The Abbott Memorial Building.
 
 n C'? 
 
 The Pomfret Library 
 
 Vermont 
 
 In the Abbott Memorial Library 
 Building 
 
 An attractive Library Building full of the Best Books, 
 this may be a cheering and helpful Possession for any 
 Community ; but to become such, and thereby to become 
 also a helpful factor in Public Education, it must rest 
 in the hands of a Sympathetic and Wise Librarian. 
 Such a Librarian, binding together her Community, 
 its Schools and its Books, and thus, as her Library's 
 Emblem suggests, completing the Ancient Highway of 
 Educational Opportunity, Pomfret has in Abba Doton 
 Chamberlin. 
 
 The Elm Tree Press : Woodstock Vermont 
 1911 
 
 Front 
 Board of 
 
 Library Commissioners, 
 Montpelier, Vt*
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Trustees: 1911 6 
 
 Note of Explanation 7 
 
 The Broken Bridge : the Emblem of the Library 8 
 
 The Pomfret Library: 
 
 The Library Building 9 
 
 The Library, its work and its methods | 2 
 
 Letter from Judge Abbott 40 
 
 Historical Sketch of Pomfret 4 1 
 
 Pomfret Statistics 46 
 
 Libraries and Books in Pomfret 46 
 
 Hosea Doton 50 
 
 Abba Doton Chamberlin 5 1 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 The Abbott Memorial Building Frontispiece 
 
 Abba Doton Chamberlin, Librarian Facing 9 
 
 Abbott Memorial Library, Main Floor 1 
 
 Abbott Memorial Library, Basement 1 3 
 
 Pomfret Center School Facbg 1 6 
 
 North Pomfret School Facing 20 
 
 Book Plates Facing 24 
 
 Barber School Facing 28 
 
 Barber School, at Work Facing 32 
 
 Judge Ira A. Abbott Facing 40 
 
 Map of Pomfret Facing 42 
 
 A Pomfret Hillside Facing 44
 
 TRUSTEES: 1911. 
 
 Judge Ira A. Abbott 
 
 Mrs. Frank S. Mackenzie 
 
 Mrs. Estelle G. Perkins 
 
 Mr. Henry Brockway 
 
 Mr. Fred L. Davis 
 
 Mr. Walter H. Harrington 
 
 Judge Charles H. Maxham 
 
 Mr. Elbridge Perry 
 
 Mr. Harold Seaver 
 
 Mr. Allen W. Thompson 
 
 Librarian 
 Mrs. Abba Doton Chamberlin
 
 NOTE OF EXPLANATION 
 
 This pamphlet has been prepared and published because the Board 
 of Library Commissioners of Vermont believe that the story of what 
 the Pomfret library is doing for its community will be interesting and 
 helpful to those who, in other towns of Vermont, are trying to make 
 more efficient the libraries in their charge. The Commissioners also 
 hope that the pamphlet will be of value to library workers in other 
 States, and that both in and out of Vermont it may encourage the 
 friends of books and reading in towns and villages which have no 
 libraries to take steps to establish them. 
 
 The map and the historical and biographical notes are included 
 because it seemed that a statement of the conditions under which Mrs. 
 Chamberlin's methods have been applied and proved successful should 
 accompany the statement of the methods themselves. One who reads 
 the whole pamphlet will surely feel that what has been done in this 
 small, widely scattered community can be done in others ; and that the 
 methods successful here will be even more successful if tried in larger 
 and more compact communities. 
 
 Mrs. Frank S. Mackenzie of Woodstock, a trustee and a friend of the 
 library, has by a generous contribution made it possible to publish this 
 pamphlet, and Mr. John Cotton Dana, a native of Woodstock, in his 
 boyhood a pupil of Mrs. Chamberlin, and now librarian of the Free 
 Public Library of Newark, N. J., has compiled it. To both of them 
 the Commissioners here express their thanks. 
 March M. Wilson, 
 
 Chairman, Board of Library Commissioners. 
 Randolph, Vt., July, 1911
 
 The Broken Bridge : the Emblem of the Library. 
 
 The following letter explains the Pomfret Library Emblem, the Broken 
 
 Bridge : 
 Mrs. F. S. Mackenzie, 
 
 Woodstock, Vermont. 
 Dear Mrs. Mackenzie : 
 
 You say in your recent note that you wish to present to the Pomfret 
 Library a sign, seal or emblem something which may be used as its 
 mark. You say you do not wish a book plate though you think the 
 " mark " may be used on book plates. You add that if the right thing 
 is found you wish to pay the cost of the drawing, the cut and the 
 printing. 
 
 Well, here it is, drawn by a friend of mine who knows how to use 
 a pen. I hope it is what you wish. 
 
 I found it in this way. After long and vain searching for a sugges- 
 tion for an original library symbol or trade-mark, I turned at last to the 
 history of the old English town of Pomfret, after which all American 
 Pomfrets are named. I found that the word is often spelled " Ponte- 
 fract " in England, though pronounced " Pomfret ". A reason given for 
 this curious spelling is this : In the days when the Romans were in 
 Britain, a stone bridge was built over the stream which runs through 
 the present Pomfret. The bridge in time was broken down ; and the 
 hamlet which was near it gradually came to be called " Broken- 
 bridge ", in Latin, " Pons fractus ". This Latin phrase was gradually 
 changed to Pontefract. This came at length to be shortened to 
 Pomfret in pronunciation ; and finally came to be spelled as pronounced. 
 
 I suggest that in using this symbol, for a time at least, perhaps until 
 its history and significance come to be generally understood in Pomfret, 
 it be printed with a brief explanatory note below it, and above it the 
 words, " The Public Library completes the Bridge on the old Highway 
 of Public Education." 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 J. C. DANA. 
 Free Public Library 
 
 Newark, N. J.
 
 Mis. Abba Doton Chamberlin, Librarian
 
 The Pomfret Library 
 
 The Library Building 
 
 The character of the building is set forth quite fully by the two floor 
 plans and the exterior view. 
 
 It was given to the town by Judge Ira A. Abbott as a memorial to 
 his parents, in March, 1 903, The gift was turned over to the trustees 
 at a meeting held at the library August 12, 1905. On the same day 
 the Farmer's Club of Pomfret arranged for the observation of Old 
 Home Day. Between four and five hundred people gathered at the 
 library at that time. The usual ceremonies were observed. 
 
 Judge Abbott, who is now Justice of the Supreme Court of New 
 Mexico and has his home in Albuquerque in that state, spoke of his 
 gift and the purposes he had in mind in making this memorial to his 
 parents. He said in part, " My real purpose, therefore, looks forward 
 and not back, and asks ' How can this building be made most useful 
 to those for whose benefit it is intended ? ' I will tell you briefly my 
 hopes for it. Its first and most obvious use is one which formerly would 
 not have been highly regarded in a town such as this was. But there 
 can be no doubt that merely because the building and grounds will be 
 attractive and pleasing to everyone who passes this way, they will be 
 of value not only to the town but to all this region. Every resident of 
 the town will, I trust, feel a certain satisfaction and pride in being a 
 part owner of them, and be led to question whether he cannot, in some 
 way suggested by what he sees here in and about the building, make 
 his own home more attractive for his family and so for himself. Then, 
 too, the existence of a good library here should serve to strengthen the 
 attachment of young and old in the town. It should help to keep the 
 young people from leaving and attract those who have gone away, but
 
 10 
 
 THE POMFRET LIBRARY 
 
 The Abbott Memorial Library. Main floor.
 
 POMFRET VERMONT // 
 
 would like to pass the evening of life where its morning was spent. 
 
 There will soon be, I believe, a respectable collection here of objects 
 interesting from their connection with the past of the town, and that 
 canot fail to be of interest to you all. Among them should be portraits 
 of those who were the strong ones in their times. 
 
 I hope, too, that here will be inscribed the names of all Pomfret's 
 soldiers. Thus far they have not been commemorated, by tablet or 
 monument. It is fitting that the supreme proof of patriotism, which they 
 gave in jeopardizing their lives in their country's service, should be thus 
 recognized, not for their glory, but as an inspiration and incentive to 
 the Pomfret boys of the future. 
 
 Finally, and chiefly, this building will be useful, I trust, as a 
 repository of books for the free use of the people of the town. It should 
 be borne in mind, however, that there may be excess even in reading 
 books not in themselves harmful, and that many books should be treated 
 as deadly drugs and plainly marked ' Poison '. It will be the high duty, 
 therefore, of the trustees to see that only suitable books are provided 
 and to that I am confident they will carefully attend. 
 
 In conclusion I wish to invoke the aid of those who have gone out 
 from Pomfret as boys and met with a degree of success which will 
 warrant them in doing something for those who have remained here, 
 and so well maintained the standing of Pomfret as a fanner's town. 
 
 I believe a better future is near at hand for the New England, 
 farmer, that already those who till the fertile soil of this town are better 
 rewarded for their toil than has been the case for many years. It is 
 only fair that Pomfret boys who have in other fields of effort acquired 
 perhaps more money, but very likely less content than those who 
 remained here, should help to maintain this and other towns as nur- 
 series of the stock which must, from time to time, be transplanted to the 
 great centers of activity in our country to make good the tremendous 
 loss at those points."
 
 12 THE POMFRET LIBRARY 
 
 The Library, Its Work and Its Methods 
 
 By the Librarian 
 Mooing Into the Library : Furniture 
 
 When I moved into the library I divided the attic by curtains into a 
 sitting room and bedroom. On the floor of the sitting room I spread a 
 1 3 by 16 1-2 ft. English velvet carpel that was bought by Otis 
 Chamberiin in Boston about 1845, and was said then and is still said 
 to be the best carpet that ever came into the town. On the other floor, 
 an art square and smaller rugs do duty. 
 
 Curtains covered with the stars and stripes hang at each window. 
 
 The sleeping room contains two good three-quarter size enameled 
 beds with brass trimmings, and all necessary appurtenances for 
 comfortable sleep. 
 
 The attic further contains a fine chiffonier, writing-desk, stands, sofa, 
 easy chairs, etc. 
 
 When my good friend Miss Frances Hobart is my guest, the rafters 
 manage to hear us talking into the small hours, and sometimes even 
 after the hours have begun to lengthen. 
 
 The furnace room, where we always burn good clean Vermont 
 wood, is divided into the " wood-pile " and the " kitchen." 
 
 The kitchen contains small tables, the ironing-board ( the Library 
 Commissioners always prefer to have their meals served on this board ), 
 a cupboard filled with rare china, chairs, boxes, etc. 
 
 A blue-flame oil stove manages to do all necessary duty in that line, 
 so long as a well-filled 5 gallon tank stands in the corner. 
 
 An outside door from the entry leads directly to the lawn on the 
 west side of the building. 
 
 Hours when the building is open 
 
 The building is open each week day at all reasonable hours, just as 
 is every farmhouse. On Sundays it is open from 2 to 6 p. m.
 
 POMFRET VERMONT 13 
 
 The Abbott Memorial Library. Basement
 
 14_ THE POMFRET LIBRARY 
 
 All books except a few rare volumes that are now out of print are 
 lent to any one who wishes them, whether a resident of Pomfret or 
 of some other town. 
 
 Records are carefully kept, but no fines are taken for overdue books. 
 
 We put our patrons on their honor, and they are loyal to us. 
 
 Friends of the Library 
 
 Ever since the opening of the library building gifts of money and 
 books have been received by friends of Pomfret and its library. The 
 more notable gifts of books have come from the following persons : 
 Judge Ira A. Abbott Dr. and Mrs. F. Thos. Kidder 
 
 Miss Etta S. Adams Mrs. Isaac King 
 
 Miss Alanette Bartlett Mr. and Mrs. Frank S. Mackenzie 
 
 Col. and Mrs. Franklin S. Billings Mrs. Calista W. Merrill 
 Mrs. Henry Boynton and daughter Mr. Melvin H. Miller 
 Mrs. Oscar Burke Mr. Roderic M. Olzendam 
 
 Miss Hattie L. Chandler Miss Annie F. Perry 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Gushing Mrs. Mary A. Tinkham 
 Mr. John Cotton Dana Dr. Henry H. Vail 
 
 Mrs. Jennie Hewitt French The American Unitarian Associa- 
 
 Mrs. S. A. Goldschmidt tion 
 
 Mrs. Mary A. Grosvenor The Board of Library Commission- 
 
 Mrs. Geo. W. Harding ers of Vermont 
 
 Gen. R. C. Hawkins The Pomfret Y. P. S. C. E. 
 
 Miss Bertha E. Hewitt and others 
 
 < 
 
 Gifts of money have come from the following : 
 
 Judge Ira A. Abbott 
 Mrs. Frank S. Mackenzie 
 Mr. Redfield Proctor 
 Mr. Henry Brockway 
 Judge Duane J. Carnes 
 Dr. George B. Carnes 
 Mrs. Abba D. Chamberlin
 
 POMFRET VERMONT 75 
 
 The Resources of the Library 
 
 The library has now about 4000 volumes. Of these about 600 are 
 books for children. It has also a collection of portraits of citizens of 
 Pomfret including : 
 
 Samuel Bailey Harvey Melendy 
 
 John Brockway Crosby Miller 
 
 Harvey N. Bruce Albro Perkins 
 
 Alonzo Chamberlin Norman Perkins and wife 
 
 David Chandler Dr. Kimball Russ 
 
 Daniel DeWolf Nathan Snow and wife 
 
 Hosea Doton Martin Tribou and wife 
 
 Lewis Hawkins Hannibal Totman 
 
 William Hutchinson Joshua Vail 
 
 Edwin Jackman Horace Ware 
 
 Henry Maxham Thomas Ware 
 
 Judson Maxham Washington White 
 
 Conditions in 1906 , 
 
 Our library was first opened to the public, Jan. 1 , 1 906, and was 
 kept open on Saturdays only for 1 6 months thereafter. 
 
 On May 1, 1907, I became, at Judge Abbott's request, librarian. 
 Since then the library has always been open, for I live in the building. 
 I know everybody, old and young in the town and so need no system 
 of registering borrowers. Books are lent to all who ask for them and 
 charged on slips in the simplest possible way. 
 
 When I moved in we had about a thousand books on the shelves ; 
 part of these belonged to the public library started in town some years 
 ago, and the others had been given by old-time Pomfret boys who 
 come back to Vermont for the summer. 
 
 The books were classified, but incorrectly, and this work had to be 
 done again. 
 
 For furniture we had two tables that came from the Library Bureau 
 in Boston ; an old desk that a good friend had found somewhere, and 
 a dozen cane-seated chairs.
 
 76 THE POMFRET LIBRARY 
 
 Making the Library Home-like 
 
 It struck me that the first thing to do was to try to make the rooms 
 look a little more social. 
 
 I had a mahogany parlor set of furniture ; a good musical instrument 
 in a rosewood case ; an old mahogany dining table ; some dainty 
 stands and various other things. 
 
 These I moved in. City people coming in would say, 
 
 " I'll give you $1 00 for that table ! " 
 
 But the reply always was, " It answers very well where it is for the 
 present." 
 
 Portraits of Pomfret Worthies 
 
 When Judge Abbott gave us the building, he said he would like to 
 have portraits of old-time residents of the town hanging on the walls, 
 and mentioned six or eight. Among those he mentioned were my 
 father and my husband's father. Not long after this I sent to a New 
 York artist, John N. Marble, and asked him to make two crayons 
 exactly alike in size, workmanship and material used. This artist, 
 besides much other good work known to me, had made a painting of 
 Phillips Brooks for the Groton School in Massachusetts, and a crayon 
 portrait of Mrs. Frederick Billings for the Moody School at Northfield. 
 In due time my portraits came and were placed on the walls. Not long 
 after one of our trustees, Henry Brockway, came in bringing a portrait 
 of his father ; soon another trustee followed his example, and now we 
 have portraits of twenty-eight former residents. 
 
 In the meantime .1 found three old letters written by my great, great 
 grandfather. The first was dated "Albany, June the 16, 1726"; 
 then followed " Half Moone, June ye 25, 1 756" and "Camp Fort 
 Edward, August ye 31, 1756." I had these framed between two 
 plates of glass and placed on the walls. 
 
 Then I found an old program of a Fourth of July celebration and a 
 friend gave me one of an Antiquarian Supper. These were written 
 in the quaintest language and gave any amount of advice to the young 
 people as to their behavior ; what they might do and what they must 
 not do. These were also framed and placed on the walls. 
 
 About this rime one of the Pomfret boys, Judge Duane J. Carnes
 
 The School at Pomfret Center. Branch No. 1 of the Public Library.
 
 POMFRET VERMONT /7 
 
 of Sycamore, Illinois, came home, and while looking at one picture and 
 then another, suddenly stopped, and said, 
 
 "Your walls are full, but we must have more pictures of the old 
 people, and if you will think how to make a substantial album, I will 
 pay for it." 
 
 He wanted one to hold 1 00 or more pictures. I thought it over and 
 enlisted two friends to think with me, and the album was finally pro- 
 duced. It has six leaves, each being 29 inches long and 1 3 inches 
 wide. Each leaf consists of an eighth of an inch board, stained black 
 and placed between two plates of glass ; the whole being framed with 
 mahogany like a school slate. This frame is left sufficiently open at the 
 top to admit of drawing out the stained board. On this board are 
 tacked the pictures. The leaves are each fastened to a mahogany back 
 in such a way that they turn like the leaves of a book, and this board 
 is fastened upright to the wall in the reading room, between windows, 
 so that both sides of all the leaves are well lighted as they are turned. 
 
 Each photograph put in is numbered, and in a book that goes with 
 the album you will find on the page numbered to correspond to the 
 number on the picture, a sketch of the person. Visitors usually look at 
 the portraits first ; then open the album for further information. 
 
 This album was given to us by Miss Bertha E. Hewitt of Milton 
 Hill, Mass., and was made by Hooper, Lewis & Co. of Boston, to 
 match a "Visitors' Register ", the gift of Mr. Frank S. Mackenzie of 
 Woodstock, that this firm had made by his request for us, a short time 
 before. 
 
 I obtained pictures of all the libraries I could and mounted them on 
 card-board ; Vermont libraries by themselves ; New Hampshire ones 
 by themselves ; Massachusetts ones by themselves, and so on. Visitors 
 coming in from different states would say, " I wonder if you have our 
 library. If you have not, I will send it." In this way we are getting 
 quite a large collection. 
 
 Historical Relics 
 
 If you are to have relics in your library, you must make a beginning ; 
 so I talked with an old aunt who had passed her 85th milestone, and 
 asked her if she didn't think it would be a satisfaction to her to give
 
 18 THE POMFRET LIBRARY 
 
 .4 
 
 us some of her heirlooms. She concluded it would, and let me have 
 her grandmother's tea-set, that was brought into town in 1 786 ; also 
 a candle-stick and snuffers, a rocking chair, and several other things 
 that came at the same time. These made the beginning. 
 
 Our town was settled in 1 770 and in I 773 a tavern was built. 
 We have that tavern's sign and the old tin chandelier that hung in its 
 bar room. In I 784 another tavern was built, and we have its sign 
 also. 
 
 In September, 1 774, Rev. Aaron Hutchinson, who graduated from 
 Yale in 1 747, was engaged to preach in Woodstock, Pomfret and 
 Hartford for the period of five years. We have the table on which he 
 wrote his sermons and also his wife's foot stove and needle case. 
 There now lies on his table a 1 795 Edinburgh Bible that belonged 
 to another old townsman, Dr. Newton. 
 
 One of our early day schoolmasters, Marcus Peake, used to go on 
 crutches and when the youngsters didn't conduct themselves to suit 
 him, a crutch was fired at them. We have those crutches in the relic 
 room. There are many stories that the sight of them brings up ; and 
 some of the old-time boys who come back here summers can remem- 
 ber just how he used to circulate about, and delight to take him off, 
 much to the amusement of those who witness the performance. 
 
 We have an old flaxbrake, made by Judge Abbott's father, with 
 the swingle-knife, hatchel, cards, wheel and other implements that 
 follow in its train. 
 
 An old spinning-jenny bought in Boston in 1812, attracts consid- 
 erable attention. This was an improvement on the wheel ; of which 
 we have a number, together with white wool rolls, swifts, reels, 
 an old loom all ready for use, and various other things along that line. 
 Old barrels made in 1 800 are not denied a place with us, and can- 
 dlesticks, candle moulds, lamps, and lanterns made about the same time 
 adorn one of our tables. Jack-knives and tongs that came into town 
 in 1 770 must not be omitted, together with a revolutionary gun, and 
 also a British bayonet that was plowed up on the Harvey Bruce farm. 
 A primitive copying press is something not seen every day. 
 
 One thing came to us that I couldn't name. A gentleman from 
 Providence was visiting the library one day, and I said, " For what
 
 POMFRET VERMONT 79 
 
 was this iron used ? " "Why ", he replied, " They ran it into the live 
 coals in the fire-place till it was hot and then stirred their flip with it." 
 
 We have the saddle-bags and the medicines in them, left by a good 
 old worthy, Stephen Raymond, who was always called in to alleviate 
 the ills of all the cattle and horses in Pomfret and neighboring towns. 
 Another set of saddle-bags that belonged to a graduate physician, Dr. 
 Kimball Russ, who settled with us some 85 years ago, is also ours ; 
 but unfortunately lack any traces of the syrups and powders that used 
 to be dealt out to our grandparents in the good old days. 
 
 People like to see a cane that belonged to some dear old friend, 
 also his pitchfork; the boots he wore, and his wife's chum, and 
 camlet cloak. 
 
 A fine old secretary, made for Hosea Doton nearly 1 00 years ago, 
 furnishes a convenient place to keep home-made linen sheets, work 
 bags, samplers, thimbles, silk shawls, stockings, daguerreotypes, snuff- 
 boxes, coffin-plates, and rare books, newspapers and pamphlets. 
 
 I saw recently an article in one of our papers about Truman Henry 
 Safford, the young Vermont mathematician. We have his picture and 
 his almanacs published in 1846 and 1847. I can remember how, 
 when he was about nine years old, he came to our home with his 
 father, to have my father teach him how to calculate eclipses of the 
 sun and moon. Harvard University afterward took the lad and 
 educated him. Later he was a Professor in Williams College and died 
 not many years ago. 
 
 These relics are all numbered and sketches of them are written out 
 in a book, also made by Hooper, Lewis & Co. of Boston, to match 
 the other two books. This book is the gift of Miss Harriet L. 
 Chandler of Boston. 
 
 Library Books in Schools 
 
 When I first went into the library, I called on the school superin- 
 tendent and directors and asked if they were willing I should make out 
 sets of juvenile books for the children and put them in the school- 
 rooms. They were, and I made as many sets as we had schools. At 
 the end of the term the books came back to the library and at the 
 beginning of the next term were sent out again. In this way each set
 
 20 THE POMFRET LIBRARY 
 
 made the circuit of the town. The parents of the children became 
 interested in these juvenile books, and then the town offered money to 
 buy new sets. It occurred to me it would be much pleasanter if the 
 children could have a little book plate all their own. So we had one 
 made ; and then we thought it would be a good idea to have each 
 book contain a little letter to the children, supposed to be written 
 by the book. These are fastened in opposite the book plate and make 
 the first fly leaf. 
 
 Letter to Pomfret Children 
 
 Pomfret, Vermont, January 1, 1909 
 
 My Dear Boys and Girls : 
 
 I am only a small book, but I am your true 
 friend, and wish to make you happy, and you will cer- 
 tainly be made more happy, if I keep clean and good- 
 looking until I am worn out, than you will be to have me 
 get soiled and ragged ; so will you please help me a little 
 in this, by never taking me up with dirty hands ; never 
 giving me to the baby to play with ; never making marks 
 on me with pen or pencil ; never turning down my leaves ; 
 never leaning on me with your elbows ; never letting me 
 fall on the floor ; never leaving me out in the rain ; never 
 putting pencils or knives or anything thicker than a sheet 
 of paper between my leaves, and never throwing me at 
 the cat or the dog or anything else. 
 
 If you will help me in these ways, I think I can keep 
 strong and useful until you are grown to be men and 
 women. 
 
 Your loving friend, 
 
 A LIBRARY BOOK 
 
 The letter is serving well the purpose for which it was written. 
 In the same month of May I sent the following letter to the two 
 weekly papers of Woodstock, a town next to Pomfret.
 
 The North Pomfret School. Branch No. 4 of the Public Library.
 
 POMFRET VERMONT 27 
 
 To Pomfret's School Children : 
 
 A letter to the small folks attending the Pomfret district schools, 
 who will soon be the big folks and run the business of the town. 
 
 Abbott Memorial Library, 
 
 Pomfret, Vt. May, 1907. 
 My dear young friends : 
 
 I am going to write you a very confidential letter. As it is just 
 between ourselves we don't need to say anything about it to anyone. 
 
 Well, your superintendent, Miss Persis Hewitt, and other directors 
 have arranged to have you visit the library sometime this term. I am 
 very glad to know this, and as is natural couldn't help expressing my 
 gladness. So as I was putting some books away on the shelves, I said, 
 " Now books, do you know you are going to have company ? A fine 
 group of bright, happy children are coming to see you." 
 
 All at once, if you will believe me, there seemed to be a sort of 
 rustling on the shelves, and soon a little squeaky voice way up on the 
 top shelf piped out, "Oh ! I'm so glad, I'm so glad ! " "We've been shut 
 up here more than a year, with only grown people coming to see us 
 one day in a week." 
 
 "I am so glad the children are coming ! " 
 
 "Yes," said a voice from another shelf, " I want to see the little boy 
 from way over the hill, who was very ill a few months ago, and had 
 a trained nurse to care for him, who wore a white apron and cap, and 
 this little boy fell very much in love with the good nurse and has written 
 her many letters since she went away, which she has kindly answered. 
 / want to see him. " 
 
 "Well, you may see him," said another voice, " but I want to see the 
 little girl who bubbled over when she was told about the old professor, 
 who in his summer outings went without his hat so much that he blis- 
 tered the top of his bald head. / want to see her. " 
 
 "And I want to see," said another voice, " the little girl who is named 
 after a famous woman. Now this girl gets up in the morning, when her 
 mother is ill, and cooks the breakfast and serves it. I'll whisper 
 something in her ear if she gives me a chance." 
 
 "Well, you may whisper in the girls* ears if you wish to, for all me," 
 said a sort of bass voice, " but I want to see two boys who telephone 
 back and forth to each other so much. One of them milks three and 
 four cows every night, and waters all the horses and brings in all the 
 wood and does lots of running on errands, and the other one makes 
 himself useful in many ways and is a manly little fellow to meet. I want 
 to see those boys."
 
 22 THE POMFRET LIBRARY 
 
 1 The boy that breaks so many small steers and makes them as steady 
 as old oxen, and milks a barnful of cows every night and morning, is 
 the boy for me," said Mr. Tenor Voice over in the corner. 
 
 And so the conversation went on and the excitement increased 
 rather than lessened, and I hardly think one of them got a wink of sleep 
 till after midnight. 
 
 I was surprised that Little Mother Goose over on the reading table 
 didn't have to put in a word, but for a wonder she kept still this time. 
 
 Now Little Mother Goose was the first book my father bought me, 
 and before I knew a letter of the alphabet, I could repeat all her 
 rhymes from cover to cover. I think I could say the most of them now 
 if you would start me off with the first line ; but Mother Goose wasn't 
 the only book I was allowed to enjoy, for my father never had a book 
 on his library shelves that I was not permitted to take and look at as 
 long as I pleased, provided my hands were clean and I turned the 
 leaves carefully, and I am going to give you the same privilege when 
 you come here. And if I know the day you are coming, I'm going to 
 honor the occasion by wearing a knot of red, white and blue ribbon 
 fastened with a pin bearing the picture of the one who wrote "The 
 Man Without a Country," and I'll show you a souvenir copy of this 
 book, printed when the person was eighty years old. Ask your teacher 
 where this person is now, and why the book was written, and tell me 
 when you come. 
 
 Then we'll look at the picture of dear old Dr. Russ, who was born, 
 I think, in 1 800. Your grandfathers and grandmothers never would 
 have lived as long as they did had it not been for the kindly services 
 rendered, unselfishly, by this good man. We seem to see him now 
 riding with his long, slim legs crossed and started to wind again. His 
 pet dog sits by his side and the veritable old saddle-bags are at his 
 feet. 
 
 He enters the sick room, looks at the patient's tongue, takes the 
 pulse, sits back and meditates a little, prescribes castor oil mixed with 
 West India molasses to cleanse the internal arrangements ; a plaster 
 made of Burgundy pitch to brace the weak back and quieting Dover's 
 powders to ease the restless nights. 
 
 Dear old doctor ! Pomfret lost one of its best friends when he went 
 home. 
 
 But I must stop writing. 
 
 Let me know when you are coming, and believe me, 
 
 Lovingly yours, 
 Abba Doton Chamberlin, Librarian.
 
 POMFRET VERMONT 23 
 
 Each School House a Branch Library 
 
 After this, the thought came to me of sending books to each school- 
 house in town for the grown people ; thus making each schoolhouse a 
 branch library. I talked it over with the school directors and superin- 
 tendent, and they were unanimously in favor of it, and suggested that 
 the children of the town raise money to pay for boxes to hold these 
 books. This the children did. 
 
 The boxes are 2 7 inches long, 1 8 inches wide and 9 inches deep ; 
 with strong covers, hinges, and hooks and cleats at the ends so they 
 may be easily handled. Books to the number of 40 including 
 the following subjects : religion, sociology, natural science, useful arts, 
 fine arts, literature, biography, travels, history and fiction are placed 
 in each box. These boxes make the circuit of the town in the same 
 way as do the juvenile books. 
 
 By a very simple arrangement the lending is so carried on that any 
 one at any time can exactly locate each book. Every time these 
 boxes, and the juvenile sets, come back to the library, each book is 
 carefully looked over, and repaired if need be, and an account of loans 
 taken. The number of loans made by each branch library during a 
 term is published in our two local newspapers. 
 
 Signs 1 8 inches long and 1 inches wide, with a half inch bead, 
 have been made and placed on each schoolhouse. These are painted 
 white, and the words on them, " Branch 1 , Public Library ", " Branch 
 2, Public Library " etc., in black letters, show off to good advantage. 
 The same branch library number is placed on each schoolhouse as was 
 given to it when they were numbered as " district schools " nearly a 
 century ago. 
 
 The Roll of Honor 
 
 Following in the train of the juvenile books, and the boxes, came 
 another thought which was brought before the school directors and 
 superintendent, and the result was that we had two frames made, each 
 5 1 -2 feet in length and one foot in width. These are covered with 
 dark green cambric and are kept in the library. On one of these is 
 fastened one of the large circulars headed, " The Good Citizen Says ", 
 and below this circular are placed the names of Pomfret boys and
 
 24 THE POMFRET LIBRARY 
 
 girls who have memorized and recited the same. One term alone 
 gave us 49 names. On the other is kept a Roll of Honor, of pupils 
 who have distinguished themselves as indicated below. In making up 
 this honor list ten points are considered : 
 
 Ten Points for a Roll of Honor 
 
 1 . The care of books furnished by the town. 
 
 2. The care of library books. 
 
 3. The care of school property generally. 
 
 4. Cleanness of speech. 
 
 5. Kindness to every living thing. 
 
 6. Habits of order and neatness. 
 
 7. Politeness. 
 
 8. Truthfulness. 
 
 9. Cheerful obedience and 
 
 1 0. Other social virtues one must have if he is to become 
 a desirable citizen. 
 
 The superintendent wished me to go to each school and talk to the 
 pupils about the Roll of Honor. I did so, explaining to them what I 
 meant by "Cleanness of speech ", " Habits of order and neatness ", and 
 so on through the list, and then had printed copies made of the points 
 to be considered. One of these is hung in each school room and each 
 pupil now has one for a bookmark. One teacher told me that before 
 the book marks were given, her pupils were so anxious to have their 
 names enrolled that all who could write had made a copy for 
 themselves. 
 
 The fall term of 1910, showed an enrolment of 82 pupils in all the 
 schools. The names of 5 1 of these were sent in by the teachers to go 
 on the " Roll of Honor." In the winter term of 1910-11 these 
 figures were 73 and 63. 
 
 Out of town visitors are so much interested in this " Roll of Honor " 
 book mark, that they are asking for them to take to their own towns, 
 with a hope of interesting their own people. 
 
 Then another frame was made, 6 feet in length and 1 1 -2 feet in 
 width. This is covered with dark green cambric and holds a large
 
 THB PUBLIC LIBRARY COMPUTE* 
 HIGHWAY OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 
 
 PONS FRACTV5 
 
 POMFRET VERMONT 
 
 ABBOTT MEMORIAL UBRARY 
 POMFRET VERMONT 
 
 NO 
 
 POMFRET 
 
 PUBUC SCHOOL UBRARY 
 POMFRET. VERMONT 
 
 PONS FRACTV5 
 
 MR*. LUCT C. MACKENZIE 
 
 Reduced facsimiles of book plates used in the Pomfret Library.
 
 POMFRET VERMONT 25 
 
 All the World Knows These Old and Marvellous Things 
 
 The Alhambra, a glorious Ruin 
 
 Athens, the Eye of Greece 
 
 The Bastile, that terrible Prison 
 
 Carthage, which " must be destroyed " 
 
 China's Great Wall 
 
 The Coliseum where gladiators fought 
 
 The Colossus of Rhodes 
 
 Doubting Castle and Giant Despair 
 
 Holland's Dykes which hold back the Sea 
 
 Edinburgh Castle and Robert the Bruce 
 
 The Sacred River Ganges 
 
 The Great Charter of our Liberties 
 
 The Pantheon of Rome 
 
 The Parthenon, a Perfect Temple 
 
 Egypt's Pyramids, Tombs of Great Kings 
 
 Mecca, the Holy City 
 
 The Fountain of Perpetual Youth 
 
 Incas and their Land of Gold 
 
 Babylon, the City of a Hundred Gates 
 
 Rome, the City of the Seven Hills 
 
 The Sphinx and its Riddle 
 
 The Invincible Spanish Armada 
 
 Taj Mahal, the Gem of India 
 
 Venice, the City of the Sea 
 
 Vesuvius and her Buried Cities 
 
 The Tower of London 
 
 Westminster Abbey, England's Pantheon 
 
 Stories, Poems and Histories about all of these things, and Pictures 
 also, are in the Free Public Library of Newark, N. J. 
 
 Pomfret's bright boys and girls will look up any of these subjects 
 that they do not already know about. 
 
 Abba Doton Chamberlin, Librarian 
 
 We have had hundreds of these book marks made to distribute to our towns- 
 people, teachers and pupils. 
 
 High School teachers, in the state and out, are sending for them, to get subjects 
 for composition writing.
 
 26 THE POMFRET LIBRARY 
 
 circular sent out by the Newark Library, headed " All the World 
 Knows These Old and Marvellous Things", with a list of thirty 
 subjects following. 
 
 We have had several hundred copies made of this as book marks 
 and are distributing them to our pupils and scattering them broadcast. 
 
 A large table holds samples of work done by each school in town. 
 Each teacher sending them at the close of the term, to remain till the 
 close of the next term, when they are exchanged for later work. 
 
 After this I again visited each school and exhibited and explained 
 a set of pictures taken from celebrated paintings by the old masters. 
 These had been lent us for a few weeks from the Newark Library. 
 Distributing the School Libraries 
 
 The library is situated in the southwest part of the town at the 
 junction of the stage routes, one leading to West Hartford, the other 
 running from Woodstock to Bethel. 
 
 Four of the branch libraries are on the West Hartford route, and 
 our highly esteemed stage driver, Chauncey Perry, who has had the 
 route for 40 years, carries the juvenile books to those libraries, free of 
 charge. For the transportation of the boxes he is paid a small sum. 
 The other branch library is across the hills, some two miles distant, and 
 the people in that neighborhood attend to the conveying of the books. 
 
 It is not an uncommon thing for a boy 1 2 or fourteen years of age 
 who lives 6 or 8 miles away, to drive here and take out 25 or 30 
 books to read by himself in his leisure hours at home. 
 100 of the Best Novels 
 
 We have had made a bookcase that is 6 feet high and 20 inches 
 wide, with shelves 6 inches deep, and have placed it in the waiting 
 room. This is for the n 1 00 of the best novels ", after the list made out 
 by the Newark Library, and is attracting considerable attention. 
 Patrons would like to have it said that they had read these 1 00 books, 
 and after reading them the tendency will be to lessen their love for 
 fiction of a lower standard. 
 
 Kindness to Animals 
 
 One of our trustees, Mrs. Frank S. Mackenzie, is so much interested 
 in "kindness to every living thing", that she offered, in 1909, to give
 
 POMFRET VERMONT 
 
 27 
 
 The Public Library completes the bridge 
 along the old highway of Public Education 
 
 POMFRET. VERMONT o 
 
 The Public Library completes the bridge 
 along the old highway of public education 
 
 PONS FRACTV5 
 
 Pomf ret Vermont was settled from Pomfret 
 Connecticut and this from Pomfret England. 
 Pomfret England took its name from a 
 broken bridge built over a stream at that 
 place more than fifteen hundred years ago 
 
 ROLL OF HONOR. 
 
 The names of Pomfret school 
 children on the Roll of Honor at 
 the library are read by hundreds of 
 visitors from all parts of the United 
 States. 
 
 These boys and girls are distin- 
 guished for their : 
 
 1 Care of books furnished by 
 the Town. 
 
 2 Care of Library books. 
 
 3 Care of the school property 
 generally. 
 
 4 Cleanness of speech. 
 
 5 Kindness to every living thing 
 
 6 Habits of order and neatness. 
 
 7 Politeness. 
 
 8 Truthfulness. 
 
 9 Cheerful obedience, and 
 
 10 Various other individual vir- 
 tues that are necessary in order to 
 be good and desirable citizens. 
 
 Pomfret Vermont was Settled from Pom- 
 fret Connecticut and this from Pomfret 
 England. Pomfret England took its Name 
 from a Broken Bridge at that Place Built 
 More than Fifteen Hundred Years Ago 
 
 The Pomfret Public Library was 
 established in 1 896. 
 
 The Abbott Memorial Building 
 was given to the town by Judge 
 Ira A. Abbott, August 12, 1905. 
 The two work as a unit in serving 
 the public. 
 
 A branch library containing 52 
 books has been established in 
 every schoolhouse in town. These 
 books are changed each term. 
 
 Each teacher in town is a branch 
 librarian. 
 
 A Business Men's Branch has 
 been opened at the Center, con- 
 taining 300 books, with Mr. Wm. 
 A. Perkins as librarian. 
 
 Another branch has been opened 
 at Hewittville with 200 books. 
 No fines are taken for overdue 
 books.
 
 28 
 
 THE POMFRET LIBRARY 
 
 to each school in town if the boys in school would make a bookcase 
 for it a little library of humane literature, and also to send to that 
 school for a year, a copy of "Our Dumb Animals." This was 
 accomplished and the books were sent from time to time to each school. 
 
 "I will try to be kind to all 
 
 living creatures and protect 
 
 them from cruel usage." 
 
 This simple pledge has been 
 signed probably by more people in 
 the last twenty-eight years than ever 
 signed a single pledge in any period 
 of that length since the world 
 began. It is even more probable 
 that no other pledge has been kept 
 faithfully by so many who took it as 
 has this one. 
 
 Animals differ very little from 
 children in showing the good or bad 
 effects of their treatment ; and, if one 
 wishes to gain a fairly accurate 
 
 HE BROKEN BRIDGE: PONFRA.TUS: 
 PONTEFRAGT' POMFRET 
 
 -si POMFRET. VERMONT rs 
 
 insight into people's characters, let 
 him watch the animals under their 
 care, which will become silent 
 witnesses for or against them, 
 whose testimony no bribe can 
 affect or threat intimidate. 
 
 A Kindness to Animals Blotter. One of a set of six, supplied by Mrs. F. S. 
 Mackenzie, and distributed by the Library. 
 
 Last year, 1 9 1 0, in five of the schools of the town, having altogether 
 68 pupils with an average attendance of about 58, pupils took home 
 and read 343 volumes. These little libraries consist of 1 2 volumes 
 each, besides some six " Kindness to Animals " books, and books read 
 from them were in addition to those read from the regular libraries of 
 52 volumes each. 
 
 The returns for the winter term, 1910-1 1 , show the whole number 
 of pupils enrolled in town to be 73. Average attendance 63. Whole 
 number of loans from juvenile sets, and boxes of 52 volumes each, 
 646.
 
 The Barber School. Branch No. 6 of the Public Library.
 
 POMFRET VERMONT 
 
 29 
 
 <ITHE GOOD CITIZEN SAYS: 
 
 I am a citizen of America and an heir to all 
 her greatness and renown. The health and 
 happiness of my own body depend upon 
 each muscle and nerve and drop of blood 
 doing its work in its place. So the health 
 and happiness of my country depend upon 
 each citizen doing his work in his place. 
 CJ I will not fill any post or pursue any 
 business where I can live upon my fellow- 
 citizens without doing them useful service in 
 return ; for I plainly see that this must bring 
 suffering and want to some of them. 
 1J I will do nothing to desecrate the soil of 
 America, or pollute her air or degrade her 
 children, my brothers and sisters. 
 tj I will try to make her cities beautiful, and 
 her citizens healthy and happy, so that she 
 may be a desired home for myself now, and 
 for her children in days to come. 
 
 The Free Public Library of Newark, N. J. 1910 
 
 We have had a thousand of these printed, and are having calls for 
 them from the state of Washington to New Mexico, and east to the 
 Atlantic. Our teachers are having the pupils recite the whole in 
 concert. Taken from an editorial in an English weekly journal, and 
 the word England changed to America.
 
 THE POMFRET LIBRARY 
 
 Pictures for all Purposes 
 
 Our collection of pictures on all sorts of subjects is growing rapidly. 
 For help in clipping and mounting we have a fine card cutter, the gift 
 of one of our trustees, Henry Brockway. Part of the work of the 
 coming year will be to get this picture collection into running order. 
 We shall send sets of mounted pictures to each branch library to be 
 hung on the walls, the sets all to make the circuit of the town as the 
 book boxes do. 
 
 Then we hope to classify and mount poems and other desirable 
 material, and have them ready to lend to teachers. 
 Parties on the Library Grounds 
 
 First and last we have had quite a number of parties on our library 
 grounds. Three of them were in honor of life-long residents who had 
 passed the 85th milestone. We should have had more of these parties; 
 but the old, old people dropped off so fast that now only two are left, 
 and they are too feeble to be with us. 
 
 At these parties we had games that were popular 75 years ago, and 
 songs, both spiritual and secular, that belonged to that period. In the 
 matter of games we were quite select ; having some that no one was 
 eligible to play who had not seen 65 summers ; others were open to 
 those who could truthfully avow that their birth dated back 55 years. 
 Our friends entered into these mirth-provoking sports with as much 
 enthusiasm as our young people show today in their amusements. 
 The Hosea Doton Tree 
 
 We noted the centennial of one of our good men, Hosea Doton, 
 
 by planting on the grounds, to his memory, an elm, that will henceforth 
 
 bear his name. A goodly number of our townspeople were present. 
 
 We had addresses, singing, and other exercises suitable for the day. 
 
 Party for Judge A bbott 
 
 When Judge Abbott came east in the summer of 1 909, from New 
 Mexico, where he was sent as a judge by President Roosevelt, 
 afterwards reappointed by President Taft, we had a merry-making 
 in his honor, which called together a company representing many cities 
 in our Union, as well as towns in our own state. The afternoon was 
 ideal, and seemed especially made for the occasion.
 
 POMFRET VERMONT 
 
 State Library Commission Meeting 
 
 In September 1 908, the State Library Commission and the Ver- 
 mont Library Association held a joint meeting on our lawn. State 
 Superintendent of Schools Mason S. Stone, Principal Morrill of the 
 Randolph Normal School, several school superintendents, together with 
 clergymen, librarians, teachers, and an interested public, made a wide- 
 awake audience which has not yet forgotten the event. 
 The Grange and the Library 
 
 In speaking of what a public library can do for a little community, 
 and what a community can do for a library, let me say, if there is a 
 Grange in your town, by all means join it. Work with it and for it, and 
 the Grange will work for you. Our Grange is invaluable to us ; always 
 loaning anything they have ; settees, chairs, dishes, the use of the hall ; 
 men to care for the teams when we have a gathering, and women to 
 help in any way that is needed. 
 
 The Church and the Library 
 
 There is no church at our end of the town ; but from time to time 
 a Sunday afternoon service has been held in a hall in the second story 
 of the schoolhouse. In the winter of 1909-10 there had been no 
 Sunday service, so I asked a number of friends if they would like to 
 come to the library on Sunday afternoons and sing the old standard 
 hymns and tunes. 
 
 I had recently read an article on old hymns and tunes and the 
 writer mentioned some 25 that have become classics, and deeply 
 regretted that the young people of today are growing up with no 
 knowledge of them. 
 
 We met, and our interest so increased that one of the number 
 suggested that we raise money and hire a minister on our own respon- 
 sibility, and have a service, at first in our library and later in Grange 
 Hall once in two weeks, on Sunday afternoons, for a year. 
 
 This has been done, and we are gathering a larger Sunday audience 
 than the place has known for years. 
 
 Grange Meeting 
 
 Our Grange is made up of young men and young women who 
 never have stood on their feet and addressed an audience. The lyceums
 
 THE POMFRET LIBRARY 
 
 that so educated Daniel Webster and men of his time are things 
 of the past ; but the literary feature of a Grange affords a fine chance 
 for discipline in the line of debate. So when I was made the Lecturer 
 I said, " Debates are what we need, and debates we will have." 
 
 I had been reading that the man in charge of the Music Department 
 in the Congressional Library at Washington, recently made the 
 remark that Dixie is the most popular tune in the United States ; but 
 soon found himself in a hornet's nest. The hornets arose as one man 
 and said, " Let no one dare say that anything goes ahead of Yankee 
 Doodle." 
 
 So I said to the Grangers, we will begin our literary program the 
 first night with n Dixie " ; the second with " Yankee Doodle " ; the third 
 with "When Johnny comes marching home n ; the fourth with "Marching 
 through Georgia " , etc. 
 
 Women Debaters at Grange Meetings 
 
 At the first meeting, only men were allowed to talk, and the women 
 alone did the voting as to the comparative merits of the arguments 
 advanced. At the second meeting the women only were allowed to 
 talk, and the men did the voting. Since then everyone present is called 
 on and nearly all respond. These debates are open to the public and 
 the speakers are proving themselves an honor to the old town that 
 raised them. 
 
 County Fairs and Library Exhibits 
 
 In September, 1 9 1 0, 1 sent a library exhibit to the Windsor county 
 fair in Woodstock and there received an award for a "Meritorious 
 Exhibit." The articles shown were traveling libraries for use in schools 
 and rural districts, picture blotters, with directions for the humane care 
 of animals ; book marks, bookplates, letters to children on the care of 
 books, and various other library devices. Also, I had in charge an exhibit 
 belonging to the state library commission. 
 
 Making the Library Known 
 
 From the Eighth Biennial Report of the Board of Library Com- 
 missioners of Vermont, 1 909- 1 : 
 
 " During the first year of its work the Publicity Committee received 
 a gift of $ 1 to be awarded as a prize to the librarian presenting at the
 
 The Barber School, at work.
 
 POMFRET VERMONT 
 
 33 
 
 next annual meeting the best collection of library notes published in the 
 local press. This prize was won by Miss Kate I. Stewart of the 
 Bristol library. The following year the committee received the sum of 
 
 THE BROKEN BRIDGE": PONS FRACTUS 
 PONTEFRAGT' POMFRET 
 
 r^i POMFPET. VERMONT fa 
 
 PONS FRACTV5 
 
 BOOKS EVERY BOY AND GIRL 
 SHOULD READ. 
 
 Brandon. Pup : an Autobiography 
 
 of a Greyhound 
 Brown. Rab and his Friends 
 Ollivant. Bob, son of Battle 
 Ouida. A Dog of Flanders 
 Phelps. Loveliness 
 Saunders. Beautiful Joe 
 Seton. Animal Heroes 
 Sewell. Black Beauty 
 Walton. A Hermit's Wild Friends 
 
 WHAT SCHOOL BOY HAS NOT 
 READ THESE BOOKS? 
 
 Blackmore. Lorna Doone 
 Brooks. True story of Abraham 
 Lincoln 
 
 Crowninshield. All Among the 
 
 Lighthouses 
 
 French. Lance of Kanana 
 Hugo. Story of Jean Valjean 
 Sewell. Black Beauty 
 Warner. Being a boy 
 
 WHAT SCHOOL GIRL HAS NOT 
 READ THESE BOOKS ? 
 
 Bunyan. Pilgrim's Progress 
 
 Burt. Poems every child should 
 
 know 
 
 Dickens. Cricket on the hearth 
 Hawthorne. Wonderbook 
 Keller. Story of my life 
 Spyri. Heidi 
 Wyss. Swiss Family Robinson 
 
 We have these book marks printed by the hundreds, and give them to all our boys 
 and girls, townspeople, and out of town visitors to the library.
 
 34 THE POMFRET LIBRARY 
 
 $ 1 5 to be awarded in two prizes of $ 1 and $5 each. The first prize 
 was won by Mrs. Abba D. Chamberlin of Pomfret and the second by 
 Miss Kate I. Stewart." Pomfret had 52 "Abbott Library Notes." 
 
 The following appeared in one of the Woodstock papers, Jan. 26, 
 1911. It is a good illustration of the kind of news notes sent out by 
 the library from time to time. It also indicates the wide range of 
 interests that are touched upon and responded to in the Pomfret of 
 to-day. 
 
 ABBOTT LIBRARY NOTES 
 
 The month of February seems especially rich in first-class entertain- 
 ments for the Pomfret people. 
 
 For February 3, Superintendent In galls has planned an all-day rally 
 at the town hall for the school children, teachers, parents, and every 
 one interested. 
 
 Each one is supposed to bring a basket lunch. 
 
 The morning will be devoted to recitations, etc., by the different 
 schools, also an exhibit of their work along various lines. 
 
 The afternoon will be given up to discussions by the grown people 
 on educational topics. 
 
 In the evening conies Professor Cady's lecture on Shakespeare's 
 clowns, to which the school children are given free tickets. 
 
 Grange hall on February 9, Rev. H. L. Canfield is engaged to give 
 his lecture, " Some plays and players I have known." 
 
 Listening to this wide-awake, delightful recital, is next to being able 
 to attend these wonderful plays. 
 
 We ought to have a full house. Admission 1 cents. 
 
 February 1 7 brings us Professor Burrage of Middlebury college, 
 whose subject is " The Agamemnon of Aeschylus " ( 111. ) and on 
 February 1 8 the celebrated Kellogg-Haines Singing Party comes to 
 Woodstock. 
 
 Abba D. Chamberlin, Librarian 
 January 26 'II 
 
 The following notes, also taken from local newspapers, were sent in 
 by me: 
 
 When Moses Shipman gives his services to the town he gives
 
 POMFRET VERMONT 
 
 35 
 
 generously. His fine path to the library, nine feet wide, with walls 
 four feet high on either side, shows what a snow shovel in his 
 hands can be made to do, and is receiving much well-deserved 
 commendation. 
 
 Messrs. Childs and White, with the snow roller and four-in-hand, 
 are making the roads around here regular boulevards. Vermont snow 
 storms can make little headway with this sort of men at the helm. 
 
 The photographer, W. H. Swan of Rutland, has received from 
 Hattie L. Chandler an order for a portrait of her father, the late David 
 Chandler, to be given in due time to the library." March 7, 1 908. 
 
 Post cards, containing outside and inside views of the building, are 
 now here and for sale. March 1 6, 1 908. 
 
 Sunday, May 1 7, Mrs. Samuel Paul will be " 84 years young ", and 
 Saturday, May 23, Smith Hodges will have reached the same mile- 
 stone. Now these young friends, together with everybody else, old 
 and young, in Pomfret and elsewhere, are cordially invited to meet at 
 
 GOLDEN RULES FOR 
 THE HORSE 
 
 Always speak to a horse as you 
 
 would to a gentleman. 
 He who is not actively kind, is 
 
 cruel 
 The man who is cruel to animals 
 
 is himself a brute 
 
 Cruelty accomplishes nothing 
 Kindness is wisdom; who 
 
 but a fool delights in cruelty 
 The wise man knows that cruelty 
 
 only makes matters worse 
 Be kind to the horse, remember 
 
 that he is a dumb animal 
 Don't expect the understanding of 
 
 a man 
 Don't think him ugly or contrary 
 
 or you will make him so 
 
 THE, ABBOTT MEMORIAL' 
 
 *^ LI6RARY '^ #;; 
 
 PONTETRAGT' POMFRET 
 
 POMFRET. VERMONT ^. 
 
 Don't punish him for every wrong 
 he does, try to put yourself 
 in his place 
 
 Follow the Golden Rule and treat 
 your horse as you would 
 wish him to treat you if 
 conditions were reversed 
 
 A Kindness to Animals Blotter. One of a set of six, supplied by Mrs. F. S. 
 Mackenzie, and distributed by the Library.
 
 THE POMFRET LIBRARY 
 
 the library Wednesday afternoon, May 20, between the hours of one 
 and five o'clock and enjoy a good old-time, all-round handshake and 
 visit. If stormy, come the first pleasant day. 
 
 We are indebted to Mrs. Henry Boynton for 1 6 bound volumes of 
 the "Atlantic Monthly ", and five bound volumes of " The Westminster 
 Review ", and to Miss Earlie Chase for " The Christian Science 
 Journal" and "Christian Science Sentinel", and to Mrs. George 
 Thompson for copies of "The Congregationalist", and to Mrs. R. M. 
 Russell for "The Wayside Pulpit", and Andrew Harding has been 
 improving the appearance outside by " Lending a Hand " on the lawn. 
 May 14,1908. 
 
 The flower beds are gladdened by bulbs from A. B. Jaquith. 
 May 28, 1908. 
 
 The flower beds are again made glad by bulbs from A. B. 
 Jaquith. We have also received bulbs from Mrs. R. N. Bumham ; and 
 " Lilies of the Valley " from Mrs. Andrew Harding and Mrs. Samuel 
 Paul ; and potted vines from Mrs. Chas. Reed. May 30, 1 908. 
 
 Hon. Elton A. Smith generously gave us a revolutionary gun that 
 once belonged to Joel Perkins, one of our early settlers, and Moses 
 Shipman has supplemented this gift with a priming brush and flint. 
 We trust that other guns that have seen service, either in the 
 revolutionary or civil war, will be loaned or given to keep it company. 
 November 28, 1908. 
 
 Moses Shipman is again wielding the snow shovel, and we have 
 paths as broad as those are supposed to be that lead up to the pearly 
 gates. December 2 6, 1908. 
 
 When our out-of-town friends as well as our townspeople, drive up 
 to the library, securely fasten and blanket the horse, come in and lay- 
 ing aside their wraps take from one and a half to two hours in looking 
 over the books, we are surely led to feel that the library has a mission. 
 
 Our long talked of album to hold the photographs of our ancestors 
 and present townsmen, the expense of which is met by Judge Carnes 
 of Sycamore, 111., is in process of construction, Mr. Fisher of Wood- 
 stock doing the work. The wood used will be black cherry, given by
 
 POMFRET VERMONT 37_ 
 
 our friend Ned W. Maxham. Each leaf will hold 16 pictures of 
 cabinet size. January 4, 1 909. 
 
 All available room on our walls for large pictures is already taken, 
 and the album now comes to the rescue. It is constructed in such a 
 way that it can be enlarged indefinitely, and all past, present and 
 future generations of Pomfret people can be received within its 
 embrace. February 18, 1909. 
 
 From Mr. and Mrs. William H. Billings we have received valuable 
 relics that belonged to the late William Billings, who drove the stage 
 from Woodstock to Bethel for 32 years; some of his "way bills" 
 dating back to 1847. 
 
 A few days ago a 1 4 year old lad from a remote part of the town 
 drove over here and selected and carried home 30 books to keep 
 himself in reading through the bad spring travelling. This boy does a 
 great deal of farm work aside from his reading, and is of the pattern 
 that Pomfret used to raise. 
 
 We are thankful that the old stock is not running out. It pays to 
 build libraries for boys of this type. March 1 3, 1 909. 
 
 We had been wishing for a long, long time that some one would 
 give us a good old snuffbox for the relic room and finally it came, and 
 now Mrs. Samuel Paul has given us another. This one belonged to 
 her husband's mother, Mrs. Mary Thompson Paul, and is very, very 
 old. These snuffboxes, coming to us from the far away past, still 
 retain the fragrance of years gone by, and in imagination we feel 
 refreshed as did their worthy owners in the good old times. August 
 13, 1909. 
 
 Several ladies from New York and Massachusetts, who were 
 stopping at the Woodstock Inn, took pains to examine every book in 
 the box, at the County Fair exhibit, and were so much interested in 
 them that they came up in a few days to give the library a good looking 
 over, and a day or two later sent relatives for the same purpose. 
 
 " Such a high standard of books, clear back here in the country ! " 
 
 Well, we like to surprise people in such ways. October 20, 1 909. 
 
 Edward Everett Hale in his " Tarry at Home Travels ", page 94, 
 said, "Then, alas! Satan came walking up and down. And he
 
 38_ THE POMFRET LIBRARY 
 
 devised methods of making paper from wood pulp. . . Well, Satan 
 came walking up and down our highway and devised methods of 
 having innumerable Mr. and Mrs. Wasps build mud homes in the 
 library attic, all over the roof, even to the top. 
 
 A friend stepped into the library one morning and said, " What are 
 you going to do today ? " 
 
 B Thwart the works of Satan ! " was the reply. 
 
 " How are you going to do it ? " 
 
 " I'm going to carry a step ladder into the attic, together with Uncle 
 Lemuel Murdock's old pitchfork, and Uncle Joel Perkins* old Revo- 
 lutionary bayonet, and a rake handle that Frank Gillingharn gave me 
 to go with my outside window brush." 
 
 " What are you going to do then ? " 
 
 " Tie the bayonet to the rake handle, climb the step ladder and rap 
 down the highest nests. Get the others down with the pitchfork." 
 
 And it was done. November 5, 1909. 
 
 In the near future there is to be established in Mr. Wm. A. Perkins' 
 store, at Pomfret Center, a " Business Men's Branch " of this library, 
 with Mr. Perkins as librarian. 
 
 A bookcase is being made for the purpose, to hold 1 00 books. 
 
 The new agricultural books, which the trustees are about to pur- 
 chase, will be placed there, also a set of encyclopedias, some good 
 biography, history, travels, up to date novels, etc. 
 
 Mr. Perkins will from time to time bring back some of these books 
 and exchange them for others which his patrons may be wishing to 
 read. 
 
 We predict for this branch of the work much success. 
 March 18 1911 
 
 Branch Libraries 
 
 As published in the newspaper note above, a Branch Library has 
 been established at the Center, in Mr. Wm. A. Perkins* store, with a 
 special bookcase and 300 volumes. The books are changed from 
 time to time. Mr. Perkins acts as librarian. Everybody borrows books 
 who wishes to.
 
 POMFRET VERMONT 39 
 
 In Hewittville there is also a Branch Library, open at all times to all 
 comers, and containing about 200 volumes. 
 
 The location of the Main Library, the two Branches, and the six 
 Schoolhouse Branches should be noted in the sketch map of the town 
 printed on another page. 
 
 Foreign Visitors 
 
 Within the last four years, over 1 200 out-of-town visitors have regis- 
 tered at the library ; coming from all parts of the United States, as well 
 as Canada and Europe ! 
 
 The Librarian at Large 
 
 I have " talked or read or taught " at library meetings at Burlington, 
 Middlebury, St. Johnsbury, Lyndonville, Vershire, Proctorsville and 
 Bellows Falls. 
 
 The Summing Up 
 
 What this library has done within the last four years, any library in 
 the state can do. 
 
 The only things necessary are common-sense, enthusiasm, and 
 willingness to work'
 
 40 THE POMFRET LIBRARY 
 
 Letter from Judge Abbott, who gave to Pomfret the 
 Library Building. 
 
 Supreme Court of New Mexico 
 
 Albuquerque, N. M., May 26, 1910 
 Dear Mr. Dana : 
 
 I have read your letter of May 1 4th relating to the work of Mrs. 
 Chamberlin as librarian of the library at South Pomfret, Vermont, with 
 much interest and pleasure. I know very little about the details of 
 public library work and am therefore especially glad to have your 
 assurance that Mrs. Chamberlin's administration is so highly successful 
 as you say it is. I have had misgivings as to the wisdom of my course 
 in giving a library building to a town so small as Pomfret, especially as 
 the topography of the region made it impossible so to locate the 
 library that it could be conveniently reached from all parts of the town ; 
 but Mrs. Chamberlin has apparently solved the problem through an 
 adaptation of Mahomet's compromise with the Mountain ! 
 
 The plan you suggest for issuing a pamphlet descriptive of the 
 library's work has my cordial approval. It is very fortunate that the 
 library has found such friends as yourself and Mrs. Mackenzie, 
 through whom its sphere of usefulness will, I hope, be so greatly 
 extended. Sbce there are comparatively so few people living in the 
 vicinity to profit directly by the library, it is the more fortunate that 
 Mrs. Chamberlin has there shown a spirit and set in operation methods 
 which will, I trust, indirectly benefit my native state entire ; and whose 
 light may even shine beyond its borders, if I may credit the kind 
 assurance of yourself and others on the subject. If that happens, I 
 shall feel abundantly repaid for what I have done in establishing the 
 library. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 IRA A. ABBOTT.
 
 Judge Ira A. Abbott.
 
 POMFRET VERMONT 
 
 Historical Sketch of Pomfret 
 By Walter E. Perkins 
 
 Geographically, Pomfret is equidistant from Boston, Mass., and 
 Montreal, P. Q. It occupies a position in the second tier of towns 
 from the Connecticut River, in the central portion of Windsor 
 County. An Act of the Legislature in 1 807, annexed to Sharon that 
 portion of the town lying north of the White River, and an Act in 
 1 880, annexed to Woodstock that portion lying south of Ottaquechee 
 River. 
 
 Geologists affirm that in the preglacial period, the surface was com- 
 paratively level, but while under the ice sheet and during the process 
 of erosion, the conformation was so greatly changed, that it now lies in 
 an altitude ranging from four hundred to two thousand feet above sea 
 level. The general rock formation is blue limestone, but the higher 
 altitudes show an outcropping of granite, which in places bears a glacial 
 marking. 
 
 The early settlers found the surface covered with a heavy forest 
 growth, excepting ninety acres of intervale land, growing the native 
 grass. Many of the most productive acres are at an altitude ranging 
 from one thousand to eighteen hundred feet. 
 
 The charter was from Benning Wentworth, Colonial Governor of 
 New Hampshire, and dated July 8, 1 76 1 . It was obtained by Isaac 
 Dana of Pomfret, Conn., to whom the town owes its name. The 
 conditions of the charter specified that Governor Wentworth have a 
 special right of five hundred acres. The remainder was divided into 
 seventy equal rights, four sequestered for public and pious use and 
 sixty-six granted to individuals. A large portion of the rights were 
 given to the relatives and neighbors of Mr. Dana. Of the remainder : 
 one went to the Governor's brother, Hunkin Wentworth; seven to 
 the Sharp family, who were heirs of John White of Boston ; the balance 
 to the favorites of the Governor, including Edward Holyoke, president 
 of Harvard college and Henry Caner, rector of King's Chapel, 
 Boston. 
 
 In October, 1 76 1 , came the first survey of the town with the laying
 
 THE POMFRET LIBRARY 
 
 out of a lot of land to each right. Then followed many years of con- 
 troversy respecting the jurisdiction of the New Hampshire grants. 
 Before conditions were ripe for settlement, occurred the death of Isaac 
 Dana. His son, John W. Dana, two sons-in-law, John Throop and 
 Simeon Sessions, and grandson, Darius Sessions, were the only 
 patentees who became settlers. 
 
 The settlement of the town began in 1 770. The organization was 
 effected March 17, 1 773. The settlers came principally from north- 
 eastern Connecticut and southeastern Massachusetts. The largest 
 number was from the adjoining town of Woodstock, Conn., with 
 Bridgewater, Mass., a close second. Among the settlers I note two 
 scholars who left literary work of a high order, Aaron Hutchinson 
 and Jonathan Ware. As this sketch is limited to a certain number of 
 words, I must leave the early history at this point. 
 
 The population reached the maximum point around the year 1 830 
 and a score of little red schoolhouses dotted the town. The advent 
 of the steam railway and opening up of the western prairie for settle- 
 ment, was followed by an abandonment of back hill farms. During 
 the past year I have traveled over many of these abandoned farms 
 and find that they are becoming reforested. They are rapidly returning 
 to the conditions existing prior to the coming of the settler. 
 
 Several individuals have at different times given the town the whole 
 or a portion of their estate for the benefit of the deserving poor. The 
 following is a list with date of gift : Abigail Washburn, 1 844 ; Kim- 
 ball Russ, 1875; Charles Hutchinson, 1895;Zebedee Churchill, 
 1899; Rush C.Hawkins, 1900. 
 
 The practice of retaining a public servant in continuous service has 
 prevailed as a rule. A list of those longest in service : Otis Chamberlin, 
 clerk, forty-eight years ; Abida Smith, treasurer, thirty years and select- 
 man sixteen ; Edwin Allen, constable, nineteen years ; Isaiah Tinkham, 
 Jr., overseer of poor eleven years and justice of peace twenty-nine. 
 Crosby Miller was treasurer for twenty-six years, and Gardner 
 Winslow justice of peace for the same number. William Perry was 
 representative to the General Assembly eight years. 
 
 State and County offices held by men while residing in town : 
 Superior Court Judge, John Throop three years and eight months ;
 
 POMFRET VERMONT 43_ 
 
 Probate Judge, John Throop ten years and William Perry five; 
 Assistant Judge, Daniel Dana two years, John Bridge five, Gardner 
 Winslow two, Crosby Miller ten, Charles H. Maxham seventeen, and 
 holds the office at the present time ; State Councilor, John Throop 
 seven years ; State Senator, Crosby Miller, Hosea Doton, Ora Paul, 
 Homer W. Vail and Fred L. Davis; appointed to State Board of 
 Agriculture, Ora Paul, Albro E. Perkins and Homer W. Vail. 
 
 The compiler of this work asks that I name a number of men who 
 went out from the town. I find the task most embarrassing, because 
 several hundred went forth and well filled their places in the world. 
 An imperfect census shows that on nearly one hundred were conferred 
 college degrees. Of this number, twenty-five were by Dartmouth 
 College, sixteen by the State University, sixteen by Norwich University, 
 and the balance by colleges throughout the country. Risen to 
 affluence : Henry H. Vail, New York ; Jason Bailey, Boston. To the 
 Judiciary of the country ; Judah Dana, Maine ; Elmer B. Adams, 
 Missouri ; Ira A. Abbott, New Mexico ; Duane J. Carnes, Illinois. 
 Distinction in various fields: Orlando D. Miller, D. D., philologist, 
 honorary member of Victoria Institute, Great Britain, 1 88 1 ; Edwin 
 M. Snow, Providence, R. L, recipient of diamond decoration from 
 the Russian government, 1872 ; Hosea Doton, a teacher in Pomfret, 
 of whom it has been written, " he stands by far the greatest single 
 influence toward the right in the town's life " ; Judah Dana, U. S. 
 Senator from Maine for three terms ; Judah Dana 2d, fifty-five years 
 a school teacher and Principal of State Normal School ; Israel P. Dana, 
 founder and long time president of Vermont Mutual Fire Insurance 
 Company ; Thomas O. Seaver, colonel of third Vermont Volunteers, 
 winner of medal of honor for distinguished gallantry in action, Spottsyl- 
 vania Court House, Virginia, May 1 0, 1 864 ; Rush C. Hawkins, 
 Brevet Brigadier General, U. S. Volunteers, December 1 4, 1 866 ; 
 Crosby P. Miller, half a century of continuous service in the United 
 States army ; Lorenzo D. Hawkins, inventor of shoe machinery ; 
 Benjamin F. Mason, portrait painter ; Marshall Conant, Principal of 
 Normal School, Bridgewater, Mass., author of Astronomy and Navi- 
 gation, a treatise ; Edward Conant, Superintendent of Education and 
 author of Vermont, a history ; Evelyn Wood Lovejoy, historian of
 
 THE POMFRET LIBRARY 
 
 Royalton and author of works of fiction ; Norman C. Perkins, author 
 of the poems, June Training and District School ; Isaac D. Williamson, 
 D. D., editor of the Star of the West and author of numerous books ; 
 able writers, Robert A. Perkins of the Rutland Herald and Augustin 
 Snow of the New York Times. In company with the above is one 
 who did not leave town, Edmond C. Sherburne, author of Songs of 
 a Deeper Note, a book of poems. Miss Fairfax Harding Sherburne 
 in 1910, when she was 1 6 years old, wrote an essay on the Morgan 
 Horse, which won the prize offered by the Vermonter for the best 
 essay on the subject. 
 
 Progressive agriculture has been fostered through the agency of the 
 Farmers' Club, organized in 1887, and through two branches of the 
 Order of Patrons of Husbandry. 
 
 The one hundredth anniversary of the settlement of the town was 
 observed with appropriate exercises, June 15, 1870. 
 
 The present population of the town is a little above seven hundred. 
 
 Pomfret's most important product in a century is the large number 
 of men it produced and sent forth to occupy the highest positions in 
 the industrial and political world, not to mention those who remained 
 in town and maintained its character. While its citizens are engaged 
 in constructive agriculture to the exclusion of all other occupations, they 
 read and enjoy the best of the world's classics. The judicial officers 
 have no law suits to adjudicate and neighborhood quarrels are 
 unknown. In no other Vermont town is the simple life exemplified in 
 a larger degree.
 
 Trees which defy the storms and winters of a Pomfret hilltop. 
 1600 feet above sea level.
 
 POMFRET VERMONT 
 
 45 
 
 About six Miles square 
 
 Pomfret Vermont 
 
 The figures are heights above ea level. The Library is about three miles from 
 Woodstock. Roads, streams and houses are not drawn to scale. The map was 
 designed to suggest the hilly character of the town and the fact that the population 
 of 700 is scattered over an area of 36 square miles.
 
 46 THE POMFRET LIBRARY 
 
 Pomfret Statistics 
 
 Population 1791,710; 1830. 1867, maximum; 1910,700. 
 
 Total expenditures of the town, 1 9 1 0, $9 1 00. 
 
 Paid for schools, 1910, $2924.59. 
 
 Teachers* wages, 1910, about $33 per month. 
 
 Children, 5 to 18, 1910, 160. 
 
 Number of schools, 1 9 1 0, 6. 
 
 Pupils in schools in town, 1910, 80. 
 
 Pupils in high schools out of town, tuition paid by town, 1910, 22. 
 
 Number of schoolhouses in town, 1 850, 17; 1 9 1 0, 6. 
 
 Since 1 775 young men and women of the town have graduated from 
 
 colleges, universities and medical schools to the number, according to 
 
 an incomplete census, of 120. 
 
 Libraries and Books in Pomfret 
 By Walter E. Perkins. 
 
 Pomfret's first book club came at the opening of the 1 9th Century. 
 Incidentally the organization was effected at the town's first tavern, 
 raised June 4, 1 782, it being the first framed house in town. 
 
 The first paragraph of its records tells of the club's purposes. 
 
 " Pursuant to agreement a number of persons met at the house of 
 Maj. Elisha Smith in Pomfret on the 25th day of December, A. D., 
 1 804, for the purpose of purchasing a library for the mutual benefit of 
 each other and forming themselves into a society, and agreeable to 
 an act of the Legislature of the State of Vermont, passed November 
 6th, 1 800, incorporating the Social Library Societies within this State, 
 they proceeded as follows : Made choice of Capt. John Miller, 
 moderator ; Dr. Fred Ware, clerk ; Capt. Increase Hewitt, Col. Israel 
 P. Dana end Rev. Ignatius Thompson, select committee." 
 
 The select committee was the judicial power in the club and fixed
 
 ___ POMFRET VERMONT 47 
 
 the amount of damages in certain cases. It also adjudicated questions 
 at issue between a member and the librarian. 
 
 At an adjourned meeting twenty-two Articles of Association were 
 adopted. 
 
 Any person could become a member by signing the Articles and 
 purchasing one share at $ 1 .50. Each shareholder was annually to pay 
 into the treasury twenty-five cents for the benefit of the library, under 
 the penalty of forfeiting the enjoyment of the share if not paid. The 
 salient feature of the Articles would seem to be their strenuous 
 rigidity, indicating a reverence for the Library as a sacred institution. 
 
 The town's meeting house referred to in the records was located 
 on a hill half a mile east of the present Town Hall and was built by 
 a tax upon the real estate, authorized by a special act of the Legislature, 
 October 25th, 1785. The house was destroyed by fire March 1, 
 1831. 
 
 " The Library shall be kept within one mile of the Meeting house 
 in Pomfret. All books shall be returned to the Librarian at ten in the 
 forenoon of the day of the Annual meeting, under the penalty of for- 
 feiting fifty cents for the neglect of each book. Each book shall be 
 returned to the Librarian by some member of the society or their 
 family ; if it is sent in otherwise each share shall forfeit fifty cents for 
 every such offence. Every share shall be subject to the following fines : 
 for every leaf turned down ; for every grease spot on each leaf ; for 
 every corner of a leaf torn off without affecting the reading ; for every 
 scratch on the cover of the book ; for every ink blot ; for every spot 
 soiled in a book, four cents each. For writing in a book, twenty cents 
 for every line. For cutting, tearing or burning a leaf in a book so as to 
 affect the reading, or damaging the cover of a book, to be submitted 
 to the committee. No member shall lend a book out of his or her 
 house under forfeiting fifty cents." 
 
 It was voted to have all books " covered with Tan'd Sheep Skin ", 
 and also that they be vendued to the members upon the first occasion 
 of being loaned out. At the vendue the highest sum was paid by 
 David Dana, who gave thirty-two cents for the privilege of reading 
 Russell's History of Ancient Europe. 
 
 The books owned by this club numbered 1 3 1 and might properly
 
 THE POMFRET LIBRARY 
 
 be classified as follows: History, 47; Religion, 33; Literature, 30; 
 Biography, 1 3 ; Science, 7 ; Fiction, 1 . I have a complete list of the 
 books. 
 
 Jonathan Ware, about 1823, erected a building of logs upon his 
 farm known as Thistle Hill, and conducted a school for instruction in 
 the higher branches. One authority states that his library numbered 
 "several thousand volumes", but the number may have been over- 
 estimated. The greater portion of his books were classics, and it is 
 reasonably certain that at that period his collection was one of the 
 most extensive and valuable to be found in a country town having no 
 public library. 
 
 The second book club was organized at the house the town erected 
 by a tax on the grand list, as a home for the first settled minister. The 
 minister, in addition to his salary, acquired from the town the " Minis- 
 ter's Right", three hundred acres of land in fee simple, and Mr. 
 Chandler was the first permanent owner of the parsonage after the 
 passing of Rev. Elisha Hutchinson. 
 
 The records run : 
 
 " Pursuant to previous notice and agreement a number of persons 
 met at the house of Josiah Chandler in Pomfret on the 29th day of 
 November, A. D. 1 826, for the purpose of purchasing a library for the 
 benefit and improvement of the children who shall attend the Sabbath 
 School in Pomfret and of forming themselves into a society, proceeded 
 as follows : Made choice of Rev. Samuel Marsh, moderator ; David 
 Chandler, clerk ; John Miller, David Dana and Warham Miller, select 
 committee." 
 
 A series of twelve by-laws was adopted, which appear to have been 
 largely copied from the records of the Social Library and were 
 prefixed by the following preamble: 
 
 " We, the subscribers, for the promotion of youthful improvement in 
 religion and morals, agree to form a library for the use of the children 
 who shall attend the Sabbath School in Pomfret, for the purpose of 
 studying and committing to memory the Sacred Scriptures ; and engage 
 that we be governed and the concerns of the library be conducted 
 agreeably to the following articles." 
 
 The library was to be kept at the " Meeting House in Pomfret ",
 
 POMFRET VERMONT 49 
 
 and be open at noon each Sabbath. A subscription of twenty- five 
 cents would entitle a person to vote for officers, and seventy-three books 
 were purchased by subscription at the time. Since the above date the 
 Congregational Church has maintained to the present day a Sabbath 
 School library. 
 
 The Methodist Church organization maintained a small library but 
 no records are available by which the date of its birth can be located. 
 The Church organization was effected in the early part of the century ; 
 but the Recording Steward's record, which is still preserved, opens 
 with the year 1840. A Church edifice was erected in 1850 and a 
 book case was built to hold the library. It was customary to negotiate 
 an exchange of books with the societies in adjoining towns. 
 
 The third book club, so far as the records show, was organized at 
 the town's third public Meeting House, a building erected near 
 Chamberlin's store in 1 83 1 . It was organized October 9, 1 862, as 
 the Agricultural Library Association. President, Jarvis Adams ; Sec- 
 retary, Edwin S. Jackman ; Committee to purchase books, Otis Cham- 
 berlin, Hosea Doton and Edwin S. Jackman. Membership, with the 
 right to take out books, was secured by the purchase of one share at 
 five dollars. One hundred volumes were purchased, and the most of 
 this collection is now in the Town Library. 
 
 At the Legislative Session, 1 894, came the first move on the part 
 of the State for promoting the formation of public libraries through aid 
 from the State treasury. An Act was passed creating a board of 
 library commissioners, whose duties included the selection and furnishing 
 of books to the amount of $ 1 00, at the expense of the State, upon 
 application from a town having no public library. 
 
 At Pomfret's annual meeting, March, 1 896, the town voted to 
 accept the provisions of the Act of 1 894, and annually appropriate 
 twenty-five dollars for the maintenance of a public library. 
 
 The town public library grew rapidly. The Young People's Club, 
 a secular society organized for charitable work, raised funds by public 
 exhibitions to supply books. The first year of the twentieth century, 
 the collection numbered one thousand volumes as shown by the 
 Finding List published at that time.
 
 50 THE POMFRET LIBRARY 
 
 Hosea Doton 
 
 Hosea Doton was born in Pomfret, Vermont, November 29, 1 809, 
 on the farm which was cleared by his grandfather, John Doton, in 
 1 786, and has to this day been held in his name and occupied by his 
 descendants. 
 
 Hosea began his educational career in a little brick school house 
 near the farm, built by his father and other farmers about a century 
 ago. The schoolhouse has been in use ever since it was built and is 
 still in good condition. 
 
 After he graduated from these walls his further education was carried 
 on by himself with his books as teachers, and this education continued 
 through all his life. In the line of mathematics he was surpassed by no 
 one in the state, and in recognition of this fact, Norwich University in 
 1 845 conferred upon him the honorary degree of A. M. 
 
 His father was a farmer and a land surveyor. He learned the art 
 of both these occupations, though surveying was far more interesting 
 to him than farming, and from first to last he did an endless amount of 
 it. It used to be said that you could put him in any woods and, how- 
 ever difficult the task, he would find every " old line tree " as if by 
 instinct. He began teaching district schools before he was of age, and 
 was largely concerned with public and private schools for nearly forty 
 years. After this, private students received instruction in his study, 
 almost to the day of his death. 
 
 He was employed as a civil engineer for a time on the Northern 
 New Hampshire Railroad, and years after was chief engineer for the 
 Woodstock railroad, a position he retained until he died. 
 
 His success as a teacher has rarely been surpassed. He found the 
 best there was in every boy and girl, and, with the foundation of this 
 best to build upon, spared no pains to inspire them to press forward 
 toward the highest and truest things that life could give. 
 
 " Aim high ! " was his watchword. 
 
 He had a strong personality, and his influence lives to-day an active 
 force in many lives. He is borne in thankful remembrance by men and
 
 POMFRET VERMONT 57 
 
 women scattered from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, and from the 
 Canadian heights to the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 When he was twenty-five years of age he married his early school- 
 mate, Lois Paddock, a young woman of brilliant intellect, in scholarship 
 his equal and endowed with rare executive ability. Their only child, 
 Abba Doton Chamberlin, was born six years later. 
 
 He survived his first wife nearly thirty years, and during that period 
 was twice married. 
 
 He died in Woodstock, Vermont, January I 7, 1 886. 
 
 This sketch of his life is printed here for two reasons : first, because 
 he was by far the greatest influence for sound education and high and 
 worthy living the town ever enjoyed, and, second, because his 
 daughter, Abba Doton Chamberlin, is now the librarian of that library, 
 described in this pamphlet, which so wisely and efficiently carries on 
 his work. 
 
 Abba Doton Chamberlin, Librarian 
 
 Abba Doton Chamberlin was born in Pomfret, Vermont, August 
 1 , 1 840, on the farm adjoining the one settled by her great grand- 
 father, John Doton, in 1 786. 
 
 Her school life began in the little brick schoolhouse where her 
 father and mother had been before her. 
 
 When the father began work as a civil engineer on the Northern 
 New Hampshire Railroad, the farm was sold, and the mother and 
 daughter boarded for the time being with relatives in New Haven, 
 Connecticut. 
 
 The city schools proved very alluring and the child was soon leading 
 her class of 40 members, although one of the youngest among them. 
 When 1 3 years of age she won the yearly medal given by the chair- 
 man of the Board of Education of the city. This was for a composi- 
 tion on " Mother Goose's Melodies", which the Board had printed in 
 one of the city dailies. The publisher afterwards informed the Chair- 
 man that it was so well received that the issue ran short by 300 
 copies.
 
 52_ THE POMFRET LIBRARY 
 
 After the death of the mother, teaching district schools in Pomfret 
 and assisting her father in his own schools took up several years. Then 
 a course was taken in the Bridgewater, Massachusetts, State Normal 
 School. Of this work, Principal Albert G. Boyden wrote, " She con- 
 tinued her course of study in the school one term beyond the time 
 required of her for graduation, and during her entire course in the 
 school was distinguished for her fidelity, enthusiasm, and accurate 
 scholarship." 
 
 The class chose her as valedictorian at their graduation. 
 
 Then began work as first assistant in the Randolph, Vermont, 
 Normal School, and later in the Woodstock, Vermont, High School, 
 followed by teaching in the public schools of Lincoln, Nebraska, where 
 she received from the State Superintendent of Schools a life certificate. 
 
 As a student in the Summer Schools at Harvard, she received the 
 highest commendation given to any one of the 70 members of the 
 class. . 
 
 She taught one year in Atlanta University and two years in Augusta, 
 Georgia. 
 
 Seventy-five terms in all. 
 
 When Pomfret celebrated its centennial in 1870, she was chosen 
 by the town to write and read the centennial poem. 
 
 When 27 years of age she married a Pomfret boy, her friend from 
 childhood, James K. P. Chamberlin, who after leaving her father's 
 school was a Norwich University cadet, and later a graduate of the 
 Albany Law School. He died while they were living in Lincoln, 
 Nebraska. 
 
 In May, 1907, at the request of Judge Abbott, she began work in 
 the Abbott Memorial Library. 
 
 J.C.D.
 
 Vermont Libraries and the State. 
 
 The aim of the Board of library commissioners is to help the smaller 
 town libraries already established, and to encourage those towns and 
 villages, now without free public libraries, to start such libraries. The 
 State gives $ 1 00 in books to a town that votes to establish a free 
 library and appropriates annually a certain sum toward its maintenance. 
 But the State does not stop there. If the library keeps in touch with 
 the outlying districts of its town, by sending books to one or more 
 district schools, or by maintaining other branch libraries, the State gives 
 it, on application, annual aid to the amount of $20 or $25 in books. 
 
 Any library may ask the Board of library commissioners for advice 
 on any point. For instance, many small libraries find it hard to choose 
 the books to buy with their yearly appropriation. The Board has 
 helped several with book-lists, and will always be glad to help others. 
 
 Vermont wishes to give all her children a chance to enjoy such 
 reading and pictures as children near a library enjoy. She thoroughly 
 believes that " the children of to-day are the citizens of tomorrow ", 
 and that the more chance for general development they have now, the 
 better citizens they will become. The most central places for these 
 children are their schoolhouses. So collections of books stories and 
 other interesting books for children of all ages called " School libra- 
 ries ", travel to any schools in the State, and towns are specially 
 authorized by law to pay the cost of transportation. 
 
 A town without a library, desiring books for adults and children, can 
 get a collection of 45 books by application to the secretary of the 
 Board. A reading club, wishing to study a special subject, can also 
 obtain books. A Grange can send for a " Farmers' library " containing 
 agricultural books and stories for its instruction and entertainment. The 
 only cost is that of transportation both ways, about $1.25. 
 
 Quarterly meetings, held in different parts of the State, sometimes 
 with the co-operation of the State Superintendent of Education or of 
 the Commissioner of Agriculture, encourage the towns which are 
 bravely supporting their libraries, give them new ideas as to methods 
 of work, and raise libraries and librarians in the estimation of their towns 
 as members of a large and helpful body of workers. These meetings 
 are not for librarians alone. They are planned to be of interest to all 
 wide-awake citizens, all who take an active part or interest in any 
 movement that keeps their town, their children, and themselves 
 up-to-date, clear-headed, broad-minded Vermonters. 
 
 State of Vermont, Board of Library Commissioners : 
 
 MARCH M. WILSON, Randolph, Chairman 
 MRS. C. M. WINSLOW, Brandon 
 EDWARD M. GODDARD, Montpelier 
 MISS F. B. FLETCHER, Proctorsville 
 MISS C. H. CLEMENT, Rutland 
 MISS R. W. WRIGHT, Montpelier, Secretary 
 
 Inquiries may be addressed to members of the Board or to its Secretary.
 
 J
 
 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 Santa Barbara 
 
 THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW. 
 
 Series 9482
 
 A 000743872 4