EZRA CORNELL- 1864-1874 313 



that could improve the community in which he lived 

 was matter of concern to him. He took the lead in es- 

 tablishing "Cascadilla Place/' in order to give a very 

 gifted woman an opportunity to show her abilities in 

 administering hydropathic treatment to disease; his 

 public library, when I first visited Ithaca, was just 

 completed. 



He never showed the slightest approach to display or 

 vanity regarding any of these things, and most of them I 

 heard of first, at a later period, from others. 



Although his religious ideas were very far from those 

 generally considered orthodox, he had a deep sympathy 

 with every good effort for religion and morality, no mat- 

 ter by whom made ; and he contributed freely to churches 

 of every name and to good purposes of every sort. He 

 had quaint ways at times in making such gifts, and from 

 the many stories showing these I select one as character- 

 istic. During the Civil War, the young women of the vil- 

 lage held large sewing-circles, doing work for the soldiers. 

 When Mr. Cornell was asked to contribute to their funds, 

 he declined, to the great surprise of those who asked 

 him, and said dryly : * ' Of course these women don 't really 

 come together to sew for the soldiers ; they come together 

 to gossip. " This was said, no doubt, with that peculiar 

 twinkle of the eye which his old friends can well remem- 

 ber ; but, on the young ladies protesting that he did them 

 injustice, he answered : ' l If you can prove that I am wrong, 

 I will gladly contribute ; if you will only sew together all 

 one afternoon, and no one of you speak a word, I will give 

 you a hundred dollars." The society met, and complete 

 silence reigned. The young men of the community, hear- 

 ing of this, and seeing an admirable chance to tease their 

 fair friends, came in large numbers to the sewing-circle, 

 and tried to engage them in conversation. At first their 

 attempts were in vain ; but, finally, to a question skilfully 

 put, one of the young ladies made a reply. This broke 

 the spell. Of course, the whole assembly were very un- 

 happy; but, when all was told to Mr. Cornell, he said: 



