KY OF GOOD win FARM II $11 IE !! I Bffi \\'-< i! i iiliiiiiliii \m\\m\\ s 1 li i ill ii -' BYRON N. CLARK HIS BOOK / / I c -.( i. X^ ^. 7 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 YB 07474 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY iiifn