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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



cord with my wishes and our Constitu- 

 tion and By-Laws in regard to the ab- 

 solute banishment of bigotry of every 

 form, as far as possible, in its adminis- 

 tration? Not hearing any opposition, 

 I take it silence gives consent. 



Finally, I have two recpiests to make. 

 Placed in some conspicuous position 

 within these doors, I would have a tab- 

 let inserted with Paul's injunction : 

 "Prove all things, hold fast that which 

 is good." I should also like to have 

 permission to have inserted somewhere 

 a tablet stating that I have constructed 

 this building in memory <>f my dear 

 wife, Sarah Hart Benedict. She lived 

 here for about 53 years, was very well 

 known among the poor people and 

 those who knew her best can testify 

 that she spent her whole time in mak- 

 ing others happy and had to die to 

 cause a tear. 



And now, Mr. President, I take great 

 pleasure in handing you the key to this 

 edifice — as a token of my gift. 



^: ^ ;{c ^c :J: 



Postscript. 



I did not say in m y little address all 

 I would like to have said and after 

 having finished it occurs to me that T 

 spoke of Puritanism too harshly. T 

 am one of the senior members of the 

 New England Society and my atten- 

 dance at annual dinners confirms my 

 strong belief that from the characteris- 

 tics of the Puritan? this country de- 

 rives its greatest strength in character 

 and ability. 



Returning to the subject of the 

 Lewis mansion, after my brother moved 

 in he invited my father to visit him. 

 My father asked: "Why, Henry, isn't 

 this the old Lewis mansion?" He said: 

 "Yes it is." "At a meeting of the Pres- 

 bytery in 1824 I wa^ ordained to preach 

 in front of that mantelpiece." 



My father settled in Westport on 

 the first of May, 1850. lie received six 

 hundred dollars and finally seven hun- 

 dred dollars per annum. His friends 

 said it was a very acceptable Gospel at 

 the price. 



My father left a little, white Horse- 

 hair trunk fastened with brass nails, in 

 which were some sermons of which 

 he approved in his later years, having 

 torn up those he had preached against 



the Jews and Catholics in his earlier 

 years. 



Stationery was expensive and 

 scarce, so we all saved scraps of paper 

 not written upon and these my father 

 used in writing sermons or headings 

 of discourses. Among his papers I 

 found he had used the back of Deacon 

 Solomon G. Taylor's receipted shoe 

 bill, it was a six months' bill for a 

 family of eight and amounted to three 

 dollars and ninety-four cents. Of 

 course, it contained only the headings 

 of a sermon condensed in some of his 

 hieroglyphic, and 1 suppose it is the 

 only piece of paper in existence, both 

 sides of which were dedicated to the 

 saving of souls. 



Beginning when I was eight years 

 of age, it was my duty to make the 

 matches for the family. With my new 

 ten cent pocketknife I went to Staple's 

 Lumber Yard for little pieces of pine, 

 and having got little slivers therefrom 

 melted sulphur and dipped the slivers 

 therein. The flint and steel had to be 

 kept in good order as well as the tin- 

 der box, and failing to provide these 

 matches I was forced to go out to some 

 neighbor early in the cold, and some- 

 times snow, to get a shovelful of live 

 coals with which to start my fire. 



This penknife w r as one of three con- 

 spicuous toys I had, the other two be- 

 ing a ten cent kaleidoscope and a fifteen 

 cent Noah's ark with its passengers. 

 My lifelong fondness for yachting, 

 which began at that age, induced me 

 to put the ark in a pan of water and it 

 soon became shipwrecked. But the 

 passengers were saved, in rather a de- 

 moralized condition, Shem's wife be- 

 ing stuck to an elephant and the others 

 of the family glued to the animals. 



Now I would not exchange my rec- 

 ollections of that frugal bringing up for 

 the collections of the wide financial 

 vicissitudes that have since entered in- 

 to mv career." 



The inspection of the building, by the 

 guests, followed these ceremonies, and 

 many were the expressions of delight 

 called forth by the completeness and 

 perfection of its appointments in every 

 department. 



The main structure, three stories 

 high, 300 feet long and averaging 130 



