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Art Exhibition. — At the quarterly meeting in Feb- 

 ruary, it was mentioned that the Misses Mary E. and 

 Abby O. Williams of Salem, would be willing to deposit 

 in the Rooms of the Institute, temporarily, their valuably 

 collection of Paintings, many of which were copied by 

 them from the "old masters," during a residence of sev- 

 eral years in Rome. After some conversation, the subject 

 was referred to the Curators of the department of Art, 

 to make the necessary arrangements, and to tender to the 

 ladies the sincere thanks of the Institute for this liberal 

 proposal. The collection was received on Thursday, 

 March 4, and it was deemed expedient, with so fine a 

 basis, to have an Art Exhibition, and to solicit contribu- 

 tions to this end, though not without some slight misgiv- 

 ings of its success, and thus fulfilling a long cherished 

 desire of those connected with the Institute. 



The Exhibition was opened Thursday, March 11, and 

 continued to Friday evening, March 19. The result was 

 a surprise. to all parties interested. From the first day 

 that notice was given, pictures of all kinds were sent in 

 with the greatest liberality, until some three or four hun- 

 dred had been collected and hung upon the walls of the 

 exhibition room. They comprised oil paintings, water 

 colors, charcoal sketches, pen and ink drawings, and en- 

 gravings ; among them were works of decided merit. 

 The sides of the hall were almost entirely covered with 

 cloth of a maroon color, against which the pictures were 

 suspended. The alcoves, which seemed at first to pre- 

 sent some difiiculties, were fitted up with frames, arranged 

 so as to produce indentations or recesses in the sides of 

 the hall, and gave an extremely pleasing efiect. All 

 four sides of the room were completely covered with pic- 

 tures ; a long array of gas burners fitted with reflectors, 

 threw down upon them a brilliant light, so that the 



