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 <L i GIFT OF J . J.Cudv/orth (J. W. HINCKLEV THE STORY OF GOOD WILL FARM C. W. HINCKLEY X CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. When it began. Three women. A petty theft. Boyhood's dream. Disappointment. Fighting against God. Surrender. CHAPTER II. A school debt. A definite promise to begin work. The beginning of the boys' fund. A search for lo- cation. Strange sickness. The farm purchased. CHAPTER III. Philanthropy. First meeting with Mr. George Henry Quincy. Work on Good Will Cottage. Jamaica Ginger hinders. The fresh air children. Their first night in the country. The boys argue and win the day. CHAPTER IV. The Good Will Home Association organized. Hon. Moses Giddings becomes president. By-laws of the Association. CHAPTER V. Mr. Quincy a strong helper. Sunshine Cottage dedi- cated. Golden Rule Cottage. Prospect Cottage. First meeting with Mr. C. M. Bailey. Bailey Cot- tage. Mr. H. H. Fogg's gift. Fogg Cottage dedi- cated. 615239 CHAPTER VI. Commercial travellers have a project; it fails. Knights of the Round Table begin work. The fair at Sherry's. The Authors' Reception. Queen Wilhelmina. Another failure. The Harper Li- brary. The Tablet. CHAPTER VII. Christian Endeavorers propose a cottage. The plan succeeds. C. E. Cottage dedicated. Sunshine Cottage and Record Hall burned. CHAPTER VIII. The letter in the Christian Union. My first trip to Stamford, Conn. First meeting with Mr. Walter M. Smith. Seventy-five pairs of blankets. The story is told in the Presbyterian church. Second visit to Stamford. Mr. Thomas W. Hall gives a cottage. "Tom's dress suit." Mary Louisa Hall Cottage dedicated. CHAPTER IX. Crowded school in Prospect Cottage. A letter from Miss Mary D. Moody. A trin to Bath. The death of Mr. Charles E. Moody. The Misses Moody provide a school building. Death of Miss Mary D. Moody. The building dedicated. CHAPTER X. A definite plan. Shall girls be helped? $10,000 wanted. Two nickels. Criticism. The purchase of more land. The Volunteer Good Will Club. Hon. E. S. Converse visits Good Will. His gift. Mr. and Mrs. Walter M. Smith give a cottage for girls. Elizabeth Wilcox Smith Cottage dedicated. CHAPTER XI. Miss Mary D. Moody's will. Miss Frances S. Moody gives a chapel. The chapel dedicated. Dedicatory hymn. CHAPTER XII. Grange Cottage for girls is proposed. The plan suc- ceeds. Grange Cottage dedicated. The "white house" for school. Mr. and Mrs. A. N. Ryerson give a building for girls. The Emily F. Ryerson Building dedicated. CHAPTER XIII. Manual Training needed. Possible sites for a build- ing. Unsuccessful attempts to secure it. A new plan proposed, and $10.000 pledged. A Welcome telegram. Ground broken for Manual Training Building. The laying of the Corner Stone of the "Quincy." The dedication of the "Buckminster." The dedication of the "Quincy." CHAPTER XIV. An address in New Haven, Conn. My first meeting with Mr. Edwin Bancroft-Foote. A visit to Rangeley, Me. An interesting letter. A $50.000 gift. The Bancroft-Foote House dedicated. CHAPTER XV. A disaster at Good Will. The Charles E. Moody Building destroyed. The Sunday following the fire. A new Library founded. Letters that cheered. CHAPTER XVI. Another fire. The Carnegie Library. The Willie Sage Tuttle book fund. Moody Hall rebuilt. CHAPTER XVII. A growing debt. Another generous gift. Breaking ground for the Whitney Home; the home dedi- cated. Addresses. David Whitney. The raising of Good Will's debt of $30,000. The Calista S. Mayhew Lectureship Fund. CHAPTER XVIII. Things deserving mention. CHAPTER XIX. The Good Will Record. CHAPTER XX. What Good Will stands for. Home Life; Industry; Discipline; Religious training. CHAPTER XXI. Three things of worthy mention. Financial need. Endowment. Possible Enlargement. CHAPTER XXII. What boys are received at Good Will. How to proceed. Terms of admission. CHAPTER XXIII. Camping out with boys. The first Assembly. Progress. PREFACE. The following pages are a simple story of small beginnings. The book is a recital of the leading facts in a history which will be of increasing interest as Good Will grows. If while furnishing this account of the beginning of a benevolent and educational institution the little volume proves to be a testimony to the value of one of a multitude of scriptural texts, (Psalms 37:5) I shall be satisfied. G. W. HINCKLEY. HINCKLEY, MAINE, November, 1902. PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION. The third edition brings the Story of Good Will up to the time of going to press, December i, 1909. The illustrations have been changed; but historical facts are unchangeable and the first fourteen chapters are the same as in the second edition. G. W. HINCKLEY. HINCKUX MAINS, December i, 1909. CHAPTER I. I do not know when the work at Good Will Farm began. Possibly it was when I was four- teen years old, and listened to the Divine call, "Follow me ;" possibly when I was three months old and mother consecrated me to the service of her Lord; possibly long before that time. If I understand the situation, when the final account is rendered and the real value of Good Will Farm is revealed, the world will owe its debt of gratitude, not to myself but to three women a mother who consecrated me to God's service; a wife who kept house and home for me, while I was trying to solve the problem of more homes for the homeless ; a sister who stood by me with rare devotion in the days of little things the first decade of Good Will's history. Scores of times I have given an account of the beginning of the work, each time hoping to make it clear to the audience that it is of God's own planting and just as many times I have had rea- son to fear at the close that I have given a wrong impression and appeared to take credit to myself. This is because I always use the personal pro- noun "I." As a matter of fact, at one period in life for a few years I tried to get away from the conviction that these homes must be established and that the peculiar work for which Good Will stands must be done. In early life I thirsted for an education, which I could not secure. When a small boy, one of my schoolmates, the only son of his widowed mother, was sentenced to the State Reform School. The specific crime with which he was charged was stealing food from a working man's dinner pail. He was not a vicious boy. He was hungry. For three days in succession he had been dinnerless. Over his arrest I was sorrow- ful and indignant. As I was only a boy, I could not understand why people did not take an interest in the lad before he put his hand into that dinner pail, instead of waiting until hunger had driven him to petty crime. It was then that I began to fancy I would some- time become a man. If I became a man I would build a house; I would build houses, and if I 10 knew nf a hoy in peril as that one had been, I would extend a helping hand. A few years later there came to my native town a boy. only a few years younger than If, but one who, to me, was interesting beyond any youth I had ever known interesting because I understood that he was fatherless and motherless. I did not know in those days that there was anything sadder for a child than that he be without father or mother. Since then I have learned otherwise. The tenderest, strongest kind of friendship sprang up between that boy and myself; and through it the determination to devote my life to the needy and imperilled was strengthened. 1 My failure to secure a four-years' course and graduation from Yale College; my inability to graduate from the Yale Theological Seminary came near embittering my life. That which is worth doing is worth doing well ; and I believed that college and theological courses were essen- tial to the best work, as I was planning it. A year in a State Normal school I regarded as such a poor substitute for seven years in college and seminary, that I "kicked in the traces" and pro- 1. See "Ben," in "Some Boys I Know." II posed to have nothing toi do with either preaching or philanthropy. It seemed strange that the school which I was to teach after leaving the normal course should have in it so much to appeal to me and to keep before my vision the dream and hope of my boy- hood. Although the school was the ordinary "District School" two terms of the year, two out of every three of the older boys the boys in my own department were fatherless. Though they had homes they needed counsel; the fatherless were always with me. I was not permitted to forget that in the world are the fatherless and the orphan. I could not stand the pressure. For three years I had been teaching that school, in Kingston, R. I. I had studied college cata- logues, and seminary catalogues, for anything that would throw light upon the problem of my own equipment for this work. Then I rebelled. I would not preach, or teach or think always of the fellow less fortunate than myself. I said I had a right to do as others did a right to make money and take pleasure. I gave up teaching. A position was offered me as first clerk in a general supply store. This I accepted ; drew my salary and spent it ; was like one who is dazed. 12 I avoided religious services on Sunday and shunned religious people on week days. I knew the best friends I had in the world were grieved, and so was I ; but no one knew it, save He who knows the secrets of the heart. I had been reared an anti-tobacconist, and narrowly escaped a mutiny in school once by my attack upon cer- tain "users of the weed." I took to cigars and the pipe readily, because I was told there was "lots of comfort" in them. It took a good share of my salary to pay my bills at the livery stable. I needed to set a watch upon my lips. I was ready to say "All men are liars" and to include myself in the "all." Spinning along Westminster street, in Provi- dence, R. I., one bright day, behind the finest team an acquaintance could get in the city, he turned to me and said : "How do you like it ?" "This is great," I replied. "All I ask for solid enjoyment is a friend like you, a good cigar and a fast horse." I suspect the man believed it; but I was as far from enjoyment that afternoon as midnight is far from noonday. I had no rea- son for calling that man friend, for there was no basis for friendship between us ; I had no love for the cigar held between my teeth; I hated 13 horse flesh. Fellows told me that there was fun at the races. I had spent three afternoons in succession on the grandstand watching proceed- ings with the same interest and enthusiasm that one has for a freight train passing, or a man trundling a wheelbarrow, and tried to believe I was having a good time. It was what boys would call bluff a great bluff. Life was losing its meaning; heart was becoming void of hope; there was only darkness before me. A few days later I surrendered. Then I was ready to preach, to pray, to make any sacrifice which might be suggested. The effort I had made to supplant the cherished plan of my earlier life with a career of selfishness had failed and I was glad. This surrender was followed by my first ser- mon; call to a pastorate in West Hartford, Conn., and two years later to a pastorate in the town of Windsor, Conn. Then came my jour- ney to Maine to engage in Sunday School mis- sionary work. I believed that each of these changes was a step toward the realizing of my hope, and the accomplishment of the definite plan for the needy and imperilled. I made my home in Bangor. MOSKS GIDDINGS. CHAPTER II. THE BEGINNING. A debt of several hundred dollars had been incurred in my short course at the Normal School a debt which had increased considerably by accruing interest during the ye^ars of my rebel- lion. Who goes warring against his Creator must go at his own charges; fighting against God costs. The years of pastoral work had presented various obligations, and little progress had been made in reducing the school debt. I promised God that if I ever could pay the last dollar of my own educational debt, I would make a definite effort toward the establishing of homes for boys. The day came when I could pay the last dollar. That same day I made a covenant, saying "I will take to my home the neediest boy I have ever seen in Maine. I will ask no one to aid me in caring for him. If anything comes into my possession above my stated salary of $800 which I can use for the boy, I will regard it as 15 coming from heaven for the boy's support. At the end of each month, I will use one-tenth of my own income and anything else which comes to me, in paying the boy's expenses. If I have more than enough for the boy, I will deposit it in the savings bank, as the Boys' Fund. Now, if I can care for him a year without incurring debt, I ought to be satisfied, but I want a token from God, for I must know whether this is a conviction from Him, or whether 1 am cherish- ing a boyish whim all these years. If in addition to the boy's expenses, I shall receive during the year enough so I can have a boys' fund of $100 for further operations, I will take it as a token that God calls, and He will bless, and bring to pass." I took the boy, in need of clothes, food, and training to my home in Bangor. At the end of each month I paid his bills. Now it would sometimes happen that someone would hand me a dollar and say, "you are working hard, do what you want to with this dollar." Sometimes, as I was in the scattered districts, in the employ of the American Sunday School Union, some good woman would say, "I have not money to give to the union as I wish I had, but I want to give you 16 a pair of stockings which I knit with my own hands, and for your personal use." Or, sometimes it would be two pairs of stockings, or a pair of mittens. One evening a company of friends drove in from Kenduskeag and spent the evening. Many of them were young converts, and before they said good night, they placed a sum of money in my hands, a token of their friendship. Now, no one knew at this time about the ''Boys' Fund" or about my covenant. These things were given to me personally. But they were not mine. According to my covenant they belonged to the "Boys' Fund." If I used the knit articles, I paid for them. In other cases I sold them, the pro- ceeds always going to swell the fund. At the end of the year, the boy had been cared for and I had about $215 in the bank. I had asked God for a token. He had given it to me. He knew I had no courage and so He had more than doubled the token. There could be no mistake. About this time I spoke to two or three men about my purpose for the boys. They said: 4< Why don't you tell people what you want to do?" I replied : "If I had $500, to begin with, I would do so. But the work will call for thousands and tens of thousands. Men will laugh at a paltry 17 $215." The fund grew in a few weeks to $500. These friends said : "Why don't you tell people what you want to do and they will help you." I replied : "Oh, if I only had a thousand dollars, I would gladly do it. If I tell people I have $500 toward a work which will call for thousands and tens of thousands I will only be ridiculed for my pains." One day a lady told me she had placed an invested fund of $500 at my disposal, the interest only to be used for the "boys' fund." I had then the $1,000. I did not dare defer the public announcement longer. The next month I published the first issue of a little paper which I named the "Boys' Fund" and which stated the purpose of the fund, and asked for assistance. Four hundred and fifty copies were printed. Just as these were to be mailed it was discovered that the apostrophe was on the wrong side of the "s" in the word "boys,' " a mistake which occurred not only on the title page, but through all the columns. The edition was destroyed, and a new one was printed, and copies sent through the mail. Small cash contributions began to arrive. On the first day of January, 1888, I received a letter containing a check for fifty dollars for the 18 "Boys' Fund." It was the first check, and up to that time the largest gift. I was the richest man in Bangor that day. As I traveled in the work of organizing Sun- day schools in the eastern and northern parts of the State of Maine, every township at first was, in my eyes, a possihle location for the boys' home. As my acquaintance with that part of the State increased, towns and counties dropped out of the bounds of possibility in rapid succession. But one morning, while engaged in my regular work as Sunday-school Missionary, I took a walk in North Newport, and came to a spot from which there is a fine view of Lake Sebasticook and the surrounding country. I sat on a fence and feasted my eyes on the scene. Looking eastward across the north arm of the lake to a great hill, whose top is crowned by an oak tree, and well up toward whose summit is a group or * 'stand" of buildings, it seemed to me that the farm on which those buildings stood must be beautiful for situation, and I decided to investigate. An opportunity to visit the spot soon presented itself and I improved it. The owner gave me a cordial welcome and seemed greatly pleased at the possi- bility that his farm might be devoted to the use 19 of boys and become the foundation of benevolent work. On subsequent visits he discussed his interests in a familiar and confidential way. It was his avowed intention to aid me all he could by making various concessions, and interesting others in the project as much as possible. It seemed quite probable that the work would be located there. My second child, about two years old, was losing his hold on life and it was clear that nothing but removal from the city would save him. A house was hastily rented in Newport, and a flight made into the clean, sweet country, to which I wanted to see other boys transferred from the blight of unfortunate environment. The change in the boy's condition seemed little less than miraculous, and furnished evidence of the healthfulness of the locality. Several things commended the Newport farm. It was on a hill, and the purest of fresh air was assured; it was near a railroad; the soil was fertile; the orchards were fruitful. Several things were unfavorable. The hill was a high one, and the hauling of building materials up its slope, would add to the cost of building projects ; the water supply, while sufficient for the family 20 GEORGE HENRY QUIXCY. which had lived there and for the amount of stock owned, might prove insufficient for a large com- munity, and a supply from off the hill would be out of the question ; though Sebasticook Lake was in full view from the buildings, the boys, if desiring a swim or row would be compelled to descend the hill and trespass on neighboring farms, in order to get to the lake; the mail boy, wnoever he might be, would have to go into the heart of the village several times each day, an arrangement which almost as much as the above considerations influenced me. But I could not hope to find the ideal place. There would be some disadvantages in any location which might be selected. So the work of advertising the plan went on, and pledges toward the purchase of the place were made, and at the same time small sums were received for the purpose. At this juncture I faced a peculiar problem. I had come to believe that the homes would be established in Maine. Divine Providence seemed to point to it. But one day I received a letter from a man in Hartford Co., Conn., asking me to come to Hartford at once. I knew that he wished to confer about work for boys, and I accepted the invitation. Upon reaching Hart- 21 ford he took me down the Connecticut river val- ley to his native town, and up the hill to his birth- place. The old homestead where he had spent his boyhood days, belonged to him. On the farm was the house in which he was born, and a more modern one which he had built for a member of the family. He explained to me his plan. He was a trus- tee of the Mt. Hermon school, founded by D. L. Moody. The trustees at Mt. Hermon had just decided not to receive boys under sixteen years of age, while it was my plan to receive boys from the ages of seven to fourteen. He would make me a free gift of the farm and the two houses already on it. The fifty acres more or less could be added to by purchase ; we would take boys from seven to fourteen, and when they reached sixteen they could be sent to Mt. Hermon. We would call this new plant Mt. Lebanon. We would thus have Mt. Lebanon on the south, and Mt. Hermon on the north both on the banks of the Connecticut river. The situation was inter- esting. Years before, when my whole life was influ- enced by the cherished plan for saving boys, I had read one day that Mr. Moody, the evangelist, 22 had purchased a farm and was to open a school for poor boys. The announcement was a shock. I had been planning, hoping, praying ; but I was a poor boy, without money or philanthropic friends. Here was a man, who it seemed to me had the wealth of the Christian world behind him : he had a hold on the throne as well. It was great news for the world, and enough to quicken the blood of every one interested in poor boys, and I rejoiced in it. It meant something different to me, however. If Mr. Moody had taken up that work, then, beyond all controversy, God had called him to it, and it would succeed ; but I had fondly believed that God had called me to such a work also, and I must be mistaken. Under such circumstances the inspiration and the goal of my life having been taken from me, life seemed scarcely worth the living. Here I stood for months living the saddest of all sad lives namely, a purposeless one. But it occurred to me one day to put it thus : "It is plain as any- thing can be that I cannot do Evangelist Moody's work. This is fact incontrovertible. It is also plain that Mr. Moody cannot do my work. This is also incontrovertible. Therefore, since Mr. Moody is doing his work, which is very great, 23 I must do mine even though it be very small." I gained courage thus, and a few years later learned to my surprise, that the age limit for entrance at Mt. Hermon had been raised to six- teen. The offer of the farm which should be known as Mt. Lebanon was a temptation. The plan unfolded to me was the offspring of the mind of only one of the Mt. Hermon trustees; but if it should meet the approval of Mr. Moody and the other trustees, the project would at once come to the attention of people prominent in religious and philanthropic work. The approval and sympathy of such people was what I craved, and what my project needed. But to the propo- sition I said "No, I cannot accept it. The plan seems feasible ; but to transfer the interest from Maine is to trample upon all my convictions as to locality, and ignore what I have regarded as Providential leadings. I must not do it." My friend recognized the strength of my position and instead of urging the change upon me, became the largest contributor to the fund for the first purchase of land for the work in Maine. He gave me a check for $250.00. The fund steadily grew, and each interview with the owner of the farm in Newport seemed 24 CHARLES M. BAILEY. to bring the coveted property nearer. One day I rode twenty miles with the owner, in the inter- est of the purchase, his hope being that an aged relative would become a contributor. At nine o'clock that evening we stopped at the fork of the road near the foot of the hill and leaving the car- riage, I extended my hand for a parting saluta- tion. "Two weeks from tonight I'll see you at your house," I said, by way of a resume of a long conversation, and we parted. On the trip that day, he had explained why he was so anxious that the plan for the transfer of the property be consummated. He was suffering from a disease which was beyond the skill of physicians. "I may live a year ; I may live only two weeks," he said. "There is one symptom which may appear any day; and when that appears, I shall know how many days I can live somewhere from six to ten." He endeavored to impress upon me the necessity of securing the property while he lived, as, by so doing many complications and delays could be avoided. The remark that two weeks from that night we would meet at his house meant that I hoped and expected the transfer of the property would be effected at that time. 25 I left Newport on an early train the next morn- ing for an absence of two weeks, but in response to a telegram just one week later, I returned in order to give an address at his funeral. His pre- diction as to the nearness of his own death, and also as to the obstacles to the purchase of the farm, after his demise, were all fulfilled. With his death the Newport project died. Sums, aggregating several hundred dollars, which had been pledged for the purchase of the farm, had been made because of the location, and when the project failed these pledges became worthless. The fund, therefore, which had been growing, was suddenly and unexpectedly reduced by a considerable amount. I was all at sea. Having fixed my heart on that place, I had been blind to the claims of others, and had not even looked for anything better in my journeyings. "What do you think now?" said some of my friends, after the farm had gone beyond my reach. "You prayed that the farm you selected might be secured for the work. What becomes of your prayers now ?" "I think this ; God was able to make it possi- ble for me to secure that farm. I prayed much for it. The fact that he does not give it to me 26 means that there is somewhere in the State a bet- ter place, and I shall have it." It became necessary to acknowledge in the "Boys' Fund" the little monthly published in the interest of the work that the Newport farm would not be bought, btit that some other place would be selected. The press had been uni- formly kind, and many helpful, encouraging things had been said in the public prints. No paper in the State had been more helpful than the Bangor Commercial. In fact it had called attention to the undertaking oftener than any other paper, and always in a helpful way. But its announcement that the Newport place would not be purchased was worded unfortunately, and was practically an announcement that the plan for boys' work had been abandoned ; that my family had gone to Rhode Island, and I was to leave the State in a few weeks. I saw the item and smiled. It was true that my family was in Rhode Island, on a two weeks' visit. It was also true that I was going out of the State in a few weeks at the end of my family's visit in Rhode Island, to bring it back again. The item would not have received a second thought, only that friends in Bangor wrote me that the item was 27 likely to do much harm to the project, and to me personally unless contradicted. It seemed to me the best refutation was the pushing of the work ; but where was the farm to be purchased ? Two or three were examined. One held at ten thou- sand dollars was offered as a free gift, on the one condition that the family cemetery on the farm be always kept in good order. But the loca- tion was not convenient for the public ; there was no place on or near it, where a summer meeting such as I contemplated could be held. Weeks grew into months, and as spring drew near, I made several visits to Fayette, Me., to look at a farm there. It did not seem to be just the place for the reason that it was removed from railroads, though not more so than two or three very prosperous schools in Maine. There were two houses on the farm one old one, and the other just completed. It was thought that the farm could be bought for about what the new house had cost $2,000. I made one journey to see the owner a widow. She was on a visit in Massachusetts, and would be home on a certain date. On that date I went again she had not returned but was on her way home. 28 Before the third trip I pondered the problem much, and finally settled the matter in this way ; "I don't know whether or not I ought to locate the work there. I wish I did know, and that I might have some token something to guide me. Now, if on my next trip the owner says she will take two thousand dollars for the place as it is, I will regard it as a token that it is right to locate there even though there are unfavorable features about the situation. If she asks more than two thousand dollars it shall be a token that I ought not to buy it." Having thus decided the matter as I thought so far as it could be decided I began to arrange for immediate activities. I wrote for a carpenter to meet me at the farm to estimate the cost of needed repairs on the old house, and the finishing touches on the new one. A lawyer was asked to meet me there to prove a clear title and make out the deed. It was now early spring, and as I started on the trip I took a supply of garden seeds, so that some farmer might be set at work immediately, and that vegetables might be raised for the family of boys which would be gathered there in the fall. The owner's son-in-law met me at the station, and as we drove away I said : "What will she take for the farm ?" "I have talked with her about it," was the reply, "and she says she will take two thousand and last year's taxes." That ought to have settled it. The token was to be two thousand dollars; the price was two thousand dollars, plus. It would have been the part of wisdom for me to have said : "Stop the horse ; take me back to the station. I have rea- sons for not purchasing the farm." Instead of this, I reasoned within me, that "last year's taxes" on a two thousand dollar farm could not be very heavy, and that I could not afford to let so small a sum stand between a farm home, and the boys that needed it. Little was said, as we rode toward the place. We reached our destination at noon, and as soon as we entered the house we were asked to dinner. I had felt as well as usual that morning ; but as my host was passing me food, my head dropped on my shoulder; I indistinctly heard some one say, "Oh, he's sick," and was only conscious that there was a great commotion, and I was being removed to a bed in an adjoining room. In the general 30 alarm a physician was called, who, after a careful examination said I was suffering from complete nervous prostration, and advised my return home for a long course of treatment by my family physician. The advice was accompanied by the information that it would probably be two years before I would be able to do any work. The people carefully nursed me that night, and the next morning, helped me into the carriage which was to take me to the train. I was cer- tainly sick and weak. As we neared the station, and increased the distance between us and the farm I rallied rapidly. At the station, unaided, I boarded the train, which was to take me still farther. On reaching Waterville, I left the train, and took a street car to the office of the Fairfield Journal, where my paper was being printed. "You have made the mistake of your life," said the editor of the Journal. "How?" I inquired. "By locating your work where you have so far from railroad and other facilities. It's too bad." "But I haven't done it," I remonstrated. "Well, we are just going to press with your own statement that you have bought a place in Fayette." "Yes/' I replied, "but I have called to make a correction in the proof," and I made it. "Now," said the editor, "six miles to the north of here is a farm, which I have often thought was the place for your work. I had planned to speak to you about it, but did not know you were in such haste to buy." "Can I see the place today?" I asked. "Certainly, I'll have a team here in fifteen minutes," and fifteen minutes later we started on the drive northward the editor, and the man who the day before, by a physician, had been laid aside from all work for two years at least to inspect a farm. When we drove up in front of the Chase farmhouse now Good Will Cottage to the editor I said with my lips, "This is the place;" in my heart I said "Thank God I have found it. After all these years of trying to follow the leading of Divine Providence the finger points to this place. Here the work will be established; here God will honor and bless the effort." The physician's diagnosis was without foundation in fact. The next two years instead 32 of being given over to nervous prostration, were among the most active, laborious, and exacting of my life. The farm contained one hundred and twenty- five acres. It was purchased in June, 1889. It took all the money in the Boys' Fund to pay for it. As soon as purchased it was necessary to give it a name. Several Sunday school classes had organized themselves into clubs, each member pledging one, two or five cents per week toward the fund, with which a farm for boys was to be purchased. I had suggested that they take their name from the song of the herald angels recorded in the second chapter of St. Luke, and call them- selves Good Will Clubs. This they did. In their honor the farm was named, and the farm- house was called Good Will Cottage. 33 CHAPTER III. To me, in early life, the noblest word in the English language was "Philanthropist." I had read of philanthropy and philanthropists, but it was not my privilege to know the philanthropic. While the work of raising the funds to pay for a farm was in progress, I read with great interest in the Boston papers an account of a concert given by a company of young men the Long- wood Minstrels in aid of a project to establish a Home for boys at Dedham, Mass. This was to be a branch of the work of the Boston Chil- drens' Friend Society whose headquarters were at No. 48 Rutland street. So near as I could judge from the article, Mr. George Henry Quincy of Boston was the prime mover in the project, and with an extended acquaintance was accomplishing, and was able to accomplish large things. I said in my heart, "Oh, for the friendship and co-operation of such a man !" From a human standpoint, I was very much alone in the effort. The discovery of Mr. 34 HIRAM H. FOGG. Quincy's project did not have the effect on me that the announcement of Mr. Moody did, because I regarded it as local in its aim, not gen- eral in its scope, as I intended Good Will should be. There was not therefore, the appearance of any conflict, or any reason in the existence of the Dedham project, why the farm in Maine should not be purchased. The day I reached my temporary home, after having been laid aside for a two years' rest by the physician who examined me, and after hav- ing been shown the farm at East Fairfield by the editor of the Fairfield Journal, I consulted my family physician in Newport. He assured me that if I followed his instructions carefully, I would be able to go to work again in a much shorter time than two years possibly in six months. Five days later, he accosted me as I passed his house, with a valise in my hand, going toward the railroad station. "What does this mean?" he inquired, "Where are you going?" "Going to Old Orchard" I replied. "Good!" exclaimed the doctor, "It's the very best thing you can do ; stay as long as you can ; keep perfectly quiet ; don't you dare preach." 35 I had not the courage to tell him that on that very day Friday I was on my way to Old Orchard, not to keep perfectly quiet, but to preach twice on Sunday, to do some special work through the week, and to preach twice again on the following Sunday. I carried out my plan, and having done so I took a train for Boston, with the avowed purpose of attending a great National Convention to be held in Tremont Temple. But I made what seemed at the time an awkward blunder, went to Boston a day earlier than was necessary. I did not realize this until I reached the city and it dawned upon me that there would be nothing of interest in the conven- tion for me until the next afternoon. I might far better have remained at Old Orchard until a day later. Sitting down in my room, a sense of lone- liness stealing over me, an entire stranger in the city, and mystified that I could make such a stupid mistake, I said to myself, "Hinckley, what are you here for? Why didn't you stay in the quiet of Old Orchard till you ought to come here?" The only answer I could give the prob- lem of my own propounding was this ; "I'll wait and see. Perhaps I ought to be here. I've com- mitted my way and I'll see what comes of it." 36 After an evening meal, I started out for a walk. As I strolled along Tremont street, I noticed many people hurrying into a building. It was Tremont Temple. Large posters announced the seventh anniversary of the Salvation Army in New England. Not having seen the work of the Army under favorable circumstances, I pur- chased a ticket and secured a seat in the balcony. Happening to look down on the audience below, 1 saw Rev. N. D. Curtis of Fairfield, and we nodded a recognition. A few minutes later, looking in the same direction, a man of noble appearance who sat by Mr. Curtis' side motioned me to meet him in the vestibule. The man was a stranger to me, but I obeyed the summons. In the vestibule the man seized my hand, and said : "My name is Quincy George Henry Quincy. Mr. Curtis tells me you are interested in a boys' home; so am I. It's at Dedham. I want to know you." This introduction thrilled me. I stood on no conventionality, but replied, "Why, I'm supposed to be here to attend a convention which opens tomorrow. But really, I'm here to visit the Ded- ham home for boys, for I have read about it, and about you. I'm going there tomorrow." 37 "No, no," he replied, "wait till the next day, and Mr. Curtis and I will accompany you." When I returned to my room that night I understood why I had been allowed to so stupidly reach Boston ahead of time. Wednesday we lunched at the newly opened home for boys in Dedham the home for which the Longwood Minstrels sang, and for which Mr. Quincy had labored so unremittingly. It was after lunch, while we were yet lingering at the Home, when I said to Mr. Curtis : "I expect to purchase the farm at East Fairfield, as soon as I return, but it's a pity that the property should remain idle till September 1st, when the first boys will be received. I wish I could arrange for some 'Fresh Air' work for children this sum- mer." As promptly as though he had been con- sidering the matter for days, Mr. Quincy said, "If you will be responsible for the support of fifteen boys and girls and two lady attendants for six weeks this summer, I'll select the children, and be responsible for their transportation." "I'll do it" was my reply. The convention which I attended was a great one, but my heart was not there. Mr. Quincy did not attend the meetings; at least I 38 did not see him again that week, and had it not been for my seemingly ill-timed arrival in Boston I might never have known him. Upon returning home at the earliest date I could, negotiations for the purchase of the farm at East Fairfield were completed. Notice was served on the tenant to quit the premises. As soon as the place was vacated work began. East Fairfield was an iso- lated place, and it was difficult to get any help. There was a demand for cleaner, painter, plas- terer, and paper-hanger. The ceiling of the kitchen was first scraped with hoes, and then treated to a liberal coat of lime. A French Can- adian woman was secured to scrub the floors. She arrived one morning at seven o'clock. At seven thirty she asked me for an advanced pay- ment of twenty-five cents. She had left noth- ing in the house to eat. She had brought one of her grandsons an eight-year-old boy so he could go to the store and buy some salt pork for their dinner. She would have him go to the store a mile to the north and make the purchase, and take it home, a mile to the south. I advanced the money, and the boy started on what I supposed was an errand of mercy. The journey resulted in one twenty-five 39 cent bottle of Jamaica Ginger, which being some- what diluted with water, developed a case of semi-drunkenness. She declared her knees had given out entirely, and that she could not do any more work that day. It was then 1 1 : 30 ; she would come the next morning at seven. This was vexation ; but there was no alternative, as there was no one else to scrub. She appeared the next morning at 7:30. At eight she asked for an advance payment of twenty-five cents, as a relative of hers had died suddenly, and she wished to send a telegram. I groaned in spirit ; assured her that if she didn't complete the work that day I should pay her nothing beyond the amount I was advancing. As her grandson was not with her she started in the direction of the nearest store, a mile away, and came back with another bottle of Jamaica Ginger. She was more temperate, however, than on the preceding day, and by dint of coaxing, and threatening, she was kept at work till the task was completed after a fashion. The paper-hanger came to "do" several rooms, and when all were done but one the one that must be papered anyway he informed me that he had a chance at a six weeks' job in Augusta, 40 which he would lose if he remained another day in order to paper the remaining room. He left. Arming myself with a pair of shears and a paste brush, I completed the task he had left, and no one ever suspected the room was not papered by skilled hands. I went for a plasterer; the only one I could learn of, to do the small but important job in his line. He couldn't come. I left his house and went away. These delays were getting- to be serious. I laid the matter before Omnipotence, and plead for aid. Then I sent to the plasterer again; I wished he could do the little work required. He gave no reason for changing his mind ; but he did the work and seemed to be glad to do it. The woodwork of some of the rooms had never been painted, and as I could not learn of any painter near by, whose services were available, and as there was no money in the treasury, Mr. Arthur Curtis, a theological student, who was spending his vacation in Fairfield village, vol- unteered his services, and together we undertook the job of painting the interior, and completed the task on time. The through train from Boston stopped at the Farm, July I5th, and a family of seventeen per- sons alighted for a stay of six weeks twelve girls, three boys, and two lady attendants. That night at nine o'clock the farm house was still; the fifteen tired little pilgrims were asleep. At 9 130 Harry notified me that his brother Joe was sick "awfully sick." It proved to be a case of too many raspberries, in conjunction with liberal libations of new milk. When his stomach was finally unloaded Joe was comfortable, and quiet reigned again. Tt was ten o'clock. At 10 145 Mason informed me that Harry had the nose bleed "he did sometimes" and a lamp was lighted. The flow of blood was staunched, the deck cleared, and all hands slept. At 1 1 : 30 we were all awakened by a series of cries calculated to make one's hair stand on end, and his voice "stick in his throat." Mason had the nightmare. "He did once in a while." At 1 : 30 Isabel, dreaming that her mother had come from Boston, and was ringing the front door bell, sprang out of bed, and with sundry exclamations, started down stairs in her sleep to meet the woman at the door. At 3:15 Molly Duffy fell out of bed striking the floor with a heavy thud. The other 42 GOOD WILL COTTAGE GOLDEN RULE COTTAGE incidents of that first night at Good Will are not worthy of mention. The six weeks passed quickly and the end was near at hand. The three boys interviewed me one day, and asked if they could stay at the farm, after the girls went back. I promised to give thought to the matter and to render a decision later. The next day another interview took place thus : "You are going to have a boys' home here, aren't you ?" "I hope to." "It will be a home for boys in need of a help- ing hand, wont it ?" "Yes, that's what it's for." "Well, we are the first boys that came here, ain't we?" "You certainly are." "Then we ought to have the first chance, hadn't we?" "I'll think about it." It was decided that the three boys should remain, and thus it happened that the first day of September, 1889, Good Will Cottage was formally opened for boys, and these three from Massachusetts were the first occupants. 43 CHAPTER IV. There had been no time when I felt like asking for an organization; in fact there was nothing to organize. But I wanted any property which might be secured to rest in other hands than mine. But my acquaintance was slight. I called on Hon. Moses Giddings of Bangor, who received me cordially. To my great satisfaction he con- sented to act as president of an association, if it were organized. From that time Mr. Giddings proved to be a wise counsellor, a generous helper, though his benefactions were seldom announced, a sympathizer whose words of encouragement were a constant inspiration. In November, 1889, a meeting was called and the Good Will Home Association was organized under the general statutes of the State of Maine. The following officers were elected : President Moses Giddings, Bangor, Me. Vice-President J. B. Mayo, Foxcroft, Me. Secretary N. W. Brainerd, Fairfield, Me. Treasurer George Gushing, Skowhegan, Me. 44 Trustees George Henry Quincy, Boston, Mass.; F. C. Jones, Hartford, Conn.; J. G. Blake, Bangor, Me. ; J. O. Smith, Skowhegan, Me.^; V. Richard Foss, Portland, Me. Directors G. W. Hinckley, East Fairfield, Me.; Charles Dunn, Jr., Portland, Me.; Frank B. Philbrick, Waterville, Me.; C. C. Nichols, Foxcroft, Me. ; L. L. Walton, Skowhegan, Me. ; E. P. Mayo, Fairfield, Me. ; D. W. Allen, Fair- field, Me. The by-laws adopted were as follows, a few changes having since been made : ARTICLE I. Name. The name of this corporation shall be Good Will Home Association. ARTICLE II. Membership. Any person may become a member of this Association by the annual payment of two dol- lars to the Association ; a life member by the payment of fifty dollars at one time. Each mem- ber shall have the right to vote at the annual meeting. 45 ARTICLE III. Officers. The officers of this corporation shall be a President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Clerk, Superintendent, not less than three nor more than seven Directors and five Trustees. The Presi- dent, Vice-President and Superintendent shall be chosen by the Directors and shall be, ex oflicio, members of the board of Directors. ARTICLE IV. Duties of Officers. President. It shall be the duty of the Presi- dent to preside at all meetings of the members and of the Directors, and with the advice and consent of the Directors to appoint all necessary committees. Vice-President. It shall be the duty of the Vice-President to act for the President in all his duties when the President is absent; and in the absence of both President and Vice-President the members at a members' meeting and the Direc- tors at a Directors' meeting shall choose one of their number to preside and fulfill all the duties of said officers as the President pro tern. Treasurer. It shall be the duty of the Treas- urer to collect, safely keep and disburse the moneys of the corporation, in the manner here- 46 THOMAS W. HALL. in-after provided. He shall give a bond, when required to do so, by a vote of the Directors at any regular meeting, in such sum and with such sureties as the vote may direct. Clerk. It shall be the duty of the Clerk to keep a correct record of all meetings of the Directors and of the members and to hol3 such records open for the inspection of any member at all reasonable times. In his absence a Clerk pro tern, may be chosen. Superintendent. It shall be the duty of the Superintendent to have general supervision of the interest of the work ; to attend to the correspon- dence of the Association ; to fill all business papers including surrenders, indentures and cer- tificates of life membership ; to keep a list of all children received, with such particulars as the Board of Directors may prescribe. To make an annual report, and to appoint such assistants and employees, with the advice and consent of the Directors, as the work demands. Board of Directors. The duties of the Board of Directors shall be as follows : ( i ) To have general charge of the property and business of the corporation, its officers and committees, to act upon and confirm or reject all 47 committees nominated by the President, and finally to have control of all matters connected with the corporation. (2) To act as an auditing committee upon all expenditures and all bills presented, and by vote to authorize any expenditure. (3) To make all contracts or to authorize the making of them by the officers of the corpora- tion ; and no contract shall be binding upon the corporation unless previously authorized or sub- sequently ratified by a vote of the Directors. (4) To provide for the care of the property of the Association, its buildings and grounds. Trustees. It shall be the duty of the Trustees to receive charge of the property of the corpora- tion when the same shall be turned over to them by the Directors. ARTICLE V. Meetings. The regular annual meeting of the Associa- tion for the election of officers and the transac- tion of other business, shall be held on the Mon- day preceding the first Wednesday of July in each year. Notice of such annual meeting and of the business proposed to be transacted shall be given by posting a written notice thereof in some 48 conspicuous place upon the buildings or grounds owned by the Association, at least seven days prior to the date of said meeting. The Board of Directors may regulate the time of calling their own meetings, but a majority of the Directors must be present to constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. ARTICLE VI. Amendments. These By-Laws may be altered or amended by a two-thirds vote of the members present and voting at the annual meeting, provided that notice of such alteration or amendment was given in the written notice of the meeting as directed in Arti- cle V. of these By-Laws. 49 CHAPTER V. Mr. Quincy was greatly impressed by what he saw on his first trip to Good Will. There were one farm house, two old barns, and rods and rods of "Virginia Rail Fence." That was all. There were few trees, no shrubbery, no flowers, no cleanly cut walks or roads. A favorable loca- tion, and great possibilities were what he dis- covered. It did not occur to me that his affec- tions could be transferred from the Dedham Home to Good Will : and I would not have asked it. But each month seemed to strengthen his conviction that the work at Dedham was geo- graphically restricted, while almost unlimited developments at Good Will were possible. He did much for this new interest himself. Some- times he would say, "I cannot do all I would like to do myself ; but when I cannot do a thing that should be done, I can sometimes find one who can do it." Thus he accomplished much for Good Will and was a strong helper in tiding the work over some critical periods in its early history. In 50 addition to his cash gifts, a row boat, a small tent, a stereopticon, a span of horses Kentucky thoroughbreds were among his direct gifts. He secured contributions of needed articles from others such as a pair of rubber boots for each boy at the Farm ; and cash gifts, including an individual contribution of two thousand dollars, as a kind of emergency fund. This sum, a very large one in that stage of the development, was not acknowledged in the Good Will Record, but was carefully expended for things most needed, and with Mr. Quincy's approval. It was known as the "Q" fund while it lasted. In 1890 a very small house on an acre of land joining Good Will Farm on the north was made vacant by the death of the sole occupant. I was not pleased with the possibilities of that vacant house. It was very small, and no one with a good business would be likely to occupy it. It might be rented by some irresponsible party, with a family of vicious boys, over whom we could have no control, but whose influence on the Good Will boys might be pernicious. On the other hand, it might be purchased by some one, who, as the work grew would see our necessity and hold it at a fabulous price, or refuse to sell for any consideration. I viewed the farms on the north and south of Good Will with designing eyes. The west boundary was a mile and a quar- ter and twenty-seven rods from the eastern boundary, and the eastern boundary was the Kennebec river. If the farm on the north should be added to Good Will, and that single acre with its little buildings should be wilfully held by some future owner, it would be a blot on the land- scape an annoyance all the year round. So money was secured and it was purchased. The price was two hundred and fifty dollars. There? is a promise in Holy writ a promise for those who are faithful in little things. This added acre and its house and stable were little things, no doubt, but there was an opportunity for the faith- ful use of them. The house was converted into a home for seven boys who all slept in one room, which was at once chamber and attic, as the house was one story. A circle of King's Daughters from Skowhegan, the Sunshine Circle was present on the day of its dedication, and in that Circle's honor, it was named Sun- shine Cottage. Up to the time of this purchase we had held religious services on Sunday in one of the rooms 52 CHAS. E. MOODY. in Good Will Cottage, but we needed that room for other purposes. Very near Sunshine Cot- tage was a stable ; the hay loft of which could be converted into a place of worship. By placing a stairway on the outside of the building, we secured a room about 18 x 20 feet, with windows in the two ends. This became our meeting place. Pine tables were provided, and the school, which had also been held in Good Will Cottage was transferred to this room. It was my plan to have the first floor of the building for the Good Will Record, and so we named the structure Record Hall. Sunshine Cottage was an apology for a home only an apology. Record Hall was a feeble attempt at equipment for educational and religious work. It seems almost pathetic, as I think of it now. It is not strange if some people regarded the whole thing as a forlorn hope, as they now tell me they did, though they were kind enough in those days not to express their thoughts to me. "Sunshine Cottage" was dedicated on Septem- ber I, 1890, the first anniversary of the opening of Good Will Cottage. At the dedicatory ser- vice, in which the 37th Psalm was read, I told 53 the boys that one year from that day we would have another dedicatory service. Soon after, a fund was commenced for a new cottage. Contributions came mostly in very small sums from all parts of the country, and in the April number of the Boys' Fund, which, in the meantime had been changed to the Good Will Record, I was able to announce $2,500 in hand for a cottage. It was built by contract, named Golden Rule Cottage, and dedicated September I, 1891. The 37th Psalm was read; the Dox- ology was sung. At the dedication of Golden Rule Cottage I announced that one year from that day there would be another dedicatory service. I had no money or the promise of money for a building, any more than I had the year before for Golden Rule Cottage, but I had Psalm 37 : 5. Now it came to pass, for God brought it to pass, that the following spring a farm of seventy acres, joining Good Will Farm on the south was purchased. On this stood a one story farm house. Midsum- mer came, and there was no prospect of a dedica- tion September i ; but, just then, the legacy of Mrs. Susan D. Copeland, about $450, was paid, and the amount used in making the one story 54 farm house into a two-story cottage, and on September i, it was dedicated. The 37th Psalm was read; the Doxology was sung. This cot- tage, which we named "Prospect" could not be used for a family, as we needed the room for offices, school, and other purposes. At the dedication of Prospect Cottage I announced that one year from that day, there would be another dedicatory service. There was not a dollar in hand for building purposes, nor the promise of a dollar. Nothing but Psalm 37:5. The M. C. R. R. consented at first to stop trains at Good Will Farm when there were three passengers to leave or board the train. One day as I took the train a man said to me "Mr. C. M. Bailey of Winthrop is in the next car. Do you know him ?" "No, I do not," I replied. "Do you know who he is," was asked. "No," I said, "I don't think I do." "Well, he's a man who could build you a cot- tage at the Farm, if he chose, and he ought to do it." "I take exceptions to a part of your statement," I said. 55 "I don't doubt that he is able, but whether he ought to do it, I would not dare to say. People tell me what this man ought to do, and what that man ought to do with their money. It is not my province to decide what such men ought to do. It is for each man to decide for himself. I know I ought to be here ready to receive gifts, that's all I know about it." It was weeks after that, when, boarding the train again, a man passed me on the platform of the car, and as he did so hastily handed me a $5.00 bill. "It's for the work," he said, and he disappeared into another car, saying as he did so, "You needn't mention any names." "Do you know who that man is," I asked of one of the train men. He replied, "Yes, he is Mr. C. M. Bailey of Winthrop." My heart gave a bound. Mr. Bailey's heart had been touched, but through no appeal or word of mine. This was in the spring. In November of that year, I was invited to preach in the Friends' church, at Winthrop Center, and was Mr. Bailey's guest. He asked his sons and daughters to dine with us, and at the dinner table in their presence, told me that I might build, at his expense, at Good Will a home for fifteen boys 56 to be known as Bailey Cottage. This would relieve Sunshine Cottage, as it was the plan to transfer the seven boys there to the new home as soon as it could be completed, and Sunshine Cot- tage would then be held for a hospital in case of the appearance of contagious diseases. On two or three occasions I had met Mr. H. H. Fogg of Bangor, Me. He was a large hearted, sympathetic man to whom a work like that pro- posed for boys would strongly appeal. Our few meetings had been happy, and I felt that in Mr. Fogg, I had a real friend. I was asked repeat- edly by acquaintances if Mr. Fogg had ever aided the project for helping poor boys. If I replied in the negative it was quite probable that the inquirer would say, "Well, he ought to," and I would as promptly reply that it was for Mr. Fogg to decide ; that I had no right to say who ought, and who ought not to assist. "Ought" is a strong word it expresses duty. I could not have been persuaded to say anything to Mr. Fogg about building a cottage at the Farm. In the first place I felt it was quite safe to leave the man's personal matters in his own hands; in the second place, I shrunk from any course which might result in a change of rela- 57 tions becween us. If I should ask him to build a cottage and he should consent to do it, how would I ever know that he had done it because he wanted to, and not simply because I asked him. I would feel that he had done something upon my solicitation which possibly his own judgment might not approve. If I should ask him and he should refuse, I could never meet him without thinking of it, and fancying also, that thoughts of the same incident were in his heart. Money seems to be a necessity in this world; and money was needed for the work in hand, but I have always placed friendship above money. I would rather lose money than friends. To be penniless is less of a misfortune than to be friendless. I could not afford to sac- rifice friendship for money, or for a cottage. Perhaps in those days I was abnormally sensi- tive. It may have been easier for Mr. Fogg to say "no" to an appeal for a cottage than I imag- ined ; but this is a statement of my views at that time. Mr. Bailey's gift came in November. In the following January Mr. Fogg met me one morn- ing in the Y. M. C. A. building of Bangor, Me., and gave a check for $2,500 for a cottage. This 58 gift was afterwards increased to $3,000 dollars. Fogg Cottage was dedicated September i, 1893, at eleven o'clock, the same hour of the dedication of Bailey Cottage. A business man told me that several weeks after the gift was announced he met Mr. Fogg, and congratulated him upon what he had done, whereupon, Mr. Fogg remarked : "I like sometimes to help people who don't ask me for anything. Hinckley never asked me for a cent in his life." It was true that I had not asked him, but I had been begging daily, begging the divine spirit to prompt the gift that came. Whatever may happen in the future, the two cottages dedicated on that September day are and will be, as long as they stand, silent testi- monies to the truthfulness of promises in God's word regarding the efficacy of prayer. 59 CHAPTER VI. Some of the greatest successes in life are based on temporary failure. Some of the happiest experiences are the fruit of disappointment. It is the opinion of many friends of Good Will that her history has been an uninterrupted success and development. So it has to the present ; but there have been events which looked like failure for a time. The opening of two new cottages Fogg and Bailey on Seotember i, 1893, added thirty boys to the little community, and Prospect Cottage, where school was held, became crowded. The desks were on the second floor, but the scholars studied and recited where they could. Some- times a couple of diligent students might be found at the foot of the stairway, trying to solve some problem or commit a lesson. Large classes recited daily in the hall-way on the second floor. Fears were entertained that evil might result from foul air; but by paying much attention to ventilation, sickness or any other ill was avoided. 60 But the need of a school building was great. I lived in a state of expectancy ; and did not hesi- tate to affirm that such a building was "on the way." One day an interesting proposition and one which met with very general approval was made. A commercial traveler proposed that the numer- ous class to which he belonged raise a fund, and build a school building at Good Will Farm. A meeting of commercial travelers was called at a Portland hotel, and I accepted an invitation to be present, and made a statement of the plan and purpose of the Good Will Home Association, the need of a school building, and answered ques- tions. The reception accorded me was most cordial, and the statements seemed to be satis- factory. An organization was effected; and, at that time or later, it was decided to build a school building at a cost of ten thousand dollars, which should accommodate one hundred scholars, and provide for both mental and manual training. Another meeting was subsequently held in Ban- gor, which I also attended upon invitation. This was not well attended, and there were signs of weakening. 61 While it was intended that the project should be aided by the commercial travelers of New England, it was early announced that for some reason the White Mountain Division did not propose to co-operate. I had understood that the commercial travelers were to raise the money, but I was troubled by reports that hotel keepers were to be assessed in behalf of the project ; that wholesale houses were to be called upon, and that various other schemes were proposed. I was exceedingly desirous that all that was done for Good Will by whatever party or organization, be done freely and gladly. I was as opposed to collecting from unwilling contributors as I was to making every taxpayer in the State a contrib- utor to the work nolens, volens by accepting a State appropriation. Plans for a building were prepared by an architect ; several hundred dollars were collected ; a quarry at Good Will Farm was opened, and, as I understood it, about four hundred dollars were spent in getting out foundation stones, and hauling them to the selected site. One day two commercial travelers visited the Farm and told me that work on the excavation was to begin the following Monday. I was surprised at this, and 62 FOGG COTTAGE BAILEY COTTAGE inquired how much money had been raised. I learned that the funds received amounted to about a thousand dollars. The men took the ground that the first thousand having been raised, the other nine thousand would come much easier. I had to tell them that the theory was wrong; that the first one thousand was always the easiest to raise ; that it had taken nearly a year to secure the first thousand ; it would take much longer to raise any one of the other nine thousand dollars ; that the commercial travelers of New England could not afford to have a half completed build- ing at Good Will or elsewhere ; and finally that they would not be allowed to commence the building- until they knew it could be completed within a reasonable time. "How long a time?" one of the men inquired. "I'm sure I don't know," I replied, "it might be six months, or a year, or more; but it must be some definite time." I could not learn that any contract had been made with any builder. If it had been, of course there would have been a time specified for the completion of the building. My experience in building had not been extensive, but I had twice tried to contract for the completion of a three 63 thousand dollar cottage in three months, and in neither case could I find a contractor who would agree to it ; and of course I knew that a reason- able time must be allowed for the completion of a ten thousand dollar brick structure. The time limit was not the subject of my contention. It was essential that the building be completed sometime, and within a reasonable limit. If the $10,000 was not raised within a year it could never be. A few days later a letter was sent to the mem- bers of the Commercial Travelers' Organization, signed by two men. The letter read as follows : Office of the Secretary of the Good Will Farm Industrial Building Association. WATERVILLE, October 16, 1893. Dear Sir: While in Waterville Thursday, July 2Oth, in company with I visited Good Will Farm to look over the site for our Industrial Building, and while there we were informed by Mr. Hinckley the Association did not purpose to let us commence on the building until we could guarantee the completion of it, and expressed his idea that we should complete 64 it in three months, and if we were going to build it they wanted us to do it before January i, 1894. He, Mr. Hinckley, also informed us he thought the traveling men had done Good Will Farm more harm than good and he would advise us to abandon the idea of building. The stone for the foundation (which we got out last winter) he also said was an eye sore to him and he had wished many times it had never been placed there. He continued by saying the Association objected to the traveling men soliciting subscrip- tions from any one but traveling men. At their annual meeting in July they appointed a committee to confer with us and also gave them power to stop us from commencing on the building until we would guarantee to complete it in so long a time, but this committee has never given us any notice of their appointment on the work for which they were appointed, and by mere chance we were made known of the facts. Our building committee had let the contract for the foundation and the Monday following Thursday (the day we were there) workmen would have been there to go to work, but they would have been refused. Now my object in 65 placing these facts before you is this. The only thing left for us to do according to my ideas is to have a meeting of our committee, settle up all of our accounts, return what money we have collected, and bid adieu to Good Will Farm Asso- ciation. When and where will it be convenient for you to attend such a meeting? Awaiting your reply, I am Your obedient servant. This strange letter purported to be signed by the president and secretary of the organization. Several weeks later I learned that a meeting was to be called at a Portland hotel to adjust matters. I notified the secretary that I wished to be present, and make a statement, as I had been present at the first meeting. I was not notified of the date of the meeting, or of the out- come of it. Many friends regretted the failure of this project ; but I could see no cause for sad- ness or regret. I was satisfied that the school building was to be. It would come in God's time, and in his way. Not long after the failure of the commercial travelers' project, I received a letter from the office of Harper Bros., publishers of New York 66 HON. E. vS. CONVERSE. City. The editor of the Round Table Depart- ment of Harper's Young People (afterwards changed to Harper's Round Table) inquired in his letter if I would like to have the Knights of the Round Table, an organization consisting of readers of the "Young People" raise money and build a school building for Good Will boys. I thought I was prepared for almost anything; but this letter surprised me. It suggested great possibilities. The prestige which the endorse- ment of a great publishing house, like that of Harper Bros, would give Good Will ; the amount of advertising which would result for the Homes from the carrying out of such a scheme; the multitude of friends likely to be secured in all parts of the country ; these considerations seemed weighty indeed, aside from the school building itself. I assured the writer of the letter that his plan was very acceptable; and waited with patience for the first announcement in the pages of Har- per's Young People. It came in due time and the Knights of the Round Table began to secure subscriptions to Harper's Round Table, each new subscription netting the building fund fifty cents. The idea took. There was evidence of consider- able enthusiasm. After a time the Knights began to give entertainments, and hold fairs in behalf of the Good Will school building. Then a great fair was proposed for New York City. It was to be held at Sherry's at the corner of 37th street and Fifth avenue. Articles were to be sent from all parts of the country for sale ; there were to be exhibits from various manual training schools ; an authors' reception ; a concert by Princeton College Glee Club, and various other attractions. I arrived in New York City on the morning of the opening day of the fair, and went to Sherry's in the afternoon. It was nearly time for the opening. I was dismayed for I could not see how anything good could come out of the confusion, and apparent lack of organization. In some way the program was carried out ; but I could see that the building project was doomed. In one of the rooms at Sherry's there was an excellent water color sketch of the proposed building a building the very plan of which was a disappointment. In the same room was a copy of Queen Wilhelmina's certificate of membership in the Knights of the Round Table. The New York Sun of December 7 said: "The authors' circus, which is to be opened 68 tomorrow, will certainly be worth the admission fee. Nearly a hundred of our most renowned literary characters, women and men, have prom- ised to appear for three days, in the afternoon, at the "Round Table" at Sherry's place for a charitable purpose. Ticket holders will not only be permitted to look at them, but will be intro- duced to any one of them who desires to form new acquaintances. Think of seeing the author of a favorite poem, a thrilling bit of fiction, a solid piece of biography ! The list of the names of the authors who have accepted an invitation to appear at the Round Table is very attractive. We believe there have been small things of the kind before, but this week's spectacle will be of unequalled magnitude if the programme is car- ried out. It is fully justified by its worthy object." The authors' reception was well attended, many of the best known names in literature being present but the endorsement of Harper Bros. ; the membership of Queen Wilhelmina ; the friend- liness of a galaxy of authors was not enough to insure the school building. It became necessary for me to watch and wait. Again there was great disappointment; but it was in the hearts 69 only of friends of the Homes, who did not under- stand the details. The fact that Good Will had been selected as a popular object to aid, and was being used simply in an effort to increase the circulation and popularity of a New York young people's publication, in the New England States, was not referred to in public by me ; and few if any understood the episode. The publication referred to was afterwards discontinued. Occa- sionally the questions are asked "What became of the Commercial Travelers' Building Fund?" and "What became of the Round Table Fund?" The sum of $1,500 invested as the Harper's Round Table Library Fund, and a section of the Good Will Library, consisting largely of volumes published by Harper Bros., and a brass tablet over that section answers both questions. The tablet says : HARPER'S ROUND TABLE LIBRARY. THIS LIBRARY WAS PURCHASED AND IS MAIN- TAINED WITH MONEY CONTRIBUTED BY THE SUB- SCRIBERS TO HARPER'S ROUND TABLE, WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF THE COMMERCIAL TRAVELERS' ASSOCIATION OF NEW ENGLAND. CHAPTER VII. At the State convention of the Y. P. S. C. E. of Maine, held in Bangor in 1893, Mr. V. Rich- ard Foss, president of the convention and at that time a trustee of the Good Will Home Associa- tion, proposed that the Endeavorers of the State raise funds for the building of another cottage for fifteen boys this new home to be called Christian Endeavor Cottage. A committee was appointed, and the work of raising the money began. The first gift was a dime sent by an Endeavorer of Hampden Center. Each month the Good Will Record reported progress ; and on the first page of the April number, 1894, were these words : SUCCESS! ENDEAVOR COTTAGE ASSURED. THE FUND NOT QUITE COMPLETE. The statement which followed showed that the C. E. Cottage fund stood at $2,130.77. This was afterwards increased. April fourth workmen began excavation for the foundations. Each year since the opening of Good Will Cottage there had been a dedicatory service at the Farm on September ist, the anniversary of that event. The order was thus: Sunshine Cottage Sep- tember i, '90; Golden Rule Cottage September I, '91 ; Prospect Cottage September I, '92; Fogg Cottage and Bailey Cottage September, '93, and it was planned that C. E. Cottage should be dedicated on the anniversary day. But in order to accommodate the Endeavorers who would be returning from their annual convention, it was decided to have the exercises on the last day of August. One hundred and ten Endeavorers arrived on the morning train. At each dedicatory service the thirty-seventh Psalm had been read. The custom was honored, and still holds at all services of the kind at Good Will. We had added a cottage to the equip- ment, but the number of cottages remained unchanged. Little Sunshine Cottage was burned to the ground on August loth, about three weeks before the dedication of C. E. Cottage, and with it went Record Hall. 72 CHAPTER VIII. NEW HELPERS. In 1891 the Christian Union (now the Out- look) gave considerable space in its columns to the Burnham Industrial Farm, now the Berkshire Industrial Farm, at Canaan Four Corners, N. Y. I was glad to have that excellent institution brought before so large a number of intelligent and benevolent people, and I read all the items in the Union regarding it. In one issue there appeared a letter from Rev. T. E. Busfield, pastor of the First Baptist Church, Bangor, Me. It was an excellently written letter, but the first few sentences caused me to groan in spirit. I could not take exceptions to what Mr. Busfield said, and I was deeply touched by the knowledge that, without any suggestion from me, he had written in Good Will's behalf. What troubled me was the way the first few sentences of his letter brought Good Will into competition with the Burnham Industrial Farm. If he had shown the letter to me I would have begged him not to 73 send it ; or the editor not to publish it. But that single epistle accomplished more for Good Will eventually than all the columns I had written. It happened that a benevolent lady in Stam- ford, Conn., was greatly exercised about two imperilled boys in that city. She sat on a veran- dah one afternoon, the burning question being, "What can I do for those boys?" While she still pondered, her mail was brought to her, and a part of the parcel was that week's issue of the Christian Union. "As I live," she exclaimed, "I believe that's the place for those two boys," and she proceeded to write me a letter in their behalf. She had never heard of Good Will Farm before, and her only knowledge of it now was Mr. Bus- field's letter. In the course of time the boys were accepted and arrived at Good Will. They were like other boys and soon adjusted them- selves to their new surroundings. The first result of Mr. Busfield's letter, therefore, was a home for two boys from Connecticut. It was natural that others should hear of the new home for boys to which the two Stamford lads had been sent. One day I received a letter from a Stamford lady asking if I would come to that place and tell 74 the story of Good Will Farm in the Presbyterian Church. I replied in the affirmative and the date was fixed. The trip from East Fairfield, Me., to Stamford, Conn., was to be made for the purpose of giving the address. After leaving Boston, Mass., on my way to Stamford it occurred to me that I was making a long journey in order to speak in a church, and I had received no invitation from the pastor. The invitation from a lady whom I had never met, and whom I knew only by the letters which she had written about the address was the only reason for my appearing in Stamford. In accepting that invi- tation I had inferred that the pastor of the church would write me, but he had not done it. I had no means of ascertaining whether I would be welcome in the Presbyterian pulpit ; nor could I in any way at that stage of proceedings learn anything about the woman who had invited me. I was hurrying along at the rate of forty-five miles an hour toward an appointment for Sun- day morning. Why did I start on such a trip? What stupidity not to have waited until I had received some word from a church official ! The only thing to do under the circumstances was to let the train proceed on its way, and I 75 would try and ascertain on reaching Stamford, why I was there. When the station was reached, I decided to call at the house of my correspondent empty handed. I could easily determine in a few minutes after reaching the house whether I had made a vain journey. I rang the bell with strange misgivings, but a moment later received a welcome which quite relieved me of all doubt. I was obliged to confess to my host and hostess the doubt I had entertained and the misgivings which led me to leave my baggage at the station till I could spy out the land. The information that Rev. Dr. Vail, the pastor, and Mr. Walter M. Smith, one of the officials of the church, were to call on me in the evening was reassuring. Not long after the evening meal the two gentle- men arrived, and after a brief interview in which arrangements for the service the next day were completed, the callers were asked into another room. But Mr. Smith soon returned and mani- fested deep interest in the work which I judged was new to him. He seemed to be specially interested in the boys' summer camp, and after asking several questions he said "I should think you would need a good many blankets for the encampment." "We do," I replied. "What do you do for blankets" he asked. "Oh, we do the best we can," I answered, "and get along comfortably." "But I should think you would need a good many blankets," he repeated. "Yes, we do, but we use old blankets, and quilts the worse for wear, and get along as well as we can," I replied. "Well, if seventy-five pairs of new blankets will do you any good, I will order them shipped to you Monday." I was facing a new friend of Good Will great hearted and strong, whose influence in my own life, and in the history of the work was to be felt beyond that of any living person. These blankets for the boys' camp were his first gift. Of course I did not foresee that evening how great was to be Mr. Smith's influence, or how strong was to be his friendship, any more than I could foresee this first gift to the work. The next day the "Story of Good Will Farm" was told in the Presbyterian pulpit just as it had been told in a score of other places. I had sowed. It was for God to give the increase. 77 Months later when Mr. Smith made his first visit to East Fairfield he seemed to be as deeply impressed with the possibilities of the place as had Mr. Quincy, whose sudden death occurred just after my Stamford trip. On my second visit to Stamford I was invited to preach at the regular morning service in the Presbyterian Church. Nothing had been said in the sermon about Good Will Farm, or benevolent work. Mr. Thos. W. Hall met me at the foot of the stairs, and asked to speak to me. He explained that he had a good mother, to whose counsel and prayers he owed his success in life, and he commissioned me to build a cottage in her memory to be known as Mary Louisa Hall Cot- tage. In the hall of this cottage are two objects of interest, viz : A memorial window, and a plain ash case, with a glass front. The window is inscribed with these words : To THE MEMORY OF A GOOD MOTHER, MARY LOUISA HALL, SKANEATELES, N. Y. The emblems are two torches representing "Wisdom" and "Knowledge," and a wreath of laurel significant of a triumphant life. 78 MISS FRANCES E. MOODY. When Mr. Hall was eighteen years old he left the home and his mother in Skaneateles, N. Y., and started out in life to win. Fourteen years later, just after his mother's funeral he discov- ered that when he left home, she had taken the garments he wore on the farm garments of faded blue cotton washed and ironed them, tied them with a bit of white ribbon and labeled them, TOM'S DRESS SUIT. Mr. Hall took the garments to his home in Connecticut and cherished them there. When he came to Good Will to attend the dedication of the cottage, he brought the garments with him ; at his request they are in the case in the front hall, a silent reminder of the depth and potency of mother-love, and an evidence of noble son- ship. They are still marked, "Tom's dress suit." Marv Louisa Hall Cottage was dedicated December 31, '95. The thirty-seventh Psalm was read. 79 CHAPTER IX. Our school had been accommodated in the chambers of Prospect Cottage. The narrow entry was sometimes used for a recitation room. Lessons were occasionally prepared by young students sitting on the front stairs. We feared disaster from overcrowding ; but by paying con- stant attention to ventilation we escaped. We felt confident that a school building would be provided. The commercial travelers' plan for a building had failed a building which was to have accommodated one hundred scholars. We already had over ninety scholars, and prospects of growth. The letter from the commercial travelers' committee advising abandonment of all effort, and a return of the money which had been collected was dated October 16, '93. I think their final meeting was held several weeks later. In February, '94, I received a letter from Miss Mary D. Moody of Bath, Me., requesting me to call at her home, and stating that she wished to ask some questions. In this request she was 80 joined by her sister, Miss Frances E. Moody. The writer of the letter and her sister were unknown to me. I had not heard of Mr. Charles E. Moody, their brother, to whom the letter referred. But I responded to the invitation and went to Bath, and to the Charles E. Moody estate. Here I met two sisters rare Christian char- acters. Their life had been full of sweet experi- ences ; and in every thing they had enjoyed the sympathy and counsel of their brother, who, though in business in Boston, regarded the old homestead in Bath his legal residence, and his real home. Mr. Moody with his younger sister, Miss Frances E. Moody, had visited the Colum- bian Exposition, and on their way home, he had been seized with fatal illness and died in Detroit, Michigan. His death was a crushing blow to the sisters. Their first impulse was to give themselves up to the great sorrow. Life had lost much of its meaning for them. But in their soul was a desire to carry out, if possible, some of the brother's benevolent plans. Mr. Moody had expressed his faith in the work at Good Will; and without doubt it was his purpose to aid it. They wished to do that which would meet the brother's approval were he living. 81 The April, '94, issue of the Good Will Record announced the gift of a school building. The names of the donors at their earnest request were for a time withheld from the public ; but it was stated that the gift was unconditional, except that it was to be "a fine building, constructed after the most approved modern principles in every respect, a building that shall give satisfaction in future years, as well as at the present time." Ground was broken for the Charles E. Moody Building July 4, '94; the corner stone was laid June 27, '95; it was dedicated January I, '96. On each of these occasions, the thirty-seventh Psalm was read. God had again brought to pass. There was a feeling of sadness through the services of dedication occasioned by the absence of Miss Mary D. Moody, who had greatly longed to see the building dedicated. She died Novem- ber, '95, nearly two months before the dedicatory exercises took place. Mr. Elmer I. Thomas, the gifted young architect, who drew the plans for the building, died on the day it was dedicated. 82 CHAPTER X. There was a definite plan at Good Will. It was gradually unfolding. To have announced it in full when the first farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres was purchased at East Fairfield for boys, would have brought ridicule upon the whole project. Talking with a farmer in the neighborhood, after the work had been in prog- ress six or seven years, I said: "WTiat would you people have said when the first purchase for this undertaking was made, if I had predicted that at this time there would be these buildings here, and nearly a hundred boys in them." "We would have said you were out of your head that you were crazy," was the prompt reply. The changes which took place would have been simple and trifling indeed if the one who inaug- urated them had possessed wealth ; but the people understood my own poverty, and could not understand the rest. I had nothing ; they did not 83 understand that it was God who was bringing to pass. A noted preacher of Scotland exclaimed in my hearing on one occasion : "What is that in thy hand?" "Nothing." "Nothing? Oh ! that is the stuff out of which God makes worlds." With nothing of my own available; and with Psalm 37 : 5 always before me it was easy to believe. But there were some things I did not want to do. I did want to establish a similar work for girls. I did not want to begin in such a small way as the boys' project had been under- taken. A mile from Good Will was a farm which in my judgment ought to be devoted to work for girls, and made the foundation for homes and school for them. In the event of such an under- taking the farm north of Good Will would be needed as the site for a chapel. While the boys and girls would then be in separate homes and schools, they could attend the same religious ser- vices, and could meet in various social gather- ings. In reply to the question frequently asked, "Why do you not undertake a similar work for girls?" I had this uniform reply: "I am will- ing to undertake a similar work for girls when- ever anyone will come forward with $10,000 or even $5,000 as a beginning. I do not propose to start with a paltry twenty dollars as I did in the boys' case, and wait years for it to grow." But the $10,000 did not come for the girls. The $5,000 did not materialize. But something came to pass. Much of the work in the boys' homes is done by the smaller boys themselves. With other duties they wash and "wipe the dishes. It has been the rule for years that if a boy washes or wipes dishes two weeks in succession without breaking a dish he shall receive five cents. This money is not wages, it is a reward for careful- ness. As a matter of fact these nickels are about all the money some of the boys see from January to December; and what use they shall make of the money when it arrives is sometimes a matter of much thought on the boys' part. On the tenth of November, '94, a small boy entered my office at Good Will and said : "W r atson and I have been on dishes for two weeks and haven't broken a dish. Each of us 85 will have five cents just as soon as Miss Marshall gets time to fill out the order. We've talked it over, and as soon as we get the money we are going to give it to you to help start the girls' homes, so the girls can have just as good homes as we boys have." I knew how much that five cent piece meant to each of those boys, and could hardly believe I had heard correctly. "Say that over again" I said, and the boy repeated the statement. The sacrifice the boy was making was aston- ishing; but it is always "more blessed to give." Turning to my assistant I said : "I shall take this money. Several times I have tried to dictate to my Creator, but have never been successful. If refusal to undertake any- thing for girls unless the work can begin with at least $5,000, is of the nature of dictation, then I am through with it." The story of the two nickels was published, and a lady in Bangor sent two dimes, one for each boy who had sacrificed his all for the girls' home. The letter said: "I have not talked it over, but I have thought it over, and I've con- cluded I could not have done it at their age." I 86 saw Watson and read the letter to him, and he immediately returned the dime and said : "Put it in with the rest ; it will all help." The boys had been influenced to their initiative act by an article in the Good Will Record of that month November. Aside from their gift, which began the girls' fund, there was no prog- ress for several weeks. The article in the Record provoked some criticism which appeared chiefly in the Republican of Belfast, Me. The attack was uncalled for; the critics were at a disadvantage, for the reason that they did not understand the situation or the motive at Good Will. The antagonism, however, was brief. Others in various parts of the country freely dis- cussed the plan for the girls, and, of course, some were opposed to it. It was predicted that all manner of evil would fall upon the project if it were undertaken; that my cares would be mul- tiplied, and my sorrows increased ; that a great mistake was about to be made. Such discussion resulted in much thought and added caution, but I was satisfied that the principle was right. In my own home I had two sons; I did not want them to grow up far removed from girls of their own age. I had two daughters, I did not want them to grow up far removed from boys of their age. A father's instincts played a prominent part in the solution of the problem. At the same time I was following the method I had adopted in the work for boys. The plan was being made known ; no personal solicitation was made to anyone. On the twenty- seventh of February, '95, I made this entry in my journal : "On my return home from an absence of several days much mail matter is waiting for personal attention. One letter says, "Dear Sir and Brother : Please find enclosed $i for the girls. God bless you in your work." Another letter is from an earnest Chris- tian worker, notifying me that a strong church and its pastor have taken preliminary steps in the formation of a Good Will Club, the object of which is to aid in the opening of Good Will Homes for Girls This will be the first club formed for the purpose, and I shall watch it with interest and shall announce its formation in the Good Will Record. I have frequently said that I would arrange for the opening of such Homes whenever any person or persons would come for- ward with a definite sum. But I acknowledge I have no right to dictate. If the plan I have 88 clurished is God's plan, I must be willing that 'He shall bring to pass" in his own way. If the Girls' Homes are established near Good Will Farm they must rest on the same basis as do those for boys." April 2 I wrote : "April 2. About two years ago I addressed a union congregation in the Congregational Church, Farmington, Me. The service resulted in many friends for the Homes. At the close of that service I met, for the first time, Mr. G. F. Thurston of Portland, who immediately became an earnest co-worker, and was soon after a director of the Good Will Home Association. He was an enthusiastic friend of the Boys' Homes till the end of his life. So I have always regarded the Farmington service of two years ago an important one, and it was far reaching in its influence. Last Sunday evening, March 3ist, I addressed another union congrega- tion in the same church. On several occasions, at the close of addresses, I have been asked some questions by persons in the audience about the plan for girls. But last Sunday evening, for the first time, I devoted a part of the time to a plea for the plan for girls. The plan seemed to meet with hearty approval. I announced that this 89 week I would open a set of books and be prepared to receive and acknowledge cash contributions for the proposed homes for girls at this place. To the present time I have only received a few separate contributions to the girls' work, and these will in due time be acknowledged in the Record. This morning I am notified that the Volunteer Good Will Club has just been organ- ized among young people, in the Congress St. M. E. Church, Portland. This is the first Good Will Club organized to aid the Good Will Homes for Girls. Success to the Volunteers !" Up to this time there had been an obstacle which might prove insurmountable. In such an event I would have acknowledged that for some reason it was better that the plan for girls should not be carried out. Two or three tracts of land were involved. If these were held by parties who would not sell, or would sell only at an exorbitant price ; or if these tracts should in the meantime be purchased by parties who would hold them at a price beyond our reach, the project would necessarily be abandoned. At this juncture Mr. G. A. Matthews bought all the land referred to, holding it at a stated rate of interest, until it could be transferred to the 90 CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR COTTAGE MARY LOUISA HALL COTTAGE ; Good Will Home Association. This reduced the problem to a financial basis. It was now only a question of money. The Volunteer Good Will Club the first organization in the interest of the girls' fund did valiant service. It consisted of thirteen young men in the Congress St. M. E. Church, Portland. In the annual report to the trustees of the Good Will Home Association in June, I reported that the girls' fund, including a gift of $1,000, amounted to $1,150. The October Record announced the gift of the first cottage for girls a home to be built as soon as the land could be purchased. The donors' names were withheld from the public for a time at their request. The gift was made September 29, '95. The fund at that time amounted to $1,250. This was progress or rather it was just a happy, healthy growth. October fifteenth Hon. E. S. Converse of Mai- den, Mass., visited Good Will. Accompanied by his private secretary he arrived on the 10.10 A. M. train. Mr. Converse had previously mani- fested his interest in the work in many ways and I had reason to believe that he gave the two thousand dollars earlier in the history of the 91 work, which was to meet special needs, and known while it lasted as the "O" fund, because secured by Mr. George Henry Quincy of Boston. Mr. Converse seemed greatly pleased with the possibilities of the place. After looking about for an hour he sat down in my own home and said: "Now what would you like to have me do?" I was not prepared for such a question. It had never occurred to me that such an inquiry would ever be made by anyone. "Really," I replied, "I don't know what you would like to do, nor how much you can do ?" Then I told him of the five cent contributions by the boys; the Volunteer Club of Portland, Me. ; the proffered gift of a cottage for girls and the land still held by Mr. Matthews. Mr. Con- verse listened attentively and then drew his check for seven thousand three hundred dollars a sum which covered everything I had mentioned to him. I did not know what to say. There was nothing I could say. I think my only expression of gratitude was, "Thank you." But that day I had received a benediction; my faith had got a new stimulus; and though not one dollar of that gift could ever touch me personally, I was 92 the richest man in the State. Had I not waited and believed? Was not God bringing to pass? In the Good Will Record the money for each purchase of land was announced separately ; but the payment was received in that single check. As soon as the land on which the girls' homes were to be located had been purchased and paid for it was announced that the donors of the first cottage were Mr. and Mrs. Walter M. Smith of Stamford, Conn., and that the home was to be in memory of their daughter Elizabeth Wilcox Smith. Ground was broken on the afternoon of April 22, the first sod being turned by my own boy, Walter Palmer Hinckley who was then eleven years old. The beautiful structure was completed and furnished in time for the day of dedication, which early in the season was fixed for July 2Qth. At the dedicatory service the thirty-seventh Psalm was read. In presenting the home, Mr. Smith said: "Mr. President: Since 1888 my family have sought the opportunity, (which God has so clearly shown us within the past year,) to erect to the memory of a darling daughter and sister, some monument that would seem to accord with 93 her sweet, active and beneficent life. She loved to make others happy. This occasion is so full of tender and precious memories that I dare not trust myself to speak at any length of her whose name this cottage bears. By the kind permission and co-operation of yourself, sir, as president, and of the board of directors of Good Will Home Association we have been permitted to erect upon this lovely spot the beautiful home which we now dedicate in sacred memory to her who was all that is lovely, pure and true in young womanhood, to be held in trust as a home for girls in need of a helping hand. Permit me, sir, to express the hope that no impure thoughts may ever find lodgment here. May Elizabeth Wilcox Smith Cottage ever stand as the embodiment of all that is chaste and pure in life. And may our Heavenly Father graciously smile upon this offering from loving hearts." " In his speech of acceptance President Gid- dings of the Good Will Home Association said : "Before formally accepting the generous gift which you have made us, sir, today, let me call 94 A. N. RYERSON. your attention to two or three facts that are to be considered in connection with such an event. All the knowledge we have in this world springs mainly from three sources. The first as you well know is the Bible, the revelation from God, in which we read His wonderful declarations and in which we also read profound histories and prophecies; some we understand and some we do not understand. But to the devout soul He reveals more or less from time to time, of those mighty truths, some of which will remain mys- teries to us through all our mortal lives ; but step by step we see new revelations. The next source of our knowledge is nature. We look abroad and see the glorious works of nature, the sun rising day by day and the moon by night; the stars filling the sky ; the ocean full of beauty and usefulness to man ; the earth and the wonderful things that God has made. Many things are mysteries that we cannot understand. But step by step He leads us on. Man has come almost to control the great forces of nature by the great discoveries which he has made; but still there are mysteries which elude his grasp. There is still another source of knowledge Divine Provi- dence more mysterious than all the rest. He 95 says to us : "Be still and know that I am God," and so we ponder on and travel on, searching ever to know more and more of those great mysteries which surround us and which so deeply concern us. To you, sir, there came one of those mysteries. In 1888 there came to your home a dark providence, so dark that with all the devo- tion of a Christian heart there must be a yearn- ing to know the reason why. Why, O why, must we bear such a trial as this? That there must needs have gone out from a happy home a light and a joy was as mysterious as it was full of tribulation. To-day there comes one of these illuminations that sometimes Divine Providence permits His creatures to behold. A light is let in upon that darkness, and what was then dark- ness is now light. Good Will Farm had not then been projected, or rather only in the mind of a man. It had no place on this footstool. These cottages had no existence. The industrious farmer was tilling the soil, all unconscious of the purpose for which Providence had designed it, and you were pursuing your avocations in your homes and places of business all unconscious of the future. Can anyone deny that he who was "working out the plan" was the Divine architect? 96 He said, "I will enter that home on the banks of Long Island Sound and I will take from it one that shall be an inspiration in a home, not for one but a score of young lives. I will take out of a home one, that I may make a home for many more." And to-day this home stands as a memorial of that event in the life which that day passed away from earth. Is it any wonder that we adore the riches of His grace, when He reveals to us the purposes with which he has dealt with us? Accept the confidence, a Divine hand was dealing with you and yours, my brother, in that dark day of tribulation. And now on this hillside there stands this home in all its beauty, its convenience and its comforts, that shall brighten future days and years for many a one who is in need of such a home. If one must be taken from a happy home in order that others may have a home, is it too great a sacrifice to make ? I trust you will be able to say on this day, "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight." My dear brother, we accept this donation which you have made, with all the conditions which you have affixed. Here we propose to have young girls educated who shall be the object 97 of the utmost care, whose minds, whose hands, whose hearts shall be cultivated and they will come here year after year, and read the name and look upon the portrait of the one for whom this is a memorial ; and may it be that the light of that heaven to which she has gone shall shine down upon your home and this one, and that this home shall cast back its light and its prayers in many, many benedictions upon your own. Even so may the Lord bless you and yours." CHAPTER XI. One of the farms which was paid for with a part of the proceeds of Mr. Converse's check joined Good Will on the north. The chief rea- son for its purchase was, that it would be a most convenient site for a chapel, if the girls' homes were opened. In her will, Miss Mary D. Moody left $10,000 to build a memorial to her brother, Charles E. Moody, at Good Will Farm. But after the will was made, she united with her sister, Miss Frances E. Moody, in building the Memorial School Building. The directors of the Good Will Home Association therefore voted to quit all claim to the legacy provided for in the will. The ten thousand dollars therefore reverted to Miss Frances E. Moody, who at once decided upon a Moody Memorial Chapel, and devoted the amount of the legacy to that purpose placing with it an additional five thousand dollars. Ground was broken with appropriate ceremo- nies July TI, 1896, the first sod being turned 99 by my daughter Faith then five years old. Miss Moody was present. The thirty-seventh Psalm was read. Just one hour before the exercises of breaking ground for the chapel, painters finished their work on Elizabeth Wilcox Smith Cottage, and pronounced that building completed. The corner stone of the chapel was laid, in the presence of a great assemblage, August 3rd. Again the Psalm which contains the passage upon which the work rests was read to the peo- ple, viz : "Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring to pass." The chapel was dedicated June 16, 1897. The thirty-seventh Psalm was read. The dedicatory hymn, written for the occasion by Rev. A. J. Lockhart, was sung by the boys' choir. DEDICATORY HYMN. Written for the dedication of the Mary D. Moody Memorial Chapel, and sung by the Good Will boy choir, June 16, i8Q7. AIR: "O for the peace that floweth as a river/' Gospel Hymns. "See that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee on the mount." Heb. viii: 5. 100 As Moses, in the holy mount appearing, Received the pattern of Thine ancient shrine, Thy word, O Lord, with awful rapture hearing, So now we wait that perfect will of Thine. Here no* inspire us from Thy sacred Mountain, To which we look, as if Thy face to see; And consecrate, out of Thy heart's deep fountain, These walls we rear a temple unto Thee. O Thou, who sav'st the helpless and the lowly, The outcast souls who gath'rest in Thy fold, Gather them here Thou gracious One and holy! And let their tearful eyes Thy love behold. Here come to youthful souls with Thy salvation; Here let the voice of prayer and praise arise ; Here shape the stones for Thy sublime foundation The Temple Thou art rearing in the skies. How frail our work, however wrought and gilded; Transient our lives, where all is insecure! Lord ! in the House Thy glorious Hand hath builded May we behold the things that shall endure! 101 CHAPTER XII. The annual meeting of the Maine State Grange in 1896 was held in Bangor. At one of the sessions Mrs. Lewis Beale, North Fairfield, pro- posed that the granges of the State build a cot- tage for girls to be a home for a family of fifteen, and to be called Grange Cottage. The proposition was not received with much enthu- siasm. A year later the State Grange met at Augusta ; the committee which had been appointed at Ban- gor the year before reported eight hundred dol- lars in hand for the proposed cottage. The effort had some strong supporters notably Hon. Edward Wiggin, the worthy master. The report of the committee, and the discussion which fol- lowed, created new interest, and a fresh impetus was given the work of raising funds. The effort could not fail. The corner stone of Grange Cottage was laid October 4, '97, many prominent members of the order being present. The thirty-seventh Psalm 102 was read. Again on December 2Oth the place was visited by a good number of grangers, and Grange Cottage was dedicated. The keys were presented by Worthy Master Wiggin, and accepted by President Giddings. The scripture lesson read on this occasion was Psalm thirty- seven. On the farm purchased for the girls were two small barns, and a one story house. The barns were moved. The house was "fixed over" and used for a school building. It was called the "White House" because it had once been white, though small traces of paint remained. It offered poor educational facilities ; but much bet- ter than the boys had enjoyed at the correspond- ing stage of development of the plan for them. But it was possible to seat thirty girls at desks in the "White House" and at the same time have one room for the sewing school. On the way to Good Will one day in 1900 travelling on the M. C. R. R., Mr. A. N. Ryerson of Noroton, Conn., asked me if I would like another cottage for girls at Good Will. I explained to him that we could not wisely open another cottage when we had no place to educate the girls who would find a home there. After 103 this interview Mr. and Mrs. Ryerson, who were mourning the death of their only daughter, decided to build a memorial school building for girls to be known as the Emily F. Ryerson Building. Ground was broken in the summer of 1900, Mrs. Ryerson turning the first sod. The build- ing was dedicated July 31, 1901. In presenting the keys to the Good Will Home Association Mr. Ryerson said, addressing myself: "My Brother: The occasion of our meeting here this morning, while one of the pleasantest, also brings to mind one of the saddest experi- ences in our lives. On December 30, 1899, our Heavenly Father, in His infinite wisdom and love, took from our home unto Himself, our darling daughter, in the bloom and beauty of young womanhood. In the following February, I visited the Tines' as the guest of my very dear friend, Mr. Walter M. Smith. During that visit I had several con- versations with you, sir, in which we discussed the needs of the homes, and I learned from you that there was a very pressing need of a school building for girls. 104 Before leaving my home in Connecticut, my wife and I considered building a girl's cottage, but as the more important need seemed to be a school building for girls, before taking my leave, I promised you if, after prayerfully considering the matter with my dear wife, it seemed clearly the leading of the Divine will, that we would erect a school building for the girls as a memorial to our darling daughter, and a thank offering to our Heavenly Father for his many, many mercies to us. In planning this building, it has been our aim as far as possible to meet the various require- ments of the girls in the Good Will Homes. Aside from rooms devoted to ordinary school work, we have provided for domestic training, suitable rooms for cooking and sewing classes, a hall where they can hold their weekly prayer meetings and such literary and social entertain- ments as seem desirable. It is the earnest wish and prayer of the donors that there may go forth from these homes hun- dreds, yes, thousands of young ladies whose minds will be stored with useful knowledge, whose hands and eyes shall be skilled in the domestic duties of the home life. We hope they 105 will have strong and noble characters that shall fit them for the bufferings and sorrows, as well as the joys and pleasures incident to life, with hearts filled with love to God, love for humanity, love for all that is highest, noblest, purest and grandest in life. We pray that their lives may be a blessing and a benediction to all with whom they come in contact ; that in the day when Christ shall make up his jewels, there shall not be one missing of those who have received spiritual, moral and mental training in the Emily Fox Ryerson Memorial School Building. Now, my dear sir, with gratitude to our Heav- enly Father that it has pleased Him to use us as his stewards, giving us a part in this grand and noble work, I now formally present to you the Emily Fox Ryerson Memorial School Build- ing for girls." In the absence of President Giddings, who was detained by illness, I accepted the gift for the Association, saying: "My Dear Brother: I regret the absence of the honored president of the Good Will Home Association, on this occa- sion. I hold in my hand a telegram just received from him, in which he says : "May the occasion be auspicious. God's blessing on the donors." 1 06 THE CHARLES E. MOODY SCHOOL HUILD1NC THE MOODY MEMORIAL CHAPEL In the president's absence, it becomes my duty, in behalf of the Association to accept this beauti- ful gift. I am reminded of the scene in Eliza- beth Wilcox Smith Cottage a few years ago when that home was presented bv its donor and dedicated to the service of GoJ and of needy girl- hood. President Giddings, in his address of acceptance, reminded us that God had taken a daughter from a beautiful home on the shores of Long Island Sound, but through that strange dispensation of his providence there had sprung up, a home and shelter for a multitude of girls, on the banks of the Kennebec. And now some- thing of a similar nature has occurred. As I walk through this beautiful building, so admir- ably adapted to its purposes for which you offer it, I am profoundly impressed with the enlarged life of that loved one, whose loss you so deeply mourn. It is said of her: "She is dead." But she lives ; and the influence of her short life will be felt in ever increasing power, as the years come and go. and multitudes of girls are educated here. If your daughter had spoken to you and said : "Father, if I go, out of my short life there will arise a building which shall be a blessing to the world," I know what you would have said. 107 In your great love for her you would have exclaimed : "My child, I cannot let you go ; you must not go." But if I have understood the disposition and the spirit of your daughter, I think, in her love for humanity, and her sym- pathy for the needy, she would have said : "Let me go and let the many be helped." If I know my own heart, could I be assured that out of my own death there would come as great a blessing to humanity, as I believe this building will be, much as I value life, and much as I love my home and my family, I would say : "Let me go." It is not all of life these few short years allotted to us here. Long after you and I have gone hence, this building will continue to bless humanity; your daughter's influence will con- tinue to broaden ; this beautiful gift from your- self and your companion will still be a beacon light. With a deep sense of gratitude to the donors of this building, and a deeper sense of gratitude to God who graciously prompted it, I accept this building for the Good Will Home Association, and join in the prayer of our absent president : 'God's blessing on the donors.' " 108 Of course that portion of the scripture which contains the text on which the work is founded Psalm 37 : 5 was read on this occasion. 109 CHAPTER XIII. From the very beginning I had hoped and expected that "manual training" would be a prominent feature at Good Will. If I could have had my own way, a manual training build- ing would have followed the first cottages, and preceded the school building. But I was not determining the order of things, nor was I "bringing to pass." But next in importance to Psalm 37 : 5 "Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him and He shall bring to pass," as a basis for operations, is Proverbs 22 : 6, which in the original reads, "Train up a child in his way," i. e. according to his bent [margin] and when he is old he will not depart from it." But years of patient waiting were necessary before we could have equipment for such work. From the beginning our school was carefully graded and included a college preparatory course. Comparatively few Good Will boys enter college, but the high school department is a strong incen- tive to good work in the lower grades, and a very 1 10 large percentage of the boys in those grades aim at a year or two at least in the high school before leaving the Farm. An attempt at manual training was made in Prospect Cottage. Carpenter benches were pro- vided and classes arranged ; but the room was soon needed for other purposes, and wood work- ing was crowded out. The building proposed by the Commercial Travelers' Association was to have had one floor devoted to manual training. The Harper Round Table Building was to be of a similar character. These projects failed only that larger things might be inaugurated, and that a more complete educational plant might mate- rialize. An examination of files of the Good Will Record reveals repeated calls for a manual train- ing plant. But there was never a time when, had the thing been done it would have been done right. There was a time when the manual train- ing building would have been located in the rear of Golden Rule Cottage. This would have been a blunder. At another time it would have been placed between the railroad and the Kennebec river. This was before we learned by experi- ence that this site may at any time of freshet be in covered with water and drifting ice to a depth of two feet, though it has really happened only once in the history of Good Will. At still another period it would have been situated on the side- hill between .Fogg Cottage and the railroad. This would Have been unfortunate. I had repeatedly said that I did not believe we would have a manual training building until the right location was selected. I am confident that the site chosen is the only wise one at Good Will for it, though to place it where it is to be, involved much planning, and considerable expense. One day in April, '01, I called on a business man in New York city. I had met him but two or three times in my life ; but possessed proof of his sympathy and helpfulness. He told me he had been thinking of Good Will and its needs. He thought that at least fifty thousand dollars ought to be raised for a manual training build- ing, its equipment and partial endowment, and offered to give ten thousand dollars toward the project, on condition that the other forty thou- sand dollars be raised on or before May I, 1902. This gave a year in which to secure the amount. A few days later two men pledged five thou- sand dollars each on same conditions. Other 112 sums were added, until iliirty-oiu 1 thousand dol- lars was pledged, and the remaining nineteen thousand dollars looked like an insurmountable difficulty. The year was almost gone. It was April, 1902, and May ist was the last day of grace. One day I was ill in bed, a faithful attendant by my side, when a telegram came reading thus: "Fifteen thousand dollars pledged on condi- tion that last four be raised. Come to New York at once." Obedience to the summons seemed physically impossible. I was sick. But I decided to make the trip by easy stages. The next morning I started for New York, accompanied by my attendant, but went only as far as Portland, Me. The following day I continued the trip. Friends of Good Will made provision for the remaining four thousand dollars. The success of this project was due under the blessing of heaven, to Mr. Walter M. Smith, the vice-president of the Good Will Home Association. At a special meeting of the directors of the Association, a building committee was appointed consisting of Mr. Walter M. Smith, Stamford, Conn.; Mr. A. L. Prescott, New York; Judge Nathaniel Hobbs, North Berwick, Me., and G. W. Hinckley, East Fairfield, Me. Plans were prepared, and duly accepted. The site selected was north of the Charles E. Moody Building, and in line with it. To make this site available it was necessary to move Prospect Cottage three hundred and fifty feet to the west. Ground was broken, with appropriate exer- cises. The first sod was turned by Rev. Harry Kimball of Skowhegan. The thirty-seventh Psalm was read. It was planned that the build- ing should be opened in September, 1903. It was necessary to make some provision for teachers and for boys who would wish to take courses in the manual training building. The boys would be older than those for whom the cottages were built, and the committee decided that a part of the manual training plant must be a dormitory. Plans were prepared and Prospect Cottage was incorporated into a building con- taining a spacious dining hall, kitchen, store room and twenty-six sleeping rooms. Several years before the first pledge was made toward the manual training building, Mrs. T. Buckminster of Saco, Me., had told me that eventually she would give several thousand dollars toward the 114 endowment of a manual training school if some one else provided the building, but she did not wish to contribute any part toward the building. The pledge thus made strengthened my faith that the building would some day be secured ; but I cherished my knowledge of what had thus been promised and said nothing. The amount pledged by Mrs. Buckminster was included in the fifty thousand dollars finally raised, and when the dormitory was nearing completion I sug- gested to the committee that it be called the "Buckminster." This was done in gratitude to one who had shown her confidence in the final success of the manual training school even when there was nothing visible to indicate that it would ever be installed at Good Will. Tuesday, May 12, 1903, was an important day at Good Will. At 10.15 A. M. a meeting of the directors was held in the office of the Charles E. Moody building. At 10.30 exercises appropriate to the laying of the corner stone of the Manual Training building were held. The congregation sang, "How Firm a Foundation." It was my privilege to say: "From the earliest beginning of the work at Good Will a manual training school has been a part of the plan. The waiting has been long and patient; the building is now in process of con- struction; the time for the laying of the corner stone is come. No one can fully understand the feelings of gratitude in my heart toward those who in the days of smallest things here did not hesitate to stand by the project and work earn- estly for it. One day Mr. George Henry Quincy of Boston came here, and from the day of his first visit he worked and planned for Good Will. At the time of his unexpected death he was hoping and working for large things here. This structure is not being built as a memorial to him ; but out of the gratitude of my heart I have sug- gested that it be named after him, and I am happy to announce that by vote of the directors this is to be the "Quincy Building." We will listen to the reading of scripture by Rev. W. H. Spencer, D. D., of Skowhegan, and be led in prayer by him ; we will sing the hymn which has been written for this occasion, and the corner stone will then be laid by the honored president of the Good Will Home Association, Mr. Moses Giddings of Bangor. He will use the same trowel which was used at the laying of other 116 corner stones here, and it will then be placed in the museum to await further occasions of this kind." Dr. Spencer read a part of the thirty-seventh Psalm and offered prayer. The congregation then sang the following hymn which I had writ- ten for use at this time : HYMN For laying of corner stone, Good Will, May 12, '03. TUNE : ERNAN. Father of mercies, hear our humble prayer, To thee we come ; we worship thee alone ; Grant thou a blessing on thy work today, As in thy name we lay this corner stone. We know not what thy power shall bring to pass As days and months and years to cycles grow; But this we pray, that on the work begun, Thy gracious blessing thou wilt still bestow. Grant that within the walls that here arise, Rich streams of wisdom ever more may flow: Direct the work that daily here is done; Let sturdy youth to stalwart manhood grow. We do not ask to hear the story told Of all the good which on this hill shall be; Eternity alone can tell the tale, And then the blessed fruitage we shall see. To thee who dost alone bring all to pass, Bid those who labor here commit their way; Help them to trust; let love triumphant rule, Till on their vision breaks supernal day. G. W. H. Mr. Giddings laid the corner stone and said : "The corner stone of the Quincy Industrial Building is laid. It is plumb and true and of the vnost enduring material. "The trowel used in the laying of this stone was used in laying the corner stone of the Moody School Building, donated to learning, and also in laying the corner stone of yonder chapel, dedi- cated to the worship of God. We have here, when these walls shall have been erected, three buildings, one donated to learning, this one to industry, and the other to religion. The educa- tion of the mind, the training of the hand, and the culture of the heart these if rightly used will form a foundation on which a character may be built that will assure success, usefulness, and happiness." The audience was then invited to attend the dedicatory exercises of the new dormitory, and the service closed with the singing of the dox- ology. 118 The copper box in the corner stone contains a copy of the May number of the Good Will Record, "The Story of Good Will Farm," Ken- nebec Daily Journal of May 12, a copy of the original hymn written for the occasion, a few other articles including coins bearing the date 1903. The day was perfect, and there was no excuse for attempting to accommodate the people in the dormitory which was to be dedicated. Those who had any share in the exercises were assigned places on the veranda; the audience gathered south of the building. A choir from the girls' school sang a selection, and I took occasion to say: "I have already referred to the gratitude I cherish in my heart toward those who in days of small things proved to me their faith in this philanthropic and educational project. About four years ago a benevolent woman in the west- ern part of the State invited me to her home. We had never met. In our first interview as I responded to her invitation, she expressed her willingness to provide for a partial endowment several thousand dollars for a manual training 119 school whenever a building should be provided. She did not wish to have any part in providing the structure ; but wanted to have a share in sup- porting the school which she seemed to feel sure would some time be opened here. I cannot explain to you how this woman's faith increased my courage, and strengthened my purpose: or been reared as a memorial ; but I have suggested how grateful I am to her. This structure has not that this dormitory which is to be a part of the manual training plant, and at the service of stu- dents in the manual training school be named in honor of Mrs. T. Buckminster of Saco, Maine, the woman who showed her own faith in the project and increased mine, when there was no material evidence that such a day as this would ever come. By vote of the directors of the Good Will Home Association this is to be called the "Buckminster." Scripture will be read, and prayer offered by Rev. F. M. Preble, D. D., of Auburn, Maine." Dr. Preble read the same portion which had been read a few moments before by Dr. Spencer. Mr. Walter M. Smith, vice president of the association and chairman of the building com- mittee, then said : 120 "Mr. 1 'resident, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girN : "To every nation of the earth, to every insti- tution of learning, to every man born of woman there eome> a day which more than any other marks an epoch in the life of the nation, in the life of the institution, in the life of the man. That day, so far as it relates to Good Will Farm, will ever stand out clearly and distinctly as May 12, 1903. History will record that on that day the corner stone of the "Quincy Building" was laid and that its handmaiden "The Buckminster" was lovingly dedicated. Permit me to say, sir, that in my judgment this is the most important building ever erected upon these grounds as an integral part of the manual training plant. In behalf of my associates I beg to report progress and to turn over to you, sir, this completed build- ing in part fulfillment of our duties." In response President Giddings said : "Mr. Chairman: In behalf of and in the name of the Good Will Home Association your proffered gift is accepted, in the spirit in which it is given, of kindness and good will, and in full appreciation of its noble generosity. There are 121 few words in the speech of mankind of whatever language, that convey so much to all, both young and old, as the one word home. Among all the beneficent provisions made by our Creator for the comfort of humanity, that which instituted the family and consequently the home, is the greatest. However high or low, however far from friends or from native land, the heart ever turns to its home. "In a world where evil as well as good exists it sometimes happens that some one is deprived of the blessings of a home. To provide for such is the purpose for which this building is to be used, and as its name would seem to imply, so far as possible a mother's love and care. To such noble use it is today dedicated. "To you who are now in charge of these inter- ests, and to those who may come after you, I bespeak that care be taken that it shall be forever, in the largest possible degree, to those who have been, in the ordering of Providence, deprived of it a home." The congregation then sang "My Faith Looks up to Thee" and the benediction was pronounced by Rev. Dr. Spencer. Dinner was served in the 122 lining room of the Buckminster. At 1.15 the directors held a meeting at which important busi- ness was transacted. The election of officers of the Good Will Athletic Association took place at two o'clock. At 2.30 a lively game of base-ball was witnessed on the school diamond between the first and second Good Will nines, the second niiu scoring twice, though the first nine of course won the game. Score 10 to 2. In the evening two great bonfires were lighted on the banks or the Kennebec one in honor of each ball team. The entire Good Will com- munity participated. Songs were sung, and there was a prodigious amount of cheering cheering for President Giddings, for Mr. Walter M. Smith and each of his guests just across the Ken- bee at Rest-awhile, for the teachers, for the three New York friends of Good Will ath- letics Broadway, Cowperthwait and Cropsey, and everybody. It was a great jollification, and everybody enjoyed it. The date fixed for the dedication was Monday, July 27. The following brief account was clipped from the Kennebec Journal of July 28: "At 10.30 occurred the dedication of the Onincy building for manual training, on the 123 west bank of the river. The following is the program as carried out : Singing ''Holy, Holy, Holy," Congregation The Lord's Prayer, in unison, Congregation Scripture reading (37th Psalm), Rev. W. H. Spencer, D. D. Singing "My Faith Looks Up to Thee." Report of the building committee, Mr. Walter M. Smith Acceptance of keys, Hon. Nathaniel Hobbs Dedicatory prayer, Rev. Ford C. Ottman Singing "How Firm a Foundation." Address, Rev. J. Wilbur Chapman, D. D. Singing Doxology. Mr. Smith in giving over the keys of the build- ing to the Good Will Home Association, said: "This building stands on solid rock foundation and like everything else at Good Will stands for everything that will enrich the lives of the boys at the Farm and will send them away better fitted to lead successful lives. The completion of this building welds together the plans of Supervisor Hinckley and of George H. Quincy ; the one remains, the other though gone, yet speaks to us. Not only does this day mark the dedication of this manual training building but it is as well the 124 fiftieth anniversary of Mr. Ilinokley's birth." Judijv Nathaniel Hobbs, in the absence of Unt (iiddings of the Good Will Home Association, mvivid the keys to the building- and made a short speech of acceptance in a pleas- ing manner. Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman, D. D., of New York City, made the address of the morning-. He said that the reason for so much success at the Farm was apparent after considering- the Psalm on which the work had been founded. He compli- mented Good Will for the training- that it pro- vides, giving attention to the development of head, heart and hand, but not emphasizing one to the neglect of the others. Dr. Chapman's ad- dress was highly interesting and much appreci- ated by the large attendance. After the address. Judge Hobbs in a most charming manner presented to the Good Will Home Association, in behalf of a lady whose name was not mentioned, an excellent portrait of Mr. Hinckley. This will ha-ng in the art gallery in the Chas. E. Moody building. One of the most enjoyable parts of the morning exercises was another presentation, also made by Judge 125 Hobbs, to Mr. Hinckley of an envelope contain- ing a generous sum of money as a token of love to him on his fiftieth birthday anniversary."' The Quincy is a beautiful building and will prove to be admirably adapted to the purpose for which it has been provided. It is no feet by 98 feet ; it is built of brick with trimmings of pink granite. The architect was Mr. W. R. Miller of Lewiston ; the contractors were Horace Purinton and Company, Waterville, Maine; the plumbing and heating was done by Carter and Adams of Bangor, Maine. The building committee was Mr. Walter M. Smith, Stamford, Connecticut, Mr. A. L. Prescott, New York City, and Judge Nathaniel Hobbs, North Berwick, Maine. In the Quincy building there are two floors and a basement. In the basement there are rooms for printing press, laundry, coat rooms, and other arrangements for the convenience of teachers and scholars. The first floor accommodates the offices of the Good Will Home Association and the Good Will Publishing Company, the carpentry and wood turning departments. From the first floor a short staircase leads to the iron working depart- ment and engine room. On the second floor 126 there arc four rooms. One of these is for mechanical drawing; another for a chemical laboratory ; the third for class purposes, and the fourth a storage closet. An arrangement has heen made by which other than Good Will boys can take any or all of the courses provided for in the Quincy Building, either as day scholars or as boarders at the Buckminster the new dormi- tory dedicated May 12, '03. 127 CHAPTER XIV. The completion of the Manual Training Build- ing and the first dormitory were not to mark the end of Good Will's development. For fourteen years the work had been in progress showing a steady, healthful growth. Each summer the sound of the saw and hammer had been heard, and each season had witnessed some new devel- opments. In the summer of 1903 while work was in progress upon the Quincy Building and the Buckminster, two cottages were built for the accommodation of teachers. There were other things to come to pass in the providence of God. In March, 1903, I received an invitation to deliv- er the dedicatory address at the opening of the building in New Haven, Conn., presented by Mr. Edwin Bancroft Foote of New York City for the use of an organization of New Haven working boys known as the "Edwin Bancroft Foote Boys' Club." My whole nature shrinks from what is known as the "occasional address." I could see no reason why I should have been invited to give the address on the occasion of the opening of that 128 building. After a mental struggle, the seventy of which my friends were in happy ignorance, I accepted the invitation. I .ater I was notified that an unavoidable change in the date of the dedica- tory service had been made. This change in dates made it necessary for me to notify the per- sons in control of the club that 1 would have to cancel my appointment, other engagements con- flicting \\ith the new date. I learned later that a speaker had been secured for the occasion and then wrote to New Haven asking the hour that the services were to be held, as I had learned that 1 might possibly be present although not to take part in the proceedings. My interest in this undertaking for the New Haven boys was prompting me to attend the service if possible. To my surprise I learned later that the speaker who had been secured had been taken suddenly ill in the Far West, and* would not be able to appear. A second invitation was extended to me, and this I accepted with many misgivings. I had never met those who were in charge of the work in New Haven. I knew Edwin Bancroft Foote of New York only as the man who had made the generous gift for the benefit of the club bearing his name. I went to the Elm City the 129 day before the date of the dedicatory exercises in order that I might spend an evening with the Boys' Club, and get somewhat into the spirit of the work before delivering my address. I was introduced to Mr. Foote, and we were soon engaged in a conversation more like that of two old-time friends than strangers of an hour before. I shall never forget the cordiality of Mr. Footers greeting the morning after the dedicatory exer- cises or the pleasant interview that we held in his room. A few weeks later Mr. Foote went to Range- ley, Maine, to spend the summer. After that I received one or two kind letters from Mr. Foote chiefly in relation to the Good Will books and the Good Will Record. I wanted to see Mr. Foote, and paid him a visit at Rangeley, Maine. My stay there, however, was only from seven o'clock in the evening until eleven o'clock the next day. The time passed quickly and when I stated that it was time that I should be on my way to the train Mr. Foote expressed surprise and regret, and told me that he had expected to talk with me about Good Will; that there were questions that he wanted to ask and information that he wished to obtain. I had other appointments, however, and 130 it was necessary for me to take the train. Mr. Foote asked me to fix a date when I could spend another day with him and I promised him to return in about two weeks. Just as 1 was taking the train for my second trip to Rangeley my morning's mail was brought to me. Glancing through it hurriedly I turned the business letters over to my secretary, but placed in my pocket, to read on the train, one let- ter marked "Personal" which I recognized with- out opening as from a former Good Will Farm boy. The letter was read on the train and re- turned to my pocket. While it was confidential I have since secured the writer's permission to publish such parts of it as may seem to com- plete this chapter or in any way benefit Good Will. The body of the letter reads as follows : "I thank you so much for your kind interest in me. I have been so long without fatherly and motherly interest that I do not know how to appreciate your kind interest in my welfare. For the past few years there has been but one pre- dominant thought in my breast and that was to get somewhere, be somebody, hold some responsi- bility, be of some value to the world, and to do it quick, then turn to my brother and say, "Look !" "Yes," you say, "selfish." Perhaps so, but do you know, Mr. Hinckley, that somewhere in me, I don't know where it came from nor why it is there, is a voice which says, "When someone does you a mean turn or jumps on you in adversity, rise above it, show them that such a slight was never meant for you." When I get there then I can forget. I have a mother, O God, a mother ? No, not a mother ! It makes the tears come to my eyes to think of it. I know not whether she is living or not, but I live in the hopes that she is living. Some day I want to say, "Look ! you left me when I was a youngster. Look!" Then I can forgive. I had a father, he's dead and gone now. He always loved me. He always did all he could for me. I realized it even when I was a little fellow and many a time while at Good Will I've cried in bed over his sorrow and hard life. I don't think he ever knew it. When I wrote that com- position "Myself in 1918," I could see as plain as day, my house and father's home. That dream is all gone. But my father is still in my mind. Many the time the thought of him has kept me from going wrong. I look ahead, I want posi- 132 tion ; I want honor. I want to say to father "Look ! this is how I loved you. I am what I am for your sake. I wanted to honor you." That is why I am self-centered as I am. I do not mean to be selfish*. But these are thoughts which are stirring in my mind. I have not talked like this to anybody else. I don't know why I do now. But every once in a while I have to sit and weep. It comes on me as a spell. Some one caught me at it once. I feel it to-night as I think <>f your letter. Sometimes it comes over me with a thud, all these thoughts. I take up a paper as I did the other day and catch my eye on a poem, "A mother's loving words to her boy." I throw aside the paper and think, "What have I missed?" I can't tell, I have only a faint idea of what a mother is or can be. No, something is lacking, I feel it more and more, and I throw aside the paper and laugh. It would not do to think on it. I look ahead with such a longing for a home of my own. I want someone to love me. I could do anything for them. Then I wonder, "Will my home break up? Shall I be unhappy then?" And I shudder to think of it. My life seems to be a quandary. But I live with that thought uppermost, as Shakespeare 133 expresses "To be or not to be." But with me it is "To be." I write this in a personal way to you. It is confidential. Perhaps I may never amount to anything. But I do see a chance on the other side, that chance is the one I am grasp- ing for. If I slip and lose my hold, it is fate. However my eye is on that chance. You will understand me now. You have been the greatest factor in making me whatever I am and I want to say to you, "Look ! I am an honor to you and Good Will." Of course I am under God's will. My will is His will. Your loving friend, That evening after asking many kind questions of me about Good Will Mr. Foote made a contri- bution of three hundred dollars toward the cur- rent expenses of the work. In the course of the conversation it occurred to me that he might be interested in the letter from the former Good Will farm boy. I read a part of it to him with- holding the name and the whereabouts of the young man because the letter was of a personal character and I read it to him only that he might see the spirit and the earnestness of one of the 134 to whom the Good Will Home Association had in the past extended a helping hand. I came away from Rangeley a happy man for 1 realized what a strongly sympathetic friend I had found in Mr. Foote. After that I received several letters from him each showing an interest in the work, but having to do chiefly with Good Will literature. In replying to one of Mr. Foote's on Jan. 22nd, I a-ked him to bear in mind that if he felt lonely in his winter quarters, or as though he would like to see a face from outside the village, that I would be pleased to visit him again. On January 28th Mr. Foote wrote: "I especially note your offer to come to Rangeley whenever I feel I would like to see your face or hear your voice. Well, that's pre- cisely as I have been feeling to borrow a favor- ite expression of some olden-time, native-born New Yorker for 'quite sometime/ As nearly as I can diagnose my own case, I believe I have been struck by an idea and need your counsel. Will you please write and name the earliest even- ing and following day you can conveniently arrange to be my guest?" In response to this kind invitation I reached 135 Rangeley in the afternoon of Feb. 6th. Mr. Foote had carefully prepared for our interview and had drawn up the following agreement: "Mutual agreement between Edwin Bancroft Foote of the City, County and State of New York and the Good Will Home Association, a corpora- tion located in the town of Fairfield in the State of Maine. Said Edwin Bancroft Foote agrees to pay to said Association $50,000.00 (Fifty Thousand Dollars) for the purpose of erecting on the prem- ises now owned in said Fairfield by said Associa- tion, a cottage for Boys to be known forever as the "Bancroft Foote Cottage" to be used in pro- moting the purposes of said Association, and further agrees in sixty days from the date hereof to deliver to said Association at the Lincoln Safe Deposit Company's office in the City of New York the following Bonds, Stock, &c., all of which said Association agrees to accept as equivalent to Fifty Thousand Dollars viz. :" Here followed a statement in detail of the property referred to in the agreement. We both signed the agreement and it was duly witnessed. A great storm prevented the transfer of the prop- erty on the first date fixed for our meeting in 136 THE CARNEGIE LIBRARY BUILDING' THE MANUAL TRAINING BUILDING New York. It was expressly agreed that no announcement of Mr. Foote's gift should be made until after the property had been trans- ferred. The transfer was actually accomplished in New York City April 2Oth, '04, and I was then at liberty to share the secret which I had cher- ished for several weeks, with the friends of Good Will everywhere. The general plan for the Bancroft Foote House had already been decided upon, and an architect had been instructed to prepare specifications. If the dedication of the long-looked-for and expected Manual Training Building closed a chapter in the history of Good Will, surely Mr. Foote's splendid gift opened a new one. It set an example for others ; it was epoch making for it opened a new order of things at Good Will Farm. The work had received splendid gifts each of which had proved a blessing to humanity, but Mr. Foote was the first one to make a gift so large that it not only provided a home for boys, but a permanent income for that home's support. These facts are worthy of note : first, that when Mr. Foote made his first contribution to the work of the Good Will Home Association ($300.00) I extended my hand and expressed my personal 137 gratitude. Mr. Foote replied "It is a pleasure to do this. I wanted to do it, but let me say that if you had come here and asked me for this money you would not have received one cent." Second, that the letter which arrived just as I was starting on my journey to visit Mr. Foote, a portion of which I read to him, was the thing that led him to make his generous gift of fifty thousand dol- lars; and thirdly, he wished it to be distinctly understood that this larger contribution as well as the smaller one was entirely unsolicited. A site for this new home was selected just North of Mary Louisa Hall Cottage in deference to the original plan to eventually have three cot- tages or homes on that part of Good Will Farm a trio of homes of which Hall Cottage was to be the center. Ground was broken for the Bancroft Foote House May 25th, '04, at one o'clock in the afternoon. The Good Will Farm boys and their teachers were present. The following order of exercises was observed : Singing, My Faith Looks up to Thee. Reading Scripture, Thirty-seventh Psalm. Rev. G. K. Rouillard. Singing, How Firm a Foundation. Prayer, Rev. G. W. Hinckley. Singing, America. 138 The first turf was turned by Prof. A. L. Lane while three times three were given with great enthusiasm for Mr. Edwin Bancroft Foote of New York, the absent donor of the home and its endowment. The day for the dedication of the Bancroft Foote House Dec. 2ist, '04 dawned bright and clear. At an early hour friends interested in the building and in the dedicatory services which were to be held at half past ten o'clock began to swarm through the building. Promptly at the hour the following program was carried out: Singing, "Hark, Hark My Soul," by a chorus of Good Will boys and girls. Report of the building committee by Mr. Wal- ter M. Smith of Stamford, Conn. Presentation of the keys by Rev. George W. Hinckley. Acceptance of the gift by Judge Nathaniel Hobbs of North Berwick, Me. Singing, "God Has a Plan For Every Life," by choir of Good Will girls. The reading of the 37th Psalm by Rev. Chas. Woodman, pastor of the Friends' Church, Port- land. 139 Dedicatory prayer by Charles Lincoln White, President of Colby College. Singing, "I'll Answer With The Best There's In Me," by a choir of Good Will boys. Address by Rev. Raymond Caulkins, pastor of the State Street Congregational Church, Port- land, Me. Doxology and benediction. A special service of praise was held in the Moody Memorial Chapel in the evening. To those who are interested in the progress and development of the work at Good Will it was an interesting fact that the week which witnessed the completion of the Bancroft Foote House by the carpenters, marked the receipt of a fund of five thousand dollars for another building at Good Will Farm which will materialize in the future. 140 CHAPTER XV. The winter recess was ended ; school had opened for the long term Wednesday morning and the first days had passed pleasantly. Satur- day afternoon Mr. Watson, the Principal of the Good Will Schools, had spent a little time in his office in the Charles E. Moody building. But no fire had been built on the open hearth. Roberts, the assistant janitor, had done his work for the week and at four o'clock had left the building, turning the key in the door. It was customary for the Good Will boys to take a shower bath in the basement Saturday afternoons and whenever that was done a fire was necessary in that place; but because of the water-famine in the land the boys had taken other baths. It was silent winter in Maine ; it was Saturday night at Good Will ; the old year was dying. At half-past seven the community was startled by the alarm of fire. Manager Barnard and Princi- pal Watson were in Bailey Cottage ; they saw in an instant that there was a mass of flame on the hill where the educational buildings stood. 141 "Shall we come?" the boys asked as the men hurried toward the fire. "Not unless I send for you," was the reply. In my own home at Willow-wood, a mile away, I had spent a quiet evening. I was to preach in the Good Will chapel the next day ; my text was selected and the plan of the discourse had been thought out. One of my family chanced to look out of the window toward the south, and saw a great mass of flame and smoke in the vicinity of Good Will. I was called to the window, and one glance was enough to fill me with apprehension. I rushed to the telephone and called up the house nearest to Good Will Farm. "Where's the fire?" I asked; "tell me quick." "Fire?" replied the young man at the tele- phone. "What is the joke? What are you giv- ing us?" "No joke," I shouted. "Look out of your window and tell me quick." There was an instant of silence and then came the hasty reply : "The Moody Building's burning; it's all in flames." The receiver was instantly clapped into place by the young man, and I knew it was useless for 142 me to try to get him again even if I was willing to wait for more information over the wire; he had started for the fire. The boys watched the flames from their cot- tages ; Mr. Barnard reached the building, and quickly sent back for the larger boys to come with buckets, but the north end was in flames all entrances to the building were cut off; the beautiful structure was doomed. The origin of the fire, as stated in the supplement to the Janu- ary Record was a mystery; it is today. Not an article was saved ; in an hour the roof had fallen and parts of the wall had caved. It was a quiet crowd that watched the work of destruction ; the boys standing in groups talked in undertones ; so did I, and I could not tell why. The flames cast a red glow on the snow-clad hills far away, and alarmed neighbors who left their homes and ar- rived in teams to aid if possible in staying the destruction. They came silently and took their places among those who could look but could not help. The next day a Good Will Alumnus, said : "Last night it seemed as though I were stand- ing by the side of a sick friend watching him die." Then I understood the subdued, solemn atti- tude of the crowd. The building had been there for nine years; it had proved a blessing to the community and to the surrounding country. Unconsciously the people had come to regard it as a familiar friend just as one comes to love the face of a companion and now it was doomed and, like one who must die, it was in a last agony. The crowd gradually disappeared; Good Will slept, all except Mr. Barnard and Roberts. These watched the ruins till morning. Early the next day teams began to arrive. They drove in front of the building and one by one passed it. There was no collection of teams or of people at any one time but till night-fall the place was visited. It was as though some mighty man had died in the night some one whom the people so loved that he must lie in state in order that they might look upon him. At one o'clock the Sunday-School was held as usual. Roberts, pale from the strain and watch- ing of the night before, superintended as usual, and at two o'clock came the regular service in the Moody Memorial chapel. I had made quite different plans for the day but took my text from Isaiah 43:3 "When thou walkest through the fire," and said, in part : 144 A few years ago when I was about to sail for England a good woman a Christian friend sent me the entire verse from which I have taken my text, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee ; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." On the voyage the steamer was on fire for five hours in mid-ocean and for a time her fate and ours was in question. On reaching home the good woman wrote that she had no thought when she sent me the verse that I would have need of aught but the first part. After the scenes of last evening my mind turns almost instinctively to the verse again. I shall not attempt an exposition of it ; but you always expect a text at these after- noon services. Nine years ago today a large number of friends visited Good Will Farm. They came from all parts of the state to be present at the dedication of the Charles E. Moody building. They roamed through the splendid edifice, con- gratulated the Good Will Home Association and praised the donors. It was a happy occasion and one full of hope for humanity. A change 145 has come ; disaster has fallen upon us. Today the building is a mass of smouldering ruin. There are some things to be said. I. There is a right name for the event of last night. Calamity comes from the word calamus, a reed or corn stalk ; for when corn did not ripen or get out of the stalk it was called a calamus, or calamity. Such an occurrence meant very gen- eral distress more widespread than has befallen us. This is not a calamity. Misfortune is a personal loss or accident. Had the building been mine the loss would have been my misfortune : but that which has occurred is of larger moment. There is another word. It comes from the Latin "dis" and "astra" stars. It dates back to the times when men believed in the influence of stars upon persons, things, and events. That which came suddenly, unexpectedly and without reason to blight or cripple was called "from the stars" or "dis-astra." So this thing seems to have come upon us; though I do not believe in the influence of stars or planets nor do you. II. This is a time for gratitude. The Charles E. Moody building is destroyed with its contents : not a thing was saved from the ruin. But noth- 146 ing else was lost. Had the fire occurred a week ago when two hundred of us were gathered for the Christmas celebration; had an unreasonable effort to save some part of the building resulted in the loss of life or had the flames reached other buildings the disaster would have been worse far worse. One Sunday I strolled into a great church in a New England city and heard a ser- mon. The preacher spent a part of the time ridi- culing people who try to comfort themselves and others by the thought or suggestion that things are "not as bad as they might be." If to do this is to be ridiculous then you may pour forth your ridicule upon me today. I tell you things are sel- dom as bad as the worst or as sad the saddest. It would take ten thousand sermons like the one I refer to and a regiment of men besides to con- vince me today that we have not much to be thankful for that the disaster was not greater. III. There are many things in the building that money cannot replace. It was a repository for nuclei. When I was a boy, Mr. S. Ward Loper, now of Wesleyan University, gave me three specimens limestone from Mammoth Cave, sulphur from Mt. Vesuvius and a bit of fossil. I felt rich that day and cherished them 147 with the strange boyish idea that they were the beginning of a great educational museum. Those three bits were in that building sur- rounded with the splendid array of specimens which they had attracted. The first book I ever bought with my own earnings was Beecher's Lectures to Young Men. I labeled it; cherished it; almost doted on it as the beginning of a library for such an institution as I was dreaming about. When Good Will cottage was opened I placed eleven books with it on a shelf and there was the nucleus of the li- brary burned last night. There were other be- ginnings and there were articles without dupli- cate in the world. IV. Two lessons are to be mentioned. I. There is a homely saying that "it is not wise to put all the eggs in one basket." That is what we did. It would have been bad enough had we lost the school building; but to lose a library worthy of a building by itself and to lose a museum, the accumulation of many years, and which we hoped was to be eventually under a separate roof to have all these go at once be- cause the "eggs were all in one basket" was a disaster indeed. I hope when the schoolhouse is 148 THE BUCKMINSTER BA N C R O FT-FOOT I . ftOUS K rebuilt, as it surely will be, that a new library which we will eventually have can be under a separate roof. I shall ask that it be clone. II. The building was a memorial. The walls of brick and brown stone have fallen. But the good name of Charles E. Moody is unsmirched; his character remains untouched. The Me- morial smoulders ; the good name shines. Monu- ments crumble ; character alone endures. At the close of the sermon a hymn was an- nounced. After it had been sung the audience stood with bowed head for the customary bene- diction to be pronounced ; but I said, "Wait a moment. Something has occurred to me while this hymn was being sung. I have told you how the library we have lost began. I think that the beginning of that library was due to the inspira- tion which came to me when a boy, as I saw the monument which marks the site where Yale college began. The words on the monument were uttered by ministers in the New Haven Colony as they brought books from their libraries and placing them upon a table said, 'I give these books to found a college/ There is no college in this community; there never will be, but a com- mon school education for the many is more im- 149 portant than a college education for the few. I'd rather found a library for the boys who are here and are to come in the future, than to found a college library. Next Wednesday evening in- stead of the usual evening meeting which I an- nounced a few minutes ago we will have a special service in this chapel. In course of the service I shall lay a few books upon the table and say 'I give these books to found a library. If any one here has a book to spare that would be of value in a library, or if he can afford to buy one I hope he will follow me.' " That evening one of the older boys said to me : "I've only one book in the world, but if that will be any good I want to give it." It was a cloth-bound dictionary a Christmas gift to the boy a few days before. Monday morning a boy called at the super- visor's office and said : "I haven't any books but there's what money I have. I want to give it for books." It was a crisp $2.00 bill which had been sent to him for a Christmas gift all he had. "I've written to the woman who sent me the money," he said, "to ask if she approves of my giving it, but I know well enough she will." ISO The story of the Good Will girls' homes and how they were started by two Good Will boys who each gave a nickel for such a purpose, and the growth of the fund thus started until the girls have today one hundred and fifty acres of land, two cottages, a gardener's house, and a school building, is familiar to the Good Will boys and perhaps it is an inspiration to them ; for on Tuesday a boy wanted to see me alone. He said: "You needn't mentiorcour names but Will and I have each given fifty cents to begin a library building; here's the money." Wednesday evening came, the date for the special meeting, but a great storm was on and the founding of the library was postponed till Friday evening. Friday evening came ; weather conditions prevented the attendance of people who doubtless would have attended had the weather and travel been fair. After singing by the congregation, two selections by the male quartet, a solo by Rev. I. B. Mower of Water- ville, the reading of Scripture and prayer by Prof. A. L. Lane, I explained why I was first bringing a nicely bound copy of the Bible to the table. To this I added volumes which began departments in history, biography, fiction, science and poetry. As soon as this was done others began, one at a time, to deposit their contributions, each say- ing: "I give these books to found a library." It was evident that a large portion of the books offered had been received by the boys as Christmas presents. Teachers, boys and girls had a share in the exercise. When the service was ended it was announced that ninety-nine persons had stepped to the table making an offer- ing, not including Rev. I. B. Mower, who had brought about forty books from his own home and from one other contributor in Waterville ; so there were just one hundred contributors to the library present. When Manager Barnard's turn came he stepped forward and said : "I give this book and ninety-nine others to found a library." One boy, a day scholar who walked about three miles daily to the school said, "I give the Encyclopedia Brittanica in twenty-five volumes to found a library." One little tot the smallest girl in the girls* 152 homes made the journey down the long aisle and placing three books upon the table, repeated the formula. It was learned that there were sev- eral boys at the farm who were anxious to have a share in the undertaking who did not possess a book to their names, but there were other young fellows more fortunate, who, as they learned of one and another of this class, shared their pos- sessions with them. While the books were being carried up one small boy was found in tears in the audience because he had no book to give. A larger boy quickly passed him one of his own bunch so that the little fellow made his journey with the rest. After all the books had been deposited, an- nouncements of gifts from outside parties were made. A letter was read from W. W. Drew, superin- tendent of schools of Fairfield, a former Good Will boy, stating that he had ordered a set of Elijah Kellogg' s works to be shipped im- mediately to Good Will. Rev. H. W. Kimball of South Weymouth, Mass., who in years past had been a frequent preacher in the Moody Me- morial Chapel, had written that one hundred books from his father's home were on the way. 153 Then it came to light that some of the older boys in their own way and on their own account had circulated a subscription paper among matrons, teachers and others in the community, in the in- terests of a library building, and an envelope containing $85 was passed to me. I received it, fully persuaded that such a building could be provided by popular subscription. But I be- lieved that it was possible that some generous- hearted friend would see fit to donate such a building and a fund sufficient to care for it, and as this subscription paper was started by the boys without my knowledge, I was intensely pleased over what had been done as well as sur- prised at the amount they had succeeded in rais- ing. The total of books presented at the meeting, either by persons who were present or by letter, was something over five hundred. The destruction of the Charles E. Moody building by fire at Good Will Farm on New Year's eve was a disaster entailing heavy loss to the Good Will Home Association and to its benevolent work. It came a few days after the dedication of the beautiful Bancroft-Foote house, and at the opening of the winter term of school. 154 The workers were inclined to do the "next best tiling." and this greatly simplified matters. Before ten o'clock Saturday evening, Dec. 31, the building was completely destroyed. Sunday, Jan. ist, all the services at the farm Sunday- schools, afternoon preaching service and evening meetings were held as usual ; it was not till Monday morning that the real problems were faced. C "hairs from the chapel were placed in the north room of the manual training building and the opening exercises of the schools were held at 9.30, only half an hour later than they would have begun had the schoolhouse not been destroyed. The agent of a text-book firm was telephoned for and text-books were ordered by the hundred, for about seven hundred and fifty books were needed at once. Five out of a possible twelve recitations in the High school were held that day. The books arrived a day later and matters began to move smoothly again. It was an unique sight when strangers visited the school that week. A look into the carpentry room one day revealed a class of eight of the High school sitting on a pile of boards stock for the carpentry depart- 155 ment reciting to a teacher sitting on a higher pile of lumber ; six boys, close by, working at the carpenter's benches one boy driving nails into a half completed box and another taking his first lesson on the grindstone. It was never intended that the departments should encroach upon each other; but the boys showed a splendid spirit through it all. A square piece of board, hastily planed by the car- penter boys, was a poor substitute for a modern school desk, but such make-shifts were welcomed till desks could come. I felt yes, we all knew that the structure would have to be rebuilt at the earliest possible moment; but there were many who said that there had been too much in the building and that a new structure should be used for school pur- poses only. A separate building was desirable for the library although just then we had less than a thousand volumes. But so small a library as that could surely grow, for did not the first library at Good Will begin with something like a dozen books from my own home, and had not this new library to take its place already in- creased from a few volumes from my own book- shelf into a collection of several hundred? 156 The Charles E. Moody building was insured for $18,000 but there were valuable possessions in the museum rare books, objects of historical value and portraits which money could not replace. The disaster had one great comfort hidden under the dark clouds : I refer to the let- ters of sympathy and encouragement that came from many parts of the country. There is space here for only a few, but the few will show the spirit, the intense earnestness, in all. Several were from former Good Will boys and girls, and these can easily be identified by the language used. "I feel that the destruction of the Moody Building is like a personal loss to me. I can only repeat to you what I said to my wife Saturday night I would rather it had been my own house. The building can be replaced, but a library or museum is a matter of growth. Whenever you get accommodations to begin a new library, please look to me for a dozen volumes along any line that you may suggest." FAIRFIELD, ME. "I need not tell you how I felt when I heard of the fire. But this we know we love God; we 157 also know that the Book says all things work to- gether for good ; lastly, we know God never de- ceives us. 'If it were not so I would have told you.' Sight says, 'I can't see it.' Faith says, 'don't worry.' We walk by faith not by sight. This is what we say when we preach and there is no cloud. Let us be consistent, and when we are not preaching and when the cloud hangs low, let us trust Him. His interest in the mat- ter is larger than ours. His wisdom is better. His power greater. I know these things better now than I did six months ago." BANGOR, ME. "On coming to the office this morning I was stunned by the information of the fire at Good Will. Why? Why? Why? is the question which keeps coming up in my mind. It seems mighty hard coming as it does at this time when you need rest and freedom from care and when the school is moving along so finely. I cannot un- derstand it all but I suppose God, in his all wise providence knows what the fire will eventually do for the Farm. It has been hard to apply my- self to my work since having the news so I got down the Story of Good Will again and read it 158 over, and as I read it my faith in God grew stronger and I began to realize as never before that he who begun this wonderful work would 'see it through.' " NEW HAVEN, CONN. " 'All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called ac- cording to his purpose.' If ever a man was 'called' to his life-work you were ; so this which seems so awful to us must be one of the 'all things.' We cannot understand why the beauti- ful Chas. E. Moody building should burn, but the fact that it has, gives me an impulse to work for Good Will Farm that I never knew before. It touches me in a way that almost never before have I been touched. I feel as though I could go out and raise thousands of dollars for your work. I believe God, and expect Him to do great things for it." BANGOR. "I read in last evening's paper, with sincere sorrow, the news of the destruction of the Chas. E. Moody building, by fire, on Saturday night. I just want you to know that in this severe loss 159 to the Farm, which must fall especially heavy on you, and your feelings just now, you have my deep sympathy and prayers. Psalms 37 : 5 must be just as true now as it ever was; may your faith in it be as strong/' WATERTOWN, MASS. "Grandpa is a dear old saint and he says that after a fire there's always sure to be something better to replace it. I hope and pray there may be, and that somehow comfort and encourage- ment may come to your hearts. "We were at the Center that evening at a Grange meeting and when the message came and we looked out and saw the sky lighted by the fire, it went like a shock over us all. One thought of one thing burned which would be such a loss and someone else would think of another. One woman came to me with tears running down her cheeks and said that she thought of the museum, and how, one day, she saw one of the boys trying so hard to put a hen's skeleton together, and then added, she didn't think the hen was the most valuable thing lost in the fire but in her mind it stood as a representative of their efforts for a museum. 160 "I am not a very good hand at being hopeful myself, and yet I feel that the friends of Good Will Farm will see to it that something is done to replace the loss." FAIRFIELD. "It makes me feel as though I had lost a dear friend, the going of the school building at Good Will. I cannot realize it. I seemed to see gen- erations of boys moving through its halls when- ever I looked in vision to the Kennebec." WINSTED, CONN. "No one can ever know the feeling that comes over me when I think of days gone by, incidents that are as plain as if they had happened yester- day those rooms, all wiped out by fire it is too bad. Thank God fire cannot burn out the mem- ory of those days." SALEM, MASS. "I saw for the first time today, in the Boston Herald, an account of the serious loss sustained by my friends at Good Will and humanity in general. My heart was truly saddened because that dear building holds memories for us all, and 161 there is not a boy who has ever come under the influence of Good Will Farm but will feel a keen sense of personal loss." NEW HAVEN, CONN. "I have just seen the account of the burning of the school building. I just can't say how sorry I am. The dear building that we all loved so much ! Somehow it means so much more to me than any other place except home." BUCKFIELD. "I have just learned of the sad ending, for you, of the old year. How little I thought as I was admiring the fine building a week ago of such a thing being possible. It conies as a great shock to us all, but to you it means so much more than to most others. You have my deepest sympathy in what means so great a loss to you. All things that have come to Good Will from the start have seemed to work for its best interest and we should have faith to believe this may be the same in the end, but it is hard to see how this can be now in this case." PROVIDENCE, R. I. 162 "I was shocked and saddened to read in Mon- day's paper of the disaster at Good Will. The immediate loss to the children will be most no- ticeable, but I believe that out of this great loss will come blessing in some way God's own way, which it is sometimes so hard for us to see. 1 think of the extra care and anxiety thrown upon you by this new problem. No doubt the friends will rally and means will come from some source for rebuilding." PORTLAND. "We are profoundly sorry, that so magnificent a building as the Moody School Building has been destroyed by fire. At the same time we ad- mire the faith and the courage of him whose life purpose has unfolded to imperilled boyhood, not an asylum, but a real home. "It is our prayer that you may be personally strengthened and helped to bear the present financial and educational loss ; and that the work for the interest of the Good Will Homes may continue to grow under His blessing." OXFORD, ME. "I have no words with which to express my sorrow over the catastrophe. I cannot but think that it is a case where good must come out of seeming ill. And in this belief I wish for you all a happy new year." AUGUSTA. "Have just received this word in a letter from Maine 'Suppose you know that the Moody School Building at Good Will Farm was burned a few nights ago. Everything went/ What a terrible calamity! And how my sympathy goes out to you all in this great trial. Indeed, it comes to me almost with a sense of personal loss. It is a part of Good Will that grew up un- der my own eyes, and in which I put much of in- terest and love. And that beautiful museum and library and art collection was nothing saved, I wonder? O, it seems such a great loss ! Surely someone who has the money is going to give to build again. But even then it will take long to replace what is gone, and of course much must always be a loss cannot be replaced. It must be one of the 'all things' and will then 'work for good/ somehow." SYRACUSE, N. Y. 164 "We were sorry to learn of the burning of the Moody Building, but as 'all things work together for good to those that love God,' we must believe that the results to you, even in this disaster, must be for blessing." BROOKLYN, N. Y. "I was shocked beyond measure on getting my Good Will Record on Friday night last on my return from office to learn of the great loss to you all in the burning of the Moody Building and its valuable contents. To say I am sorry would hardly express my regret. I rejoice that I had the satisfaction of seeing the inside of it on my visit last fall, even though it gives me the grievous knowledge of the extent of the loss to Good Will." WASHINGTON, D. C. "I have just learned of your severe loss through the Record just received and hasten to express to you my sincere sympathy for the school in the loss of such a fine building by fire. I have a great admiration for the school and for the good work that is being done there for 'our boys and girls/ I am a constant witness of the 165 life and good work that is being done by two graduates of your school." BOSTON, MASS. "I have prayed much for you as I have seen a big charred gap in place of that noble school. May God give you a better one." LOWELL, MASS. I had believed that the Divine hand was in the work at Good Will ; I had not only believed, but I had often given expression to the faith that was in me. If I were ever going to doubt, it seemed to be an appropriate time just when one disaster was following another and a debt was growing rapidly. It was my privilege, how- ever, to say editorially in the February number of the Good Will Record in that year of '05 : "This is number one, volume eighteen of the Good Will Record. When the paper began in 1888 it announced beginnings. It appears that some things are to be done over again. There is much work in store for the Good Will Home Association and its friends everywhere. There is a silver lining to every cloud and in all proba- bility there is a specially bright lining to the 166 clouds which just now hang over Good Will. We cannot see yet ; but we will see. We are on the watch. We cannot do without the Charles E. Moody building; it must be rebuilt. We can not do without a library ; a new one is already founded. We cannot get along without in- creased funds; a special agent has begun work. We need the hearty cooperation of every friend of humanity. Some how, we cannot persuade ourselves that we will not have it." CHAPTER XVI. With a growing debt hanging over us, an un- sightly pile of ruins where the Charles E. Moody building had stood for so many years, and only a handful of ashes in place of the cherished li- brary, there was ample opportunity for the study of gloomy features in the work. But there were other experiences to follow, and it was just as well that we could not see them till they arrived. The Moody Building was burned on the last night of the year 1904, on the eve of the anni- versary of its dedication. Two weeks later at half-past one Friday afternoon, January 13, just as school was being called to order in the manual training building at Good Will Farm, it was dis- covered that the cooking house and wood shed near the barns was in flames. One of the "barn boys" had left the building about half an hour before and everything was supposed to be as usual. The building was quite a long distance from the school building, and as the snow was deep, it 168 111 _ Jill illlllll in vn n WHITNEY HOME ELIZABETH WILCOX SMITH COTTAGE was some time before any one could get to it. The structure it^ch was a complete loss, together with the contents. It was a wooden building > feet. It was used as a woodshed, granary, storehouse for fanning utensils, and as a cook- house where food was prepared for swine and poultry. It was in the cook-room that the fire started. Tin- building contained in addition to the cooking outfit all the farming utensils used in raising the crops, forty cords of wood fitted for the stove and one hundred and fifty -bushels of oats. One hundred and fifty cords of wood for the next summer were piled near the build- ing, and both of the Good Will teams were on their way for loads to add to the supply when the fire was discovered. A hard fight was put up by the workers at the Farm, the neighbors who responded speedily to the alarm, and by the older Good Will boys. It was feared at one time that at least one of the barns would have to go. An effort was made to get help from Waterville, but while these negotiations were under way the fire fighters became satisfied that the great danger was passed. About one hun- dred cords of wood were destroyed. It is the policy of the Good Will Home Association to 169 keep its property well insured, but this was the only building in its possession without some in- surance on structure and contents. The building itself was of little value, although it would take a thousand dollars to replace it. There were seasons when the contents would have been of little account; but when the fire came it was filled to overflowing with wood, grain, farming implements, feed, etc. Had the fire occurred at any other time it would have been regarded a heavy disaster; it seemed light only when compared with the greater loss which preceded it. The following month, March, '05, the Good Will Record had on its cover a picture of the ruins of the Charles E. Moody building, but editorially I was happy to say: "I have an announcement which I think will quicken the blood and increase the courage of every friend of Good Will. Many have mourned with the Good Will community over the loss of the Moody school building, the museum, the por- traits and the library. But it has been predicted again and again that since such a disaster was allowed, good would come out of it. A generous hearted friend of the institution who wishes to 170 provide for the library but not for a library build- ing will pay to the Good Will Home Association ten thousand dollars, the interest to be used annually for the purchase of books, whenever a suitable building for such a growing collection of books shall be assured. The condition is certainly a reasonable one. The association cannot meet it but among its friends there must be someone, somewhere, who will count it a privilege to do it. A few years ago someone offered ten thousand dollars toward the endowment of a manual train- ing school at Good Will whenever anyone would provide the building. The building thus sug- gested was dedicated July 27, '03 and has become indispensable in the life at Good Will. A library without a building would be an unfortunate thing ; a library building without books would be worse. Here is a provision of five hundred dol- lars a year perpetually for new books; where shall we put them? One gift calls for another ; the two will make a magnificent provision for the Good Will community. It is a pleasure to make this announcement: it will be a still greater pleasure to announce that the condition is met and that the building and book fund are both se- cure. Surely such an issue is good out of seem- 171 ing disaster; it would mean great things out of the ashes of our former building." In the same month a meeting of the Directors of the Good Will Home Association was held at which plans for rebuilding the Moody building were considered and it was decided to begin work as soon as weather conditions in the spring would admit. In the meantime there had been some cor- respondence relative to a library building. I do not know the nature of the correspondence, but early in May I was able to say to the friends. of Good Will that Mr. Andrew Carnegie had of- fered to give $15,000, on condition that an ad- ditional $15,003 be raised. In doing this, that is, in making the gift or the offer to an institu- tion of this character, Mr. Carnegie departed from his custom and his plans. Many thought that, if the great philanthropist fully understood the situation at Good Will, he would have been willing to depart still further from his custom and to make the gift unconditional, but so far as I know he was not asked to do it. He was con- sulted at once regarding the proffered $10,000 for a book fund, and it was learned that he was 172 willing that this fund should be a part of the ad- ditional $15,000 to be raised. This was interesting. Here was a building fund offered on condition that another fund be secured ; here was an endowment or book fund offered on condition that another fund be raised and converted into a building. It was necessary to secure $5,000, therefore, in order to save an offered $25,000. There were weeks of suspense but all of the conditions were finally met. The contract for the Charles E. Moody build- ing was signed July ist, at a later date than we had planned or hoped, and work began July n. Saturday afternoon, August 5, a large com- pany of friends of Good Will gathered at the chosen site of the proposed library building to be present at the formal breaking of ground. "My faith looks up to Thee," was sung; the people repeated the twenty-third Psalm ; the thirty-seventh Psalm, or the first part of it, was reading according to custom on such occasions at Good Will, and this time by Rev. C. P. Cleaves of Bowdoin College ; and it was my privilege to explain the gift of Mr. Carnegie, and also to an- nounce that the donor of the $10,000 as a book 173 fund, was Miss C. I. Sage of Guilford, Conn., in memory of Willie Sage Tuttle. It was un- derstood that, although the ground was being broken, the building was not to be commenced for several weeks, and that the dedication would be a full year later. The corner stone of the new Charles E. Moody Building was laid without public exer- cises, September 25, '05. In March, '06, I was able to announce another generous gift, and one which I was pleased to call "significant." In January, 1904, Mr. Edwin Bancroft Foote had given $50,000 to Good Will. Of this amount $10,000, or as much of it as was neces- sary, was to be used in building a home for boys; the remainder was to become a fund, the interest of which was to be used annually in providing a home and education for ten boys, in the Bancroft-Foote House. The house which Mr. Foote built was not too large for a suitable memorial to his parents, but it was large enough for more than a family of ten boys. Mr. Foote had visited the home, and had been greatly pleased with all that he saw and heard, and had decided to add $24,000 to his gift, thus provid- 174 ing for an income that would make it possible to have a family of seventeen boys in the home instead of only ten. The significance of Mr. Foote's gift lies, first, in the fact that his earlier investment the larg- est single investment that had been made at Good Will was so satisfactory that he wanted to increase it, and, second, in the fact that he was able to add to the endowment of a home which he had founded for boys, and increase its use- fulness without adding to his cares or responsi- bilities. Thus it was demonstrated again that better than founding a new institution at almost unlimited expense of time and money and anxiety in choosing a new location and effecting a new organization, the work, the organizing and the conduct of affairs was all attended to for him. It may be worth while to state here that the same thing can be done at Good Will an in- definite number of times; that is, the Good Will Home Association will accept such funds, build the home, name it as the donor shall desire, and thus establish a new home as surely as though a new location were selected, only at Good Will the spirit of such a home is happily determined 175 beforehand, and many of the problems which would have to be worked out again in a new lo- cation have already been solved. In April following, I was able to announce the receipt of Miss C. I. Sage's gift of $10,000, which had been offered on condition that a suit- able place be provided for the books which would be purchased with the income from it. The place was not ready but the noble donor of the fund was satisfied that it would be in course of time, and did not care to postpone the transfer. This will always be known as the Willie Sage Tuttle Fund. Willie Sage Tuttle was born in Guilford, Connecticut, December 28th, 1853, and died July 27th, 1867. He was my classmate in Sun- day School. We were born in the same year; he died on the thirteenth anniversary of my birth. My recollections of him are slight, ex- cepting that each boy in the class seemed to recognize in him a superior, both morally and intellectually. I remember that he used to ask questions of the teacher that were so far beyond my grasp, or even my interest, that I sat in wonder. He was not an ordinary boy at all, but rather the embodiment of purity, intellect 176 and the Christian spirit. What he might have accomplished in the world had he lived, we cannot tell ; but it pleased his mother to per- petuate his memory and his influence at Olivet College, Michigan, and now it has pleased Miss Sage, his aunt and tm her, to perpetuate the same memory and influence at Good Will in Maine. It is not in my power or province to pay tribute to the memory of one of my own age, who died when I was but thirteen. I can only speak of him as I have ; but Rev. Joseph L. Daniels, now of Olivet College, Michigan, but at one time principal of Guilford Institute, and the boy's teacher writes of him: "Willie Sage Tuttle was a most remarkable boy. His early training had been in a Christian home under the careful supervision of his mother and aunt. Miss Clara I. Sage. No pains had been spared to give him the right trend in pur- pose and character. His principles were fixed, his ideal high, his soul pure and white. "At the age of ten he entered Guilford Insti- tute and at once made his mark as a scholar. He had all the simplicity of childhood with the strong and noble elements of manhood. He had yet to learn the ways of the world, and at times 177 trusted too much to the honor and goodness of his wary associates. "He loved his books, he loved his teacher, and school life was to him a delight and a joy. On the other hand his teachers found it a privilege to lead his trusting soul into new fields of knowl- edge and experience. With such scholars teach- ing is simply a recreation and a joy. "Willie had a rare natural endowment, both intellectual and moral. The two were most hap- pily blended. He was quick to see the truth and the right and to love it too. He grasped great truths, mastered them and loved them. The maturity of his mind was amazing. He would listen to a teacher or preacher with the closest attention and repeat their thoughts with won- drous accuracy and facility. "Yet with him lessons were not learned simply to be repeated to others but the rather to be incorporated into life. And so he surprised us with his thoughtfulness for the future and his plans for later years. Young as he was his pur- pose was fixed and he was daily making prepara- tion for it. His short and incomplete career is one of the mysteries we cannot solve. It is easy to imagine the great and good work he might have accomplished had his life been prolonged. But God had some better thing for him, and through him has been teaching us the sorrowful yet the deepest and truest lessons of life. His bright example, sweet spirit and lofty purpose are today a precious memory and a perpetual inspiration. 'He being dead yet speaketh.' ' On Thursday afternoon of Commencement week at Good Will, '06, the corner stone of the Carnegie Library building was laid. A chorus of girls and boys, under the direction of Chas. F. Nutter, led in singing. The hymns sung were "America," "How Firm a Foundation," and "My Faith Looks Up to Thee." Prayer was offered by Prof. A. L. Lane. The audience joined in repeating the first psalm. After I had related, in a brief address, the events which had led up to the occasion, a copper box was produced in which we placed a copy of the architect's specifications for the building, Contractor Wilbur's card, a Good Will Record, the story of Good Will Farm, the story of Dan McDonald one of Good Will's best-known boys a copy of the Waterville Evening Mail con- taining an account of the previous day's pro- ceedings at Good Will, a full set of the pro- 179 grammes of Commencement Week at Good Will, the signatures of all the Good Will boys and girls then at the Farm and their teachers, and a few other articles. The box was sealed, placed in the corner stone by Judge Hobbs, President of the Good Will Home Association, and the corner stone was then laid, President Hobbs pronouncing it "plumb, square and true." The Doxology was sung and then the audience broke into cheers, cheering lustily for the donor of the Willie Sage Tuttle Fund, which is to play a large part in the growth of the library, and then, as a last thing done or said at the service, three rousing cheers for the donor of the library, Mr. Andrew Carnegie. The Charles E. Moody building to take the place of the one destroyed by fire on the last night of '04, was dedicated Thursday of As- sembly week, in that year, at 10.30 A. M. The program was in some particulars like all that had preceded it on similar occasions. It consisted of: Singing, "America"; Scripture, thirty-seventh Psalm, read by G. W. Hinckley; singing, "How Firm a Foundation"; report of the building committee and presentation of keys, Hon. Nath'l Hobbs, North Berwick; acceptance 180 of keys, Hon. L. L. Walton, Skowhegan ; sing- ing, "Am I a Soldier of the Cross," Good Will choir ; dedicatory prayer, Mr. R. A. Jordan, Bangor; singing, "Stand Up for Jesus," Good Will choir; dedicatory address by Pres. George Emory Fellows of the University of Maine. In his report for the Building Committee, Judge Nath'l Hobbs said: "Acting in behalf of the Building Committe, to whom were dele- gated the supervision and direction of building a new school building to take the place of the one destroyed a year ago last December, I would say that the committee had attended to the duty assigned them and what you have seen in the interior and on the outside of the building is the result of their directions. The building has been accepted by the committee. Mr. Chairman, it is not for the committee to praise its own work, but I have been told by competent judges that the architecture of the building is superior to that of the one destroyed and that the interior ar- rangement is also better. The contract provided that as much of the material on the ground might be used as prac- ticable in the construction of the building, so that what was used was a sort of leaven to leaven the 181 whole structure so that this building may be well considered the Charles E. Moody School Build- ing. It may not be know to some present that the original was built by his two sisters as a memorial to Chas. E. Moody. Neither of the sisters is now living. Now as we contemplate this building in surroundings and in its interior we, I think, may be conscious of the sweet fra- grace of the life of Chas. E. Moody and his two sisters. So I think it very appropriate that the association may christen and re-dedicate the Charles E. Moody School Building. And now, Mr. Chairman, the last act on the part of the committee is to present the keys of the building, which I do." Hon. L. L. Walton of Skowhegan in accept- ing the keys said: "I accept these keys and this building not only for the officers and members of the Good Will Home Association and its many loyal supporters but for the efficient teachers of the school and scholars, boys and girls, who have waited so long and patiently for the building to be completed. I accept it also for the vast throng, we trust, of future boys who will occupy these rooms as successors of those now here. "The building speaks for itself. All can see 182 what it is. We thank the building committee for their faithful services and we accept it from their hands with assurance that every scholar will be here trained into a noble young man or wo- man, letting them out into the large land of opportunity beyond. God bless them, every one." President Fellows took for his theme, "The Responsibility of Education." The congregation sang the Doxology in clos- ing. 183 CHAPTER XVII. Things were coming "to pass" ; but there was a cloud, and a dark one. In the October Good Will Record, 1906, I referred to it, editorially, thus: "Readers of the Good Will record and others who are familiar with the work of the Good Will Home Association know that in the past few years a debt has been incurred. It has hardly been referred to for several months, but it still exists. Three suggestions relative to it have been made, (i) That it be bonded. I object. (2) That a mortgage be placed on Good Will Farm. I protest. (3) That the debt be raised. In my judgment the last named course is the only one to take. There are three things to be said about the debt, (a) It was incurred under unusual cir- cumstances, such as will not exist again, (b) The last quarter of the year 1906 seems to be the time to cancel it. (c) If the debt is once paid, it need not, and so far as I can say, will not, be incurred again. 1*4 There arc three things to consider, (i) The raising of the money to pay the debt ought not to conflict with the usual contributions to the current expenses of the work. (2) The debt should be paid by a few large contributions, rather than by a multitude of small ones. (3) I know of no one who contemplates contributing a sum sufficient to pay the whole debt; but I believe that there are people who will be glad to give from $1000 to $5000 each, to help the insti- tution which has done so much for humanity and which promises so much to the world in the future. If the debt had been incurred through dis- honesty, extravagance, or the payment of too large salaries, the case would take on a different aspect ; but as I have already stated, it is the result of unique circumstances, such as will not exist again. We can point to equipment in buildings and permanent improvements which explain the existence of much of the debt, and the rest is the shortage on current expense ac- count the accumulation of several years when a change of methods in raising money was in progress. Good Will has a larger number of boys and girls this year than ever before. Defi- nite improvements and developments are in sight which will greatly increase Good Will's useful- ness and its capacity for helping those who need the assistance which Good Will gives. The greatest hindrance to its development, the one serious obstacle to its progress, is the debt now under consideration. I would be glad to cor- respond with any who may wish information about the matter; I wish I might hear from the friends of Good Will just how they feel about it. Shall the debt be wiped out by December 31, 1906? Commencement week of 1908 had a feature of special interest. Something had been brought "to pass" ; there was occasion for the reading of the thirty-seventh Psalm, or at least a part of it, and the singing of hymns of faith. In the pre- ceding February I had received a letter from Mr. Tracy W. McGregor, of Detroit, Michigan, whom I had met at a convention several years before, telling me of a plan for the erection and endowment of a home for fifteen boys at Good Will. The letter said: "Will you kindly write and tell me what steps it would be necessary to take in order to carry out the suggestion." Correspondence followed in which I en- 186 deavored to explain that a sum of money might be turned over to the Good Will Home Associa- tion sufficient to build the proposed home ; that to such a home might be added a fund large enough to provide annually for repairs and in- surance, and fifteen scholarships of three thou- sand dollars each, as these would yield an in- come sufficient to make a family of fifteen possi- ble, practically providing for its support. So it came "to pass" that on Thursday of Commencement week at Good Will, in 1908 the first week in June the formal exercises of breaking ground took place. The following pro- gram was observed : Singing, "America," Congregation Reading of 37th Psalm, Gilbert Arey, a Good Will Senior Singing, "How Firm a Foundation," Congregation Prayer, G. F. Barnard Address, G. W. Hinckley In the course of brief remarks I said : "When the house is built on the spot where we are now assembled it will complete this par- ticular group of homes. Architects are now busy with the plans and specifications. About the first of July funds will be turned over to the Good Will Home Association, sufficient to build and equip the home and also to provide an in- come for the support of a family of fifteen boys. It is to be known as the 'Whitney Home.' I hope that we will be able to begin work about the first of July, but in the meantime, assured of the gift, we are gathered here in this Com- mencement Week to break ground; to turn the first turf. "It has been our custom upon similar occasions to select some individual to turn the first turf, regarding the privilege as something of an honor. This gift comes to us from Michigan. So far as we know there is but one person in our com- munity at the present time who came from that state John Hall, a Good Will Cottage boy, is with us. He came to us from Michigan upon the application and through the request of Mrs. McGregor. I have, therefore, asked him as the representative of Mr. and Mrs. McGregor to turn the first turf this afternoon, but before this is done you will please give three rousing cheers for the donor of the building." Amid the cheers of the assembly John Hall, 9*. , JOHN HALL Ready to break ground for the Whitney Home a sturdy lad of about nine years, stepped forward and turned tin- first turf. Tuesday, Feb. 23d, '09, was a rarely beautiful winter's day. It was the date for the dedication of the Whitney Home at Good Will. The building was opened for inspection at eight o'clock, and as soon as it was opened visitors be- iran to enter. In order that the place should not be crowded at any hour it had been previously arranged that the Good Will boys should visit it in cottage groups, one group arriving every fif- teen minutes to be shown through the house. At eleven o'clock an interested and sympathetic audience had assembled in Moody Hall for the dedicatory services. The congregation sang four verses of "How firm a foundation, Ye Saints of the Lord, Is laid for your faith in his excellent word." In the very beginning of the history of Good Will the hope for the work rested in Psalm 37 *5 ' "Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring to pass," and it had been the custom to read at least a part of that Psalm at all dedication services enough of it to include the fifth verse anyway. It had been read at the breaking of ground for fourteen struc- 189 tures at Good Will, including homes and educa- tional buildings ; it had been read at the laying of six corner-stones, and at nineteen dedicatory ser- vices. It was fitting that in this twentieth year of Good Will's existence it should be read at the twentieth dedicatory service. No other passage could be so fitting; no other passage could take its place. So it came to pass that the first ten verses of this Psalm were read by Mr. C. C. Robinson, State Y. M. C. A. Secretary of Boys' Work in Maine. A chorus of Good Will boys and girls sang, "Consider and hear me.' I was able to say: "When Hall Cottage was presented to the Good Will Home Association it was decided to locate it in a somewhat remote part of the Farm. No doubt the matron and the first family of boys in it sometimes felt isolated and had lonesome hours. To many the location seemed unfortu- nate. Questions were asked and the uniform re- ply was : 'It is a part of a plan ; eventually there will be a group of three homes in that location a little colony of forty-five or fifty boys.' "When Bancroft-Foote House was presented it was promptly decided to locate it two hundred 190 Feet to the north of Hall Cottage, and it was apparent that the plan was to be worked out in due time, though from whence the third home of the group would come was still a mystery. "One year ago I received a letter from Detroit, Michigan. It was dated Feb. 15, 1908, and it informed me that Mrs. Tracy W. McGregor contemplated building and endowing a home for boys at Good Will and information was re- quested as to the next step to be taken. Cor- respondence followed. Mr. McGregor visited Good Will and examined possible locations. It was finally decided that the Whitney Home the gift of Mrs. McGregor should be located so as to be the third home in the group. The group is now completed. I do not mean that all plans for Good Will are consummated ; but one little plan for that part of the Farm is completed ; and the eleventh home belonging to the Good Will Home Association is about to be dedicated. The con- tract for the house was awarded by the Special Building Committee to J. L. Parkin and Son of Fairfield for $9,500.00: the contract for heating and plumbing was awarded to George Toppan of Fairfield for $1,100.00. It was stipulated by the donor that the structure should be first class in 191 every respect. The Committee believes that all requirements have been met. The gift of the building was accompanied by a fund sufficient to yield the probable cost of repairs and insurance each year and also by fifteen scholarships of three thousand dollars each. "As we are gathered here to mark the opening of the home by appropriate exercises, gratitude should be the prevailing note ; the enlarged use- fulness of Good Will is assured. "Mrs. McGregor's gift is a 'house beautiful.' Its architecture is attractive ; it is built of the best material ; its materials are joined together in a most workmanlike manner. But we know that neither brick and mortar, nor wood and iron make a home, no matter how skillfully they may be combined. "Mrs. McGregor's gift is a 'home.' The man- agement has taken every precaution ; no oldtime barracks have been here created ; today we dedi- cate a real home a place where the home spirit will always be dominant. 192 "Mrs. McGregor's gift is a memorial. You noticed the bronze tablet in the hallway : THIS HOME WAS ERECTED AND ENDOWED IN MEMORY OF DAVID WHITNEY BY A DAUGHTER 1908 "David Whitney was one of God's noblemen; no memorial should be erected to such a man unless it be beautiful, impressive, useful. No more fitting memorial could be reared than a home for boys a home for boys in memory of David Whitney, the business man, the philan- thropist, the home-lover, the father. "Mr. Whitney was born at Westford, Mass., August 23, 1830. He sprang from New Eng- land ancestors, and was one of a family of four brothers. With them he gained a common school education, and was afterward a student at the Westford Academy. During earlier years he worked for his father, who was a farmer, but at the age of twenty-one hired as a clerk with the Westford Lumber Company. "Within three years, he had so shown his 193 capacity for management that the firm made him superintendent of the business. Not more than a year afterwards, however, he started to deal in lumber on his own account in Lowell, Mass., and his trade was so prosperous that it soon became wholesale in character and extended throughout New England. The forests of the Upper Con- necticut River were then a profitable source of lumber supply. The business had not been long under way when others were drawn into it, and the firm of Skillings, Whitney and Barnes was organized, with a principal office in Boston, and distributing yards at points in New England and New York. Mr. Whitney was president of the company up to the time of his death in 1900, when he was succeeded by his son. When not more than twenty-nine years of age, he was at- tracted by the extensive white pine resources of the State of Michigan and soon afterwards went to that state to make his home. For many years he bought and converted into lumber the big trees of thousands of acres in Michigan and Wis- consin, and at one time owned the largest timber acreage ever possessed by any individual in the State of Michigan. "For many years Mr. Whitney was a resident 194 of Detroit, and contributed largely to the ma- terial prosperity of the city. He was actively nii^vd in various lines of manufacturing and banking, and was the head of a transportation company which owned and operated vessels on the Great Lakes. He became a large dealer in real estate and erected several of the principal buildings of the city. Mr. Whitney's commer- cial operations were marked by extreme care and conservatism. "Regarding Mr. Whitney's character, some- thing may be gathered from the following quo- tations from tributes paid to him at the time of his death: "General R. A. Alger, Secretary of War, says : 'He was a quiet, unostentatious gentleman, who was very particular in making contracts, but would always stand to his bargains whether they were hard or not. He was strictly honorable in every respect, and would never wrong a man in a shilling to make a million for himself. It is a great loss when such men pass away. When I asked him about his assessments on the last tax rolls, he said that he would rather pay taxes on twice the amount assessed than shirk a dollar of his just obligations/ 195 "Resolutions from the Board of the Union Trust Company read as follows: ' 'We knew him always as the man sagacious, honest, and honorable, of individual views but deferential to others, of wide and deep thought, and of sound and seasoned judgment/ "A newspaper editorial speaks as follows: " 'Mr. Whitney was without social or political ambitions. All his life he was content to be a simple man of affairs ; he was entirely free from ostentation, and his bearing towards the humblest individual was courteous and considerate. His private office was open to any one, and he al- ways seemed to have unlimited time. In his giv- ing to church and charity, publicity and ad- vertisement were avoided. Though Mr. Whit- ney was a hard worker, and occupied a large place in the business affairs of Detroit and Michigan, he was so quiet and unassuming that he received far less attention than others who filled much smaller places. The attractions of Mr. Whitney's character were especially mani- fest in the home. Here he was gentle and affec- tionate. No man was ever more devoted to his family, and in his dealings with them he was an ideal of patience/ 196 It is delightful to know that here at Good Will the memory of such a man is to be per- petuated ; his life work enlarged ; his influence ever increased as the years come and go. And so in behalf of the donor who cannot be with us today, and as Chairman of the Building Committee, I present the keys of the Whitney Home to the Trustees and Directors of the Good Will Home Association." Mr. R. A. Jordan, a director of the Associa- tion, received the keys and said: "It gives me pleasure in behalf of the Good Will Home Association to accept from you for the generous donor, Mrs. Tracy W. McGregor, the Whitney Home for boys, and to assure you of our sincere gratitude. "It means much that shrewd and practical business men and intelligent and benevolent women are giving so generously of their means for the support and propagation of the work at Good Will. It means much because such men and women are not moved by mere sentiment, nor by the impulses of the moment. "It means, I believe, that this work, standing, as it does, as a special help and safeguard to needy and imperilled boys, and reaching, as it 197 does, with its hand of friendship and love, in- viting them to enter its portals and find refuge; I say I can but believe it means that good men and women feel it to be a necessary work, and worthy of the best possible support, and it is gratifying to all connected with it to have this continued and growing confidence of intelligent and benevolent people. "It gives me pleasure also to accept this gift because of what it means to the extension of the work. We must not think of this building and its splendid endowment as caring simply for fif- teen needy boys; but rather as a benefit for the hundreds of boys, as the years come and go, who will find their way to its open door to be fed, clothed, and educated, who otherwise must have been uncared for. "It gives me pleasure, also, to accept this gift because of the assurance of permanency which comes with it; this assurance coming to us be- cause of the splendid endowment of the Whitney Home. The necessity of having the Good Will Home Association put on a sound and perma- nent financial basis by a liberal endowment, as are other institutions in our State, is so impor- tant for its future usefulness and permanency, 198 that we cannot be too thankful to God or the good woman who today blesses us by her gen- erosity in our work for needy humanity. We will never in the coming years be obliged to con- sider the closing of Whitney Home because of lack of funds for the support of the boys, for whom, we as an Association have become re- sponsible. "It gives me pleasure to accept this gift, also, because of what it means to the boys who are to be blessed by it. As I think of the magnificent history of some of the boys who have gone out from Good Will, and who today are filling places of usefulness and prominence in the world's work, and think of what some of these boys nii^lit have been but for Good Will, I can but re- joice that through the providence of God there comes to needy ones that which will not only save them from falling, but that which will make them helpers in the uplifting of humanity. "It gives me pleasure to accept this gift be- cause of what it means to the Supervisor and those immediately connected with him. They are the ones who must say 'No' to broken- hearted mothers and to needy and imperilled boys who apply for help but who must be turned 199 away for lack of room and funds. To make it possible for them to say 'Yes' instead of 'No' is to give them happiness and help them carry a burden already too heavy. "It gives me pleasure to accept this gift also, because of what this day must mean to the heart of Jesus Christ. If he was interested in one class more than another it must have been the children. I can but feel as we meet here today that we have His smile of approval and His words of commendation, saying 'Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these little ones ye did it unto me.' "And lastly, it gives me pleasure to accept this gift, because it brings to us renewed assurance that the work we are doing is God-given, God- owned, and God-blessed." Prayer was offered by Rev. I. B. Mower, D. D.. of Waterville. The Good Will girls sang "Not a Sparrow Falleth." Prof. Alfred William Anthony of Bates Col- lege was then introduced and gave the dedi- catory address. Space does not allow the re- production of the address in full, but among other things Prof. Anthony said : 200 "We do well to say to ourselves today that a building like this, a part of an organization dedi- cated to the service of boys and girls, is a bene- faction which will always be needed. I am aware that in a recent conference, distinguished by reason of the men assembled, and notable also for its conclusions, held on invitaion of our hon- ored President in the White House, institutions for children, institutions as such, were dis- credited, and the home together with a "placing- out" system was exalted as the only suitable cus- todian for children ; and the experiences of sev- eral states, notably of Massachusetts, were called in evidence as a vindication of the abolishment of institutions and for reliance wholly upon the as- sistance of private homes for the care of unfor- tunate children, some experts going so far as to say that all that was needed was an office and an office force to take unfortunate children and then find for them places of refuge in suitable homes. "We may well recognize the reasons which underlie such conclusions. Institutions have be- come so largely institutionalized as to merit dis- credit. When children are dressed alike, made to march in procession, given the same tasks, subjected to the same routine, and are run 201 through a mill which turns out as nearly as pos- sible the same product, then we may discredit and undertake to abolish the whole institution as a violation of child-nature. A boy must always be Tom, or Harold, or Ben, and never a num- ber, or part of a system. "The Good Will Homes have none of the traits of an institution in this sense. They are homes. They perpetuate, as nearly as possible, the character and the influences of the best home. They individualize. The boys before me are not dressed alike, do not sit alike, do not behave alike ; and my attention has been called to the fact that their singing is unlike the singing heard even in our public schools. The individual tone rings out in the volume of sound. "It is a sad misfortune when the home, into which a child has been born, is for any cause disabled, or disrupted, whether by death, sick- ness, or disaster, and the child must go forth into the world. Between the child thus thrust out and the homes into which it might come, there must stand some kind of an institution, main- tained by the state or by private charity, to meet at least two exigencies : "(i) The situation of disease or mental or 202 moral disorder, for there are children who are not fit to be taken into the private home until they have been physically cleansed and healed, and in- tellectually and morally started upon some bet- ter highway than that which they have been ac- customed to tread. "And (2) children who have lost opportunity and missed ambitions and failed to gather ideals which are in harmony with human welfare these need a pause, longer or shorter, between the broken home of the past and some better home for the future, wherein they may gather impulse and incentive for a new and nobler life. "Good Will furnishes this interval for the gracious influences of personal interest and Christian ideals. In these many household groups is a reconstructing and highly conse- crated department of motherhood ; and in all the influences pervading these grounds, and these several buildings, is the genius of Christian fatherhood. Individuality is here fully pre- served and nurtured in the environment of home- ideals. "I was gratified on inspecting Whitney Home just now to find it a building of such taste and quiet eleganece. It is not extravagant. It is 203 not what would be termed luxurious. It is good. It is what some people would call 'nice/ The building might have been erected for much less money; but I justify every dollar of expenditure. Had space been cut out, then there would not have been as much air for the lungs, nor as much freedom for the hands and feet, nor quite that sense of comfort and convenience which the mind craves ; and every indication of beauty and proportion is a vindication of taste and artistic skill. Our Master justified the expenditure of vast sums as a mere expression of sentiment, when a woman sacrificed, in a moment of time, a costly box of ointment which represented the hard toil of three hundred days of some man's labor, really a full year of saving He com- mended the sacrifice and said of her that she had 'done what she could/ and that her gift should be spoken of as a memorial wherever His Gospel was preached. There is nothing in this world more valuable than sentiment, aesthetic and emo- tional. "If the cost of this new building were invested to yield savings bank interest, then the rental for each boy would represent less than fifty cents a week, scarcely twenty-five dollars a year. That 204 is not a large sum to invest in an individual's house and physical surroundings ; while the whole amount with which this building i (lowed represents an annual expenditure for the maintenance of the building, and the maintenance of its inmates, of only about two hundred dol- lars a year per boy. This surely is a very mod- erate sum, and no one reasonably could criticize the expenditure of this amount for such pur- poses. "We may all take great satisfaction today in realizing that the building which we dedicate and set apart for special uses, is destined, so far as we can foretell, to stand forever, and to serve the welfare of Good Will Homes perpetually. The donor has provided in her gift that the building shall be repaired year by year, and parts re- placed, as they may, through the lapse of time by wear or breakage, give way; and so the building can be kept perpetually new. The donor has also provided that boys may come and boys may go, generation follow generation, and yet a family be supported within these sheltering walls. It is not, therefore, a gift for one group of boys; but a procession of boys, family by family, reaching on through future years, far- 205 ther than human sight can now penetrate. It is perpetual benefaction. "We can be sure that there will be need of such a benefaction; for we know there will al- ways be boys as long as the human race endures ; and we know there there will aways be boyc needing such help as this, as long as the human race endures, for because of death and mis- fortune 'tis pity we must say it the natural home will be disrupted, and this fostor home be required ; and we know that the principle of in- dividualizing boys as they come to this foster home will be permanent, because it has been wrought into the very foundation of these build- ings, and through every principle and ideal and act of Good Will; and we can be assured also that in the good providence of God, men, who follow men, will be inspired with the ideals which are close to the Divine purposes, and fulfil the Divine plan for childhood, and manhood. We can trust then the future and commit this enterprise to Him who rules the future as he has the past. "We are standing today in touch with possi- bilities which God only knows. The past in good measure has focused from many directions 206 GRANGE COTTAGE THE EMILY F. RYERSON BUILDING gracioofl influences upon this pi ft: and in the future, from this gift, will radiate in many di- rections yet other gracious influences to bless the world. ' \\\ will look to Him unto whom all that is incorporated in the Good Will Homes has been committed, unto whom he Supervisor, officers, ml friends have committed their ways, unto Him who will also 'bring to pass.' ' After Prof. Anthony's address the audience was asked to join with the schools in singing one of their loved Good Will songs for the closing of the exercise. The question asked in the Good Will Record, October 1906, ''Shall the debt be wiped out by December 31, 1906?" was answered in the nega- tive or rather, nothing was said about it on that date. But my annual report to the Trustees and Directors, in July, 1908, opened as follows : "Our year 1907-08 closing May 2Oth was full of interest and in many respects was a notable one in the history of Good Will. A debt of nearly thirty thousand dollars was paid, a li- brary building was dedicated ; an endowed home for boys was offered and the acceptance of it awaits your vote of approval ; farm life, home 207 life and school life were happy and prosperous. A helping hand was extended for the whole or a part of the year to two hundred and thirty- four of which one hundred and ninety-four were boys and forty were girls." One very large contribution was made toward the liquidation of the debt and a few others nearly as generous placed the Good Will Home Association even with the world once more. Another important problem was solved, for a few years to come at least, when $2,500 was of- fered toward the expense of an adequate water supply and sewerage system. The water sup- ply over which we had once been so happy had proved insufficient as the demands upon it in- creased and we had never been able to put in any sewerage system at all. Other generous friends came to our aid until an equal amount for the same purpose had been provided; then the contracts were made and the system was com- pleted at the close of it>o8. The largest con- tribution towards the raising of the debt and the largest contribution toward the new water supply and the sewerage system were by the same sympathetic and helpful friend one of 208 God's almoners who prefers that her name shall not be mentioned in connection with her bene- factions. The same forces which have been in operation in years past are still at work. The principles upon which Good Will rests are unchanged. There are many things which are to be wit- nessed in the future. They are sure to be brought "to pass." I confidently expect that a gymnasium, a natural history or natural science building, an administration building, endowed homes and dormitories, are in the future. But I "confidently expect" only as I have in the past, that is, without knowing from whence, how or by whom. The Good Will plant is already large enough to call for a very generous endowment, also, and I know of no reason why such an endowment should not be forthcoming from men and women who have the welfare of humanity at heart. 209 THE CALISTA MAYHEW LECTURESHIP. Through the kindness of Mrs. C. S. Mayhew, the Good Will Home Association has a lecture- ship fund which makes it possible for the schools at Good Will to listen to several good lectures each year. Mrs. Mayhew has given the Associa- tion five thousand dollars, the interest of which is to be used each year in providing lectures on such subjects as seem most desirable. It is to be known as the "Calista Mayhew Lectureship." The real value of this gift can hardly be esti- mated ; its influence will be far-reaching and perennial. Mrs. Mayhew is one of Good Will's strong helpers ; the green-house and the Mayhew Scholarship of three thousand dollars are among her benefactions. 210 CHAPTER XVIII. The question is often asked, why a site in Somerset county, Maine, should have been selected for the Good Will Homes and Schools. I am not sure that there were any definite theories influencing the selection except that the proposed work should be in the country. Having spent my early life in Southern New England Con- necticut and Rhode Island I had no convictions about the Pine Tree State as a place for philan- thropic effort; I did not even have opinions. The thought of locating the Homes in Maine had not occurred to me. It was not theories, there- fore, which resulted in the present situation of Good Will Farm, but a steadfast purpose to follow, if I could, the leadings of Divine Provi- dence. Theoretically Maine was not the best place for it. Had a man living in Connecticut, as I was, announced his intention of going to Maine to establish a benevolent and educational work which was to extend a helping hand to boys in all parts of the country, and in turn to appeal to every part of the country for sympathy and 211 aid, no one would have experienced any difficulty in producing arguments against it. I could have produced arguments myself. For instance, it might have been said, the climate of Maine is severe ; it is the home of pulmonary troubles ; it is remote from the large centers Boston and New York ; the State is but sparsely populated ; there are but few if any great fortunes there ; a stranger in the State will need a long time to gain a foothold and the confidence of benevolent people; it is the last place in the United States east of the Mississippi for such a work. But I had surrendered to God, after a long struggle, in which I had been obliged to cry, "Thou art stronger than I," and it did not matter where I went so long as I could know I was following Providential leadership. I had taken Psalm 37 : 5, and must abide by it. I had resigned a pastorate in which I had been peculiarly happy, without knowing what I would do next. So far as could ever be learned I was writing my resig- nation not having mentioned my purpose to do so to any one, at the same time that the clerk of another church was writing me, in its behalf, an invitation to become its pastor. This inci- dent gave me courage, strengthening my belief 212 JUDGE NATHANIEL HOBBS. that the change I was making would result in a long step toward the boys' work. On the new field I had for a ministerial brother a man who had worked in Maine under direction of the American Sunday-school Union. He was one of three men to recommend me to the same union, for the work of Sunday-school organiza- tion in Maine. I regarded this as the outcome of the step I had taken, and as I went to Maine I held the opinion that in that great State the Homes would be founded. The opinion deep- ened into a conviction. I had held the opinion ; the conviction held me. Subsequent events and experiences show how groundless were the argu- ments which might have been advanced against that State as the home of a far reaching benevo- lent work. ist. The climate. It is true that the winters are severe in Somerset county. The summers are beautiful. It is also true that the average healthy boy has no quarrel with frosty weather. In winter the air is cold at Good Will, but it is dry, crisp and pure. I do not believe a better winter for boys can be found anywhere than in Somerset Co., Maine. 2nd. The fear of pulmonary troubles had it 213 been allowed an influence in choice of site would have been equally ill-advised. Maine has had an unenviable reputation as regards lung and throat diseases. It is only within a few years that it has been discovered that Aroostook county is one of the most favorable locations in New England for the treatment of consumption. Somerset county is far enough removed from the coast, and near enough to the unbroken forest region to afford a salubrious climate. Boys who have come to us with consumptive tendencies, have invariably outgrown such tendencies ; while catarrhal troubles among Good Will boys are rare. 3rd. Maine was at one time in her history, far removed from the large centers, like New York and Boston ; but that was in the days of the stage coach and sailing vessels, before the advent of express trains, fast mails, telephones and telegraphs. 4th. Maine is not the home of large fortunes as fortunes are estimated in the twentieth cen- tury ; but her citizens are large hearted and gen- erous, and from the beginning have cherished the interests of Good Will, and been ready helpers in developing and supporting the work. 214 In proportion to the number of Maine boys aided, the people of the State have up to the present time done their share grandly. 5th. The obstacles to be overcome by a young man undertaking such a work in a State where he was an entire stranger were great enough it is true; but they did not prove insurmountable or as formidable, as one would expect. 6th. Instead of being the last place in the United States east of the Mississippi river for such a work, after ten years of testing, I am convinced that it is the best. I have no quarrel with the kind Providence which led to the banks of the Kcnnebec river into a county of the Pine Tree State highly favored in its climatic con- ditions, its freedom from malaria, catarrh, and pulmonary troubles; a site fortunate in its wholesome surroundings, pure water, and sani- tary conditions. 215 CHAPTER XIX. In January, 1888, I published the first issue of "The Boy's Fund, devoted to the interests of boys in need of a helping hand." The size was 6 inches x 8^2 inches. Four hundred and fifty copies were printed. The paper stated briefly the plan for a home for boys, to be located in the country, and was mailed February I. The sub- scription price was, twenty-five cents per annum. In June of that year the paper was admitted to the mails in Bangor, Me., as second class matter. In May, 1889, the land which was to be the foundation for the Home for boys was pur- chased, and named Good- Will Farm. In August the name of the paper was changed to Good- Will Record, and the number of pages doubled. It was then printed in Fairfield; entered at East Fairfield. In February, 1890, its form was changed to 9 inches x 1 1 ^2 inches, three columns to a page, and eight pages. In December it was increased to twelve pages, and the price raised to fifty cents a year. In May, 1892, it was decided to make its permanent form 7 inches x 216 io inches, sixteen two-column pages, with addi- tional pages from time to time, as needed, and the printing was transferred to Augusta, Maine. I had previously devoted most of my time to religious work; had been pastor, Sunday-school missionary, and evangelist, and had drawn a comfortable salary. But I was convinced that I must either give up my salaried position, and devote my time and strength to the growing work at Good-Will, or I must see the undertaking lan- guish from lack of attention. I decided to give up my former position and become supervisor of the work. I also decided to accept no salary from the benevolent funds of the Homes. It was a simple matter to adopt the following course, viz: All benevolent contributions received by the Good Will Homes to be devoted to their growth and support. Of such receipts, not a cent has ever been otherwise used. Receipts for annual subscriptions to the Good Will Record to be regarded as a commercial transaction, and such receipts used by myself in lieu of any salary for the support of myself and family. That at times this was meagre may be readily understood when it is stated that the first year the total sub- scriptions to the Record amounted to $430.00. This has measurably increased since. 217 CHAPTER XX. The words, "Good Will," as applied to the farms and homes and schools at Hinckley, Me., were taken from the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke the song of the herald angels. But "Good Will," as the words are now used to designate the work in progress at Hinckley, has another and a special meaning. They stand for the work of the Good Will Home Associa- tion, and we want to explain just what Good Will means when used in that way. Good Will stands for home life. This is an age of investigation ; of experiments ; of prog- ress. In his address at the Pan American, the day before he fell before the assassin's assault President McKinley said : "Expositions are the time keepers of progress." There was a time when an Exposition once in a quarter of a cen- tury was often enough; but they come oftener now, for progress is more rapid, and before one is over, plans are laid for its successor. But in it all, human nature remains the same. In the beginning God instituted for humanity. One of 218 the first institutions was home. No true or safe substitute for the home has ever been discovered. Such a discovery is not in the power of man. The nearer we keep to the family and the home, in our benevolent work, the nearer we are to the divinely instituted. In the cottage system of Good \Yill fifteen in a family we come as near as we can to the family life. Good Will stands for industry. It is understood that every boy and girl at Good Will shall have some duty to perform. For the younger ones it may be exceedingly light work ; but something must be done by each one as a contribution to the activities and the general welfare of the community. Over the main entrance to the first Chas. E. Moody Building were two words, used primarily to characterize the man whose life is perpetuated in the building, but selected also as the key note to the teachings within it. The words were "Honesty" and "In- dustry." The dignity of labor is taught by pre- cept and example. The boys are frequently reminded that the same Divine command which says, "On the seventh day thou shalt do no work," also says, "Six days shalt thou labor." It is true that "all work and no play makes Jack 219 a dull boy." It is equally true that all play and no work is the basis for a worthless, meaningless life. The Good Will boy will have to work when he leaves his present home; he must acquire habits of industry in his youth. Good Will stands for wholesome discipline. This sounds a trifle old-fashioned, but obedience is at the foundation of all government. Without obedience there can be no nobility of character. The Good Will boy comes under few laws, but those laws are to be obeyed. We do not say that the average boy likes to be governed ; but we do say, without fearing contradiction from the boy or his elders, that he expects to be governed. He has little respect for the teacher or parent who cannot control or govern him. Good Will stands for a discipline that is gentle, reasonable and firm. Good Will stands for the religious training of youth. For such training there can be no wise substitute. Much work for children, especially for boys, is carried on in these days, without any reference to the religious nature. Man is a religious being. "The boy is father of the man." There is a religious elemen: in boy nature so strong that it is not safe to ignore it. A religion 220 void of cant, void of hypocrisy, void of priggish- ness is the aim at Good Will. The religious life is strong and healthy. The type is practical. The chapel is the place for formal worship, but the conduct of the majority of the boys, on the farm, in the school, everywhere, is determined by religious principle. The details of Good Will's industry, family life, discipline and religious activity need not be explained here. 221 CHAPTER XXI. There are three things to which I wish to call the attention of all friends of Good Will at this time. I am conscious that when I address "all the friends of Good Will" I reach a larger num- ber of persons than ever before ; for the circle of her friends and sympathizers is constantly grow- ing. But these friends should know the situa- tion. I submit the following three things for careful consideration. i. Good Will's need of financial support from day to day. W r e have not reached our ideal. There are many things which we cannot do as we would like to do them ; and many things we ought to do which cannot be done at all for lack of funds. So we do the best we can, and hope for the day when we can do better. Our first duty, our high privilege, as friends of Good Will is to keep the Treasurer supplied with funds for current expenses. The work needs the same kind of contributions which have been necessary in the past, but more of them, because more work and better work for humanity is being none. 222 The first thing, then, is the generous contribu- tions to the current expenses of the Homes and Schools. 2. Good Will's need of an endowment fund. This fund is already commenced. According to the Treasurer's report published in the Good Will Record, the endowment fund, June 2Oth, 1900, amounted to $18,000; June 2Oth, 1901, it amounted to $36,000. In other words the fund was doubled in twelve months ; but it is still very small. Is it too much to ask that the fund as it now stands ($200,000) be greatly increased at this stage of development. We do not expect this will be done by small gifts $10.00 and $5.00 at a time but some of God's almoners in these days are intrusted with wealth, and we believe this need of Good Will must appeal strongly to them. This is an age of great things, and we are in an era of great prosperity as a nation. Shall not Good Will be helped in pro- portion, and equipped financially for great things. The second thing, then, is the increase of Good Will's Endowment Fund. 3. With increased financial support, and enlarged endowment there may be, and ought to be immediate extension of usefulness. The 223 foundations at Good Will are broad. We have come now to the very threshold of large things. The fact that we are compelled to turn away several hundred needy and deserving applicants each year does not mean that new institutions are needed ; it does mean that institutions already existing, whose usefulness has been tested and whose foundations already laid are broad and deep, should be strengthened. The broad acres at Good Will invite more boys ; the large school building, chapel, and manual training building invite a multitude. The restricted accommo- dations in the cottages and the limited finances of the Good Will Home Association say "No" to many who can be and ought to be saved. Those who are best acquainted with the history of Good Will believe that God has signally honored the work, and are confident that it affords opportunity for the investment of large sums for humanity. A large work in the future is planned ; large sums to be invested in boys and girls in need of a helping hand, are greatly needed at Good Will Farm. 224 CHAPTER XXII. WHAT BOYS ARE RECEIVED. A boy to be received at Good Will must be between the ages of nine and fifteen. He must be sound in body; the plan is industrial. He must be of average intelligence ; the plan is edu- cational. He must be of fair morals; the plan is preventive. He must be in need of a helping hand ; the plan is benevolent. HOW TO PROCEED. The best method of applying for admission for a boy is to write to the Supervisor of the Good Will Home Association, Hinckley, Maine, giving a description of the boy and his circumstances, enclosing a stamp, for reply. The letter will be answered. If there is a probability that the boy can be received, an application blank will be forwarded asking for information in compact and systemized form. The party making appli- cation will be duly notified of the decision. Cor- 225 respondence, thereafter, regarding the boy will be carried on only with the person offering the boy. THE TERMS OF ADMISSION. Many boys are received at Good Will Farm who are not only penniless, but who have no relative able to aid in any way. Such boys are cared for by benevolent funds. Sometimes a boy who ought to be received at Good Will has a relative able to pay something toward his sup- port. In such cases we require the payment. AN EXCELLENT WAY. It is a great help in the work for us to know of persons who are willing to assume the expense of a boy at Good Will by the year, the annual requirement being one hundred and fifty dollars. This amount covers food, lodgings, clothing, tuition and religious privileges. Persons willing to do this should notify the supervisor of the Good Will Home Association. Practically the same rules govern admission to the girls' cottages and school. 226 CHAPTER XXIII. Very early in my desire to be of service to boys I discovered the worth of outings of various kinds. In my first pastorate in the years '81 and '82, I had arranged for my journeys into the country to be accompanied by members of my Sunday-school. One of my pastorates was at West Hartford, Conn., and boys from the Sun- day-school accompanied me on a trip to Rhode Island, where we spent a week or ten days in the vicinity of Point Judith. While engaged in mis- sionary and evangelistic work in Maine later on, I arranged for several other outings of a similar character for boys. I made an effort to have a strong religious influence in each of these little camps, and endeavored to so conduct affairs that the outing should prove to be beneficial not only physically, but morally and spiritually as well. The first cottage at Good Will was opened in 1889. The following summer all the boys at the Farm accompanied me on an outing of several days at Bailey's Island, in Messalonskee lake. Each succeeding year a similar excursion was 227 planned for the benefit of the Good Will boys, but I had a growing desire to do something for an outing for other than Good Will boys an outing which should be both enjoyable and profitable. I was not able, however, to make such an arrangement until 1893. I had purposed in my heart that I would arrange for an encampment at Good Will Farm. As a matter of fact in my search for the location for the homes I had been influenced somewhat by the conviction that the place would be used not only for the boys who would live in the cottages, but for others also, in some summer school or assembly. Hardly had I decided to try the experiment of a summer assembly or boys' encampment at Good Will Farm in the summer of '93 when a benevolent lady of New Hampshire learned of my plan and offered to furnish a tent for the purpose. She instructed me to secure a tent which would seat about two hundred. I obeyed her instructions and in the February number of the Record announced that the first boys' encampment at Good Will would be held in the following July. I did not plan for a very large attendance. In fact it would have been impossible to have cared for large numbers. When the time came for this 228 experiment the attendance of boys from different parts of the country was all that I could ask, and the interest in the program was very gratifying. The assembly was held from July I2th to igth. Tt opened with an evening of prayer and testi- mony. At ten o'clock each morning there were to be lectures and addresses. The afternoon was to be given up to rambles, swimming and athletic sports. This experiment proved to be so success- ful that these assemblies were continued for sev- eral years. The plan of three addresses between the hours of 10 A. M. and 11.30 proved to be very crowding. A few years later to the great satisfaction of all in attendance the number of addresses or lectures at the morning session was reduced to two. There were so many advan- tages in this arrangement that after a year or two of experiment the morning program was changed so as to give still more time for singing and other general exercises, with only one address or lecture at the morning session. It was planned that at each assembly there should be some well known writer of books or stories, who should read from his own writings. Among those who appeared on the program were Hezekiah Butterworth, James Otis, Wm. Pendle- 229 Ion Chipman, Kirk Monroe, Olive Thorne Miller, Dallas Lore Sharp, John Whitson and others. The tent which had been presented to us proved to be too small for the audiences that assembled. At session after session, although the program was arranged for boys, the boys themselves were crowded out from under the tent by adults. The assembly also bid fair, if allowed to continue its growth, to interfere with the life at Good Will in a variety of ways. I had looked longingly across the Kennebec river to a beauti- ful tract of pines which it seemed to me would be an admirable place for a more extensive sum- mer assembly. I used to say sometimes that I thought by the eye of faith I could see the roof of a pavilion in the grove. One winter morning in 1896 Mr. Walter M. Smith was about to take the train from the Good Will station when he looked across the Kennebec into the pines and said "Has anything ever been done about that pine grove?" I replied "Oh no, nothing has ever been done about it. I can still see, by the eye of faith, the roof of a pavilion over there." Mr. Smith replied by instructing me to ascertain whether the tract of thirty acres could be purchased for a stated 230 sum, and asked me to wire him at New York City. I called that evening on the owner of the pines and made the purchase, notifying Mr. Smith at once, and in accordance with his agree- ment he forwarded a check to cover the purchase price. The following summer the assembly was held for the last time on Good Will Farm. Mr. Hezekiah Butterworth was one of the speakers that summer. A party crossed the Kennebec into the pines one noon and solemnly dedicated the entire tract for religious and educational work. No other meetings were held there that summer. The following year Mr. Smith who had purchased the pines for the assembly pro- vided a larger tent one to accommodate about six hundred. There were those present when the tent was being put up for the first time who did not hesitate to prophecy failure, and asked me somewhat sarcastically if I ever expected to see the tent filled. My only reply was that the tent would last several years. If it was not filled with appreciative audiences that year it would be sometime. That summer the tent proved to be too small to accommodate the audiences which assembled in the pines on some of the days, but 231 the meetings were held there and proved to be both interesting and profitable. That year the old assembly tent was used for a dining room. The next year through the kindness of Mr. Walter M. Smith a dining hall and kitchen were built. The work was growing and was destined to grow. As Mr. Smith attended the assemblies and saw the importance of these gatherings of young people for ten days in mid-summer, he was prompted to build an auditorium which will seat about one thousand persons. Through the kindness of Mr. Smith and others a fine athletic field was laid out. Mr. Wm. G. Broadway of Brooklyn, N. Y., provided two excellent tennis courts. Two cottages have been built on the grounds. The grounds are now used by the Good Will boys for a summer camp through the month of August. 232 YB 07474 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY iiifn