134 



the same for the purposes of the proposed library. That 

 within six months to give a certain specified lot of 

 land to the Trustees, and $30,000 on condition that a 

 further sum of $30,000 be raised and paid to the said 

 Trustees for the uses and purposes aforesaid, and that the 

 city government in accepting these funds shall assume 

 and bear the current expenses of library, grounds, and~ 

 appurtenances, after the building shall have been com- 

 pleted and furnished. The city chose six Trustees, Aug. 

 1, 1873, and accepted the proposals Nov. 17, 1873. The 

 building was accepted and occupied in May, 1875, dedi- 

 cated Nov. 11, 1875, and opened for public use the fol- 

 lowing week. 



The building is 72 feet front on Summer street and ex- 

 tends back 55 feet. Height of different stories as fol- 

 lows : Basement, 12 feet; first story, 16 feet: second, 

 20 feet. Cost of building and furnishing $49,543.32 ; 

 books purchased $16,528 ; making the total cost, including 

 binding, moving, etc., $67,711.78 ; to this is to be added 

 the valuation of the land $12,000, making the value of the 

 whole property $79,711.78. 



The whole number of volumes in the library January 1, 

 1880, was 29,235 ; additions, during the year 1879, 2,411. 

 Trustees, E. J. M. Hale, James H. Carlton, James E. 

 Gale, R. Stuart Chase, John L. Hobson, John Crowell. 

 Librarian, Edward Capen. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



The afternoon session was held on the floor of the large 

 barn extemporized for the occasion into a lecture room ; 

 as the large doors swung open, row after row of settees 

 appeared in the foreground, and beyond, in the rear of 

 the speaker's table, framed in the open doorway a beau- 

 tiful piece of landscape. The fragrant hay mow was 



