoring twice, though the first nine of course 
 won the game. Score 10 to 2. 
 
 In the evening two great bonfires were lighted 
 on the banks or the Kennebec one in honor of 
 each ball team. The entire Good Will com- 
 munity participated. Songs were sung, and there 
 was a prodigious amount of cheering cheering 
 for President Giddings, for Mr. Walter M. Smith 
 and each of his guests just across the Ken- 
 bee at Rest-awhile, for the teachers, for the 
 three New York friends of Good Will ath- 
 letics Broadway, Cowperthwait and Cropsey, 
 and everybody. It was a great jollification, and 
 everybody enjoyed it. 
 
 The date fixed for the dedication was Monday, 
 July 27. The following brief account was 
 clipped from the Kennebec Journal of July 28: 
 
 "At 10.30 occurred the dedication of the 
 Onincy building for manual training, on the 
 
 123 
 
west bank of the river. The following is the 
 program as carried out : 
 
 Singing ''Holy, Holy, Holy," Congregation 
 
 The Lord's Prayer, in unison, Congregation 
 
 Scripture reading (37th Psalm), 
 
 Rev. W. H. Spencer, D. D. 
 Singing "My Faith Looks Up to Thee." 
 Report of the building committee, 
 
 Mr. Walter M. Smith 
 
 Acceptance of keys, Hon. Nathaniel Hobbs 
 
 Dedicatory prayer, Rev. Ford C. Ottman 
 
 Singing "How Firm a Foundation." 
 Address, Rev. J. Wilbur Chapman, D. D. 
 
 Singing Doxology. 
 
 Mr. Smith in giving over the keys of the build- 
 ing to the Good Will Home Association, said: 
 "This building stands on solid rock foundation 
 and like everything else at Good Will stands for 
 everything that will enrich the lives of the boys 
 at the Farm and will send them away better fitted 
 to lead successful lives. The completion of this 
 building welds together the plans of Supervisor 
 Hinckley and of George H. Quincy ; the one 
 remains, the other though gone, yet speaks to us. 
 Not only does this day mark the dedication of 
 this manual training building but it is as well the 
 
 124 
 
fiftieth anniversary of Mr. Ilinokley's birth." 
 Judijv Nathaniel Hobbs, in the absence of 
 Unt (iiddings of the Good Will Home 
 Association, mvivid the keys to the building- 
 and made a short speech of acceptance in a pleas- 
 ing manner. 
 
 Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman, D. D., of New York 
 City, made the address of the morning-. He said 
 that the reason for so much success at the Farm 
 was apparent after considering- the Psalm on 
 which the work had been founded. He compli- 
 mented Good Will for the training- that it pro- 
 vides, giving attention to the development of 
 head, heart and hand, but not emphasizing one to 
 the neglect of the others. Dr. Chapman's ad- 
 dress was highly interesting and much appreci- 
 ated by the large attendance. 
 
 After the address. Judge Hobbs in a most 
 charming manner presented to the Good Will 
 Home Association, in behalf of a lady whose 
 name was not mentioned, an excellent portrait of 
 Mr. Hinckley. This will ha-ng in the art gallery 
 in the Chas. E. Moody building. One of the 
 most enjoyable parts of the morning exercises 
 was another presentation, also made by Judge 
 
 125 
 
Hobbs, to Mr. Hinckley of an envelope contain- 
 ing a generous sum of money as a token of love 
 to him on his fiftieth birthday anniversary."' 
 
 The Quincy is a beautiful building and will 
 prove to be admirably adapted to the purpose for 
 which it has been provided. It is no feet by 98 
 feet ; it is built of brick with trimmings of pink 
 granite. The architect was Mr. W. R. Miller of 
 Lewiston ; the contractors were Horace Purinton 
 and Company, Waterville, Maine; the plumbing 
 and heating was done by Carter and Adams of 
 Bangor, Maine. The building committee was 
 Mr. Walter M. Smith, Stamford, Connecticut, 
 Mr. A. L. Prescott, New York City, and Judge 
 Nathaniel Hobbs, North Berwick, Maine. 
 
 In the Quincy building there are two floors and 
 a basement. In the basement there are rooms 
 for printing press, laundry, coat rooms, and other 
 arrangements for the convenience of teachers and 
 scholars. The first floor accommodates the offices 
 of the Good Will Home Association and the Good 
 Will Publishing Company, the carpentry and 
 wood turning departments. From the first floor 
 a short staircase leads to the iron working depart- 
 ment and engine room. On the second floor 
 
 126 
 
there arc four rooms. One of these is for 
 mechanical drawing; another for a chemical 
 laboratory ; the third for class purposes, and the 
 fourth a storage closet. An arrangement has 
 heen made by which other than Good Will boys 
 can take any or all of the courses provided for in 
 the Quincy Building, either as day scholars or 
 as boarders at the Buckminster the new dormi- 
 tory dedicated May 12, '03. 
 
 127 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The completion of the Manual Training Build- 
 ing and the first dormitory were not to mark the 
 end of Good Will's development. For fourteen 
 years the work had been in progress showing a 
 steady, healthful growth. Each summer the 
 sound of the saw and hammer had been heard, 
 and each season had witnessed some new devel- 
 opments. In the summer of 1903 while work 
 was in progress upon the Quincy Building and 
 the Buckminster, two cottages were built for the 
 accommodation of teachers. There were other 
 things to come to pass in the providence of God. 
 In March, 1903, I received an invitation to deliv- 
 er the dedicatory address at the opening of the 
 building in New Haven, Conn., presented by Mr. 
 Edwin Bancroft Foote of New York City for the 
 use of an organization of New Haven working 
 boys known as the "Edwin Bancroft Foote Boys' 
 Club." My whole nature shrinks from what is 
 known as the "occasional address." I could see 
 no reason why I should have been invited to give 
 the address on the occasion of the opening of that 
 
 128 
 
building. After a mental struggle, the seventy 
 of which my friends were in happy ignorance, I 
 accepted the invitation. I .ater I was notified that 
 an unavoidable change in the date of the dedica- 
 tory service had been made. This change in 
 dates made it necessary for me to notify the per- 
 sons in control of the club that 1 would have to 
 cancel my appointment, other engagements con- 
 flicting \\ith the new date. I learned later that 
 a speaker had been secured for the occasion and 
 then wrote to New Haven asking the hour that 
 the services were to be held, as I had learned that 
 1 might possibly be present although not to take 
 part in the proceedings. My interest in this 
 undertaking for the New Haven boys was 
 prompting me to attend the service if possible. 
 To my surprise I learned later that the speaker 
 who had been secured had been taken suddenly 
 ill in the Far West, and* would not be able to 
 appear. A second invitation was extended to 
 me, and this I accepted with many misgivings. I 
 had never met those who were in charge of the 
 work in New Haven. I knew Edwin Bancroft 
 Foote of New York only as the man who had 
 made the generous gift for the benefit of the club 
 bearing his name. I went to the Elm City the 
 
 129 
 
day before the date of the dedicatory exercises in 
 order that I might spend an evening with the 
 Boys' Club, and get somewhat into the spirit of 
 the work before delivering my address. I was 
 introduced to Mr. Foote, and we were soon 
 engaged in a conversation more like that of two 
 old-time friends than strangers of an hour before. 
 I shall never forget the cordiality of Mr. Footers 
 greeting the morning after the dedicatory exer- 
 cises or the pleasant interview that we held in 
 his room. 
 
 A few weeks later Mr. Foote went to Range- 
 ley, Maine, to spend the summer. After that I 
 received one or two kind letters from Mr. Foote 
 chiefly in relation to the Good Will books and the 
 Good Will Record. I wanted to see Mr. Foote, 
 and paid him a visit at Rangeley, Maine. My 
 stay there, however, was only from seven o'clock 
 in the evening until eleven o'clock the next day. 
 The time passed quickly and when I stated that it 
 was time that I should be on my way to the train 
 Mr. Foote expressed surprise and regret, and told 
 me that he had expected to talk with me about 
 Good Will; that there were questions that he 
 wanted to ask and information that he wished to 
 obtain. I had other appointments, however, and 
 
 130 
 
it was necessary for me to take the train. Mr. 
 Foote asked me to fix a date when I could spend 
 another day with him and I promised him to 
 return in about two weeks. 
 
 Just as 1 was taking the train for my second 
 trip to Rangeley my morning's mail was brought 
 to me. Glancing through it hurriedly I turned 
 the business letters over to my secretary, but 
 placed in my pocket, to read on the train, one let- 
 ter marked "Personal" which I recognized with- 
 out opening as from a former Good Will Farm 
 boy. The letter was read on the train and re- 
 turned to my pocket. While it was confidential 
 I have since secured the writer's permission 
 to publish such parts of it as may seem to com- 
 plete this chapter or in any way benefit Good 
 Will. The body of the letter reads as follows : 
 
 "I thank you so much for your kind interest in 
 me. I have been so long without fatherly and 
 motherly interest that I do not know how to 
 appreciate your kind interest in my welfare. For 
 the past few years there has been but one pre- 
 dominant thought in my breast and that was to 
 get somewhere, be somebody, hold some responsi- 
 bility, be of some value to the world, and to do it 
 quick, then turn to my brother and say, "Look !" 
 
"Yes," you say, "selfish." Perhaps so, but do 
 you know, Mr. Hinckley, that somewhere in me, 
 I don't know where it came from nor why it is 
 there, is a voice which says, "When someone does 
 you a mean turn or jumps on you in adversity, 
 rise above it, show them that such a slight was 
 never meant for you." When I get there then I 
 can forget. 
 
 I have a mother, O God, a mother ? No, not a 
 mother ! It makes the tears come to my eyes to 
 think of it. I know not whether she is living or 
 not, but I live in the hopes that she is living. 
 Some day I want to say, "Look ! you left me 
 when I was a youngster. Look!" Then I can 
 forgive. 
 
 I had a father, he's dead and gone now. He 
 always loved me. He always did all he could for 
 me. I realized it even when I was a little fellow 
 and many a time while at Good Will I've cried 
 in bed over his sorrow and hard life. I don't 
 think he ever knew it. When I wrote that com- 
 position "Myself in 1918," I could see as plain as 
 day, my house and father's home. That dream 
 is all gone. But my father is still in my mind. 
 Many the time the thought of him has kept me 
 from going wrong. I look ahead, I want posi- 
 
 132 
 
tion ; I want honor. I want to say to father 
 "Look ! this is how I loved you. I am what I 
 am for your sake. I wanted to honor you." 
 
 That is why I am self-centered as I am. I do 
 not mean to be selfish*. But these are thoughts 
 which are stirring in my mind. I have not talked 
 like this to anybody else. I don't know why I 
 do now. But every once in a while I have to sit 
 and weep. It comes on me as a spell. Some one 
 caught me at it once. I feel it to-night as I think 
 <>f your letter. Sometimes it comes over me with 
 a thud, all these thoughts. I take up a paper as 
 I did the other day and catch my eye on a poem, 
 "A mother's loving words to her boy." I throw 
 aside the paper and think, "What have I missed?" 
 I can't tell, I have only a faint idea of what a 
 mother is or can be. No, something is lacking, 
 I feel it more and more, and I throw aside the 
 paper and laugh. It would not do to think on it. 
 
 I look ahead with such a longing for a home 
 of my own. I want someone to love me. I 
 could do anything for them. Then I wonder, 
 "Will my home break up? Shall I be unhappy 
 then?" And I shudder to think of it. 
 
 My life seems to be a quandary. But I live 
 with that thought uppermost, as Shakespeare 
 
 133 
 
expresses "To be or not to be." But with me it 
 is "To be." I write this in a personal way to 
 you. It is confidential. Perhaps I may never 
 amount to anything. But I do see a chance on 
 the other side, that chance is the one I am grasp- 
 ing for. If I slip and lose my hold, it is fate. 
 However my eye is on that chance. You will 
 understand me now. You have been the greatest 
 factor in making me whatever I am and I want 
 to say to you, "Look ! I am an honor to you and 
 Good Will." Of course I am under God's will. 
 My will is His will. 
 
 Your loving friend, 
 
 That evening after asking many kind questions 
 of me about Good Will Mr. Foote made a contri- 
 bution of three hundred dollars toward the cur- 
 rent expenses of the work. In the course of the 
 conversation it occurred to me that he might be 
 interested in the letter from the former Good 
 Will farm boy. I read a part of it to him with- 
 holding the name and the whereabouts of the 
 young man because the letter was of a personal 
 character and I read it to him only that he might 
 see the spirit and the earnestness of one of the 
 
 134 
 
to whom the Good Will Home Association 
 had in the past extended a helping hand. I came 
 away from Rangeley a happy man for 1 realized 
 what a strongly sympathetic friend I had found 
 in Mr. Foote. 
 
 After that I received several letters from him 
 each showing an interest in the work, but having 
 to do chiefly with Good Will literature. In 
 replying to one of Mr. Foote's on Jan. 22nd, I 
 a-ked him to bear in mind that if he felt lonely in 
 his winter quarters, or as though he would like 
 to see a face from outside the village, that I 
 would be pleased to visit him again. On January 
 28th Mr. Foote wrote: 
 
 "I especially note your offer to come to 
 Rangeley whenever I feel I would like to see 
 your face or hear your voice. Well, that's pre- 
 cisely as I have been feeling to borrow a favor- 
 ite expression of some olden-time, native-born 
 New Yorker for 'quite sometime/ As nearly 
 as I can diagnose my own case, I believe I have 
 been struck by an idea and need your counsel. 
 Will you please write and name the earliest even- 
 ing and following day you can conveniently 
 arrange to be my guest?" 
 
 In response to this kind invitation I reached 
 
 135 
 
Rangeley in the afternoon of Feb. 6th. Mr. 
 Foote had carefully prepared for our interview 
 and had drawn up the following agreement: 
 
 "Mutual agreement between Edwin Bancroft 
 Foote of the City, County and State of New York 
 and the Good Will Home Association, a corpora- 
 tion located in the town of Fairfield in the State 
 of Maine. 
 
 Said Edwin Bancroft Foote agrees to pay to 
 said Association $50,000.00 (Fifty Thousand 
 Dollars) for the purpose of erecting on the prem- 
 ises now owned in said Fairfield by said Associa- 
 tion, a cottage for Boys to be known forever as 
 the "Bancroft Foote Cottage" to be used in pro- 
 moting the purposes of said Association, and 
 further agrees in sixty days from the date hereof 
 to deliver to said Association at the Lincoln Safe 
 Deposit Company's office in the City of New 
 York the following Bonds, Stock, &c., all of 
 which said Association agrees to accept as 
 equivalent to Fifty Thousand Dollars viz. :" 
 
 Here followed a statement in detail of the 
 property referred to in the agreement. We both 
 signed the agreement and it was duly witnessed. 
 A great storm prevented the transfer of the prop- 
 erty on the first date fixed for our meeting in 
 
 136 
 
THE CARNEGIE LIBRARY BUILDING' 
 
 THE MANUAL TRAINING BUILDING 
 
New York. It was expressly agreed that no 
 announcement of Mr. Foote's gift should be 
 made until after the property had been trans- 
 ferred. The transfer was actually accomplished 
 in New York City April 2Oth, '04, and I was then 
 at liberty to share the secret which I had cher- 
 ished for several weeks, with the friends of Good 
 Will everywhere. 
 
 The general plan for the Bancroft Foote House 
 had already been decided upon, and an architect 
 had been instructed to prepare specifications. If 
 the dedication of the long-looked-for and 
 expected Manual Training Building closed a 
 chapter in the history of Good Will, surely Mr. 
 Foote's splendid gift opened a new one. It set 
 an example for others ; it was epoch making for 
 it opened a new order of things at Good Will 
 Farm. The work had received splendid gifts 
 each of which had proved a blessing to humanity, 
 but Mr. Foote was the first one to make a gift so 
 large that it not only provided a home for boys, 
 but a permanent income for that home's support. 
 
 These facts are worthy of note : first, that when 
 Mr. Foote made his first contribution to the work 
 of the Good Will Home Association ($300.00) 
 I extended my hand and expressed my personal 
 
 137 
 
gratitude. Mr. Foote replied "It is a pleasure to 
 do this. I wanted to do it, but let me say that if 
 you had come here and asked me for this money 
 you would not have received one cent." Second, 
 that the letter which arrived just as I was starting 
 on my journey to visit Mr. Foote, a portion of 
 which I read to him, was the thing that led him 
 to make his generous gift of fifty thousand dol- 
 lars; and thirdly, he wished it to be distinctly 
 understood that this larger contribution as well 
 as the smaller one was entirely unsolicited. 
 
 A site for this new home was selected just 
 North of Mary Louisa Hall Cottage in deference 
 to the original plan to eventually have three cot- 
 tages or homes on that part of Good Will Farm 
 a trio of homes of which Hall Cottage was to be 
 the center. Ground was broken for the Bancroft 
 Foote House May 25th, '04, at one o'clock in the 
 afternoon. The Good Will Farm boys and their 
 teachers were present. The following order of 
 exercises was observed : 
 Singing, My Faith Looks up to Thee. 
 Reading Scripture, Thirty-seventh Psalm. Rev. 
 
 G. K. Rouillard. 
 
 Singing, How Firm a Foundation. 
 Prayer, Rev. G. W. Hinckley. 
 Singing, America. 
 
 138 
 
The first turf was turned by Prof. A. L. Lane 
 while three times three were given with great 
 enthusiasm for Mr. Edwin Bancroft Foote of 
 New York, the absent donor of the home and its 
 endowment. 
 
 The day for the dedication of the Bancroft 
 Foote House Dec. 2ist, '04 dawned bright and 
 clear. At an early hour friends interested in the 
 building and in the dedicatory services which 
 were to be held at half past ten o'clock began to 
 swarm through the building. Promptly at the 
 hour the following program was carried out: 
 
 Singing, "Hark, Hark My Soul," by a chorus 
 of Good Will boys and girls. 
 
 Report of the building committee by Mr. Wal- 
 ter M. Smith of Stamford, Conn. 
 
 Presentation of the keys by Rev. George W. 
 Hinckley. 
 
 Acceptance of the gift by Judge Nathaniel 
 Hobbs of North Berwick, Me. 
 
 Singing, "God Has a Plan For Every Life," 
 by choir of Good Will girls. 
 
 The reading of the 37th Psalm by Rev. Chas. 
 Woodman, pastor of the Friends' Church, Port- 
 land. 
 
 139 
 
Dedicatory prayer by Charles Lincoln White, 
 President of Colby College. 
 
 Singing, "I'll Answer With The Best There's 
 In Me," by a choir of Good Will boys. 
 
 Address by Rev. Raymond Caulkins, pastor of 
 the State Street Congregational Church, Port- 
 land, Me. 
 
 Doxology and benediction. 
 
 A special service of praise was held in the 
 Moody Memorial Chapel in the evening. To 
 those who are interested in the progress and 
 development of the work at Good Will it was an 
 interesting fact that the week which witnessed 
 the completion of the Bancroft Foote House by 
 the carpenters, marked the receipt of a fund of 
 five thousand dollars for another building at Good 
 Will Farm which will materialize in the future. 
 
 140 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The winter recess was ended ; school had 
 opened for the long term Wednesday morning 
 and the first days had passed pleasantly. Satur- 
 day afternoon Mr. Watson, the Principal of the 
 Good Will Schools, had spent a little time in his 
 office in the Charles E. Moody building. But no 
 fire had been built on the open hearth. Roberts, 
 the assistant janitor, had done his work for the 
 week and at four o'clock had left the building, 
 turning the key in the door. It was customary 
 for the Good Will boys to take a shower bath in 
 the basement Saturday afternoons and whenever 
 that was done a fire was necessary in that place; 
 but because of the water-famine in the land the 
 boys had taken other baths. 
 
 It was silent winter in Maine ; it was Saturday 
 night at Good Will ; the old year was dying. At 
 half-past seven the community was startled by 
 the alarm of fire. Manager Barnard and Princi- 
 pal Watson were in Bailey Cottage ; they saw in 
 an instant that there was a mass of flame on the 
 hill where the educational buildings stood. 
 
 141 
 
"Shall we come?" the boys asked as the men 
 hurried toward the fire. 
 
 "Not unless I send for you," was the reply. 
 
 In my own home at Willow-wood, a mile away, 
 I had spent a quiet evening. I was to preach in 
 the Good Will chapel the next day ; my text was 
 selected and the plan of the discourse had been 
 thought out. One of my family chanced to look 
 out of the window toward the south, and saw a 
 great mass of flame and smoke in the vicinity of 
 Good Will. I was called to the window, and one 
 glance was enough to fill me with apprehension. 
 I rushed to the telephone and called up the house 
 nearest to Good Will Farm. 
 
 "Where's the fire?" I asked; "tell me quick." 
 
 "Fire?" replied the young man at the tele- 
 phone. "What is the joke? What are you giv- 
 ing us?" 
 
 "No joke," I shouted. "Look out of your 
 window and tell me quick." 
 
 There was an instant of silence and then came 
 the hasty reply : 
 
 "The Moody Building's burning; it's all in 
 flames." 
 
 The receiver was instantly clapped into place 
 by the young man, and I knew it was useless for 
 
 142 
 
me to try to get him again even if I was willing 
 to wait for more information over the wire; he 
 had started for the fire. 
 
 The boys watched the flames from their cot- 
 tages ; Mr. Barnard reached the building, and 
 quickly sent back for the larger boys to come 
 with buckets, but the north end was in flames 
 all entrances to the building were cut off; the 
 beautiful structure was doomed. The origin of 
 the fire, as stated in the supplement to the Janu- 
 ary Record was a mystery; it is today. Not an 
 article was saved ; in an hour the roof had fallen 
 and parts of the wall had caved. It was a quiet 
 crowd that watched the work of destruction ; the 
 boys standing in groups talked in undertones ; so 
 did I, and I could not tell why. The flames cast 
 a red glow on the snow-clad hills far away, and 
 alarmed neighbors who left their homes and ar- 
 rived in teams to aid if possible in staying the 
 destruction. They came silently and took their 
 places among those who could look but could not 
 help. The next day a Good Will Alumnus, said : 
 
 "Last night it seemed as though I were stand- 
 ing by the side of a sick friend watching him 
 die." 
 
 Then I understood the subdued, solemn atti- 
 
tude of the crowd. The building had been there 
 for nine years; it had proved a blessing to the 
 community and to the surrounding country. 
 Unconsciously the people had come to regard it 
 as a familiar friend just as one comes to love 
 the face of a companion and now it was doomed 
 and, like one who must die, it was in a last 
 agony. The crowd gradually disappeared; 
 Good Will slept, all except Mr. Barnard and 
 Roberts. These watched the ruins till morning. 
 Early the next day teams began to arrive. 
 They drove in front of the building and one by 
 one passed it. There was no collection of teams 
 or of people at any one time but till night-fall the 
 place was visited. It was as though some 
 mighty man had died in the night some one 
 whom the people so loved that he must lie in 
 state in order that they might look upon him. 
 At one o'clock the Sunday-School was held as 
 usual. Roberts, pale from the strain and watch- 
 ing of the night before, superintended as usual, 
 and at two o'clock came the regular service in 
 the Moody Memorial chapel. I had made quite 
 different plans for the day but took my text from 
 Isaiah 43:3 "When thou walkest through the 
 fire," and said, in part : 
 
 144 
 
A few years ago when I was about to sail for 
 England a good woman a Christian friend 
 sent me the entire verse from which I have taken 
 my text, "When thou passest through the waters, 
 I will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they 
 shall not overflow thee ; when thou walkest 
 through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; 
 neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." On 
 the voyage the steamer was on fire for five hours 
 in mid-ocean and for a time her fate and ours 
 was in question. On reaching home the good 
 woman wrote that she had no thought when she 
 sent me the verse that I would have need of 
 aught but the first part. After the scenes of last 
 evening my mind turns almost instinctively to the 
 verse again. I shall not attempt an exposition 
 of it ; but you always expect a text at these after- 
 noon services. 
 
 Nine years ago today a large number of 
 friends visited Good Will Farm. They came 
 from all parts of the state to be present at the 
 dedication of the Charles E. Moody building. 
 They roamed through the splendid edifice, con- 
 gratulated the Good Will Home Association and 
 praised the donors. It was a happy occasion 
 and one full of hope for humanity. A change 
 
 145 
 
has come ; disaster has fallen upon us. Today 
 the building is a mass of smouldering ruin. 
 There are some things to be said. 
 
 I. There is a right name for the event of last 
 night. Calamity comes from the word calamus, 
 a reed or corn stalk ; for when corn did not ripen 
 or get out of the stalk it was called a calamus, or 
 calamity. Such an occurrence meant very gen- 
 eral distress more widespread than has befallen 
 us. This is not a calamity. 
 
 Misfortune is a personal loss or accident. 
 Had the building been mine the loss would have 
 been my misfortune : but that which has occurred 
 is of larger moment. 
 
 There is another word. It comes from the 
 Latin "dis" and "astra" stars. It dates back 
 to the times when men believed in the influence 
 of stars upon persons, things, and events. That 
 which came suddenly, unexpectedly and without 
 reason to blight or cripple was called "from the 
 stars" or "dis-astra." So this thing seems to 
 have come upon us; though I do not believe in 
 the influence of stars or planets nor do you. 
 
 II. This is a time for gratitude. The Charles 
 E. Moody building is destroyed with its contents : 
 not a thing was saved from the ruin. But noth- 
 
 146 
 
ing else was lost. Had the fire occurred a week 
 ago when two hundred of us were gathered for 
 the Christmas celebration; had an unreasonable 
 effort to save some part of the building resulted 
 in the loss of life or had the flames reached other 
 buildings the disaster would have been worse 
 far worse. One Sunday I strolled into a great 
 church in a New England city and heard a ser- 
 mon. The preacher spent a part of the time ridi- 
 culing people who try to comfort themselves and 
 others by the thought or suggestion that things 
 are "not as bad as they might be." If to do this 
 is to be ridiculous then you may pour forth your 
 ridicule upon me today. I tell you things are sel- 
 dom as bad as the worst or as sad the saddest. 
 It would take ten thousand sermons like the one 
 I refer to and a regiment of men besides to con- 
 vince me today that we have not much to be 
 thankful for that the disaster was not greater. 
 
 III. There are many things in the building 
 that money cannot replace. It was a repository 
 for nuclei. When I was a boy, Mr. S. Ward 
 Loper, now of Wesleyan University, gave me 
 three specimens limestone from Mammoth 
 Cave, sulphur from Mt. Vesuvius and a bit of 
 fossil. I felt rich that day and cherished them 
 
 147 
 
with the strange boyish idea that they were the 
 beginning of a great educational museum. 
 Those three bits were in that building sur- 
 rounded with the splendid array of specimens 
 which they had attracted. 
 
 The first book I ever bought with my own 
 earnings was Beecher's Lectures to Young Men. 
 I labeled it; cherished it; almost doted on it as 
 the beginning of a library for such an institution 
 as I was dreaming about. When Good Will 
 cottage was opened I placed eleven books with 
 it on a shelf and there was the nucleus of the li- 
 brary burned last night. There were other be- 
 ginnings and there were articles without dupli- 
 cate in the world. 
 
 IV. Two lessons are to be mentioned. 
 I. There is a homely saying that "it is not 
 wise to put all the eggs in one basket." That is 
 what we did. It would have been bad enough 
 had we lost the school building; but to lose a 
 library worthy of a building by itself and to 
 lose a museum, the accumulation of many years, 
 and which we hoped was to be eventually under 
 a separate roof to have all these go at once be- 
 cause the "eggs were all in one basket" was a 
 disaster indeed. I hope when the schoolhouse is 
 
 148 
 
THE BUCKMINSTER 
 
 BA N C R O FT-FOOT I . ftOUS K 
 
rebuilt, as it surely will be, that a new library 
 which we will eventually have can be under a 
 separate roof. I shall ask that it be clone. 
 
 II. The building was a memorial. The walls 
 of brick and brown stone have fallen. But the 
 good name of Charles E. Moody is unsmirched; 
 his character remains untouched. The Me- 
 morial smoulders ; the good name shines. Monu- 
 ments crumble ; character alone endures. 
 
 At the close of the sermon a hymn was an- 
 nounced. After it had been sung the audience 
 stood with bowed head for the customary bene- 
 diction to be pronounced ; but I said, "Wait a 
 moment. Something has occurred to me while 
 this hymn was being sung. I have told you how 
 the library we have lost began. I think that the 
 beginning of that library was due to the inspira- 
 tion which came to me when a boy, as I saw the 
 monument which marks the site where Yale 
 college began. The words on the monument 
 were uttered by ministers in the New Haven 
 Colony as they brought books from their libraries 
 and placing them upon a table said, 'I give these 
 books to found a college/ There is no college in 
 this community; there never will be, but a com- 
 mon school education for the many is more im- 
 
 149 
 
portant than a college education for the few. 
 I'd rather found a library for the boys who are 
 here and are to come in the future, than to found 
 a college library. Next Wednesday evening in- 
 stead of the usual evening meeting which I an- 
 nounced a few minutes ago we will have a special 
 service in this chapel. In course of the service 
 I shall lay a few books upon the table and say 'I 
 give these books to found a library. If any one 
 here has a book to spare that would be of value 
 in a library, or if he can afford to buy one I hope 
 he will follow me.' " 
 
 That evening one of the older boys said to me : 
 
 "I've only one book in the world, but if that 
 will be any good I want to give it." 
 
 It was a cloth-bound dictionary a Christmas 
 gift to the boy a few days before. 
 
 Monday morning a boy called at the super- 
 visor's office and said : 
 
 "I haven't any books but there's what money 
 I have. I want to give it for books." 
 
 It was a crisp $2.00 bill which had been sent to 
 him for a Christmas gift all he had. 
 
 "I've written to the woman who sent me the 
 money," he said, "to ask if she approves of my 
 giving it, but I know well enough she will." 
 
 ISO 
 
The story of the Good Will girls' homes and 
 how they were started by two Good Will boys 
 who each gave a nickel for such a purpose, and 
 the growth of the fund thus started until the 
 girls have today one hundred and fifty acres of 
 land, two cottages, a gardener's house, and a 
 school building, is familiar to the Good Will boys 
 and perhaps it is an inspiration to them ; for on 
 Tuesday a boy wanted to see me alone. He 
 said: 
 
 "You needn't mentiorcour names but Will and 
 I have each given fifty cents to begin a library 
 building; here's the money." 
 
 Wednesday evening came, the date for the 
 special meeting, but a great storm was on and 
 the founding of the library was postponed till 
 Friday evening. Friday evening came ; weather 
 conditions prevented the attendance of people 
 who doubtless would have attended had the 
 weather and travel been fair. After singing by 
 the congregation, two selections by the male 
 quartet, a solo by Rev. I. B. Mower of Water- 
 ville, the reading of Scripture and prayer by 
 Prof. A. L. Lane, I explained why I was first 
 bringing a nicely bound copy of the Bible to the 
 table. To this I added volumes which began 
 
departments in history, biography, fiction, science 
 and poetry. 
 
 As soon as this was done others began, one at 
 a time, to deposit their contributions, each say- 
 ing: 
 
 "I give these books to found a library." 
 
 It was evident that a large portion of the 
 books offered had been received by the boys as 
 Christmas presents. Teachers, boys and girls 
 had a share in the exercise. When the service 
 was ended it was announced that ninety-nine 
 persons had stepped to the table making an offer- 
 ing, not including Rev. I. B. Mower, who had 
 brought about forty books from his own home 
 and from one other contributor in Waterville ; so 
 there were just one hundred contributors to the 
 library present. 
 
 When Manager Barnard's turn came he 
 stepped forward and said : 
 
 "I give this book and ninety-nine others to 
 found a library." 
 
 One boy, a day scholar who walked about 
 three miles daily to the school said, "I give the 
 Encyclopedia Brittanica in twenty-five volumes 
 to found a library." 
 
 One little tot the smallest girl in the girls* 
 
 152 
 
homes made the journey down the long aisle 
 and placing three books upon the table, repeated 
 the formula. It was learned that there were sev- 
 eral boys at the farm who were anxious to have 
 a share in the undertaking who did not possess a 
 book to their names, but there were other young 
 fellows more fortunate, who, as they learned of 
 one and another of this class, shared their pos- 
 sessions with them. 
 
 While the books were being carried up one 
 small boy was found in tears in the audience 
 because he had no book to give. A larger boy 
 quickly passed him one of his own bunch so that 
 the little fellow made his journey with the rest. 
 After all the books had been deposited, an- 
 nouncements of gifts from outside parties were 
 made. 
 
 A letter was read from W. W. Drew, superin- 
 tendent of schools of Fairfield, a former Good 
 Will boy, stating that he had ordered a set of 
 Elijah Kellogg' s works to be shipped im- 
 mediately to Good Will. Rev. H. W. Kimball of 
 South Weymouth, Mass., who in years past had 
 been a frequent preacher in the Moody Me- 
 morial Chapel, had written that one hundred 
 books from his father's home were on the way. 
 
 153 
 
Then it came to light that some of the older boys 
 in their own way and on their own account had 
 circulated a subscription paper among matrons, 
 teachers and others in the community, in the in- 
 terests of a library building, and an envelope 
 containing $85 was passed to me. I received it, 
 fully persuaded that such a building could be 
 provided by popular subscription. But I be- 
 lieved that it was possible that some generous- 
 hearted friend would see fit to donate such a 
 building and a fund sufficient to care for it, and 
 as this subscription paper was started by the 
 boys without my knowledge, I was intensely 
 pleased over what had been done as well as sur- 
 prised at the amount they had succeeded in rais- 
 ing. 
 
 The total of books presented at the meeting, 
 either by persons who were present or by letter, 
 was something over five hundred. 
 
 The destruction of the Charles E. Moody 
 building by fire at Good Will Farm on New 
 Year's eve was a disaster entailing heavy loss to 
 the Good Will Home Association and to its 
 benevolent work. It came a few days after the 
 dedication of the beautiful Bancroft-Foote house, 
 and at the opening of the winter term of school. 
 
 154 
 
The workers were inclined to do the "next best 
 tiling." and this greatly simplified matters. 
 
 Before ten o'clock Saturday evening, Dec. 31, 
 the building was completely destroyed. Sunday, 
 Jan. ist, all the services at the farm Sunday- 
 schools, afternoon preaching service and evening 
 meetings were held as usual ; it was not till 
 Monday morning that the real problems were 
 faced. 
 
 C "hairs from the chapel were placed in the 
 north room of the manual training building and 
 the opening exercises of the schools were held at 
 9.30, only half an hour later than they would 
 have begun had the schoolhouse not been 
 destroyed. 
 
 The agent of a text-book firm was telephoned 
 for and text-books were ordered by the hundred, 
 for about seven hundred and fifty books were 
 needed at once. Five out of a possible twelve 
 recitations in the High school were held that day. 
 The books arrived a day later and matters began 
 to move smoothly again. It was an unique sight 
 when strangers visited the school that week. A 
 look into the carpentry room one day revealed 
 a class of eight of the High school sitting on a 
 pile of boards stock for the carpentry depart- 
 
 155 
 
ment reciting to a teacher sitting on a higher 
 pile of lumber ; six boys, close by, working at the 
 carpenter's benches one boy driving nails into 
 a half completed box and another taking his first 
 lesson on the grindstone. 
 
 It was never intended that the departments 
 should encroach upon each other; but the boys 
 showed a splendid spirit through it all. A 
 square piece of board, hastily planed by the car- 
 penter boys, was a poor substitute for a modern 
 school desk, but such make-shifts were welcomed 
 till desks could come. 
 
 I felt yes, we all knew that the structure 
 would have to be rebuilt at the earliest possible 
 moment; but there were many who said that 
 there had been too much in the building and that 
 a new structure should be used for school pur- 
 poses only. A separate building was desirable 
 for the library although just then we had less 
 than a thousand volumes. But so small a library 
 as that could surely grow, for did not the first 
 library at Good Will begin with something like 
 a dozen books from my own home, and had not 
 this new library to take its place already in- 
 creased from a few volumes from my own book- 
 shelf into a collection of several hundred? 
 
 156 
 
The Charles E. Moody building was insured 
 for $18,000 but there were valuable possessions 
 in the museum rare books, objects of historical 
 value and portraits which money could not 
 replace. The disaster had one great comfort 
 hidden under the dark clouds : I refer to the let- 
 ters of sympathy and encouragement that came 
 from many parts of the country. There is space 
 here for only a few, but the few will show the 
 spirit, the intense earnestness, in all. Several 
 were from former Good Will boys and girls, and 
 these can easily be identified by the language 
 used. 
 
 "I feel that the destruction of the Moody 
 Building is like a personal loss to me. I can only 
 repeat to you what I said to my wife Saturday 
 night I would rather it had been my own house. 
 The building can be replaced, but a library or 
 museum is a matter of growth. Whenever you 
 get accommodations to begin a new library, 
 please look to me for a dozen volumes along any 
 line that you may suggest." 
 FAIRFIELD, ME. 
 
 "I need not tell you how I felt when I heard of 
 the fire. But this we know we love God; we 
 
 157 
 
also know that the Book says all things work to- 
 gether for good ; lastly, we know God never de- 
 ceives us. 'If it were not so I would have told 
 you.' Sight says, 'I can't see it.' Faith says, 
 'don't worry.' We walk by faith not by sight. 
 This is what we say when we preach and there 
 is no cloud. Let us be consistent, and when we 
 are not preaching and when the cloud hangs 
 low, let us trust Him. His interest in the mat- 
 ter is larger than ours. His wisdom is better. 
 His power greater. I know these things better 
 now than I did six months ago." 
 BANGOR, ME. 
 
 "On coming to the office this morning I was 
 stunned by the information of the fire at Good 
 Will. Why? Why? Why? is the question which 
 keeps coming up in my mind. It seems mighty 
 hard coming as it does at this time when you 
 need rest and freedom from care and when the 
 school is moving along so finely. I cannot un- 
 derstand it all but I suppose God, in his all wise 
 providence knows what the fire will eventually 
 do for the Farm. It has been hard to apply my- 
 self to my work since having the news so I got 
 down the Story of Good Will again and read it 
 
 158 
 
over, and as I read it my faith in God grew 
 stronger and I began to realize as never before 
 that he who begun this wonderful work would 
 'see it through.' " 
 
 NEW HAVEN, CONN. 
 
 " 'All things work together for good to them 
 that love God, to them who are the called ac- 
 cording to his purpose.' If ever a man was 
 'called' to his life-work you were ; so this which 
 seems so awful to us must be one of the 'all 
 things.' We cannot understand why the beauti- 
 ful Chas. E. Moody building should burn, but 
 the fact that it has, gives me an impulse to work 
 for Good Will Farm that I never knew before. 
 It touches me in a way that almost never before 
 have I been touched. I feel as though I could go 
 out and raise thousands of dollars for your work. 
 I believe God, and expect Him to do great things 
 for it." 
 
 BANGOR. 
 
 "I read in last evening's paper, with sincere 
 sorrow, the news of the destruction of the Chas. 
 E. Moody building, by fire, on Saturday night. 
 I just want you to know that in this severe loss 
 
 159 
 
to the Farm, which must fall especially heavy 
 on you, and your feelings just now, you have my 
 deep sympathy and prayers. Psalms 37 : 5 must 
 be just as true now as it ever was; may your 
 faith in it be as strong/' 
 WATERTOWN, MASS. 
 
 "Grandpa is a dear old saint and he says that 
 after a fire there's always sure to be something 
 better to replace it. I hope and pray there may 
 be, and that somehow comfort and encourage- 
 ment may come to your hearts. 
 
 "We were at the Center that evening at a 
 Grange meeting and when the message came and 
 we looked out and saw the sky lighted by the fire, 
 it went like a shock over us all. One thought of 
 one thing burned which would be such a loss and 
 someone else would think of another. One 
 woman came to me with tears running down her 
 cheeks and said that she thought of the museum, 
 and how, one day, she saw one of the boys trying 
 so hard to put a hen's skeleton together, and 
 then added, she didn't think the hen was the most 
 valuable thing lost in the fire but in her mind it 
 stood as a representative of their efforts for a 
 museum. 
 
 160 
 
"I am not a very good hand at being hopeful 
 myself, and yet I feel that the friends of Good 
 Will Farm will see to it that something is done 
 to replace the loss." 
 FAIRFIELD. 
 
 "It makes me feel as though I had lost a dear 
 friend, the going of the school building at Good 
 Will. I cannot realize it. I seemed to see gen- 
 erations of boys moving through its halls when- 
 ever I looked in vision to the Kennebec." 
 WINSTED, CONN. 
 
 "No one can ever know the feeling that comes 
 over me when I think of days gone by, incidents 
 that are as plain as if they had happened yester- 
 day those rooms, all wiped out by fire it is too 
 bad. Thank God fire cannot burn out the mem- 
 ory of those days." 
 SALEM, MASS. 
 
 "I saw for the first time today, in the Boston 
 Herald, an account of the serious loss sustained 
 by my friends at Good Will and humanity in 
 general. My heart was truly saddened because 
 that dear building holds memories for us all, and 
 
 161 
 
there is not a boy who has ever come under the 
 influence of Good Will Farm but will feel a keen 
 sense of personal loss." 
 NEW HAVEN, CONN. 
 
 "I have just seen the account of the burning of 
 the school building. I just can't say how sorry 
 I am. The dear building that we all loved so 
 much ! Somehow it means so much more to me 
 than any other place except home." 
 BUCKFIELD. 
 
 "I have just learned of the sad ending, for 
 you, of the old year. How little I thought as I 
 was admiring the fine building a week ago of 
 such a thing being possible. It conies as a great 
 shock to us all, but to you it means so much more 
 than to most others. You have my deepest 
 sympathy in what means so great a loss to you. 
 All things that have come to Good Will from the 
 start have seemed to work for its best interest 
 and we should have faith to believe this may be 
 the same in the end, but it is hard to see how this 
 can be now in this case." 
 PROVIDENCE, R. I. 
 
 162 
 
"I was shocked and saddened to read in Mon- 
 day's paper of the disaster at Good Will. The 
 immediate loss to the children will be most no- 
 ticeable, but I believe that out of this great loss 
 will come blessing in some way God's own way, 
 which it is sometimes so hard for us to see. 1 
 think of the extra care and anxiety thrown upon 
 you by this new problem. No doubt the friends 
 will rally and means will come from some source 
 for rebuilding." 
 PORTLAND. 
 
 "We are profoundly sorry, that so magnificent 
 a building as the Moody School Building has 
 been destroyed by fire. At the same time we ad- 
 mire the faith and the courage of him whose life 
 purpose has unfolded to imperilled boyhood, not 
 an asylum, but a real home. 
 
 "It is our prayer that you may be personally 
 strengthened and helped to bear the present 
 financial and educational loss ; and that the work 
 for the interest of the Good Will Homes may 
 continue to grow under His blessing." 
 OXFORD, ME. 
 
"I have no words with which to express my 
 sorrow over the catastrophe. I cannot but think 
 that it is a case where good must come out of 
 seeming ill. And in this belief I wish for you all 
 a happy new year." 
 AUGUSTA. 
 
 "Have just received this word in a letter from 
 Maine 'Suppose you know that the Moody 
 School Building at Good Will Farm was burned 
 a few nights ago. Everything went/ What a 
 terrible calamity! And how my sympathy goes 
 out to you all in this great trial. Indeed, it 
 comes to me almost with a sense of personal 
 loss. It is a part of Good Will that grew up un- 
 der my own eyes, and in which I put much of in- 
 terest and love. And that beautiful museum and 
 library and art collection was nothing saved, I 
 wonder? O, it seems such a great loss ! Surely 
 someone who has the money is going to give to 
 build again. But even then it will take long to 
 replace what is gone, and of course much must 
 always be a loss cannot be replaced. It must 
 be one of the 'all things' and will then 'work for 
 good/ somehow." 
 SYRACUSE, N. Y. 
 
 164 
 
"We were sorry to learn of the burning of the 
 Moody Building, but as 'all things work together 
 for good to those that love God,' we must believe 
 that the results to you, even in this disaster, must 
 be for blessing." 
 
 BROOKLYN, N. Y. 
 
 "I was shocked beyond measure on getting my 
 Good Will Record on Friday night last on my 
 return from office to learn of the great loss to 
 you all in the burning of the Moody Building 
 and its valuable contents. To say I am sorry 
 would hardly express my regret. I rejoice that 
 I had the satisfaction of seeing the inside of it on 
 my visit last fall, even though it gives me the 
 grievous knowledge of the extent of the loss to 
 Good Will." 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 "I have just learned of your severe loss 
 through the Record just received and hasten to 
 express to you my sincere sympathy for the 
 school in the loss of such a fine building by fire. 
 I have a great admiration for the school and for 
 the good work that is being done there for 'our 
 boys and girls/ I am a constant witness of the 
 
 165 
 
life and good work that is being done by two 
 graduates of your school." 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 
 "I have prayed much for you as I have seen a 
 big charred gap in place of that noble school. 
 May God give you a better one." 
 LOWELL, MASS. 
 
 I had believed that the Divine hand was in the 
 work at Good Will ; I had not only believed, but 
 I had often given expression to the faith that 
 was in me. If I were ever going to doubt, it 
 seemed to be an appropriate time just when one 
 disaster was following another and a debt was 
 growing rapidly. It was my privilege, how- 
 ever, to say editorially in the February number 
 of the Good Will Record in that year of '05 : 
 
 "This is number one, volume eighteen of the 
 Good Will Record. When the paper began in 
 1888 it announced beginnings. It appears that 
 some things are to be done over again. There is 
 much work in store for the Good Will Home 
 Association and its friends everywhere. There 
 is a silver lining to every cloud and in all proba- 
 bility there is a specially bright lining to the 
 
 166 
 
clouds which just now hang over Good Will. 
 We cannot see yet ; but we will see. We are on 
 the watch. We cannot do without the Charles 
 E. Moody building; it must be rebuilt. We can 
 not do without a library ; a new one is already 
 founded. We cannot get along without in- 
 creased funds; a special agent has begun work. 
 We need the hearty cooperation of every friend 
 of humanity. Some how, we cannot persuade 
 ourselves that we will not have it." 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 With a growing debt hanging over us, an un- 
 sightly pile of ruins where the Charles E. Moody 
 building had stood for so many years, and only 
 a handful of ashes in place of the cherished li- 
 brary, there was ample opportunity for the study 
 of gloomy features in the work. But there were 
 other experiences to follow, and it was just as 
 well that we could not see them till they arrived. 
 
 The Moody Building was burned on the last 
 night of the year 1904, on the eve of the anni- 
 versary of its dedication. Two weeks later at 
 half-past one Friday afternoon, January 13, just 
 as school was being called to order in the manual 
 training building at Good Will Farm, it was dis- 
 covered that the cooking house and wood shed 
 near the barns was in flames. One of the "barn 
 boys" had left the building about half an hour 
 before and everything was supposed to be as 
 usual. 
 
 The building was quite a long distance from 
 the school building, and as the snow was deep, it 
 
 168 
 
111 _ 
 
 Jill illlllll 
 in vn n 
 
 WHITNEY HOME 
 
 ELIZABETH WILCOX SMITH COTTAGE 
 
was some time before any one could get to it. 
 The structure it^ch was a complete loss, together 
 with the contents. It was a wooden building 
 > feet. It was used as a woodshed, granary, 
 storehouse for fanning utensils, and as a cook- 
 house where food was prepared for swine and 
 poultry. It was in the cook-room that the fire 
 started. Tin- building contained in addition to 
 the cooking outfit all the farming utensils used 
 in raising the crops, forty cords of wood fitted 
 for the stove and one hundred and fifty -bushels 
 of oats. One hundred and fifty cords of wood 
 for the next summer were piled near the build- 
 ing, and both of the Good Will teams were on 
 their way for loads to add to the supply when 
 the fire was discovered. A hard fight was put 
 up by the workers at the Farm, the neighbors 
 who responded speedily to the alarm, and by the 
 older Good Will boys. It was feared at one 
 time that at least one of the barns would have to 
 go. An effort was made to get help from 
 Waterville, but while these negotiations were 
 under way the fire fighters became satisfied that 
 the great danger was passed. About one hun- 
 dred cords of wood were destroyed. It is the 
 policy of the Good Will Home Association to 
 
 169 
 
keep its property well insured, but this was the 
 only building in its possession without some in- 
 surance on structure and contents. 
 
 The building itself was of little value, although 
 it would take a thousand dollars to replace it. 
 There were seasons when the contents would 
 have been of little account; but when the fire 
 came it was filled to overflowing with wood, 
 grain, farming implements, feed, etc. Had the 
 fire occurred at any other time it would have 
 been regarded a heavy disaster; it seemed light 
 only when compared with the greater loss which 
 preceded it. 
 
 The following month, March, '05, the Good 
 Will Record had on its cover a picture of the 
 ruins of the Charles E. Moody building, but 
 editorially I was happy to say: 
 
 "I have an announcement which I think will 
 quicken the blood and increase the courage of 
 every friend of Good Will. Many have mourned 
 with the Good Will community over the loss of 
 the Moody school building, the museum, the por- 
 traits and the library. But it has been predicted 
 again and again that since such a disaster was 
 allowed, good would come out of it. A generous 
 hearted friend of the institution who wishes to 
 
 170 
 
provide for the library but not for a library build- 
 ing will pay to the Good Will Home Association 
 ten thousand dollars, the interest to be used 
 annually for the purchase of books, whenever a 
 suitable building for such a growing collection of 
 books shall be assured. The condition is certainly 
 a reasonable one. The association cannot meet 
 it but among its friends there must be someone, 
 somewhere, who will count it a privilege to do it. 
 A few years ago someone offered ten thousand 
 dollars toward the endowment of a manual train- 
 ing school at Good Will whenever anyone would 
 provide the building. The building thus sug- 
 gested was dedicated July 27, '03 and has become 
 indispensable in the life at Good Will. A library 
 without a building would be an unfortunate 
 thing ; a library building without books would be 
 worse. Here is a provision of five hundred dol- 
 lars a year perpetually for new books; where 
 shall we put them? One gift calls for another ; the 
 two will make a magnificent provision for the 
 Good Will community. It is a pleasure to make 
 this announcement: it will be a still greater 
 pleasure to announce that the condition is met 
 and that the building and book fund are both se- 
 cure. Surely such an issue is good out of seem- 
 
 171 
 
ing disaster; it would mean great things out of 
 the ashes of our former building." 
 
 In the same month a meeting of the Directors 
 of the Good Will Home Association was held at 
 which plans for rebuilding the Moody building 
 were considered and it was decided to begin 
 work as soon as weather conditions in the spring 
 would admit. 
 
 In the meantime there had been some cor- 
 respondence relative to a library building. I do 
 not know the nature of the correspondence, but 
 early in May I was able to say to the friends. of 
 Good Will that Mr. Andrew Carnegie had of- 
 fered to give $15,000, on condition that an ad- 
 ditional $15,003 be raised. In doing this, that 
 is, in making the gift or the offer to an institu- 
 tion of this character, Mr. Carnegie departed 
 from his custom and his plans. Many thought 
 that, if the great philanthropist fully understood 
 the situation at Good Will, he would have been 
 willing to depart still further from his custom 
 and to make the gift unconditional, but so far as 
 I know he was not asked to do it. He was con- 
 sulted at once regarding the proffered $10,000 
 for a book fund, and it was learned that he was 
 
 172 
 
willing that this fund should be a part of the ad- 
 ditional $15,000 to be raised. 
 
 This was interesting. Here was a building 
 fund offered on condition that another fund be 
 secured ; here was an endowment or book fund 
 offered on condition that another fund be raised 
 and converted into a building. It was necessary 
 to secure $5,000, therefore, in order to save an 
 offered $25,000. 
 
 There were weeks of suspense but all of the 
 conditions were finally met. 
 
 The contract for the Charles E. Moody build- 
 ing was signed July ist, at a later date than we 
 had planned or hoped, and work began July n. 
 
 Saturday afternoon, August 5, a large com- 
 pany of friends of Good Will gathered at the 
 chosen site of the proposed library building to 
 be present at the formal breaking of ground. 
 "My faith looks up to Thee," was sung; the 
 people repeated the twenty-third Psalm ; the 
 thirty-seventh Psalm, or the first part of it, was 
 reading according to custom on such occasions at 
 Good Will, and this time by Rev. C. P. Cleaves 
 of Bowdoin College ; and it was my privilege to 
 explain the gift of Mr. Carnegie, and also to an- 
 nounce that the donor of the $10,000 as a book 
 
 173 
 
fund, was Miss C. I. Sage of Guilford, Conn., 
 in memory of Willie Sage Tuttle. It was un- 
 derstood that, although the ground was being 
 broken, the building was not to be commenced 
 for several weeks, and that the dedication would 
 be a full year later. 
 
 The corner stone of the new Charles E. 
 Moody Building was laid without public exer- 
 cises, September 25, '05. 
 
 In March, '06, I was able to announce another 
 generous gift, and one which I was pleased to 
 call "significant." 
 
 In January, 1904, Mr. Edwin Bancroft Foote 
 had given $50,000 to Good Will. Of this 
 amount $10,000, or as much of it as was neces- 
 sary, was to be used in building a home for 
 boys; the remainder was to become a fund, the 
 interest of which was to be used annually in 
 providing a home and education for ten boys, in 
 the Bancroft-Foote House. The house which 
 Mr. Foote built was not too large for a suitable 
 memorial to his parents, but it was large enough 
 for more than a family of ten boys. Mr. Foote 
 had visited the home, and had been greatly 
 pleased with all that he saw and heard, and had 
 decided to add $24,000 to his gift, thus provid- 
 
 174 
 
ing for an income that would make it possible 
 to have a family of seventeen boys in the home 
 instead of only ten. 
 
 The significance of Mr. Foote's gift lies, first, 
 in the fact that his earlier investment the larg- 
 est single investment that had been made at 
 Good Will was so satisfactory that he wanted 
 to increase it, and, second, in the fact that he was 
 able to add to the endowment of a home which 
 he had founded for boys, and increase its use- 
 fulness without adding to his cares or responsi- 
 bilities. Thus it was demonstrated again that 
 better than founding a new institution at almost 
 unlimited expense of time and money and 
 anxiety in choosing a new location and effecting 
 a new organization, the work, the organizing 
 and the conduct of affairs was all attended to for 
 him. 
 
 It may be worth while to state here that the 
 same thing can be done at Good Will an in- 
 definite number of times; that is, the Good Will 
 Home Association will accept such funds, build 
 the home, name it as the donor shall desire, and 
 thus establish a new home as surely as though 
 a new location were selected, only at Good Will 
 the spirit of such a home is happily determined 
 
 175 
 
beforehand, and many of the problems which 
 would have to be worked out again in a new lo- 
 cation have already been solved. 
 
 In April following, I was able to announce 
 the receipt of Miss C. I. Sage's gift of $10,000, 
 which had been offered on condition that a suit- 
 able place be provided for the books which would 
 be purchased with the income from it. The 
 place was not ready but the noble donor of the 
 fund was satisfied that it would be in course of 
 time, and did not care to postpone the transfer. 
 This will always be known as the Willie Sage 
 Tuttle Fund. 
 
 Willie Sage Tuttle was born in Guilford, 
 Connecticut, December 28th, 1853, and died 
 July 27th, 1867. He was my classmate in Sun- 
 day School. We were born in the same year; 
 he died on the thirteenth anniversary of my 
 birth. My recollections of him are slight, ex- 
 cepting that each boy in the class seemed to 
 recognize in him a superior, both morally and 
 intellectually. I remember that he used to ask 
 questions of the teacher that were so far beyond 
 my grasp, or even my interest, that I sat in 
 wonder. He was not an ordinary boy at all, 
 but rather the embodiment of purity, intellect 
 
 176 
 
and the Christian spirit. What he might have 
 accomplished in the world had he lived, we 
 cannot tell ; but it pleased his mother to per- 
 petuate his memory and his influence at Olivet 
 College, Michigan, and now it has pleased Miss 
 Sage, his aunt and tm her, to perpetuate the 
 same memory and influence at Good Will in 
 Maine. It is not in my power or province to 
 pay tribute to the memory of one of my own 
 age, who died when I was but thirteen. I can 
 only speak of him as I have ; but Rev. Joseph 
 L. Daniels, now of Olivet College, Michigan, 
 but at one time principal of Guilford Institute, 
 and the boy's teacher writes of him: 
 
 "Willie Sage Tuttle was a most remarkable 
 boy. His early training had been in a Christian 
 home under the careful supervision of his mother 
 and aunt. Miss Clara I. Sage. No pains had 
 been spared to give him the right trend in pur- 
 pose and character. His principles were fixed, 
 his ideal high, his soul pure and white. 
 
 "At the age of ten he entered Guilford Insti- 
 tute and at once made his mark as a scholar. He 
 had all the simplicity of childhood with the 
 strong and noble elements of manhood. He had 
 yet to learn the ways of the world, and at times 
 
 177 
 
trusted too much to the honor and goodness of 
 his wary associates. 
 
 "He loved his books, he loved his teacher, and 
 school life was to him a delight and a joy. On 
 the other hand his teachers found it a privilege 
 to lead his trusting soul into new fields of knowl- 
 edge and experience. With such scholars teach- 
 ing is simply a recreation and a joy. 
 
 "Willie had a rare natural endowment, both 
 intellectual and moral. The two were most hap- 
 pily blended. He was quick to see the truth and 
 the right and to love it too. He grasped great 
 truths, mastered them and loved them. The 
 maturity of his mind was amazing. He would 
 listen to a teacher or preacher with the closest 
 attention and repeat their thoughts with won- 
 drous accuracy and facility. 
 
 "Yet with him lessons were not learned simply 
 to be repeated to others but the rather to be 
 incorporated into life. And so he surprised us 
 with his thoughtfulness for the future and his 
 plans for later years. Young as he was his pur- 
 pose was fixed and he was daily making prepara- 
 tion for it. His short and incomplete career is 
 one of the mysteries we cannot solve. It is easy 
 to imagine the great and good work he might 
 
have accomplished had his life been prolonged. 
 But God had some better thing for him, and 
 through him has been teaching us the sorrowful 
 yet the deepest and truest lessons of life. His 
 bright example, sweet spirit and lofty purpose 
 are today a precious memory and a perpetual 
 inspiration. 'He being dead yet speaketh.' ' 
 
 On Thursday afternoon of Commencement 
 week at Good Will, '06, the corner stone of the 
 Carnegie Library building was laid. A chorus 
 of girls and boys, under the direction of Chas. 
 F. Nutter, led in singing. The hymns sung 
 were "America," "How Firm a Foundation," 
 and "My Faith Looks Up to Thee." Prayer 
 was offered by Prof. A. L. Lane. The audience 
 joined in repeating the first psalm. 
 
 After I had related, in a brief address, the 
 events which had led up to the occasion, a copper 
 box was produced in which we placed a copy of 
 the architect's specifications for the building, 
 Contractor Wilbur's card, a Good Will Record, 
 the story of Good Will Farm, the story of Dan 
 McDonald one of Good Will's best-known boys 
 a copy of the Waterville Evening Mail con- 
 taining an account of the previous day's pro- 
 ceedings at Good Will, a full set of the pro- 
 
 179 
 
grammes of Commencement Week at Good Will, 
 the signatures of all the Good Will boys and 
 girls then at the Farm and their teachers, and a 
 few other articles. The box was sealed, placed 
 in the corner stone by Judge Hobbs, President 
 of the Good Will Home Association, and the 
 corner stone was then laid, President Hobbs 
 pronouncing it "plumb, square and true." The 
 Doxology was sung and then the audience broke 
 into cheers, cheering lustily for the donor of the 
 Willie Sage Tuttle Fund, which is to play a 
 large part in the growth of the library, and then, 
 as a last thing done or said at the service, three 
 rousing cheers for the donor of the library, Mr. 
 Andrew Carnegie. 
 
 The Charles E. Moody building to take the 
 place of the one destroyed by fire on the last 
 night of '04, was dedicated Thursday of As- 
 sembly week, in that year, at 10.30 A. M. 
 
 The program was in some particulars like all 
 that had preceded it on similar occasions. It 
 consisted of: Singing, "America"; Scripture, 
 thirty-seventh Psalm, read by G. W. Hinckley; 
 singing, "How Firm a Foundation"; report of 
 the building committee and presentation of keys, 
 Hon. Nath'l Hobbs, North Berwick; acceptance 
 
 180 
 
of keys, Hon. L. L. Walton, Skowhegan ; sing- 
 ing, "Am I a Soldier of the Cross," Good Will 
 choir ; dedicatory prayer, Mr. R. A. Jordan, 
 Bangor; singing, "Stand Up for Jesus," Good 
 Will choir; dedicatory address by Pres. George 
 Emory Fellows of the University of Maine. 
 
 In his report for the Building Committee, 
 Judge Nath'l Hobbs said: "Acting in behalf of 
 the Building Committe, to whom were dele- 
 gated the supervision and direction of building a 
 new school building to take the place of the one 
 destroyed a year ago last December, I would say 
 that the committee had attended to the duty 
 assigned them and what you have seen in the 
 interior and on the outside of the building is the 
 result of their directions. The building has been 
 accepted by the committee. Mr. Chairman, it is 
 not for the committee to praise its own work, but 
 I have been told by competent judges that the 
 architecture of the building is superior to that 
 of the one destroyed and that the interior ar- 
 rangement is also better. 
 
 The contract provided that as much of the 
 material on the ground might be used as prac- 
 ticable in the construction of the building, so that 
 what was used was a sort of leaven to leaven the 
 
 181 
 
whole structure so that this building may be well 
 considered the Charles E. Moody School Build- 
 ing. It may not be know to some present that 
 the original was built by his two sisters as a 
 memorial to Chas. E. Moody. Neither of the 
 sisters is now living. Now as we contemplate 
 this building in surroundings and in its interior 
 we, I think, may be conscious of the sweet fra- 
 grace of the life of Chas. E. Moody and his two 
 sisters. So I think it very appropriate that the 
 association may christen and re-dedicate the 
 Charles E. Moody School Building. And now, 
 Mr. Chairman, the last act on the part of the 
 committee is to present the keys of the building, 
 which I do." 
 
 Hon. L. L. Walton of Skowhegan in accept- 
 ing the keys said: "I accept these keys and this 
 building not only for the officers and members 
 of the Good Will Home Association and its many 
 loyal supporters but for the efficient teachers of 
 the school and scholars, boys and girls, who have 
 waited so long and patiently for the building to 
 be completed. I accept it also for the vast 
 throng, we trust, of future boys who will occupy 
 these rooms as successors of those now here. 
 
 "The building speaks for itself. All can see 
 
 182 
 
what it is. We thank the building committee 
 for their faithful services and we accept it from 
 their hands with assurance that every scholar will 
 be here trained into a noble young man or wo- 
 man, letting them out into the large land of 
 opportunity beyond. God bless them, every 
 one." 
 
 President Fellows took for his theme, "The 
 Responsibility of Education." 
 
 The congregation sang the Doxology in clos- 
 ing. 
 
 183 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Things were coming "to pass" ; but there was 
 a cloud, and a dark one. In the October Good 
 Will Record, 1906, I referred to it, editorially, 
 thus: 
 
 "Readers of the Good Will record and others 
 who are familiar with the work of the Good Will 
 Home Association know that in the past few 
 years a debt has been incurred. It has hardly 
 been referred to for several months, but it still 
 exists. Three suggestions relative to it have 
 been made, (i) That it be bonded. I object. 
 (2) That a mortgage be placed on Good Will 
 Farm. I protest. (3) That the debt be raised. 
 In my judgment the last named course is the 
 only one to take. 
 
 There are three things to be said about the 
 debt, (a) It was incurred under unusual cir- 
 cumstances, such as will not exist again, (b) 
 The last quarter of the year 1906 seems to be 
 the time to cancel it. (c) If the debt is once 
 paid, it need not, and so far as I can say, will 
 not, be incurred again. 
 
 1*4 
 
There arc three things to consider, (i) The 
 raising of the money to pay the debt ought not 
 to conflict with the usual contributions to the 
 current expenses of the work. (2) The debt 
 should be paid by a few large contributions, 
 rather than by a multitude of small ones. (3) I 
 know of no one who contemplates contributing 
 a sum sufficient to pay the whole debt; but I 
 believe that there are people who will be glad to 
 give from $1000 to $5000 each, to help the insti- 
 tution which has done so much for humanity 
 and which promises so much to the world in the 
 future. 
 
 If the debt had been incurred through dis- 
 honesty, extravagance, or the payment of too 
 large salaries, the case would take on a different 
 aspect ; but as I have already stated, it is the 
 result of unique circumstances, such as will not 
 exist again. We can point to equipment in 
 buildings and permanent improvements which 
 explain the existence of much of the debt, and 
 the rest is the shortage on current expense ac- 
 count the accumulation of several years when 
 a change of methods in raising money was in 
 progress. Good Will has a larger number of 
 boys and girls this year than ever before. Defi- 
 
nite improvements and developments are in sight 
 which will greatly increase Good Will's useful- 
 ness and its capacity for helping those who need 
 the assistance which Good Will gives. The 
 greatest hindrance to its development, the one 
 serious obstacle to its progress, is the debt now 
 under consideration. I would be glad to cor- 
 respond with any who may wish information 
 about the matter; I wish I might hear from the 
 friends of Good Will just how they feel about 
 it. Shall the debt be wiped out by December 
 31, 1906? 
 
 Commencement week of 1908 had a feature of 
 special interest. Something had been brought 
 "to pass" ; there was occasion for the reading of 
 the thirty-seventh Psalm, or at least a part of it, 
 and the singing of hymns of faith. In the pre- 
 ceding February I had received a letter from Mr. 
 Tracy W. McGregor, of Detroit, Michigan, 
 whom I had met at a convention several years 
 before, telling me of a plan for the erection and 
 endowment of a home for fifteen boys at Good 
 Will. The letter said: "Will you kindly write 
 and tell me what steps it would be necessary to 
 take in order to carry out the suggestion." 
 
 Correspondence followed in which I en- 
 
 186 
 
deavored to explain that a sum of money might 
 be turned over to the Good Will Home Associa- 
 tion sufficient to build the proposed home ; that 
 to such a home might be added a fund large 
 enough to provide annually for repairs and in- 
 surance, and fifteen scholarships of three thou- 
 sand dollars each, as these would yield an in- 
 come sufficient to make a family of fifteen possi- 
 ble, practically providing for its support. 
 
 So it came "to pass" that on Thursday of 
 Commencement week at Good Will, in 1908 the 
 first week in June the formal exercises of 
 breaking ground took place. The following pro- 
 gram was observed : 
 
 Singing, "America," Congregation 
 
 Reading of 37th Psalm, 
 
 Gilbert Arey, a Good Will Senior 
 Singing, "How Firm a Foundation," 
 
 Congregation 
 
 Prayer, G. F. Barnard 
 
 Address, G. W. Hinckley 
 
 In the course of brief remarks I said : 
 "When the house is built on the spot where 
 we are now assembled it will complete this par- 
 ticular group of homes. Architects are now 
 
busy with the plans and specifications. About 
 the first of July funds will be turned over to the 
 Good Will Home Association, sufficient to build 
 and equip the home and also to provide an in- 
 come for the support of a family of fifteen boys. 
 It is to be known as the 'Whitney Home.' I 
 hope that we will be able to begin work about 
 the first of July, but in the meantime, assured 
 of the gift, we are gathered here in this Com- 
 mencement Week to break ground; to turn the 
 first turf. 
 
 "It has been our custom upon similar occasions 
 to select some individual to turn the first turf, 
 regarding the privilege as something of an honor. 
 This gift comes to us from Michigan. So far 
 as we know there is but one person in our com- 
 munity at the present time who came from that 
 state John Hall, a Good Will Cottage boy, is 
 with us. He came to us from Michigan upon 
 the application and through the request of Mrs. 
 McGregor. I have, therefore, asked him as the 
 representative of Mr. and Mrs. McGregor to 
 turn the first turf this afternoon, but before this 
 is done you will please give three rousing cheers 
 for the donor of the building." 
 
 Amid the cheers of the assembly John Hall, 
 
9*. , 
 
 JOHN HALL 
 Ready to break ground for the Whitney Home 
 
a sturdy lad of about nine years, stepped forward 
 and turned tin- first turf. 
 
 Tuesday, Feb. 23d, '09, was a rarely beautiful 
 winter's day. It was the date for the dedication 
 of the Whitney Home at Good Will. The 
 building was opened for inspection at eight 
 o'clock, and as soon as it was opened visitors be- 
 iran to enter. In order that the place should not 
 be crowded at any hour it had been previously 
 arranged that the Good Will boys should visit it 
 in cottage groups, one group arriving every fif- 
 teen minutes to be shown through the house. 
 At eleven o'clock an interested and sympathetic 
 audience had assembled in Moody Hall for the 
 dedicatory services. The congregation sang 
 four verses of 
 
 "How firm a foundation, Ye Saints of the Lord, 
 Is laid for your faith in his excellent word." 
 
 In the very beginning of the history of Good 
 Will the hope for the work rested in Psalm 
 37 *5 ' "Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also 
 in Him, and He shall bring to pass," and it had 
 been the custom to read at least a part of that 
 Psalm at all dedication services enough of it to 
 include the fifth verse anyway. It had been read 
 at the breaking of ground for fourteen struc- 
 
 189 
 
tures at Good Will, including homes and educa- 
 tional buildings ; it had been read at the laying of 
 six corner-stones, and at nineteen dedicatory ser- 
 vices. It was fitting that in this twentieth year 
 of Good Will's existence it should be read at the 
 twentieth dedicatory service. No other passage 
 could be so fitting; no other passage could take 
 its place. So it came to pass that the first ten 
 verses of this Psalm were read by Mr. C. C. 
 Robinson, State Y. M. C. A. Secretary of Boys' 
 Work in Maine. A chorus of Good Will boys 
 and girls sang, 
 
 "Consider and hear me.' 
 
 I was able to say: 
 
 "When Hall Cottage was presented to the 
 Good Will Home Association it was decided to 
 locate it in a somewhat remote part of the Farm. 
 No doubt the matron and the first family of boys 
 in it sometimes felt isolated and had lonesome 
 hours. To many the location seemed unfortu- 
 nate. Questions were asked and the uniform re- 
 ply was : 'It is a part of a plan ; eventually there 
 will be a group of three homes in that location 
 a little colony of forty-five or fifty boys.' 
 
 "When Bancroft-Foote House was presented 
 it was promptly decided to locate it two hundred 
 
 190 
 
Feet to the north of Hall Cottage, and it was 
 
 apparent that the plan was to be worked out in 
 due time, though from whence the third home 
 of the group would come was still a mystery. 
 
 "One year ago I received a letter from Detroit, 
 Michigan. It was dated Feb. 15, 1908, and it 
 informed me that Mrs. Tracy W. McGregor 
 contemplated building and endowing a home for 
 boys at Good Will and information was re- 
 quested as to the next step to be taken. Cor- 
 respondence followed. Mr. McGregor visited 
 Good Will and examined possible locations. It 
 was finally decided that the Whitney Home the 
 gift of Mrs. McGregor should be located so as 
 to be the third home in the group. The group is 
 now completed. I do not mean that all plans for 
 Good Will are consummated ; but one little plan 
 for that part of the Farm is completed ; and the 
 eleventh home belonging to the Good Will Home 
 Association is about to be dedicated. The con- 
 tract for the house was awarded by the Special 
 Building Committee to J. L. Parkin and Son of 
 Fairfield for $9,500.00: the contract for heating 
 and plumbing was awarded to George Toppan of 
 Fairfield for $1,100.00. It was stipulated by the 
 donor that the structure should be first class in 
 
 191 
 
every respect. The Committee believes that all 
 requirements have been met. The gift of the 
 building was accompanied by a fund sufficient to 
 yield the probable cost of repairs and insurance 
 each year and also by fifteen scholarships of 
 three thousand dollars each. 
 
 "As we are gathered here to mark the opening 
 of the home by appropriate exercises, gratitude 
 should be the prevailing note ; the enlarged use- 
 fulness of Good Will is assured. 
 
 "Mrs. McGregor's gift is a 'house beautiful.' 
 Its architecture is attractive ; it is built of the 
 best material ; its materials are joined together in 
 a most workmanlike manner. But we know that 
 neither brick and mortar, nor wood and iron 
 make a home, no matter how skillfully they may 
 be combined. 
 
 "Mrs. McGregor's gift is a 'home.' The man- 
 agement has taken every precaution ; no oldtime 
 barracks have been here created ; today we dedi- 
 cate a real home a place where the home spirit 
 will always be dominant. 
 
 192 
 
"Mrs. McGregor's gift is a memorial. You 
 noticed the bronze tablet in the hallway : 
 
 THIS HOME WAS ERECTED 
 
 AND ENDOWED IN MEMORY OF 
 
 DAVID WHITNEY 
 
 BY A DAUGHTER 
 
 1908 
 
 "David Whitney was one of God's noblemen; 
 no memorial should be erected to such a man 
 unless it be beautiful, impressive, useful. No 
 more fitting memorial could be reared than a 
 home for boys a home for boys in memory of 
 David Whitney, the business man, the philan- 
 thropist, the home-lover, the father. 
 
 "Mr. Whitney was born at Westford, Mass., 
 August 23, 1830. He sprang from New Eng- 
 land ancestors, and was one of a family of four 
 brothers. With them he gained a common 
 school education, and was afterward a student at 
 the Westford Academy. During earlier years 
 he worked for his father, who was a farmer, but 
 at the age of twenty-one hired as a clerk with 
 the Westford Lumber Company. 
 
 "Within three years, he had so shown his 
 
 193 
 
capacity for management that the firm made him 
 superintendent of the business. Not more than a 
 year afterwards, however, he started to deal in 
 lumber on his own account in Lowell, Mass., and 
 his trade was so prosperous that it soon became 
 wholesale in character and extended throughout 
 New England. The forests of the Upper Con- 
 necticut River were then a profitable source of 
 lumber supply. The business had not been long 
 under way when others were drawn into it, and 
 the firm of Skillings, Whitney and Barnes was 
 organized, with a principal office in Boston, and 
 distributing yards at points in New England and 
 New York. Mr. Whitney was president of the 
 company up to the time of his death in 1900, 
 when he was succeeded by his son. When not 
 more than twenty-nine years of age, he was at- 
 tracted by the extensive white pine resources of 
 the State of Michigan and soon afterwards went 
 to that state to make his home. For many years 
 he bought and converted into lumber the big 
 trees of thousands of acres in Michigan and Wis- 
 consin, and at one time owned the largest timber 
 acreage ever possessed by any individual in the 
 State of Michigan. 
 
 "For many years Mr. Whitney was a resident 
 
 194 
 
of Detroit, and contributed largely to the ma- 
 terial prosperity of the city. He was actively 
 nii^vd in various lines of manufacturing and 
 banking, and was the head of a transportation 
 company which owned and operated vessels on 
 the Great Lakes. He became a large dealer in 
 real estate and erected several of the principal 
 buildings of the city. Mr. Whitney's commer- 
 cial operations were marked by extreme care and 
 conservatism. 
 
 "Regarding Mr. Whitney's character, some- 
 thing may be gathered from the following quo- 
 tations from tributes paid to him at the time of 
 his death: 
 
 "General R. A. Alger, Secretary of War, says : 
 'He was a quiet, unostentatious gentleman, who 
 was very particular in making contracts, but 
 would always stand to his bargains whether they 
 were hard or not. He was strictly honorable in 
 every respect, and would never wrong a man in 
 a shilling to make a million for himself. It is a 
 great loss when such men pass away. When I 
 asked him about his assessments on the last tax 
 rolls, he said that he would rather pay taxes on 
 twice the amount assessed than shirk a dollar of 
 his just obligations/ 
 
 195 
 
"Resolutions from the Board of the Union 
 Trust Company read as follows: 
 
 ' 'We knew him always as the man sagacious, 
 honest, and honorable, of individual views but 
 deferential to others, of wide and deep thought, 
 and of sound and seasoned judgment/ 
 
 "A newspaper editorial speaks as follows: 
 " 'Mr. Whitney was without social or political 
 ambitions. All his life he was content to be a 
 simple man of affairs ; he was entirely free from 
 ostentation, and his bearing towards the humblest 
 individual was courteous and considerate. His 
 private office was open to any one, and he al- 
 ways seemed to have unlimited time. In his giv- 
 ing to church and charity, publicity and ad- 
 vertisement were avoided. Though Mr. Whit- 
 ney was a hard worker, and occupied a large 
 place in the business affairs of Detroit and 
 Michigan, he was so quiet and unassuming that 
 he received far less attention than others who 
 filled much smaller places. The attractions of 
 Mr. Whitney's character were especially mani- 
 fest in the home. Here he was gentle and affec- 
 tionate. No man was ever more devoted to his 
 family, and in his dealings with them he was an 
 ideal of patience/ 
 
 196 
 
It is delightful to know that here at Good 
 Will the memory of such a man is to be per- 
 petuated ; his life work enlarged ; his influence 
 ever increased as the years come and go. And 
 so in behalf of the donor who cannot be with 
 us today, and as Chairman of the Building 
 Committee, I present the keys of the Whitney 
 Home to the Trustees and Directors of the Good 
 Will Home Association." 
 
 Mr. R. A. Jordan, a director of the Associa- 
 tion, received the keys and said: 
 
 "It gives me pleasure in behalf of the Good 
 Will Home Association to accept from you for 
 the generous donor, Mrs. Tracy W. McGregor, 
 the Whitney Home for boys, and to assure you of 
 our sincere gratitude. 
 
 "It means much that shrewd and practical 
 business men and intelligent and benevolent 
 women are giving so generously of their means 
 for the support and propagation of the work at 
 Good Will. It means much because such men 
 and women are not moved by mere sentiment, nor 
 by the impulses of the moment. 
 
 "It means, I believe, that this work, standing, 
 as it does, as a special help and safeguard to 
 needy and imperilled boys, and reaching, as it 
 
 197 
 
does, with its hand of friendship and love, in- 
 viting them to enter its portals and find refuge; 
 I say I can but believe it means that good men 
 and women feel it to be a necessary work, and 
 worthy of the best possible support, and it is 
 gratifying to all connected with it to have this 
 continued and growing confidence of intelligent 
 and benevolent people. 
 
 "It gives me pleasure also to accept this gift 
 because of what it means to the extension of the 
 work. We must not think of this building and 
 its splendid endowment as caring simply for fif- 
 teen needy boys; but rather as a benefit for the 
 hundreds of boys, as the years come and go, who 
 will find their way to its open door to be fed, 
 clothed, and educated, who otherwise must have 
 been uncared for. 
 
 "It gives me pleasure, also, to accept this gift 
 because of the assurance of permanency which 
 comes with it; this assurance coming to us be- 
 cause of the splendid endowment of the Whitney 
 Home. The necessity of having the Good Will 
 Home Association put on a sound and perma- 
 nent financial basis by a liberal endowment, as 
 are other institutions in our State, is so impor- 
 tant for its future usefulness and permanency, 
 
 198 
 
that we cannot be too thankful to God or the 
 good woman who today blesses us by her gen- 
 erosity in our work for needy humanity. We 
 will never in the coming years be obliged to con- 
 sider the closing of Whitney Home because of 
 lack of funds for the support of the boys, for 
 whom, we as an Association have become re- 
 sponsible. 
 
 "It gives me pleasure to accept this gift, also, 
 because of what it means to the boys who are to 
 be blessed by it. As I think of the magnificent 
 history of some of the boys who have gone out 
 from Good Will, and who today are filling places 
 of usefulness and prominence in the world's 
 work, and think of what some of these boys 
 nii^lit have been but for Good Will, I can but re- 
 joice that through the providence of God there 
 comes to needy ones that which will not only 
 save them from falling, but that which will make 
 them helpers in the uplifting of humanity. 
 
 "It gives me pleasure to accept this gift be- 
 cause of what it means to the Supervisor and 
 those immediately connected with him. They 
 are the ones who must say 'No' to broken- 
 hearted mothers and to needy and imperilled 
 boys who apply for help but who must be turned 
 
 199 
 
away for lack of room and funds. To make it 
 possible for them to say 'Yes' instead of 'No' is 
 to give them happiness and help them carry a 
 burden already too heavy. 
 
 "It gives me pleasure to accept this gift also, 
 because of what this day must mean to the heart 
 of Jesus Christ. If he was interested in one 
 class more than another it must have been the 
 children. I can but feel as we meet here today 
 that we have His smile of approval and His 
 words of commendation, saying 'Inasmuch as ye 
 did it unto the least of these little ones ye did it 
 unto me.' 
 
 "And lastly, it gives me pleasure to accept this 
 gift, because it brings to us renewed assurance 
 that the work we are doing is God-given, God- 
 owned, and God-blessed." 
 
 Prayer was offered by Rev. I. B. Mower, D. 
 D.. of Waterville. 
 
 The Good Will girls sang "Not a Sparrow 
 Falleth." 
 
 Prof. Alfred William Anthony of Bates Col- 
 lege was then introduced and gave the dedi- 
 catory address. Space does not allow the re- 
 production of the address in full, but among 
 other things Prof. Anthony said : 
 
 200 
 
"We do well to say to ourselves today that a 
 building like this, a part of an organization dedi- 
 cated to the service of boys and girls, is a bene- 
 faction which will always be needed. I am 
 aware that in a recent conference, distinguished 
 by reason of the men assembled, and notable also 
 for its conclusions, held on invitaion of our hon- 
 ored President in the White House, institutions 
 for children, institutions as such, were dis- 
 credited, and the home together with a "placing- 
 out" system was exalted as the only suitable cus- 
 todian for children ; and the experiences of sev- 
 eral states, notably of Massachusetts, were called 
 in evidence as a vindication of the abolishment of 
 institutions and for reliance wholly upon the as- 
 sistance of private homes for the care of unfor- 
 tunate children, some experts going so far as to 
 say that all that was needed was an office and an 
 office force to take unfortunate children and then 
 find for them places of refuge in suitable homes. 
 "We may well recognize the reasons which 
 underlie such conclusions. Institutions have be- 
 come so largely institutionalized as to merit dis- 
 credit. When children are dressed alike, made 
 to march in procession, given the same tasks, 
 subjected to the same routine, and are run 
 
 201 
 
through a mill which turns out as nearly as pos- 
 sible the same product, then we may discredit 
 and undertake to abolish the whole institution as 
 a violation of child-nature. A boy must always 
 be Tom, or Harold, or Ben, and never a num- 
 ber, or part of a system. 
 
 "The Good Will Homes have none of the 
 traits of an institution in this sense. They are 
 homes. They perpetuate, as nearly as possible, 
 the character and the influences of the best home. 
 They individualize. The boys before me are not 
 dressed alike, do not sit alike, do not behave 
 alike ; and my attention has been called to the 
 fact that their singing is unlike the singing 
 heard even in our public schools. The individual 
 tone rings out in the volume of sound. 
 
 "It is a sad misfortune when the home, into 
 which a child has been born, is for any cause 
 disabled, or disrupted, whether by death, sick- 
 ness, or disaster, and the child must go forth into 
 the world. Between the child thus thrust out 
 and the homes into which it might come, there 
 must stand some kind of an institution, main- 
 tained by the state or by private charity, to meet 
 at least two exigencies : 
 
 "(i) The situation of disease or mental or 
 
 202 
 
moral disorder, for there are children who are 
 not fit to be taken into the private home until they 
 have been physically cleansed and healed, and in- 
 tellectually and morally started upon some bet- 
 ter highway than that which they have been ac- 
 customed to tread. 
 
 "And (2) children who have lost opportunity 
 and missed ambitions and failed to gather ideals 
 which are in harmony with human welfare 
 these need a pause, longer or shorter, between 
 the broken home of the past and some better 
 home for the future, wherein they may gather 
 impulse and incentive for a new and nobler life. 
 
 "Good Will furnishes this interval for the 
 gracious influences of personal interest and 
 Christian ideals. In these many household 
 groups is a reconstructing and highly conse- 
 crated department of motherhood ; and in all the 
 influences pervading these grounds, and these 
 several buildings, is the genius of Christian 
 fatherhood. Individuality is here fully pre- 
 served and nurtured in the environment of home- 
 ideals. 
 
 "I was gratified on inspecting Whitney Home 
 just now to find it a building of such taste and 
 quiet eleganece. It is not extravagant. It is 
 
 203 
 
not what would be termed luxurious. It is good. 
 It is what some people would call 'nice/ The 
 building might have been erected for much less 
 money; but I justify every dollar of expenditure. 
 Had space been cut out, then there would not 
 have been as much air for the lungs, nor as 
 much freedom for the hands and feet, nor quite 
 that sense of comfort and convenience which the 
 mind craves ; and every indication of beauty and 
 proportion is a vindication of taste and artistic 
 skill. Our Master justified the expenditure of 
 vast sums as a mere expression of sentiment, 
 when a woman sacrificed, in a moment of time, a 
 costly box of ointment which represented the 
 hard toil of three hundred days of some man's 
 labor, really a full year of saving He com- 
 mended the sacrifice and said of her that she had 
 'done what she could/ and that her gift should 
 be spoken of as a memorial wherever His Gospel 
 was preached. There is nothing in this world 
 more valuable than sentiment, aesthetic and emo- 
 tional. 
 
 "If the cost of this new building were invested 
 to yield savings bank interest, then the rental for 
 each boy would represent less than fifty cents a 
 week, scarcely twenty-five dollars a year. That 
 
 204 
 
is not a large sum to invest in an individual's 
 house and physical surroundings ; while the 
 whole amount with which this building i 
 (lowed represents an annual expenditure for the 
 maintenance of the building, and the maintenance 
 of its inmates, of only about two hundred dol- 
 lars a year per boy. This surely is a very mod- 
 erate sum, and no one reasonably could criticize 
 the expenditure of this amount for such pur- 
 poses. 
 
 "We may all take great satisfaction today in 
 realizing that the building which we dedicate and 
 set apart for special uses, is destined, so far as we 
 can foretell, to stand forever, and to serve the 
 welfare of Good Will Homes perpetually. The 
 donor has provided in her gift that the building 
 shall be repaired year by year, and parts re- 
 placed, as they may, through the lapse of time 
 by wear or breakage, give way; and so the 
 building can be kept perpetually new. The 
 donor has also provided that boys may come and 
 boys may go, generation follow generation, and 
 yet a family be supported within these sheltering 
 walls. It is not, therefore, a gift for one group 
 of boys; but a procession of boys, family by 
 family, reaching on through future years, far- 
 
 205 
 
ther than human sight can now penetrate. It is 
 perpetual benefaction. 
 
 "We can be sure that there will be need of 
 such a benefaction; for we know there will al- 
 ways be boys as long as the human race endures ; 
 and we know there there will aways be boyc 
 needing such help as this, as long as the human 
 race endures, for because of death and mis- 
 fortune 'tis pity we must say it the natural 
 home will be disrupted, and this fostor home be 
 required ; and we know that the principle of in- 
 dividualizing boys as they come to this foster 
 home will be permanent, because it has been 
 wrought into the very foundation of these build- 
 ings, and through every principle and ideal and 
 act of Good Will; and we can be assured also 
 that in the good providence of God, men, who 
 follow men, will be inspired with the ideals 
 which are close to the Divine purposes, and fulfil 
 the Divine plan for childhood, and manhood. 
 We can trust then the future and commit this 
 enterprise to Him who rules the future as he has 
 the past. 
 
 "We are standing today in touch with possi- 
 bilities which God only knows. The past in 
 good measure has focused from many directions 
 
 206 
 
GRANGE COTTAGE 
 
 THE EMILY F. RYERSON BUILDING 
 
gracioofl influences upon this pi ft: and in the 
 future, from this gift, will radiate in many di- 
 rections yet other gracious influences to bless the 
 world. 
 
 ' \\\ will look to Him unto whom all that is 
 
 incorporated in the Good Will Homes has been 
 
 committed, unto whom he Supervisor, officers, 
 
 ml friends have committed their ways, 
 
 unto Him who will also 'bring to pass.' ' 
 
 After Prof. Anthony's address the audience 
 was asked to join with the schools in singing one 
 of their loved Good Will songs for the closing 
 of the exercise. 
 
 The question asked in the Good Will Record, 
 October 1906, ''Shall the debt be wiped out by 
 December 31, 1906?" was answered in the nega- 
 tive or rather, nothing was said about it on that 
 date. But my annual report to the Trustees and 
 Directors, in July, 1908, opened as follows : 
 
 "Our year 1907-08 closing May 2Oth was full 
 of interest and in many respects was a notable 
 one in the history of Good Will. A debt of 
 nearly thirty thousand dollars was paid, a li- 
 brary building was dedicated ; an endowed home 
 for boys was offered and the acceptance of it 
 awaits your vote of approval ; farm life, home 
 
 207 
 
life and school life were happy and prosperous. 
 A helping hand was extended for the whole or a 
 part of the year to two hundred and thirty- 
 four of which one hundred and ninety-four were 
 boys and forty were girls." 
 
 One very large contribution was made toward 
 the liquidation of the debt and a few others 
 nearly as generous placed the Good Will Home 
 Association even with the world once more. 
 
 Another important problem was solved, for a 
 few years to come at least, when $2,500 was of- 
 fered toward the expense of an adequate water 
 supply and sewerage system. The water sup- 
 ply over which we had once been so happy had 
 proved insufficient as the demands upon it in- 
 creased and we had never been able to put in 
 any sewerage system at all. Other generous 
 friends came to our aid until an equal amount 
 for the same purpose had been provided; then 
 the contracts were made and the system was com- 
 pleted at the close of it>o8. The largest con- 
 tribution towards the raising of the debt and 
 the largest contribution toward the new water 
 supply and the sewerage system were by the 
 same sympathetic and helpful friend one of 
 
 208 
 
God's almoners who prefers that her name shall 
 not be mentioned in connection with her bene- 
 factions. 
 
 The same forces which have been in operation 
 in years past are still at work. The principles 
 upon which Good Will rests are unchanged. 
 There are many things which are to be wit- 
 nessed in the future. They are sure to be 
 brought "to pass." I confidently expect that a 
 gymnasium, a natural history or natural science 
 building, an administration building, endowed 
 homes and dormitories, are in the future. But 
 I "confidently expect" only as I have in the 
 past, that is, without knowing from whence, how 
 or by whom. 
 
 The Good Will plant is already large enough 
 to call for a very generous endowment, also, and 
 I know of no reason why such an endowment 
 should not be forthcoming from men and 
 women who have the welfare of humanity at 
 heart. 
 
 209 
 
THE CALISTA MAYHEW LECTURESHIP. 
 
 Through the kindness of Mrs. C. S. Mayhew, 
 the Good Will Home Association has a lecture- 
 ship fund which makes it possible for the schools 
 at Good Will to listen to several good lectures 
 each year. Mrs. Mayhew has given the Associa- 
 tion five thousand dollars, the interest of which 
 is to be used each year in providing lectures on 
 such subjects as seem most desirable. It is to be 
 known as the "Calista Mayhew Lectureship." 
 The real value of this gift can hardly be esti- 
 mated ; its influence will be far-reaching and 
 perennial. Mrs. Mayhew is one of Good Will's 
 strong helpers ; the green-house and the Mayhew 
 Scholarship of three thousand dollars are among 
 her benefactions. 
 
 210 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 The question is often asked, why a site in 
 Somerset county, Maine, should have been 
 selected for the Good Will Homes and Schools. 
 I am not sure that there were any definite theories 
 influencing the selection except that the proposed 
 work should be in the country. Having spent 
 my early life in Southern New England Con- 
 necticut and Rhode Island I had no convictions 
 about the Pine Tree State as a place for philan- 
 thropic effort; I did not even have opinions. 
 The thought of locating the Homes in Maine had 
 not occurred to me. It was not theories, there- 
 fore, which resulted in the present situation of 
 Good Will Farm, but a steadfast purpose to 
 follow, if I could, the leadings of Divine Provi- 
 dence. Theoretically Maine was not the best 
 place for it. Had a man living in Connecticut, 
 as I was, announced his intention of going to 
 Maine to establish a benevolent and educational 
 work which was to extend a helping hand to boys 
 in all parts of the country, and in turn to appeal 
 to every part of the country for sympathy and 
 
 211 
 
aid, no one would have experienced any difficulty 
 in producing arguments against it. I could have 
 produced arguments myself. For instance, it 
 might have been said, the climate of Maine is 
 severe ; it is the home of pulmonary troubles ; it 
 is remote from the large centers Boston and 
 New York ; the State is but sparsely populated ; 
 there are but few if any great fortunes there ; a 
 stranger in the State will need a long time to 
 gain a foothold and the confidence of benevolent 
 people; it is the last place in the United States 
 east of the Mississippi for such a work. But I 
 had surrendered to God, after a long struggle, 
 in which I had been obliged to cry, "Thou art 
 stronger than I," and it did not matter where I 
 went so long as I could know I was following 
 Providential leadership. I had taken Psalm 
 37 : 5, and must abide by it. I had resigned a 
 pastorate in which I had been peculiarly happy, 
 without knowing what I would do next. So far 
 as could ever be learned I was writing my resig- 
 nation not having mentioned my purpose to do 
 so to any one, at the same time that the clerk 
 of another church was writing me, in its behalf, 
 an invitation to become its pastor. This inci- 
 dent gave me courage, strengthening my belief 
 
 212 
 
JUDGE NATHANIEL HOBBS. 
 
that the change I was making would result in a 
 long step toward the boys' work. On the new 
 field I had for a ministerial brother a man who 
 had worked in Maine under direction of the 
 American Sunday-school Union. He was one 
 of three men to recommend me to the same 
 union, for the work of Sunday-school organiza- 
 tion in Maine. I regarded this as the outcome 
 of the step I had taken, and as I went to Maine 
 I held the opinion that in that great State the 
 Homes would be founded. The opinion deep- 
 ened into a conviction. I had held the opinion ; 
 the conviction held me. Subsequent events and 
 experiences show how groundless were the argu- 
 ments which might have been advanced against 
 that State as the home of a far reaching benevo- 
 lent work. 
 
 ist. The climate. It is true that the winters 
 are severe in Somerset county. The summers 
 are beautiful. It is also true that the average 
 healthy boy has no quarrel with frosty weather. 
 In winter the air is cold at Good Will, but it is 
 dry, crisp and pure. I do not believe a better 
 winter for boys can be found anywhere than in 
 Somerset Co., Maine. 
 
 2nd. The fear of pulmonary troubles had it 
 
 213 
 
been allowed an influence in choice of site 
 would have been equally ill-advised. Maine has 
 had an unenviable reputation as regards lung and 
 throat diseases. It is only within a few years 
 that it has been discovered that Aroostook county 
 is one of the most favorable locations in New 
 England for the treatment of consumption. 
 Somerset county is far enough removed from the 
 coast, and near enough to the unbroken forest 
 region to afford a salubrious climate. Boys who 
 have come to us with consumptive tendencies, 
 have invariably outgrown such tendencies ; while 
 catarrhal troubles among Good Will boys are 
 rare. 
 
 3rd. Maine was at one time in her history, 
 far removed from the large centers, like New 
 York and Boston ; but that was in the days of 
 the stage coach and sailing vessels, before the 
 advent of express trains, fast mails, telephones 
 and telegraphs. 
 
 4th. Maine is not the home of large fortunes 
 as fortunes are estimated in the twentieth cen- 
 tury ; but her citizens are large hearted and gen- 
 erous, and from the beginning have cherished 
 the interests of Good Will, and been ready 
 helpers in developing and supporting the work. 
 
 214 
 
In proportion to the number of Maine boys aided, 
 the people of the State have up to the present 
 time done their share grandly. 
 
 5th. The obstacles to be overcome by a young 
 man undertaking such a work in a State where he 
 was an entire stranger were great enough it is 
 true; but they did not prove insurmountable or 
 as formidable, as one would expect. 
 
 6th. Instead of being the last place in the 
 United States east of the Mississippi river for 
 such a work, after ten years of testing, I am 
 convinced that it is the best. I have no quarrel 
 with the kind Providence which led to the banks 
 of the Kcnnebec river into a county of the Pine 
 Tree State highly favored in its climatic con- 
 ditions, its freedom from malaria, catarrh, and 
 pulmonary troubles; a site fortunate in its 
 wholesome surroundings, pure water, and sani- 
 tary conditions. 
 
 215 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 In January, 1888, I published the first issue of 
 "The Boy's Fund, devoted to the interests of boys 
 in need of a helping hand." The size was 6 
 inches x 8^2 inches. Four hundred and fifty 
 copies were printed. The paper stated briefly 
 the plan for a home for boys, to be located in the 
 country, and was mailed February I. The sub- 
 scription price was, twenty-five cents per annum. 
 In June of that year the paper was admitted to 
 the mails in Bangor, Me., as second class matter. 
 
 In May, 1889, the land which was to be the 
 foundation for the Home for boys was pur- 
 chased, and named Good- Will Farm. In August 
 the name of the paper was changed to Good- Will 
 Record, and the number of pages doubled. It 
 was then printed in Fairfield; entered at East 
 Fairfield. In February, 1890, its form was 
 changed to 9 inches x 1 1 ^2 inches, three columns 
 to a page, and eight pages. In December it was 
 increased to twelve pages, and the price raised 
 to fifty cents a year. In May, 1892, it was 
 decided to make its permanent form 7 inches x 
 
 216 
 
io inches, sixteen two-column pages, with addi- 
 tional pages from time to time, as needed, and 
 the printing was transferred to Augusta, Maine. 
 
 I had previously devoted most of my time to 
 religious work; had been pastor, Sunday-school 
 missionary, and evangelist, and had drawn a 
 comfortable salary. But I was convinced that I 
 must either give up my salaried position, and 
 devote my time and strength to the growing work 
 at Good-Will, or I must see the undertaking lan- 
 guish from lack of attention. 
 
 I decided to give up my former position and 
 become supervisor of the work. I also decided 
 to accept no salary from the benevolent funds 
 of the Homes. 
 
 It was a simple matter to adopt the following 
 course, viz: All benevolent contributions received 
 by the Good Will Homes to be devoted to 
 their growth and support. Of such receipts, not 
 a cent has ever been otherwise used. Receipts 
 for annual subscriptions to the Good Will Record 
 to be regarded as a commercial transaction, and 
 such receipts used by myself in lieu of any salary 
 for the support of myself and family. That at 
 times this was meagre may be readily understood 
 when it is stated that the first year the total sub- 
 scriptions to the Record amounted to $430.00. 
 This has measurably increased since. 
 
 217 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 The words, "Good Will," as applied to the 
 farms and homes and schools at Hinckley, 
 Me., were taken from the second chapter of the 
 Gospel of Luke the song of the herald angels. 
 But "Good Will," as the words are now used to 
 designate the work in progress at Hinckley, 
 has another and a special meaning. They stand 
 for the work of the Good Will Home Associa- 
 tion, and we want to explain just what Good 
 Will means when used in that way. 
 
 Good Will stands for home life. This is an 
 age of investigation ; of experiments ; of prog- 
 ress. In his address at the Pan American, the 
 day before he fell before the assassin's assault 
 President McKinley said : "Expositions are the 
 time keepers of progress." There was a time 
 when an Exposition once in a quarter of a cen- 
 tury was often enough; but they come oftener 
 now, for progress is more rapid, and before one 
 is over, plans are laid for its successor. But in 
 it all, human nature remains the same. In the 
 beginning God instituted for humanity. One of 
 
 218 
 
the first institutions was home. No true or safe 
 substitute for the home has ever been discovered. 
 Such a discovery is not in the power of man. The 
 nearer we keep to the family and the home, in our 
 benevolent work, the nearer we are to the divinely 
 instituted. In the cottage system of Good \Yill 
 fifteen in a family we come as near as we can 
 to the family life. 
 
 Good Will stands for industry. 
 
 It is understood that every boy and girl at 
 Good Will shall have some duty to perform. For 
 the younger ones it may be exceedingly light 
 work ; but something must be done by each one 
 as a contribution to the activities and the general 
 welfare of the community. Over the main 
 entrance to the first Chas. E. Moody Building 
 were two words, used primarily to characterize 
 the man whose life is perpetuated in the building, 
 but selected also as the key note to the teachings 
 within it. The words were "Honesty" and "In- 
 dustry." The dignity of labor is taught by pre- 
 cept and example. The boys are frequently 
 reminded that the same Divine command which 
 says, "On the seventh day thou shalt do no 
 work," also says, "Six days shalt thou labor." 
 It is true that "all work and no play makes Jack 
 
 219 
 
a dull boy." It is equally true that all play and 
 no work is the basis for a worthless, meaningless 
 life. The Good Will boy will have to work when 
 he leaves his present home; he must acquire 
 habits of industry in his youth. 
 
 Good Will stands for wholesome discipline. 
 This sounds a trifle old-fashioned, but obedience 
 is at the foundation of all government. Without 
 obedience there can be no nobility of character. 
 The Good Will boy comes under few laws, but 
 those laws are to be obeyed. We do not say that 
 the average boy likes to be governed ; but we do 
 say, without fearing contradiction from the boy 
 or his elders, that he expects to be governed. He 
 has little respect for the teacher or parent who 
 cannot control or govern him. Good Will 
 stands for a discipline that is gentle, reasonable 
 and firm. 
 
 Good Will stands for the religious training of 
 youth. For such training there can be no wise 
 substitute. Much work for children, especially 
 for boys, is carried on in these days, without any 
 reference to the religious nature. Man is a 
 religious being. "The boy is father of the man." 
 There is a religious elemen: in boy nature so 
 strong that it is not safe to ignore it. A religion 
 
 220 
 
void of cant, void of hypocrisy, void of priggish- 
 ness is the aim at Good Will. The religious life 
 is strong and healthy. The type is practical. 
 The chapel is the place for formal worship, but 
 the conduct of the majority of the boys, on the 
 farm, in the school, everywhere, is determined by 
 religious principle. The details of Good Will's 
 industry, family life, discipline and religious 
 activity need not be explained here. 
 
 221 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 There are three things to which I wish to call 
 the attention of all friends of Good Will at this 
 time. I am conscious that when I address "all 
 the friends of Good Will" I reach a larger num- 
 ber of persons than ever before ; for the circle of 
 her friends and sympathizers is constantly grow- 
 ing. But these friends should know the situa- 
 tion. I submit the following three things for 
 careful consideration. 
 
 i. Good Will's need of financial support from 
 day to day. W r e have not reached our ideal. 
 There are many things which we cannot do as 
 we would like to do them ; and many things we 
 ought to do which cannot be done at all for lack 
 of funds. So we do the best we can, and hope 
 for the day when we can do better. Our first 
 duty, our high privilege, as friends of Good Will 
 is to keep the Treasurer supplied with funds for 
 current expenses. The work needs the same 
 kind of contributions which have been necessary 
 in the past, but more of them, because more work 
 and better work for humanity is being none. 
 
 222 
 
The first thing, then, is the generous contribu- 
 tions to the current expenses of the Homes and 
 Schools. 
 
 2. Good Will's need of an endowment fund. 
 This fund is already commenced. According to 
 the Treasurer's report published in the Good Will 
 Record, the endowment fund, June 2Oth, 1900, 
 amounted to $18,000; June 2Oth, 1901, it 
 amounted to $36,000. In other words the fund 
 was doubled in twelve months ; but it is still very 
 small. Is it too much to ask that the fund as it 
 now stands ($200,000) be greatly increased at 
 this stage of development. We do not expect 
 this will be done by small gifts $10.00 and 
 $5.00 at a time but some of God's almoners in 
 these days are intrusted with wealth, and we 
 believe this need of Good Will must appeal 
 strongly to them. This is an age of great things, 
 and we are in an era of great prosperity as a 
 nation. Shall not Good Will be helped in pro- 
 portion, and equipped financially for great 
 things. The second thing, then, is the increase 
 of Good Will's Endowment Fund. 
 
 3. With increased financial support, and 
 enlarged endowment there may be, and ought to 
 be immediate extension of usefulness. The 
 
 223 
 
foundations at Good Will are broad. We have 
 come now to the very threshold of large things. 
 The fact that we are compelled to turn away 
 several hundred needy and deserving applicants 
 each year does not mean that new institutions 
 are needed ; it does mean that institutions already 
 existing, whose usefulness has been tested and 
 whose foundations already laid are broad and 
 deep, should be strengthened. The broad acres 
 at Good Will invite more boys ; the large school 
 building, chapel, and manual training building 
 invite a multitude. The restricted accommo- 
 dations in the cottages and the limited finances 
 of the Good Will Home Association say "No" 
 to many who can be and ought to be saved. 
 Those who are best acquainted with the history 
 of Good Will believe that God has signally 
 honored the work, and are confident that it 
 affords opportunity for the investment of large 
 sums for humanity. A large work in the 
 future is planned ; large sums to be invested in 
 boys and girls in need of a helping hand, are 
 greatly needed at Good Will Farm. 
 
 224 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 WHAT BOYS ARE RECEIVED. 
 
 A boy to be received at Good Will must be 
 between the ages of nine and fifteen. He must 
 be sound in body; the plan is industrial. He 
 must be of average intelligence ; the plan is edu- 
 cational. He must be of fair morals; the plan 
 is preventive. He must be in need of a helping 
 hand ; the plan is benevolent. 
 
 HOW TO PROCEED. 
 
 The best method of applying for admission for 
 a boy is to write to the Supervisor of the Good 
 Will Home Association, Hinckley, Maine, giving 
 a description of the boy and his circumstances, 
 enclosing a stamp, for reply. The letter will 
 be answered. If there is a probability that the 
 boy can be received, an application blank will be 
 forwarded asking for information in compact 
 and systemized form. The party making appli- 
 cation will be duly notified of the decision. Cor- 
 
 225 
 
respondence, thereafter, regarding the boy will 
 be carried on only with the person offering the 
 boy. 
 
 THE TERMS OF ADMISSION. 
 
 Many boys are received at Good Will Farm 
 who are not only penniless, but who have no 
 relative able to aid in any way. Such boys are 
 cared for by benevolent funds. Sometimes a boy 
 who ought to be received at Good Will has a 
 relative able to pay something toward his sup- 
 port. In such cases we require the payment. 
 
 AN EXCELLENT WAY. 
 
 It is a great help in the work for us to know 
 of persons who are willing to assume the expense 
 of a boy at Good Will by the year, the annual 
 requirement being one hundred and fifty dollars. 
 This amount covers food, lodgings, clothing, 
 tuition and religious privileges. Persons willing 
 to do this should notify the supervisor of the 
 Good Will Home Association. 
 
 Practically the same rules govern admission 
 to the girls' cottages and school. 
 
 226 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Very early in my desire to be of service to boys 
 I discovered the worth of outings of various 
 kinds. In my first pastorate in the years '81 and 
 '82, I had arranged for my journeys into the 
 country to be accompanied by members of my 
 Sunday-school. One of my pastorates was at 
 West Hartford, Conn., and boys from the Sun- 
 day-school accompanied me on a trip to Rhode 
 Island, where we spent a week or ten days in the 
 vicinity of Point Judith. While engaged in mis- 
 sionary and evangelistic work in Maine later on, 
 I arranged for several other outings of a similar 
 character for boys. I made an effort to have a 
 strong religious influence in each of these little 
 camps, and endeavored to so conduct affairs that 
 the outing should prove to be beneficial not only 
 physically, but morally and spiritually as well. 
 
 The first cottage at Good Will was opened in 
 1889. The following summer all the boys at the 
 Farm accompanied me on an outing of several 
 days at Bailey's Island, in Messalonskee lake. 
 Each succeeding year a similar excursion was 
 
 227 
 
planned for the benefit of the Good Will boys, but 
 I had a growing desire to do something for an 
 outing for other than Good Will boys an outing 
 which should be both enjoyable and profitable. 
 I was not able, however, to make such an 
 arrangement until 1893. I had purposed in my 
 heart that I would arrange for an encampment at 
 Good Will Farm. As a matter of fact in my 
 search for the location for the homes I had been 
 influenced somewhat by the conviction that the 
 place would be used not only for the boys who 
 would live in the cottages, but for others also, in 
 some summer school or assembly. Hardly had 
 I decided to try the experiment of a summer 
 assembly or boys' encampment at Good Will 
 Farm in the summer of '93 when a benevolent 
 lady of New Hampshire learned of my plan and 
 offered to furnish a tent for the purpose. She 
 instructed me to secure a tent which would seat 
 about two hundred. I obeyed her instructions 
 and in the February number of the Record 
 announced that the first boys' encampment at 
 Good Will would be held in the following July. 
 I did not plan for a very large attendance. In 
 fact it would have been impossible to have cared 
 for large numbers. When the time came for this 
 
 228 
 
experiment the attendance of boys from different 
 parts of the country was all that I could ask, and 
 the interest in the program was very gratifying. 
 The assembly was held from July I2th to igth. 
 Tt opened with an evening of prayer and testi- 
 mony. At ten o'clock each morning there were 
 to be lectures and addresses. The afternoon was 
 to be given up to rambles, swimming and athletic 
 sports. This experiment proved to be so success- 
 ful that these assemblies were continued for sev- 
 eral years. The plan of three addresses between 
 the hours of 10 A. M. and 11.30 proved to be 
 very crowding. A few years later to the great 
 satisfaction of all in attendance the number of 
 addresses or lectures at the morning session was 
 reduced to two. There were so many advan- 
 tages in this arrangement that after a year or 
 two of experiment the morning program was 
 changed so as to give still more time for singing 
 and other general exercises, with only one 
 address or lecture at the morning session. 
 
 It was planned that at each assembly there 
 should be some well known writer of books or 
 stories, who should read from his own writings. 
 Among those who appeared on the program were 
 Hezekiah Butterworth, James Otis, Wm. Pendle- 
 
 229 
 
Ion Chipman, Kirk Monroe, Olive Thorne Miller, 
 Dallas Lore Sharp, John Whitson and others. 
 
 The tent which had been presented to us 
 proved to be too small for the audiences that 
 assembled. At session after session, although 
 the program was arranged for boys, the boys 
 themselves were crowded out from under the tent 
 by adults. The assembly also bid fair, if allowed 
 to continue its growth, to interfere with the life 
 at Good Will in a variety of ways. I had looked 
 longingly across the Kennebec river to a beauti- 
 ful tract of pines which it seemed to me would 
 be an admirable place for a more extensive sum- 
 mer assembly. I used to say sometimes that I 
 thought by the eye of faith I could see the roof 
 of a pavilion in the grove. 
 
 One winter morning in 1896 Mr. Walter M. 
 Smith was about to take the train from the Good 
 Will station when he looked across the Kennebec 
 into the pines and said "Has anything ever been 
 done about that pine grove?" 
 
 I replied "Oh no, nothing has ever been done 
 about it. I can still see, by the eye of faith, the 
 roof of a pavilion over there." Mr. Smith replied 
 by instructing me to ascertain whether the tract 
 of thirty acres could be purchased for a stated 
 
 230 
 
sum, and asked me to wire him at New York 
 City. I called that evening on the owner of the 
 pines and made the purchase, notifying Mr. 
 Smith at once, and in accordance with his agree- 
 ment he forwarded a check to cover the purchase 
 price. 
 
 The following summer the assembly was held 
 for the last time on Good Will Farm. Mr. 
 Hezekiah Butterworth was one of the speakers 
 that summer. A party crossed the Kennebec 
 into the pines one noon and solemnly dedicated 
 the entire tract for religious and educational 
 work. No other meetings were held there that 
 summer. The following year Mr. Smith who 
 had purchased the pines for the assembly pro- 
 vided a larger tent one to accommodate about 
 six hundred. There were those present when 
 the tent was being put up for the first time who 
 did not hesitate to prophecy failure, and asked 
 me somewhat sarcastically if I ever expected to 
 see the tent filled. My only reply was that the 
 tent would last several years. If it was not filled 
 with appreciative audiences that year it would be 
 sometime. That summer the tent proved to be 
 too small to accommodate the audiences which 
 assembled in the pines on some of the days, but 
 
 231 
 
the meetings were held there and proved to be 
 both interesting and profitable. That year the 
 old assembly tent was used for a dining room. 
 
 The next year through the kindness of Mr. 
 Walter M. Smith a dining hall and kitchen were 
 built. The work was growing and was destined 
 to grow. As Mr. Smith attended the assemblies 
 and saw the importance of these gatherings of 
 young people for ten days in mid-summer, he 
 was prompted to build an auditorium which will 
 seat about one thousand persons. Through the 
 kindness of Mr. Smith and others a fine athletic 
 field was laid out. Mr. Wm. G. Broadway of 
 Brooklyn, N. Y., provided two excellent tennis 
 courts. Two cottages have been built on the 
 grounds. The grounds are now used by the 
 Good Will boys for a summer camp through the 
 month of August. 
 
 232 
 
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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
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