to be fitted for their work;' 'Home is woman's throne; on it she should wield the scepter of love, knowledge, and virtue.' When told that women could not study, she would reply, 'Study is as healthy as any work, if prosecuted wisely, i. e. according to the laws of our constitution.' When told that educated women do not make good wives and mothers, she would say, 'Then they are wrongly educated, some law is violated in the process.' She did not believe in co-education; it lacks adaptation. She claimed that there is a woman's sphere in life and a man's sphere, and each should be fitted for his own. She never asked whether woman is equal to man, or superior,-no more than whether a tree is equal or superior to a rose,-make each perfect after its kind, and you realize the thought of God. She did not believe in woman's suffrage; that would infringe upon God's plan of the family as the unit in society. It is not strange, therefore, that Miss Smith was ready to adopt. the plan of a Woman's College, when in 1867, Mr. John Clarke of Northampton, by a liberal donation, supplied the need of a DeafMute institution for this Commonwealth. As she studied and understood more perfectly the idea of the College, her mind fixed upon it with increasing delight; not merely to perpetuate her name, but because she believed that this was the wisest and most beneficent way of appropriating her property. It required arguments and some pleading to make her willing to have the College bear the name of Smith. She was afraid people would call her selfish. She rose above self, and prayerfully and conscientiously aimed to do the most good to the greatest number. The College became to her a delightful subject of thought, of private conversation, and study. She often considered whether she should not put all her funds into it. The last question she ever asked me, only a month before her death-she had asked it fifty times before-was: 'Don't you think I had better put the seventyfive thousand dollars of Academy money into the College?' Without any doubt, the firmness of Dea. Geo. W. Hubbard and one other person, and their loyalty to the interests of Hatfield, secured to that town the munificent bequest by which, during all time they will be blessed with a superior and self-supporting school for their youth, which school will be the ornament and pride of their village. Miss Smith died June 12, 1870, aged seventy-four years. Her remains lie in the cemetery in Hatfield, under a simple nounment of her own erecting. This College at Northampton, and its graduates, will carry her name into the future of the whole country. OLIVER SMITH AND THE SMITH CHARITIES.* THIS large and comprehensive system of charities was founded by Oliver Smith, Esq., of Hatfield, who died Dec. 22, 1845. His estate was valued, at the time of his death, at $370,000. In his will, he directed that a board of trustees should be constituted in the following manner: The towns of Northampton, Hadley, Hatfield, Amherst, and Williamsburg, in Hampshire County, and Deerfield, Greenfield, and Whately, in Franklin County, shall choose at each annual meeting a person who shall be called an elector. The electors were to choose three persons who should constitute a board of trustees, who were to have the control and management of all the funds. He then set apart the sum of $200,000, which was to be managed by the Trustees as an accumulating fund, till it should amount to the sum of $400,000. This accumulated fund was then to be divided into three district funds: One, of $30,000, to found the 'Smith Agricultural School,' at Northampton; the second, of $10,000, the income to be paid to the American Colonization Society, under certain restrictions; the third, of $360,000, for indigent boys, indigent female children, indigent young women, and indigent widows. The remaining portion of his property was constituted a contingent fund, to defray expenses and keep the principal funds entire. The fund of $30,000, to establish the Agricultural School, was to be kept as an accumulating fund for the period of sixty years from his death, when the school should be established within the town of Northampton. This fund will become available in the year 1905. The income of the fund of $10,000 for the Colonization Society was to be used in transporting persons of color from the United States to the colony of Liberia, or such other place as the society might select. There was a provision, however, that if the society should neglect to make due application for the fund for six months after having been notified that it was ready for distribution, they should forfeit their claim and the money should be incorporated with the agricultural school fund. The required notification was given by the trustees, but the society neglected to apply within the specified time, and the legacy was added to the school fund. The society brought suit to recover it, but the case was decided by the Supreme Judicial Court in favor of the trustees. The remaining fund of $360,000 was called the joint or miscellaneous fund, and was divided so that one-half the income should be applied for the benefit of indigent boys, who, after having been bound out and served satisfactorily till twenty-one years old, should receive a loan of $500 for five years, to become a gift at the end of that time. The income of one quarter of the fund was appropriated to the use and benefit of indigent female children. They were to be bound out till eighteen years of age, and at the time of their marriage were to receive the sum of $300 as a marriage portion. The income of one eighth part of this fund was appropriated to the benefit of indigent young women, in sums Oliver Smith was born in Hatfield, Mass., in January, 1766, and followed the occupation of a farmer through life-filling the office of local magistrate for forty years, twice represented his town in the Legislature; and in 1820, was a member of the Constitutional Convention. In his life-time he was a liberal giver to all religious charities, helped many poor girls to marriage portions, and built two district school-houses. His will was contested, and in the last argument before the Supreme Court of the State, Daniel Webster and Rufus Choate were employed as counsel—the former for, and the latter against its validity. The jury were unanimous in their verdict that the will was attested by three competent witnesses. of $50 as marriage portions. The income of the remaining one eighth part was to be paid to indigent widows, in sums of not more than $50 to any one person in one year. The beneficiaries were to be confined to the eight towns above enumerated, but in case of there being at any time a surplus income, beneficiaries might be selected from any other towns in the county. The heirs-at-law contested the will, and the case came before the Supreme Judicial Court, in this town, July 6, 1847. The objection to the will was that one of the attesting witnesses, Theophilus Parsons Phelps, was incompetent on account of insanity. Two days were occupied in the trial, Rufus Choate arguing the case for the heirs-at-law, and Daniel Webster for the will. The courthouse was crowded to overflowing, and ladders were put up to the windows, so eager were the people to see and hear the great orators. The jury brought in a verdict sustaining the will. In May, 1848, the board of trustees was organized, and Osmyn Baker was chosen president, which position he continued to hold till May, 1871, when failing health compelled him to resign, and Geo. W. Hubbard was chosen. The sum paid over to the trustees by the executor of the will, at the time of the organization of the board, was $419,221.16; of this, $214,000 composed the joint fund, and $205,221.16 the contingent fund. The joint fund reached the required amount of $400,000, October 1st, 1859. The several charities under it were put in operation at that time, and have since continued to spread their blessings over the community. The value of this bequest to the several towns does not consist wholly in the charity extended to their citizens, for it forms a constantly increasing source of taxation. It was the desire of the testator that the property should not be taxed, and in the will he advised the incorporation of the charities, and requested the trustees to endeavor to obtain their exemption from taxation. The act of incorporation was granted at the session of 1849, but the Legislature refused to exempt the property from taxation. On the contrary, provision was made that the fund should be taxed equally by the interested towns. The fund is therefore divided into eight equal parts, each portion being taxed in accordance with the rate of taxation in the town to which it is apportioned. The act of incorporation was accepted by the trustees in April, 1849. In 1865, the trustees decided to erect the building in which their offices are (1875) located. It is 52 by 30 feet, built of Portland stone, is a handsome and commodious structure, and cost $30,000. The magnitude of this system of charities may be seen in the increase of the funds, in the amounts paid for various purposes, and in the number of the different classes of our citizens who have been the recipients of the bounties disbursed. In October, 1848, the funds amounted to $419,221.16. During the twenty-seven years which have elapsed since that time, they have increased nearly 250 per cent. The amount of all the property on the first of May last, was $1,033,357.26. The enormous probable development, as well as the great future usefulness of these charities, can thus readily be seen. The amounts already paid will be seen by the following figures. It should be remembered that the payments to the 'indigent,' did not commence till 1859, and consequently the most important part of the system has been in operation but sixteen years. The other expenditures commenced when the institution was organized: The Agricultural School Fund (1875) amounts to $85,000. In the year 1905, when the fund becomes available, it is but reasonable to expect, should the present rate of increase continue, that it will have reached the sum of $350,000. The testator has prescribed what sort of a school is to be established. He proposes that there shall be two farms, one as a 'model' and the other as an 'ex. perimental' farm. On these farms are to be established a manufactory of 'Implements of Husbandry,' and a 'School of Industry for the benefit of the Poor,' in which boys taken from the most indigent classes shall receive a good common school education, and be instructed in agriculture or mechanics. At the age of twenty-one years, each boy is to receive $200. Here we have a system more comprehensive than any school of its kind yet in operation in this country. There is another view in which this institution is of great value to this com munity, and that is in the fact that it always has money to loan. The business man or the mechanic, who needs a little money to make him a home or extend his business, can readily obtain a loan from the institution, at a fair rate of interest, and numbers avail themselves of the privilege every year, The following named persons were chosen electors at the annual town meetings in 1875: Electors: Henry M. Brewster, Williamsburg; Charles S. Smith, Amherst; Lucien S. Eaton, Deerfield; R. A. Packard, Greenfield; Sam'l P. Billings, Hatfield; Justin W. C. Allis, Whately; John N. Pierce, Hadley; J. C. Arms, Northampton. The electors subsequently made choice of trustees as follows: Trustees: Geo. W. Hubbard, Northampton; Sereno Kingsley, Williamsburg; John C. Sanderson, Whately. According to the Report of the Trustees of the Smith Charities for May, 1877, the amount of the several Funds at that date was as follows: Out of the income of the Joint Fund, payments were made in 1876–7 to— Twenty-two apprenticed boys have come of age, and received loans of $500 each, during the year, and the matured notes of twenty-four others have been surrendered. Eighteen of the girls formerly apprenticed have married during the year, and received the marriage portions to which they were entitled; and twelve others of the same class have received allowance for sickness expenses. Forty-four boys and nineteen girls have been indentured within the year. The whole number of boys under indenture, at this time, is one hundred and twenty-four; and of girls, seventy-nine. A PRINCETON GRADUATE AT GÖTTINGEN.* [From German Universities. By James Morgan Hart, L.L. D.] FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE UNIVERSITY AND THE TOWN. THE Englishman or American who visits a German university town for the first time will scarcely realize the fact that it is the seat of a great institution of learning. He can see nothing; there is no visible sign of the University, no chapel, no huge buildings, whether we call them dormitories or quadrangles, no campus. There is no rallying place of professors and students, where he can stand and, letting his eye sweep around on every side, say: This is the university. He may even pass his entire life in the town and never once see the body of professors and students assembled in one place. I dwell upon this distinction, because it is an important one. The reader who wishes to get a just notion of the character of a German University must dismiss from his mind all prejudices, any expectation of finding what his early associations may have led him to consider as the conspicuous features in a seat of learning. As I walked around the wall of Göttingen for the first time, the predominating thought in my mind was: Where is the University? I could find no tangible evidence of its existence, its reality. Putting what questions I could in my imperfect German, and paying strict attention to the answers, I could make out that the dome to the left, near the starting place of our walk, by the Geismar Gate, was an observatory; considerably farther on, in close proximity to the railway station, was a large building bearing the inscription "Theatrum Anatomicum," evidently the medical school; still further on, in the moat by the side of the wall, was an arrangement of glass-houses, that was no less evidently a botanical garden. This was all of the University that I could detect in my first tour of the great Göttingen promenade. Göttingen may serve as the type of the German university town. The population is about 12,000. The streets are neither very straight nor very crooked, and no one runs directly through the town; in general they are tolerably wide. The houses are plain and poorly built. The framework is of wood, the outer walls being filled in with a sort of mud that is mixed with a good deal of straw to give it consistency; after the mud has dried, it is painted. For a cheap mode of building, it is much better than might be supposed. The German Universities: A narrative of Personal Experience, together with recent Statistical Information, Practical Suggestions, and a Comparison of the German, English and American Systems of Higher Education. By James Morgan Hart. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1874. 398 pp. 12mo. |