A MODEL REPORT. 97 



the privileges we there enjoyed are at an end. Then the excur- 

 sions of the Curator's Committee, to which all members were wel- 

 come, to Tarrytown Heights, Staten Island, Perth Amboy, and 

 other places, were very pleasant. Quite an improvement has been 

 made by the Curator's Committee on our old way of choosing sub- 

 jects for lectures, by preparing a calendar for each month, which 

 is sent to all the members, thus also giving the lecturer more time 

 to prepare. The Curator's Committee have also made Tuesday 

 evenings an interesting feature. These evenings are spent in pre- 

 paring specimens for the cabinet, and usually one of the curators 

 gives a short lecture. 



One Tuesday evening of each month is set aside for what they 

 call 'exhibition night,' when they show and explain the speci- 

 mens to the friends of members. The cabinet is apparently in ex- 

 cellent condition : it contains about twenty-two hundred different 

 kinds of specimens, also many miscellaneous curiosities and many 

 instruments. We have received during the year numerous kind 

 donations, of which I make mention of one hundred specimens 

 from the disbanded Fairview Chapter, and nineteen specimens of 

 marble from Mr. Rtickert. A good variety of books may now be 

 found in our library : there are 315 volumes and many hundred 

 magazines and pamphlets. 



SECRETARY OF CHAPTER 87. 



JAMAICA PLAIN, Mass. 



The past year has been very encouraging to us. It began 

 rather unfavorably. We were obliged to leave the small house 

 in which we had met. We soon found new quarters in the 

 unoccupied harness-room of a barn ; but we had no means of 

 heating it, and when cold weather set in we returned to our old 

 method of meeting at members' houses. But we needed a place 

 we could be sure of, and at last decided to have a small house 

 built. We got up a stock company called the 'Agassiz Building 

 Company,' and issued one hundred shares of the par value of one 

 dollar. These were quickly taken by our friends, and a house 

 12x18 feet was built on land belonging to the father -of one of 

 our members. It is painted yellow, with olive trimmings, and the 

 roof is red. We pay rent to the treasurer of the company, and 

 out of this, at the end of the year, five per cent, is paid on the 

 stock, and the remainder is spent in redeeming the shares, so that 

 finally we shall own the house. We have a flagstaff and a flag. 

 The flag has a red cross on a yellow ground, with ' 760 ' in white 

 on the cross and a red 'A' on each side of the upper arm, and is 



