354 



00 OK, RUSSELL b. 



vice. This provision shall in no case extend to per- 

 sons in the regular army of the United States, and 

 shall cease and become inoperative and void upon 

 the termination of the present war. 



The General Assembly shall prescribe by law, in 

 what manner, and at what time, the votes of electors 

 absent from this State, in the military service of the 

 United States, shall be received, counted, returned, 

 and canvassed. 



In accordance with the constitutional provision 

 this resolution was published with the general 

 laws and continued to the next Session of the 

 Legislature, by which it was again passed by a 

 two-thirds vote, and submitted to the people 

 for ratification. At a special election held on 

 Aug. 15th, the amendment was adopted by the 

 following vote : 



For the amendment 24,280 



Against the amendment 14,237 



Majority 10,043 



By a proclamation of the Governor, dated 

 Sept. 2, the amendment was declared to be a 

 part of the Constitution of the State. 



At the Session of 1864, another resolution 

 was adopted by the House of Representatives, 

 with reference to the elective franchise, em- 

 bodying the following amendment to the Con- 

 stitution : 



Every male citizen of the United States who shall 

 have attained the age of twenty-one years, who shall 

 have resided in this State for a term of one year next 

 preceding, and in the town in which he may offer 

 himself to be admitted to the privileges of an elector, 

 at least six months next preceding the time at which 

 he may so offer himself, and shall be able to read any 

 article of the Constitution, or any section of the stat- 

 utes of this State, and shall sustain a good moral 

 character, shall on taking such oath as may be pre- 

 scribed by law, become an elector. 



This was ordered to be continued to the Ses- 

 sion of 1865, when it will come up for final 

 action, and if readopted, be submitted to the 

 people. 



After an exciting political canvass the fol- 

 lowing Presidential electors were chosen by an 

 average majority of 2,398, in a total vote of 

 86,974; John T. Wait, John P.Elton, James 

 G. Batterson, Samuel C. Hubbard, Sabin L. 

 Sayles, Frederic A. Benjamin. Mr. Elton hav- 

 ing died previous to the meeting of the State 

 Electoral College, Oliver F. Winchester was 

 chosen by the College in his place. The vote 

 of the State was cast for Abraham Lincoln, 

 President, and Andrew Johnson, Vice-Presi- 

 dent. 



COOK, REV. RUSSELL S., an American Con- 

 gregational clergyman, and Secretary of the 

 American Tract Society, born in New Marl- 

 borough, Berkshire County, Mass., March 6th, 

 1811, died at Pleasant Valley, near Poughkeep- 

 sie, IT. Y., September 4th, 1864. 



He made a diligent improvement of his early 

 opportunities for obtaining an education, and 

 at length entered a lawyer's office in Syracuse, 

 N. Y. ; but soon changed his choice of a pro- 

 fession, and entered the Theological Seminary 

 at Auburn. Soon after the close of this course 



of study, he was ordained pastor of the Con 

 gregational church in Lanesboro, Mass., in 

 1836, when 25 years old. His experience as a 

 pastor soon convinced him of the importance 

 of religious books and tracts as aids to the 

 ministry ; he sent to the tract society for sup- 

 plies for his own people, and, his voice failing 

 within a year, his growing interest in this 

 work led him, in 1838, to devote himself wholly 

 to the service of the American Tract Society, 

 especially in visiting cities and large towns as 

 an agent, to promote the systematic sale of 

 good books. 



^ In May, 1839, he was elected one of the so- 

 ciety's corresponding secretaries, and in this 

 office he labored with great success eighteen 

 years, till, in 1856, the failure of his health 

 obliged him to retire. During this period the 

 society received from him a very powerful im- 

 pulse in all its departments, and its sphere of 

 operation and usefulness was greatly enlarged. 

 His first efforts were directed to the expan- 

 sion of the enterprise of volume circulation; 

 and with such success, that in three and a half 

 years preceding May, 1841, 800,000 volumes 

 were put in circulation. This work, however, 

 was mainly done in connection with well-estab- 

 lished congregations, though with constant ef- 

 forts to reach the destitute. 



In 1841, the urgent wants of the more re- 

 mote and unevangelized neighborhoods and 

 sections of the country gave rise to delibera- 

 tions, in which Mr. Cook took a most eager in- 

 terest, and which resulted in the system of 

 American colportage. This system aimed to 

 provide a body of Christian colporteurs, to of- 

 fer religious books at every dwelling in the 

 land, by sale or by gift, in connection with 

 Christian counsel and prayer when practicable. 

 With this great work Mr. Cook was wholly 

 identified, devoting to it his untiring and con- 

 centrated energies ; and so successfully, that 

 in 1856, after fifteen years, the society had on 

 its list 547 colporteurs, besides 115 students 

 who labored only during vacations; its cur- 

 rent receipts having increased from $131,000 

 in 1839, to $415,000 in 1856. 



Early in this period the necessity of a month- 

 ly paper, to be at once a powerful direct means 

 of good, and- the society's organ of communi- 

 cation with the Christian public, gave rise to 

 the establishment of the " American Messen- 

 ger," in 1843. To Mr. Cook this paper is 

 greatly indebted for the counsels that deter- 

 mined its origin, aims, and character, and for 

 its far-reaching influence. Month by month 

 he enlivened and enriched it by able editorials 

 on topics of deep and general interest. In the 

 " Child's Paper," subsequently started the 

 foremost of illustrated papers for children 

 and in the " JSotschafter, or German Messen- 

 ger," he took the deepest interest; and the 

 three papers together have reached a monthly 

 issue of 500,000 copies. 



In the prosecution of his work, Mr. Cook 

 had frequent occasions to journey in almost 



