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 '''^ LIBRARY^ 
 
 ^NtVCPSiTY OP
 
 ^ nocn 
 
 Pra/r //ew '^z 
 
 THE 
 
 Enoch Pratt Free Library 
 
 OF BALTIMORE CITY 
 
 Letters and Documents Relating to its 
 Foundation and Organization 
 
 WITH THE 
 
 DEDICATORY ADDRESSES AND EXERCISES 
 January 4, i 886. 
 
 BALTIMORE 
 
 1886
 
 TRUSTEES. 
 
 ENOCH PRATT, CHARLES J. BONAPARTE, 
 
 GEORGE WM. BROWN, GEORGE B. COLE, 
 
 NATHL. H. MORISON, LL.D., EDWARD STABLER, Jr., 
 HENRY JANES, JAMES A. GARY, 
 
 JOHN W. McCOY. 
 
 OFFICERS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES. 
 
 Enoch Pratt, President. 
 George B. Cole, Vice-President. 
 Edward Stabler, Jr., Secretary. 
 Henry Janes, Treasurer. 
 
 COMMITTEES OF THE BOARD. 
 Executive Covimittee. Library Committee. 
 
 Enoch Pratt, John W. McCoy, 
 
 James A. Gary, Nathl. H. Morison, LL.D., 
 
 Henry Janes. George B. Cole, 
 
 Committee on Accounts. 
 
 Edward Stabler, Jr., 
 Charles J. Bonaparte, 
 George Wm. Brown. 
 
 OFFICERS OF THE LIBRARY. 
 
 Lewis H. Steiner, M. D., Librarian. 
 Charles Evans, Assist. Librarian. 
 Henry C. Wagner, Registrar. 
 
 Presa 0/ laaac Friedenwatd, Baltimore.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 t- 
 
 LETTERS : page. 
 
 From Enoch Pratt to Mayor and City Council, .... 5 
 " Hon. Wm. P. Whyte, Mayor, to City Council, . . 8 
 *' Hon. Wm. P. Whyte, Mayor, to City Council, . . 10 
 " THE Law Officers of the City to the Mayor, . . 1 1 
 '*• Hon. Wm. P. Whyte, Mayor, to City Council, . . 30 
 <« Enoch Pratt to the Board of Trustees, .... 48 
 
 Original Action of the City Council 9 
 
 Action of the City Council Accepting Deed from Enoch 
 
 Pratt and Wife, 46 
 
 Enabling Act Passed bythe General Assemblyof Maryland, 13 
 Joint Resolution of Thanks to Enoch Pratt Passed by the 
 
 General Assembly, 18 
 
 Ordinance of the City Council Providing for the Perpetual 
 
 Annuity, etc., 20 
 
 Ordinance of the City Council Providing for the Invest- 
 ment of the Library Fund, 33 
 
 Election by the Citizens of Baltimore to Ratify the Enabling 
 
 Act and Ordinances, 28 
 
 Mayor's Proclamation of the Result of the Election, . . 29 
 Deed from Enoch Pratt and Wife to Mayor and City Council, 36 
 
 Dedication Ceremonies, January 4, 1886, 51 
 
 Programme, 52 
 
 Prayer by Rev. Charles R. Weld, B. D., 53 
 
 Address by Hon. James Hodges, Mayor of Baltimore, . 55 
 
 Response of Enoch Pratt, 68 
 
 Oration by the Hon. George Wm. Brown, of the Board 
 
 of Trustees, 70 
 
 Address by Hon. J. Morrison Harris, of Baltimore, . . 86 
 '* " Hon. F. C. Latrobe, Ex-Mayor of Baltimore, 98 
 
 " " Dr. Lewis H. Steiner, Librarian, loi 
 
 Description OF Central Library Building, 108 
 
 '* " Branch Library Buildings, 115 
 
 Biographical Sketch OF Enoch Pratt 117
 
 LETTER OF ENOCH PRATT 
 
 Baltimore, January 21, 1882. 
 To the Honorable the Mayor and 
 
 City Council of Baltimore. 
 
 I have for some years contemplated establishing a 
 Free Circulating- Library, for the benefit of our whole 
 City, and in pursuance of this plan I have entered 
 into a contract to erect a fireproof building on my 
 Mulberry street lot, capable of holding 200,000 vol- 
 umes — my purpose being to have branches con- 
 nected with it in the four quarters of the City, under 
 the same management. 
 
 The excavation for the foundation has been com- 
 menced, and the building will be well advanced this 
 year, and completed in the summer of 1883. It will 
 cost, when ready for occupancy, about two hundred 
 and twenty-five thousand dollars ($225,000), and upon 
 its completion I propose to deed it to the City. The 
 title to all the books and property is to be vested in 
 the City, and I will pay to your Honorable Body, upon 
 its completion, the additional sum of eight hundred 
 and thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty-
 
 6 
 
 three and a third dollars ($833,3331^), making one 
 million fifty-eight thousand three hundred and thirty- 
 three and one-third dollars, provided the City will 
 grant and create an annuity of fifty thousand dollars 
 ($50,000) per annum forever, payable quarterly to the 
 Board of Trustees, for the support and maintenance 
 of the Library and its branches. 
 
 I propose that a Board of nine Trustees be incorpo- 
 rated for the management of " The Pratt Free Library 
 of the City of Baltimore," the Board to be selected 
 by myself from our best citizens, and all vacancies 
 which shall occur, shall be filled by the Board. The 
 articles of incorporation will contain a provision that 
 no Trustee or officer shall be appointed or removed 
 on religious or political grounds. The Trustees are to 
 receive from the City the quarterly payments, and to 
 expend it at their discretion for the purposes of the 
 Library. 
 
 It is believed that this annual sum will afford a suf- 
 ficient fund for the purchase of books, for establish- 
 ing the branches, and for the general management. 
 
 The Trustees will be required to make an annual 
 report to the Mayor and City Council of their pro- 
 ceedings, and of the condition of the Library, and 
 the report will contain a full account of the money 
 received and expended. 
 
 This plan is suggested not without due considera- 
 tion of the power of the City to carry it out. The
 
 City is expressly authorized by its charter to accept 
 trusts " for any general corporation purpose, or for 
 the general purposes of education " ; and although 
 its power of creating debts is limited by the Consti- 
 tution of the State, yet as the property of the Library 
 is to belong to the City, and as it will receive a sum 
 of money to be disposed of as it pleases, with the 
 engagement only to pay an annual sum for the sup- 
 port of its own Institution, it is believed that such a 
 transaction will not involve the creation of a debt 
 within the meaning of the constitutional prohibition. 
 
 I suggest that if the money to be paid by me as 
 above stated, were added to the Sinking Fund, and 
 the Interest carefully funded, it would, in no very long 
 time, pay off the debt of the City ; but this is intended 
 only as a suggestion, and the disposal of the money 
 is left to your Honorable Body. 
 
 If, however, your Honorable Body should, on mature 
 consideration, be of the opinion that the annual pay- 
 ments as proposed would involve the creation of a 
 debt, authority for that may be obtained by comply- 
 ing with the provisions of the Constitution ; that is, 
 the debt may be created by the City, provided it be 
 authorized by an act of the General Assembly of 
 Maryland, and by an ordinance of the Mayor and 
 City Council of Baltimore, submitted to the legal 
 voters of the City of Baltimore at such time and 
 place as may be fixed by said ordinance, and ap-
 
 8 
 
 proved by a majority of the votes cast at such thne 
 and place. I cannot but think that such an authority 
 from the General Assembly, and from the Mayor and 
 City Council of Baltimore, and from a majority of the 
 legal voters of the City, would be cheerfully given. 
 
 The plan proposed for the support and manage- 
 ment of the Library is the result of long and careful 
 consideration, and, I am satisfied, is well adapted to 
 promote the great object in view, the free circulation 
 of the books of a large and ever-growing Library 
 among the people of the whole City. I trust that it 
 will receive the approval of your Honorable Body, 
 and of the citizens of Baltimore. 
 
 Enoch Pratt. 
 
 Mayor's Office, City Hall, 
 
 Baltimore, January 23, 1882. 
 To the Honorable the Members of the 
 
 First and Second Branches of the City Council^ 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 I transmit herewith a communication from Enoch 
 Pratt, Esq., dated January 21, 1882, proposing the 
 erection and transfer to the City, for public use, of a 
 Library Building, upon certain terms therein indi- 
 cated. 
 
 The tender of this munificent gift to the City is 
 worthy of all praise, and I commend to your careful
 
 consideration the conditions with which the donation 
 is coupled. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 Wm. Pinkney Whyte, 
 
 Mayor. 
 
 ACTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL. 
 
 Baltimore, January 31, 1882. 
 
 Mr. Wilmer, from the Joint Standing Committee 
 on Ways and Means, submitted the following report 
 and accompanying resolution, which were read: 
 
 The Joint Standing Committee on Ways and 
 Means, to whom was referred a communication from 
 Mr. Enoch Pratt in relation to the donation of a Pub- 
 lic Library to the City of Baltimore, having given 
 the matter a careful consideration, report favorably 
 thereon, and ask the adoption of the resolution as 
 
 annexed. 
 
 Skipwith Wilmer, 
 
 Wm. E. B RODERICK, 
 
 D. Caldwell Ireland, 
 
 First Branch. 
 D. GiRAUD Wright, 
 H. G. Fledderman, 
 
 M. E. MOONEY, 
 
 Second Branch.
 
 10 
 
 Resolved by the Mayor and City Council of Balti- 
 more that, in behalf of the people of Baltimore, they 
 do gratefully accept the munificent gift of Mr. Enoch 
 Pratt of the sum of $1,058,000, offered by him for 
 the establishment of a Free Public Library. 
 
 That Mr. Pratt be requested to have the Trustees 
 whom he proposes to appoint, organize under the 
 name of " The Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore 
 City," so that his name may be inseparably associated 
 with the Institution which he has founded, and the City 
 which will owe so much to his wise generosity. 
 
 That the law officers of the City be requested to 
 ascertain what legislation is required to enable the 
 City to accept the trust upon the terms proposed by 
 Mr. Pratt, and to report the same to the City Council, 
 with a draft of the necessary acts or ordinances, at as 
 early a day as possible. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Wilmer, the resolution was read 
 a second time, by special order, and adopted. 
 
 Mayor's Office, City Hall, 
 
 Baltimore, February 14, 1882. 
 
 To the Honorable the Members of the 
 
 First Branch of the City Cotmcil, 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 In obedience to the terms of the resolution of the 
 
 Mayor and City Council, approved February 2, 1882,
 
 11 
 
 I transmit to you a communication from the City 
 Counsellor and the City Solicitor, covering a bill for 
 presentation to the Legislature " to enable the Mayor 
 and City Council of Baltimore to accept a donation 
 from Enoch Pratt for the establishment and perpetual 
 endowment of 'a Free Public Library in said City, to 
 be kftOwn as " The Enoch Pratt Free Library of Bal- 
 timore City," etc., etc. 
 
 As will be observed, the names of the Trustees are 
 not inserted, but are to be presented by Mr. Pratt 
 when the bill is introduced into the Leo^islature. 
 Very respectfully. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 Wm. Pinkney Whyte, 
 
 Mayor. 
 
 Law Department, City Hall, 
 
 Baltimore, February ii, 1882. 
 Hon. W. Pinkney Whyte, 
 
 Mayor of Baltimore City, 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 In accordance with the joint resolution of the 
 Mayor and City Council, approved February 2d, 
 instructing the law officers of the City to draft the 
 necessary measures of legislation to enable the City 
 to accept the offer of Mr. Enoch Pratt to found and 
 endow a Free Public Library in this City, we beg
 
 12 
 
 leave to submit the accompanying draft of an en- 
 abling act, to be passed by the Legislature, such as 
 in our judgment would be required to enable the 
 City to avail itself of Mr. Pratt's offer upon the terms 
 proposed by him. While the draft of a bill submitted 
 herewith will be found, we think, sufficient for this 
 purpose, we are also assured that its provisions 
 accord with the views and wishes of Mr. Pratt. 
 
 The blank left in the second section for the names 
 of the Trustees (to be nominated by Mr. Pratt) is 
 designed to be filled after the bill has been intro- 
 duced into the Legislature. As the passage of the 
 enabling act and the incorporation of the Trustees 
 should properly precede the passage of the ordi- 
 nance, the terms of which will necessarily have to 
 conform to those of the act as passed by the Legis- 
 lature, no draft of an ordinance is at present sub- 
 mitted. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 James L. McLane, 
 
 City Counsellor. 
 
 Thomas W. Hall, 
 
 City Solicitor.
 
 ENABLING ACT PASSED BY THE GENERAL 
 ASSEMBL Y OF MAR YLAND, 
 
 January Session, 1882, Chapter 181. 
 
 An Act to enabl^ the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore 
 to accept a donation from Enoch Pratt for the estab- 
 lishment and perpetual endowment of a Free Public 
 Library in said City, to be known as " The Enoch Pratt 
 Free Library of Baltimore City," and to provide for the 
 appointment and incorporation of Trustees for the man- 
 agement thereof. 
 
 Whereas, Enoch Pratt, of the City of Baltimore, has, 
 with signal generosity, public spirit and philanthropy, 
 offered to establish an institution to be known as 
 " The Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore City," 
 and for that purpose has agreed to erect upon a lot on 
 Mulberry street in said City, owned by him, a Library 
 building, to cost the sum of two hundred and twenty- 
 five thousand dollars, or thereabout, and to convey 
 the said lot and building when completed to the 
 Mayor and City Council of Baltimore ; and also to 
 pay the sum of eight hundred and thirty-three thou- 
 sand three hundred and thirty-three dollars and thirty- 
 three cents to the said Mayor and City Council of 
 Baltimore, provided the said Mayor and City Council 
 will accept said conveyance and said sum of money, 
 and agree by an ordinance to grant and create an 
 annuity and to pay annually to a Board of nine Trus-
 
 14 
 
 tees and their successors the sum of fifty thousand 
 dollars perpetually hereafter forever, in equal quarter- 
 yearly payments, for the purchase and maintenance 
 of the said Library, with not less than four branches 
 in different parts of the City, said branches to be 
 established by said Trustees within such time as can 
 be reasonably accomplished out of said quarterly pay- 
 ments, the title to said Library, its branches, books, and 
 all other property, to be vested in the Mayor and City 
 Council of Baltimore, the control and management of 
 the said Library and other property to be in said 
 Board of Trustees : 
 
 And whej^eas, the plan thus proposed offers the 
 means of perpetually promoting and diffusing knowl- 
 edge and education among the people of the City of 
 Baltimore, and it is therefore proper that full power 
 should be conferred on the corporation of the Mayor 
 and City Council of Baltimore to avail itself thereof 
 for the purposes aforesaid ; therefore : 
 
 Section i. Be it enacted by the General Assembly 
 of Maryland that the Mayor and City Council of 
 Baltimore be and they are hereby authorized and 
 empowered to accept the said proposal of the said 
 Enoch Pratt as set forth in the preamble to this act; 
 and full power and authority. are hereby given to said 
 Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, upon the con- 
 veyance of said lot of ground and the improvements 
 aforesaid, and upon the payment to said Mayor and
 
 15 
 
 City Council by the said Enoch Pratt of said sum of 
 eight hundred and thirty-three thousand three hun- 
 dred and thirt}^-three dollars and thirty-three cents, to 
 contract and agree by ordinance, to be approved by 
 the legal voters of said City as hereinafter provided, 
 to pay perpetually forever to the Board of Trustees 
 of " The Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore 
 City," as hereinafter provided for, the sum of fifty 
 thousand dollars per annum in equal quarterly pay- 
 ments forever. 
 
 Section 2. And be it further enacted that Enoch 
 Pratt, George Wm. Brown, Nathaniel H. Morison, 
 Henry Janes, Charles J. Bonaparte, George B. Cole, 
 Edward Stabler, Jr., James A. Gary, John W. McCoy, 
 and their successors, be and they are hereby consti- 
 tuted and appointed the Board of Trustees of " The 
 Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore City"; and 
 they and their successors are hereby constituted and 
 appointed a body politic and corporate by the name 
 of "The Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore 
 City," with power, and are required to fill any vacan- 
 cies in said Board occurring by resignation, disability 
 or otherwise, and to perpetuate their succession, and 
 to do all necessary things for the control and manage- 
 ment of said Library and its branches, and to perform 
 the duties imposed on them by this act, and to receive 
 from said Mayor and City Council of Baltimore said 
 sum of fifty thousand dollars per annum as afore-
 
 16 
 
 said, and expend the same for the purposes of said 
 Library in such manner as they shall think proper, 
 and to make all necessary by-laws and regulations for 
 the government and administration of said trust, and 
 for the appointment of the necessary officers and 
 aeents : Provided that none but citizens of Maryland, 
 actually residing in the City of Baltimore, shall be 
 appointed or elected as members of said Board ; and 
 provided, further, that none of the successors of said 
 Board, or any officer thereof, shall be appointed or 
 removed on political or religious grounds, and said 
 Board shall have power to remove any Trustee who 
 shall fail for six months to attend the meetings of said 
 Board. Said Trustees shall make an annual report to 
 the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore of their 
 proceedings, and of the condition of said Library and 
 its branches, with a full account of the moneys 
 received and expended by them. 
 
 Section 3. And be it further enacted and ordained 
 that it shall be the duty of the Mayor and City Coun- 
 cil of Baltimore to appoint a Visitor, who shall as often 
 as once a year examine the books and accounts of 
 said Trustees and make a report thereof to the Mayor 
 and City Council of Baltimore ; and said Mayor and 
 City Council shall, in case of any abuse of their 
 powers by said Trustees or their successors, have the 
 right to resort to the proper courts to enforce the per- 
 formance of the trust hereby imposed on them.
 
 17 
 
 Section 4. And be it enacted that the said real 
 estate and personal property vested in said Mayor 
 and City Council by virtue of this act, and to become 
 so by future purchase under the provisions thereof, 
 and the fund and franchises of " The Enoch Pratt 
 Free Library oi" Baltimore City," shall be exempt 
 from all State and municipal taxes forever. 
 
 Section 5. And be it further enacted, that before 
 the ordinance which the Mayor and City Council of 
 Baltimore are hereby authorized and empowered to 
 pass, for the purpose of accepting said donation and 
 entering into said contract and agreement for the 
 payment of said sum of fifty thousand dollars annu- 
 ally for the maintenance of said Library, shall take 
 effect, the said ordinance shall be approved by a 
 majority of the votes of the legal voters of said City, 
 cast at the time and places to be appointed by said 
 ordinance for submitting the same to the legal voters 
 of said City, as required by Section 7 of Article XI 
 of the Constitution of Maryland. 
 
 Section 6. And be it enacted that this act shall 
 take effect from the date of its passage. 
 
 Approved this thirtieth day of March, 1882. 
 
 William T. Hamilton, 
 
 Governor. 
 Otis Keilholtz, 
 Speaker of the Hotise of Delegates. 
 George Hawkins Williams, 
 
 President of the Senate.
 
 JOINT RESOLUTIONS, 
 
 Assented to by the General Assembly of Mary- 
 land AT January Session, 1882. 
 
 Joint Resolutions in relation to the gift by Enoch Pratt, 
 Esquire, of the City of Baltimore, of over a million 
 dollars to the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore for 
 the establishment of a Free Circulating Library. 
 
 Whereas, Enoch Pratt, of Baltimore, has recently 
 tendered to the Corporation of that City the munifi- 
 cent gift of over a million of dollars for the establish- 
 ment and perpetuation of a Free Circulating Library, 
 under conditions whose practical wisdom commends 
 them to universal approval ; and, 
 
 Whereas, neither the value and importance of such 
 an Institution, nor the noble and generous purposes 
 of its founder, can be measured even by the splendid 
 liberality of its endowment ; be it therefore 
 
 Resolved, By the General Assembly of Maryland, 
 that the name of Enoch Pratt be added to the list of 
 those public benefactors whom the people of Mary- 
 land will hold in perpetual and grateful remembrance ; 
 and it is further 
 
 Resolved, That, in placing this acknowledgment 
 and tribute upon the permanent records of the State, 
 it is the desire and purpose of the General Assembly
 
 19 
 
 not merely to signify their appreciation of a great and 
 disinterested public service, but especially to honor a 
 conspicuous example of the patriotism and public 
 spirit which give to wealth its largest dignity and lift 
 it to its highest uses. Be it further 
 
 Resolved, Th^t a copy of these resolutions, signed 
 by the, President of the Senate and the Speaker of 
 the House of Delegates, be transmitted to Mr. Pratt, 
 in further token of respect. 
 
 Otis Keilholtz, 
 Speaker of the House of Delegates. 
 
 George Hawkins Williams, 
 
 President of the Senate.
 
 SUBSEQUENT ACTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL 
 
 OF BAL TIMORE. 
 
 Ordinance No. io6 of 1882. 
 
 An Ordinance accepting, on the part of the Mayor and City 
 Council of Baltimore, the lot of ground, and improve- 
 ments thereon, situate on Mulberry street, in the City 
 of Baltimore, of the estimated value of two hundred and 
 twenty-five thousand dollars, and of the sum of eight 
 hundred and thirty-three thousand three hundred and 
 thirty-three dollars and thirty-three cents, from Enoch 
 Pratt, of the City of Baltimore, and contracting and 
 agreeing on the part of said Mayor and City Council of 
 the City of Baltimore with said Enoch Pratt for the 
 payment of an annuity of fifty thousand dollars, payable 
 in equal quarterly payments, by said Mayor and City 
 Council to the Board of Trustees of " The Enoch Pratt 
 Free Library of Baltimore City," a corporation incor- 
 porated by the General Assembly of Maryland, and to 
 provide for the submission of this ordinance to the legal 
 voters of Baltimore City, as required by said act and by 
 Section 7 of Article XI of the Constitution of Maryland. 
 
 Whereas, Enoch Pratt, of the City of Baltimore, has 
 agreed to establish a Free Public Library in the City 
 of Baltimore, to be known as " The Enoch Pratt Free 
 Library of Baltimore City," and has agreed to erect 
 upon a lot of ground on Mulberry street, owned by 
 him, a Library Building of the estimated cost of two 
 hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, or there-
 
 21 
 
 about, and has agreed to convey said lot and prem- 
 ises to the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, and 
 also to pay unto said Mayor and City Council the sum 
 of eight hundred and thirty-three thousand three hun- 
 dred and thirty-three dollars and thirty-three cents, pro- 
 vided the said IV^ayor and City Council will accept said 
 conveyance and said sum of money, and agree by ordi- 
 nance to grant and create an annuity, and to pay 
 annually to a Board of Trustees, and their successors, 
 the sum of fifty thousand dollars perpetually hereafter, 
 forever, in equal quarterly payments, for the purchase 
 and maintenance of said Library, with not less than four 
 branches in different parts of the City, the' said 
 branches to be established by said Trustees within 
 such time as can be reasonably accomplished out of 
 said quarterly payments; the title to said Library, 
 its branches, books, and all other property, to be 
 vested in the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, 
 the control and management of said Library and 
 property to be in said Board of Trustees. 
 
 And whereas, the General Assembly of Mary- 
 land, by an act passed at its January session, eighteen 
 hundred and eighty-two, chapter one hundred and 
 eighty-one, authorized and empowered the said Mayor 
 and City Council to accept the said proposal of the 
 said Enoch Pratt, and granted full power and author- 
 ity unto the said Mayor and City Council, upon the 
 conveyance of said lot, and the improvements afore-
 
 22 
 
 said, and upon said payment of said sum of money to 
 it, by the said Enoch Pratt, to contract and agree by 
 ordinance, to be approved by the legal voters of said 
 City as hereinafter provided, to pay perpetually to 
 the Board of Trustees of "The Enoch Pratt Free 
 Library of Baltimore City" the annual sum of fifty 
 thousand dollars in equal quarterly payments forever. 
 And whereas, said "Enoch Pratt Free Library of 
 Baltimore City " has been duly incorporated by said 
 act of said General Assembly of Maryland, and said 
 Enoch Pratt is desirous to make the conveyance 
 aforesaid, and to pay unto said Mayor and City 
 Council the said sum of eight hundred and thirty- 
 three thousand three hundred and thirty-three dollars 
 and thirty-three cents ; therefore. 
 
 Section i. Be it enacted and ordained by the 
 Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, in pursuance 
 of the power and authority vested in it by said act of 
 the General Assembly of Maryland, and for the pur- 
 pose of perpetually promoting and diffusing knowl- 
 edge and education among the people of the City of 
 Baltimore, that the said proposed conveyance of the 
 said Library Building and premises, situate upon 
 Mulberry street, as aforesaid, and the said proposed 
 payment of eight hundred and thirty-three thousand 
 three hundred and thirty-three dollars and thirty-three 
 cents, be and they are hereby agreed to be accepted 
 by said Mayor and City Council of Baltimore. And,
 
 23 
 
 for the purpose of carrying Into effect the said 
 proposed object, the said Mayor and City Council of 
 Baltimore by this ordinance doth hereby contract and 
 agree with the said Enoch Pratt, and with the said 
 " Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore City," the 
 body corporate aforesaid, in consideration of said 
 conveyance of said Library building and premises, 
 and of the payment of said sum of money unto it, to 
 grant and create an annuity of fifty thousand dollars, 
 to be paid perpetually hereafter, forever, in equal 
 quarterly payments, for the purposes and maintenance 
 of said Library, said annuity to be paid unto the 
 Board of Trustees of said body corporate and their 
 successors forever, to be applied by them to the pur- 
 poses and maintenance of said Library as established 
 and defined in the act of incorporation thereof. 
 
 Section 2. And be it further enacted and ordained 
 that, upon the conveyance by said Enoch Pratt, or his 
 representatives, by a valid deed, of the clear, unen- 
 cumbered fee-simple estate in said lot of ground, 
 with the improvements thereon, situate on Mulberry 
 street, in said City of Baltimore, unto the said Mayor 
 and City Council, and upon the payment by said 
 Enoch Pratt, or his representatives, unto said Mayor 
 and City Council of said sum of eight hundred and 
 thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty-three 
 dollars and thirty-three cents, the Mayor of the 
 City of Baltimore at the time of the execution of
 
 24 
 
 said deed is hereby audiorized and empowered 
 to join in the execution of the same for and o'n 
 behalf of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, 
 and to contract, covenant and agree for, and on their 
 Ibehalf to pay perpetually thereafter, the yearly sum 
 'Of fifty thousand dollars in equal quarterly payments 
 unto the Trustees of " The Enoch Pratt Free Library 
 .of Baltimore City " and their successors forever ; the 
 said " Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore City " 
 .also joining in said deed, and agreeing to appropriate 
 said sum for its corporate purposes, and to make an 
 annual report to the Mayor and City Council of Bal- 
 timore of the proceedings of said body corporate, 
 and of the condition of said Library and its branches, 
 <with a full account of the moneys received and 
 expended by said Trustees, 
 
 Section 3. Be it further enacted and ordained 
 that this ordinance shall be submitted to the legal 
 voters of the City of Baltimore for their approval or 
 disapproval, at the election to be held on the fourth 
 Wednesday in October, eighteen hundred and eighty- 
 two, at which election each voter who may approve 
 the adoption of this ordinance shall deposit a ticket 
 or ballot in the separate box hereinafter provided for, 
 on which ticket or ballot shall be written or printed 
 .the words, " For the ordinance of the Mayor and City 
 Council of Baltimore creating an annuity for the 
 lestablishment of ' The Enoch Pratt Free Library of
 
 25 
 
 Baltimore City'; and each voter who may disapprove 
 of this ordinance shall deposit a ballot or ticket on 
 which shall be written or printed the words, "Against 
 the ordinance of the Mayor and City Council of 
 Baltimore creating an annuity for the establishment 
 of ' The Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore 
 City.'-" 
 
 Section 4. And be It further enacted and ordained 
 that, immediately after the closing of the polls, the 
 judges of election of the several precincts shall count 
 the ballots deposited at said election, and shall make 
 return to the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore 
 of the number of votes cast " for the ordinance of 
 the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore creating an 
 annuity for the establishment of ' The Enoch Pratt Free 
 Library of Baltimore City'" and the number of votes 
 cast " against the ordinance of the Mayor and City 
 Council of Baltimore creating an annuity for the 
 establishment of ' The Enoch Pratt Free Library of 
 Baltimore City ' " ; and If a majority of the votes cast 
 at said election shall be in favor of this ordinance, the 
 said Mayor shall certify the fact to the President of 
 each branch of the City Council, and sections one and 
 two of this ordinance shall take effect on and from 
 the date of said certificate. 
 
 Section 5. And be it further enacted and ordained 
 that a copy of this ordinance, and notice of the day 
 of holding such election, shall be published In at
 
 26 
 
 least four of the daily newspapers of the City of Balti- 
 more twice a week for two weeks preceding said 
 election. 
 
 Section 6. And be it further enacted and ordained 
 that the City Comptroller be and he is hereby 
 authorized and directed to have suitable ballot-boxes 
 prepared and furnished to the judges of election at 
 the designated places of voting in the precincts of the 
 City of Baltimore, for the reception of the tickets 
 cast for or against this ordinance ; and he is further 
 authorized and directed to have tickets of the descrip- 
 tion mentioned above printed and placed at all the 
 polls of the said city on the day of said election ; and 
 that the City Register be and he is hereby author- 
 ized and directed to pay the expense of the prepara- 
 tion of said ballot-boxes, and of the printing of said 
 tickets, and the publication of said notice, and other 
 expenses therewith connected, out of any money in 
 the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. 
 
 Ordinance examined by the Committee on Enroll- 
 ment and found correct. 
 
 Attested by W. Starr Gephart, 
 
 D, G. Wright, 
 J. B. Wentz. 
 
 I. Parker Veazey, 
 
 President of First Branch. 
 Alvin Robertson, 
 
 President of Second Branch.
 
 27 
 
 Was presented to the Mayor, June 22, 1882, and 
 
 on July 15, 1882, endorsed 
 
 Approved, Wm. Pinkney Whyte, 
 
 Mayor. 
 John A. Robb, 
 
 Register.
 
 NO TICE OF ELECTION. 
 
 Notice is hereby given to the legal voters of the 
 City of Baltimore, that an election will be held in the 
 several precincts of the City on the fourth Wednes- 
 day of October, 1882 (being the twenty-fifth day of 
 the month), for the approval or disapproval of the 
 following ordinance, passed by the Mayor and City 
 Council of Baltimore — viz. : 
 
 " An ordinance accepting, on the part of the Mayor 
 and City Council of Baltimore, the lot of ground and 
 improvements thereon situate on Mulberry street, in 
 the City of Baltimore, of the estimated value of two 
 hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars and of the 
 sum of eight hundred and thirty-three thousand three 
 hundred and thirty-three dollars and thirty-three cents, 
 from Enoch Pratt, of the City of Baltimore, and con- 
 tracting and agreeing on the part of said Mayor and 
 City Council of the City of Baltimore, with said 
 Enoch Pratt, for the payment of an annuity of fifty 
 thousand dollars, payable in equal quarterly payments 
 by said Mayor and City Council to the Board of 
 Trustees of 'The Enoch Pratt Free Library of Balti- 
 more City,' a corporation incorporated by the General 
 Assembly of Maryland, and to provide for the sub- 
 mission of this ordinance to the legal voters of 
 Baltimore Cit}', as required by said act, and by 
 Section 7 of Article XI of the Constitution of 
 Maryland."
 
 29 
 
 The polls will be opened at 6 o'clock A. M., and 
 closed at 6 o'clock P. M. 
 
 John F. Hunter, 
 
 Sheriff of Baltimore City. 
 
 Mayor's Office, City Hall, 
 
 Baltimore, November 6, 1882. 
 To the President of the First Branch City Council, 
 Sir : — In pursuance of the 4th Section of an ordi- 
 nance accepting, on the part of the Mayor and City 
 Council of Baltimore, the lot of ground and improve- 
 ments on Mulberry street from Enoch Pratt, Esq., etc., 
 etc., I hereby certify that I have received the returns of 
 the judges of election of the number of votes cast for 
 said ordinance, and the number of votes cast against 
 it, and I further certify that a majority of the votes 
 have been cast in favor of the ordinance. 
 
 The returns of said vote are herewith transmitted to 
 the First Branch of the City Council. 
 
 Yours very respectfully, 
 
 Wm. Pinkney Whyte, 
 
 Mayor. 
 
 I hereby certify that the aforegoing is a true copy 
 of a letter received by the First Branch City Council 
 on November 6th, A. D. 1882. 
 
 A. V. MiLHOLLAND, 
 
 Chief Clerk.
 
 FURTHER PROCEEDINGS OF THE CITY 
 
 COUNCIL. 
 
 April 23, 1883. 
 
 The following communication was transmitted by 
 the Mayor to the City Council, covering a copy of 
 an ordinance entitled " An ordinance authorizing the 
 investment in Baltimore City stock of the money pro- 
 posed to be paid by Enoch Pratt for the purpose 
 of establishing ' The Enoch Pratt Free Library of Balti- 
 more City,' according to the terms and provisions of 
 Ordinance No. 106, approved July 15, 1882," which 
 was read and referred to the Joint Standing Com- 
 mittee on Ways and Means. 
 
 Mayor's Office, City Hall, 
 
 Baltimore, April 23, 1883. 
 To the Hojioradle the Members of the 
 
 First and Second Branches of the City Council, 
 Gentlemen: 
 
 I have been led to believe that during the summer, 
 while the City Council may be in recess, Enoch Pratt, 
 Esq., will be ready to convey to the Mayor and City 
 Council the lot and improvements on Mulberry street 
 known as " The Enoch Pratt Free Library," and also 
 to pay to the City the sum of eight hundred and 
 thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty-three 
 dollars and thirty-three cents ($833,333.33), i" accord- 
 ance with the terms of Ordinance No. 106, approved 
 July 15, 1882.
 
 31 
 
 In view of the obligation of the City under that 
 ordinance to pay to the Trustees of the Library 
 the annuity of fifty thousand dollars in quarterly pay- 
 ments, it is highly desirable that the large sum pro- 
 posed to be paid by Mr. Pratt shall be made to bear 
 interest as soon after its payment as practicable, so as 
 to provide for the extinguishment, at the earliest pos- 
 sible day, of this annual charge ; and inasmuch as 
 authority already exists, by ordinances heretofore 
 passed, to issue for various corporate purposes 
 new city stock to an amount approaching one million 
 dollars, it seems to me that it will be best to invest 
 the money to be paid by Mr. Pratt in these new loans 
 at par, for the purpose of a special sinking fund. 
 Such an investment, at four per cent., will yield the 
 annual sum of thirty-three thousand three hundred 
 and thirty-three dollars and thirty-two cents, and by 
 the investment of the interest also from time to time, 
 as it matures, there will be realized in a few years an 
 annual income equal to the annuity of fifty thousand 
 dollars which the City has engaged to pay to the Trus- 
 tees of the Library. When this point is reached, 
 there will no longer be any occasion to continue the 
 raising of the annuity by taxation, and the tax levied 
 for this purpose can then be discontinued. 
 
 It is true that this plan contemplates the levy of a 
 tax to realize annually the sum of fifty thousand dol- 
 lars for the near future, and then an abandonment of
 
 32 
 
 that tax when the fund itself will earn a sum equal to 
 the annuity. It may be suggested by others that the 
 fund paid by Mr. Pratt should be invested to realize 
 the thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty- 
 three dollars and thirty-two cents annually, and that 
 the remaining sum of sixteen thousand six hundred 
 and sixty-six dollars and sixty-eight cents should be 
 levied perpetually as a tax, but I cannot believe this 
 will be as satisfactory to the people as the plan I have 
 here proposed. 
 
 In order to carry out the views here presented, I 
 submit to you herewith the draft of an ordinance pre- 
 pared at my request by the City Counsellor, which I 
 respectfully recommend to you for passage before 
 your adjournment for the summer recess. 
 I am very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 Wm. Pinkney Whyte, 
 
 Mayor. 
 
 Mr. Ford, from the Joint Standing Committee on 
 Ways and Means, submitted the following report 
 and accompanying ordinance, which was read: 
 
 The Joint Standing Committee on Ways and Means, 
 to whom was referred an ordinance relating to " The 
 Enoch Pratt Free Library" fund, having given the 
 subject the consideration it deserves, beg leave to
 
 33 
 
 report favorably thereon, and ask the passage of the 
 following ordinance. 
 
 John T. Ford, 
 Edwd. Landstreet, 
 John J. Mahon, 
 •■ First Branch. 
 
 D. G. Wright, 
 H. G. Fledderman, 
 
 Second Branch. 
 
 Ordinance No. 64, Approved May 14, 1883. 
 
 An Ordinance authorizing the investment in Baltimore City 
 stock of the money proposed to be paid by Enoch Pratt 
 for the purpose of establishing " The Enoch Pratt Free 
 Library of Baltimore City," according to the terms and 
 provisions of Ordinance No. 106, approved July 15, 1882. 
 
 Section i. Be it enacted and ordained by the 
 Mayor and City Council of Baltimore that, so soon 
 as Enoch Pratt shall pay to the Mayor and City 
 Council of Baltimore the sum of eight hundred and 
 thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty-three 
 dollars and thirty-three cents, according to the terms 
 and provisions of Ordinance No. 106, approved July 
 15th, 1882, it shall be the duty of the Commissioners 
 of Finance to invest the same in Baltimore City stock 
 heretofore authorized to be issued at par, as a sink-
 
 34 
 
 ing fund to be known by the name of " The Enoch 
 Pratt Free Library Sinking Fund." 
 
 Section 2. And be it further enacted and or- 
 dained that the interest upon said investment so 
 as aforesaid directed to be made shall also be invested 
 from time to time, as the same shall be received, in 
 the public debt of the City of Baltimore, and such 
 investments of said interest, and of the interest upon 
 said interest, shall also constitute a part of said sink- 
 ing fund, and that said investment of said interest, 
 and of interest on said interest, shall continue so to 
 be made In the public debt of the City of Baltimore 
 until the annual Income from said investments shall 
 reach the sum of fifty thousand dollars ; and in the 
 meanwhile the sum of fifty thousand dollars, to pay 
 said annuity, shall be levied for as other City taxes are 
 levied for. 
 
 Section 3. And be it further enacted and or- 
 dained that, when the said annual income upon the 
 investments in said sinking fund shall reach the sum 
 of fifty thousand dollars, the making of said invest- 
 ments for said purpose shall cease, and the said 
 annual income of fifty thousand dollars arising there- 
 from shall be thereafter appropriated and applied to 
 the payment of the annuity of fifty thousand dollars 
 to the Trustees of " The Enoch Pratt Free Library of 
 Baltimore City," and all taxation for the purpose of 
 raising said annuity of fifty thousand dollars for such 
 purpose shall cease and be discontinued.
 
 35 
 
 On motion of Mr. Ford, the ordinance was read a 
 second time, by special order, the title approved, and 
 the same declared passed. 
 
 This ordinance was also passed by the Second 
 Branch, April 24, and approved by the Mayor, May 
 14, 1883. ^
 
 DEED FROM ENOCH PRATT AND WIFE TO 
 
 THE MA YOR AND CITY CO UNCIL 
 
 OF BAL TIMORE. 
 
 This Indenture, made this second (2d) day of 
 July (A. D. 1883), eighteen hundred and eighty-three, 
 between Enoch Pratt, of the City of Baltimore and 
 State of Maryland, and Maria Louisa Pratt, his wife, 
 of the first part, " The Enoch Pratt Free Library of Bal- 
 timore City " (a corporation duly incorporated by act 
 of the General Assembly of Marj^land, as hereinafter 
 mentioned) of the second part, and the Mayor and 
 City Council of Baltimore, a body politic and cor- 
 porate, of the third part : 
 
 Witiiesseth^ That whereas, by an act of the Gen- 
 eral Assembly of Maryland passed at the January 
 session, eighteen hundred and eighty-two (1882), 
 chapter one hundred and eighty-one (181), entitled 
 " An act to enable the Mayor and City Council of 
 Baltimore to accept a donation from Enoch Pratt for 
 the establishment and perpetual endowment of a Free 
 Public Library in said City, to be known as ' The 
 Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore City,' and to 
 provide for the appointment and incorporation of 
 Trustees for the management thereof," the Mayor and 
 City Council of Baltimore were authorized and 
 empowered to accept the proposal of said Enoch Pratt 
 as set forth in the preamble to said act.
 
 37 
 
 And whereas, by said act, full power and authority 
 were given to said Mayor and City Council of Balti- 
 more, upon the conveyance of the lot of ground on 
 Mulberry street, in Baltimore City, and the improve- 
 ments thereon, then about to be erected by said Enoch 
 Pratt, and upon tlie payment to said Mayor and City 
 Council by said Enoch Pratt of the sum of eight 
 hundred and thirty-three thousand three hundred and 
 thirty-three dollars and thirty-three cents, to contract 
 and agree by ordinance, to be approved by the legal 
 voters of said City, to pay perpetually and forever to 
 the Board of Trustees of "The Enoch Pratt Free 
 Library of Baltimore City " the sum of fifty thousand 
 dollars ($50,000) per annum in equal quarterly pay- 
 ments. 
 
 And whereas, in and by said act of Assembly, " The 
 Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore City " was 
 duly created a body politic and corporate. 
 
 Ajid whereas, by an ordinance of said Mayor and 
 City Council passed on the first day of May (1882), 
 eighteen hundred and eighty-two, in pursuance of 
 the power and authority by said act of Assembly 
 conferred on said Mayor and City Council, it was 
 enacted and ordained that the said proposed convey- 
 ance of the said Library building and premises, situ- 
 ate on Mulberry street as aforesaid, and the said pro- 
 posed payment of ($833,333.33) eight hundred and 
 thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty-three
 
 dollars and thirty-three cents, be and they were 
 thereby agreed to be accepted, and said Mayor and 
 City Council did thereby contract and agree with the 
 said Enoch Pratt and with the said " Enoch Pratt Free 
 Library of Baltimore City," a body corporate as afore- 
 said. In consideration of said conveyance of said 
 Library building and premises, and of the payment 
 of said sum of money unto it, to grant and create an 
 annuity of fifty thousand ($50,000) dollars, to be paid 
 perpetually thereafter forever, in equal quarterly pay- 
 ments, for the purposes and maintenance of said 
 Library; said annuity to be paid unto the Board of 
 Trustees of said body corporate and their successors 
 forever, to be applied by them to the purposes and 
 maintenance of said Library as established and defined 
 by and in the Act of Incorporation thereof. 
 
 And whereas, It was in said ordinance further 
 enacted and ordained that upon the conveyance by 
 said Enoch Pratt, by a valid deed, of the clear, unen- 
 cumbered fee-simple estate in said lot of ground, with 
 the improvements thereon, unto the said Mayor and 
 City Council, and upon payment by said Enoch Pratt 
 unto said Mayor and City Council of said sum of 
 ($833,333.33) eight hundred and thirty-three thou- 
 sand three hundred and thirty-three dollars and 
 thirty-three cents, the Mayor of the City of Baltimore 
 at the time of the execution of the deed was thereby 
 authorized and empowered to join in the execution of
 
 39 
 
 the same for and on behalf of the Mayor and City 
 Council of Baltimore, and to contract, covenant and 
 agree for and on their behalf to pay perpetually there- 
 after the yearly sum of fifty thousand ($50,000) dol- 
 lars, in equal quarterly payments, unto the Trustees 
 of "The Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore City," 
 and their successors, forever; the said "Enoch Pratt 
 Free Library of Baltimore City " also joining in said 
 deed, and agreeing to appropriate said sum for its 
 corporate purposes, and to make an annual report to 
 the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore of the pro- 
 ceedings of said body corporate, and of the condition 
 of said Library and its branches, v^ith a full account 
 of the moneys received and expended by said Trustees. 
 
 And whereas^ as w^as further directed by said act 
 of Assembly and said ordinance, the same was sub- 
 mitted to the legal voters of Baltimore City, for 
 approval or disapproval, at the election held on the 
 fourth Wednesday in October in the year (1882) 
 eighteen hundred and eighty-two, and the said ordi- 
 nance at said election was, by said legal voters, duly 
 approved. 
 
 And whereas, the said Enoch Pratt has completed 
 the Library building on said lot of ground (the same 
 with its improvements being valued at the sum of 
 two hundred and fifty thousand dollars), and at and 
 before the execution of this deed has paid to the 
 Mayor and City Council of Baltimore the said sum
 
 40 
 
 of eight hundred and thirty-diree diousand three hun- 
 dred and thirty-three dollars and thirty-three cents, 
 the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, making 
 an aggregate amount in money and property so 
 received from said Enoch Pratt of ($1,083,333.33) one 
 million and eighty-three thousand three hundred and 
 thirty-three dollars and thirty-three cents. 
 
 Now, therefore, this indenture witnesseth that, for 
 and in consideration of the premises, and of the sum 
 of five dollars paid by the said Mayor and City 
 Council of Baltimore to the said Enoch Pratt and 
 Maria Louisa Pratt, his wife, the receipt of which is 
 hereby acknowledged, they, the said Enoch Pratt and 
 Maria Louisa Pratt, his wife, do hereby grant and 
 convey unto the Mayor and City Council of Balti- 
 more, its successors and assigns, all that lot or parcel 
 of ground situate in said Cityof Baltimore which, in the 
 deed thereof from Charles Morton Stewart and Charles 
 Oliver O'Donnell, trustees, etc., to said Enoch Pratt, 
 bearing date on the twentieth day of August, A. D. 
 (1872) eighteen hu ndred and seventy -two, and recorded 
 among the land records of said City in Liber G. R., No. 
 577, folio 466, etc., is thus described, to wit: Beginning 
 for the same on the line of the north side of Mulberry 
 street, at the distance of one hundred and thirty feet 
 and eleven inches easterly from the northeast corner 
 or intersection of Mulberry and Park streets, and then 
 running thence easterly, bounding on Mulberry street
 
 41 
 
 eighty feet and seven inches more or less, to a point 
 distant one hundred and eight feet west from the 
 west side of Cathedral street, thence northerly paral- 
 lel to Park street one hundred and forty feet, to an 
 alley twenty feet wide, called N Alley, thence west- 
 erly, bounding on south side of N Alley eighty feet and 
 seven inches more or less, to intersect a line drawn 
 from the place of beginning northerly, parallel to 
 Park street, and thence southerly, reversing the line 
 so drawn one hundred and forty feet to the place of 
 beginning. 
 
 Together with the buildings and improvements 
 thereon, and the rights, privileges, easements, advan- 
 tages and appurtenances thereunto belonging or 
 appertaining. 
 
 To have and to hold the property, lot of ground 
 and premises above-described, with the buildings and 
 improvements thereon, and all the rights, privileges, 
 easements, advantages and appurtenances thereunto 
 belonging or in anywise appertaining as aforesaid, 
 unto the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, its 
 successors and assigns, in fee-simple forever ; in trust, 
 nevertheless, for the uses and purposes herein men- 
 tioned and set forth. 
 
 And said Enoch Pratt doth hereby covenant that 
 he will warrant specially the property hereby con- 
 veyed, and that he will execute such further assur- 
 ances as maybe requisite for the confirmation of these 
 presents.
 
 42 
 
 And this indenture further witnesseth that, for and 
 in consideration of the premises, and of the said sum 
 of money by said Enoch Pratt paid and transferred to 
 the said Ma3^or and City Council of Baltimore, and in 
 consideration of this conveyance, the Mayor and City 
 Council of Baltimore aforesaid, for and on its own 
 behalf, and for its successors, doth hereby contract, 
 covenant and agree with the said " Enoch Pratt Free 
 Library of Baltimore City," and its successors, to pay 
 yearly and every year forever to " The Enoch Pratt 
 Free Library of Baltimore City," and its Trustees and 
 their successors, the sum of fifty thousand ($50,000) 
 dollars, in equal quarterly instalments, accounting 
 from the first day of July, A. D. (1883) eighteen 
 hundred and eighty-three. 
 
 And this indenture further witnesseth that, for and 
 in consideration of the premises and of the payment 
 of the said annual sum agreed to be paid as aforesaid, 
 " The Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore City," for 
 itself and its successors, doth hereby covenant, con- 
 tract and agree with said Mayor and City Council 
 of Baltimore, and its successors, to appropriate any 
 and all of the annual sums by it to be received entirely 
 and solely for its corporate purposes; and, further, that 
 the said " Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore City " 
 will make annual reports to the Mayor and City Council 
 of Baltimore of the proceedings of the said body cor- 
 porate, and of the condition of said Library and its
 
 43 
 
 branches, with a full account of the moneys received 
 and expended by said Trustees. 
 
 And it is further hereby provided that the Mayor and 
 City Council of Baltimore and "The Enoch Pratt Free 
 Library of Baltimore City " may by joint deed sell and 
 convey the real«estate herein conveyed, or any real or 
 leasehold estate which may hereafter be vested in the 
 said Mayor and City Council of Baltimore for the pur- 
 poses of the trust by this deed created, and the pro- 
 ceeds of sale shall be paid to said " Enoch Pratt Free 
 Library of Baltimore City," to be invested by it, with 
 the approval of said Mayor and City Council, in other 
 property for the purposes of this trust. 
 
 And this indenture further witnesseth that the 
 Mayor and City Council of Baltimore doth hereby con- 
 stitute and appoint Samuel Turner Duvall to be its 
 attorney for it and in its name, and as its act and deed 
 to acknowledge this indenture, to the intent that the 
 same may be duly recorded. And " The Enoch Pratt 
 Free Library of Baltimore City " doth hereby constitute 
 and appoint Stewart Brown to be its attorney for it and 
 in its name, and as its act and deed to acknowledge 
 this indenture, to the intent that the same may be duly 
 recorded. 
 
 In witness whereof, the said Enoch Pratt and Maria 
 Louisa Pratt, his wife, the parties of the first part 
 hereto, have hereunto subscribed their names and 
 affixed their seals on the day and year first herein
 
 44 
 
 written ; and William Pinkney Whyte, Mayor of 
 Baltimore City, has hereunto subscribed his name and 
 caused the corporate seal of the Mayor and City 
 Council of Baltimore to be hereunto affixed ; and 
 Enoch Pratt, the President of " The Enoch Pratt Free 
 Library of Baltimore City," has hereunto subscribed 
 his name and caused the corporate seal of said cor- 
 poration to be hereto affixed on said day and year. 
 
 Signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of 
 Joshua M. Myers, John A. Robb, witnesses as to the 
 signatures of W. P. Whyte, Mayor, and Enoch Pratt, 
 
 President. 
 
 Enoch Pratt. [Seal.] 
 
 , Maria Louisa Pratt. [Seal.] 
 
 Wm. Pinkney Whyte, Mayor. 
 
 Enoch Pratt, 
 
 PresH Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore. 
 
 State of Maryland, City of Baltimore, to wit : 
 
 I hereby certify that on this second day of July, 
 A. D. (1883) eighteen hundred and eighty-three, 
 before me, the subscriber, a Justice of the Peace of 
 said State, in and for said City, personally appeared 
 Enoch Pratt and Maria Louisa Pratt, his wife, and 
 acknowledged the foregoing deed to be their respect- 
 ive act and deed ; and at the same time also appeared 
 Samuel Turner Duvall, an attorney of the Mayor and
 
 45 
 
 City Council of Baltimore, constituted by a power of 
 attorney in the within deed, and acknowledged the 
 within deed to be the act and deed of the Mayor and 
 City Council of Baltimore. 
 
 And at the same time also appeared Stewart Brown, 
 an attorney of" 'Kie Enoch Pratt Free Library of Balti- 
 more City," constituted by a power of attorney in the 
 within deed, and acknowledged the said deed to be 
 the act and deed of " The Enoch Pratt Free Library of 
 
 Baltimore City." 
 
 Joshua M. Myers, 7. P. 
 
 Title and deed approved June 29th, 1883. 
 
 John Gill, Jr., 
 
 Examiner of Titles.
 
 FURTHER ACTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL 
 
 ACCEPTING THE DEED OF PROPERTY 
 
 FROM ENOCH PR A TT AND WIFE. 
 
 WJiej'eas, in pursuance of Ordinance No. io6, 
 approved July 15th, 1882, entiried "An ordinance 
 accepting, on the part of the Mayor and City Coun- 
 cil of Baltimore, the lot of ground and improvements 
 thereon situate on Mulberry street, in the City of 
 Baltimore, of the estimated value of two hundred and 
 twenty-five thousand dollars, and of the sum of 
 $833,333.33, from Enoch Pratt, of the City of Baltimore, 
 and contracting and agreeing on the part of the said 
 Mayor and City Council with said Enoch Pratt for 
 the payment of an annuity of fifty thousand dollars, 
 payable in equal quarterly payments, by the said 
 Mayor and City Council, to the Board of Trustees of 
 ' The Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore City ' "; 
 the terms and conditions of the ordinance aforesaid 
 having been complied with by Enoch Pratt; and 
 
 Whereas^ under a condition of the contract in the 
 foregoing connection, the Mayor and City Council of 
 Baltimore was, on the ist of October instant, indebted 
 to " The Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore City " 
 the sum of twelve thousand five hundred dollars, as 
 the quarterly payment then due, and for which no 
 provision for the payment has been made by the
 
 47 
 
 Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, because the 
 contract aforesaid was not consummated at the time 
 the general appropriation bill was pending in the City 
 Council ; therefore, 
 
 Resolved^ by the Mayor and City Council of Balti- 
 more, that thersum of twelve thousand five hundred 
 dollars be and the same is hereby appropriated to 
 pay the quarter-yearly instalment on said annuity 
 of the said Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, due 
 on the I St day of October, 1883 ; and the Comptroller 
 of the City be and he is hereby authorized and di- 
 rected to issue his warrant on the City Register of 
 Baltimore to pay to Enoch Pratt, the President of 
 " The Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore City," 
 the amount aforesaid, to be taken out of any money 
 that may be in the City treasury. 
 
 Examined by the Committee on Enrolment and 
 found correct. 
 
 Attested by 
 
 Daniel G. Wright, 
 
 John J. Mahon, 
 
 Henry N. Bankard. 
 
 James W. Denny, President of \st Branch. 
 
 AiA^N Robertson, President of 2d Branch. 
 
 Was presented to the Mayor October 10, 1883, 
 and on same day endorsed, 
 
 Approved. Wm. Pinkney Wiivte, 
 
 Mayor.
 
 LETTER OF ENOCH PRATT, FORMALLY 
 
 TRANSFERRING THE MANAGEMENT 
 
 OF THE LIBRAR Y TO THE BOARD 
 
 OF TRUSTEES. 
 
 Baltimore, October i, 1884. 
 To THE Board of Trustees of 
 
 "The Enoch Pratt Free Library 
 
 of Baltimore City." 
 
 Messrs. Enoch Pratt, George Win. Brozvn, Nathaniel 
 H. Morison, Henry Janes, Charles J, Bonaparte, 
 George B. Cole, Edward Stabler, Jr., Jojnes A. 
 Gary, John W. McCoy. 
 
 Gentlemen : I have the pleasure to inform you that, 
 after over three years of constant labor and super- 
 vision, the Library buildings are completed. 
 
 The main building, on Mulberry street, is fire- 
 proof, and the four branches are located corner 
 Fremont and Pitcher streets, corner Hollins and 
 Calhoun streets, corner Light and Gittings streets, 
 and corner O'Donnell and Canton streets. 
 
 These, I think, are all accessible to the people, who, 
 I hope, will avail of the advantages it is my wish to 
 offer them, they being for all, rich and poor, without 
 distinction of race or color, who, when properly 
 accredited, can take out the books, if they will handle 
 them carefully and return them. 
 
 In each building there is an ample reading-room,
 
 49 
 
 which I expect will be used in addition to the distri- 
 bution of books. 
 
 I now hand the management over to you, not doubt- 
 ing you will make all proper arrangements to carry 
 out my wishes and make the Institution what I wish 
 for the people'of Baltimore and State of Maryland. 
 
 I 'leave it to you with confidence. In my opinion, 
 much depends on the selection of a Librarian and 
 organizing a proper system. I would suggest your 
 availing of the experience of old, well-established 
 circulating libraries, and proceed with caution. 
 
 I hope the Library has a long future, and I want it 
 to commence right. 
 
 In my letter to the Mayor and City Council of 
 Baltimore, January 21st, 1882, 1 agreed to pay for the 
 annuity of $50,000, payable quarterly, when the build- 
 ing on Mulberry street was completed. Wishing to 
 have my plans fully carried out in my lifetime, I 
 paid for the annuity on ist July, 1883, fifteen months 
 in advance of its completion. 
 
 I have used the quarterly payments in building the 
 branches. 
 
 THE ACCOUNT NOW STANDS : 
 
 Paid for ground and building. Mulberry • 
 
 street $250,000.00 
 
 Paid the City of Baltimore .... 833,333.33 
 Paid for the four branches .... 50,000.00 
 Cash on hand 1 2,500.00 
 
 Making the sum total of .... $i,i45.S33-33
 
 50 
 
 (one million one hundred and forty-five thousand 
 eight hundred and thirty-three dollars and thirty-three 
 cents) as the actual sum I have paid the City for the 
 $50,000 annuity, or about 45^ per cent, interest. 
 
 I wish to return my thanks to the architect, Charles 
 L. Carson, and the contractors, S. H. & J. F. Adams, 
 and all the sub-contractors and laborers who have 
 been connected with the erection of the buildings, for 
 their faithful services, and especially to the gentlemen 
 who have given so much of their time and talents in 
 assisting me in the plans and arrangements. 
 
 Now, if spared to see the Library in full and suc- 
 cessful working order and appreciated by my fellow- 
 citizens, I shall pass to a future life with the self-con- 
 sciousness that I have contributed my mite for the 
 talent entrusted to me. 
 
 Enoch Pratt.
 
 THE FORMAL OPENING OF THE LIBRARY, 
 
 ACADEMY OF MUSIC, 
 
 Monday, January ^, 1886, at 12 d clock M. 
 
 Addresses Delivered upon the Occasion, etc.
 
 PROGRAMME. 
 
 Prayer Rev. Chas. R. Weld, B. D. 
 
 Address . Hon. James Hodges, Mayor, Chairman. 
 
 Address Enoch Pratt, Esq. 
 
 Address . . . Hon. Henry Lloyd, Governor.* 
 
 Oration Hon. Geo. Wm. Brown. 
 
 Address Hon. J. Morrlson Harris. 
 
 Address Hon. F. C. Latrobe. 
 
 Address .... Dr. L. H. Steiner, Librarian. 
 
 * Governor Lloyd was prevented by Executive business from being present.
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 In the presence of a large and appreciative audi- 
 ence, presided over by the Hon. James Hodges, 
 Mayor of the City, the dedication ceremonies were 
 opened by the following prayer by the Rev. Charles 
 R. Weld, B. D., Minister of the First Independent 
 Church of Baltimore : 
 
 Infinite and Holy ! Giver of every good and perfect 
 gift! We bow in reverence before the majesty of 
 Thy sacred presence. We invoke Thy divine blessing 
 upon the purpose of this hour. We would dedicate 
 yonder building to Thy glory and to the free uses of 
 the inhabitants of this City. We pray that it may be 
 the home of a literature, pure, sound, wholesome, in- 
 spiring ; that it may be a fountain from whence the 
 mighty thoughts of the undying dead and the death- 
 less living shall flow, in higher hopes, in purer pur- 
 poses, in loftier incentives, in holier ambitions, to 
 enrich the life of this great age and hasten the 
 coming of Thy Kingdom on earth among men. Fill 
 his heart with gratitude whom Thou hast permitted 
 to see the glory of this day — to witness the completed 
 and crowned end of his efforts. May this hour be to
 
 54 
 
 him like fruit from the tree of life ! Bless, we pray 
 Thee, those to whom is entrusted the burden of 
 honor and responsibility in the development of the 
 lasting interests of this Institution. Bless, we pray 
 Thee, the President of these United States, the Gov- 
 ernor of this Commonwealth, the official head of this 
 great City. And now to Thy superintending provi- 
 dence we commit the future of this Institution — the 
 issues of this hour — in the name of Him, our Lord, 
 who has taught us to pray. Our Father, who art in 
 heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. 
 Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give 
 us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our 
 trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against 
 us. And lead us not into temptation ; but deliver us 
 from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, 
 and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen and Amen.
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. JAMES HODGES, MA YOR. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 It is known that Mr. Enoch Pratt in 1882 offered to 
 establish an Institution in this community, to be known 
 as " The Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore City," 
 upon certain conditions, and that the Mayor and City 
 Council of Baltimore, being authorized and empow- 
 ered by the Legislature of Maryland to do so, accepted 
 his proposal. Mr. Pratt agreed to erect upon a lot of 
 ground on Mulberry street, owned by him, a Library 
 buildinpf of the estimated cost of two hundred and 
 twenty-five thousand dollars (^225,000), and to con- 
 vey said lot and premises to the Mayor and City 
 Council of Baltimore ; and, also, to pay unto said 
 Mayor and City Council the sum of eight hundred 
 and thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty- 
 three dollars and thirty-three cents, ($833,333.33); 
 provided the said Mayor and City Council would 
 accept said conveyance and said sum of money, and 
 agree by Ordinance to grant and create an annuity, 
 and to pay annually to a Board of Trustees, and their 
 successors, the sum of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000), 
 perpetually thereafter, forever, in quarterly payments, 
 for the purchase and maintenance of said Library, with 
 not less than four branches in different parts of the city, 
 the said branches to be established by the Trustees
 
 56 
 
 within such time as their construction could be reason- 
 ably accomplished out of said quarterly payments ; the 
 title to said Library, its branches, books, and all other 
 property, to be vested in the Mayor and City Council 
 of Baltimore. 
 
 For the annuity of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) 
 (being about four and one-third per cent, interest on 
 the amount invested,) which the City agreed to pay to 
 the Trustees of " The Enoch Pratt Free Library," the 
 sum of One million one hundred and forty-five thousand 
 eight hundred and thirty-three dollars and thirty-three 
 cents ($1,145,833.33) has been contributed by Mr. 
 Pratt for the Library and its uses, made up of the 
 following items : 
 
 Paid for ground and building. Mulberry 
 
 street $250,000.00 
 
 Paid the City of Baltimore 833,333.33 
 
 Paid for the four branches 50,000.00 
 
 Cash on hand 12,500.00 
 
 $1,145,833.33 
 
 In further elucidation of the financial condition of 
 the Enoch Pratt Free Library Fund, it may be said 
 that the money contributed in July, 1883, by Mr. 
 Pratt, toward the endowment of the Institution, has 
 been invested by the Commissioners of Finance in the 
 bonded debt of the City, and that the original amount, 
 with the increment, has raised the value of the
 
 57 
 
 Enoch Pratt Sinking Fund to Nine hundred and 
 one thousand eight hundred dollars ($901,800), repre- 
 sented by Seven hundred and fifty-seven thousand 
 three hundred dollars ($757,300) four per cent, stock, 
 Ninety-five thousand three hundred dollars ($95,300) 
 five per cent, stdtk, and Forty-nine thousand two hun- 
 dred dollars ($49,200) six per cent, stock, yielding an 
 annual interest of Thirty-eight thousand dollars 
 ($38,000), being only Twelve thousand dollars 
 ($12,000) per annum less than the amount required 
 for the support of the Library. It is estimated that 
 the accretion of interest during the ensuing five years, 
 added to the principal sum, will make The Enoch 
 Pratt Free Library self-sustaining. 
 
 Ladies and gentlemen : Now, we have assembled 
 to-day to inaugurate, with appropriate ceremonies, the 
 Library thus established, and for which such ample 
 provision has been made. It is a notable event in the 
 history of Baltimore, and marks an epoch in its pro- 
 gress. And as, at such epochs in the life of an indi- 
 vidual or of a community, it is good to cast a glance 
 backward and note the distance traversed, so here we 
 are tempted to look back for a moment to the past of 
 the English-speaking race, and to link the event we 
 now celebrate, with one beneficent in its purpose, far- 
 reaching in its consequences, which shines like a star 
 in the twilight of English history. 
 
 Just a thousand years ago, to a year, the greatest
 
 58 
 
 kiiiQ- that ever sat on the Eng-lish throne, havuiof 
 delivered his people from invasion and oppression, 
 cast about to see what was the next best service he 
 could do them — what next royal gift should follow 
 liberty and peace ? His answer to this question was 
 remarkable for a king of the ninth century. He 
 determined to give them books. 
 
 So he set scribes to work to make copies of the 
 few good books that could be found, and he himself 
 found time to translate from the Latin into his 
 mother tongue — literally the "King's English" 
 — three books which seemed to him, next to the Holy 
 Scriptures, the best that he knew of upon earth. One 
 of these was a book of history, one a book of philoso- 
 phy, and one a book of religion : the story of life in the 
 past, counsel for life in the present, and guidance 
 toward life in the future. Though but three, so com- 
 prehensive was their scope, so near did they come to 
 occupying the whole domain of serious human 
 thought, that I think I am justified in saying that in 
 these three Alfred founded a library. 
 
 Where did he place these books? In the ninth 
 century there was but one place that was free to all 
 alike — as free to the serf as to the lord, to the peasant 
 as to the king, and this was the church. So he placed 
 these books in the churches, where all that could, might 
 read them. But these precious volumes, laboriously 
 penned on parchment by the long toil of patient scribes.
 
 59 
 
 could not be lightly risked from their appointed cus- 
 tody, and those who wished to read them had to read 
 them in their place. And yet so generous was the 
 Kino-, so thouorhtful of the needs of scholars, and 
 so anxious that his bounty might bear full fruit, that 
 he allowed even these books, under certain conditions, 
 to be borrowed. So we may say that one thousand 
 years ago, the first English free lending library was 
 founded, as to-day we inaugurate the newest. And, as 
 in the days of Alfred, a man among us having the 
 ability and the will to bestow a princely gift upon his 
 fellow-men, who already possess the blessings of 
 liberty and peace, elects to give them books. 
 
 I might here ask you to give a glance down these 
 thousand years, and mark what they have brought ; to 
 note the broadening and deepening of the stream of 
 literature ; the invention of printing, which placed 
 what before was the costly luxury of the few within 
 reach of all — making all mankind co-heirs of the great 
 heritage of human thought, spreading knowledge 
 abroad like the universal sunshine, which brightens 
 alike the cottage and the palace, so that the newsboy, 
 the bootblack, may, if he will, share treasures once 
 beyond the reach of kings. 
 
 We pride ourselves, and not without justice, on our 
 public schools. We have determined that no mem- 
 ber of the community, so far as we can prevent it, 
 shall be debarred from his share of the common heri-
 
 60 
 
 tage, and we make the opportunities of education as 
 broad as a generous public-school system could effect It. 
 But, in doing this, we but place the key of knowl- 
 edge into the student's hand. It is another task to 
 fill the treasury Into which that key opens. Thus the 
 public library is the complement of the public school, 
 and carries on the work which that has begun. For 
 education Is not an absolute, but a relative good ; 
 all depends upon the use that is made of it. If it 
 makes a man more potent for good, it also makes 
 him more potent for evil. It is hke a sword with 
 which a man can defend his home, but with which, also, 
 he can slay his friend. If you look at the criminal 
 annals, you will find that the most malignant, treacher- 
 ous and far-reaching crimes, black conspiracies, 
 gigantic frauds, secret subde murders, have been the 
 work of what are called educated men. But this is 
 not an argument against education: it only reminds 
 us that education is not sufficient in Itself to make good 
 citizens. When we have equipped the youth with 
 fluent knowledge of several languages, have made 
 him a skillful penman and accountant, have given him 
 some insight into chemistry, physics and biology, 
 we have but placed him at the parting of the ways ; 
 he may pervert all the knowledge we have given 
 him to an instrument of evil. This we cannot pre- 
 vent. But what we can do is this: we can come 
 before the young minds, ready and eager for knowl-
 
 61 
 
 edge, and offer them such knowledge as will make 
 them better citizens and better men. At that critical 
 period, when good and evil influences are contending 
 in the soul of the youth, when temptations are the 
 strongest, and the power of resistance weakest, we 
 can place all the mcitements, all the allurements, all the 
 opportunities, on the side of the good. Is he ambitious ? 
 We offer him the lives of the men whose deeds have 
 won them true glory, and whom mankind delights to 
 honor. Does his fancy turn to war and martial 
 exploits? We place in his hands the story of the 
 gallant struggle of the Dutch for liberty, or the heroic 
 career of the noble-hearted Gordon. Is his imagina- 
 tion inflamed with wild adventure? He can follow 
 Greeley on his mission of mercy to Arctic seas, and 
 Polar desolations, or plunge, with Stanley, into the 
 mysterious heart of burning Africa. In a word, there 
 is no taste, except the absolutely vicious, which a 
 library cannot provide for, and give a leaning toward 
 the good. 
 
 Not the modern scholar merely, but the man of 
 business, the merchant, the mechanic, touches the 
 world of thought at a thousand points. To under- 
 stand even the morning's paper, presupposes at least 
 some knowledge of half the circle of the sciences. 
 
 Books in private or public collections are a necessity 
 of life. By them we are able to place what we think 
 and do, in relation with what mankind is thinking and
 
 62 
 
 doinof. We touch the orreat electric chain that links 
 together the human race, the past as well as the present. 
 Nay, in a librarian sense there is no past for us, and 
 the great men of old still live. The great writers of 
 all aees are still alive for us. We can choose our com- 
 panions among the wisest, best, noblest and most 
 charming of men, and a library is a reception-room 
 where these men will meet us and talk to us by the 
 hour. 
 
 Though I will not say that a zeal for learning has 
 ever eaten up the people of Baltimore, or that we 
 have aspired to the distinction of "the Athens of 
 America," yet we have never wanted those who loved, 
 and who helped forward liberal studies and tastes. 
 The noble library that we open to-day is the successor 
 of a line of libraries founded or assisted by private 
 liberality. Of these another may speak. 
 
 Truly Baltimore has had reason to be proud of her 
 citizens; of some who are still with us, and of some 
 who have departed ; men, who, like Peabody, Hop- 
 kins, Moses Sheppard, Thomas Wilson and others, 
 have recognized that they were but stewards of the 
 wealth with which Providence had blessed them, and 
 held it in trust for uses of good. Such a citizen is 
 he who has founded this noble Institution, and, as 
 with George Peabody and Johns Hopkins, and 
 Sheppard and Wilson, Baltimore is the City of his 
 adoption, not of his nativity.
 
 63 
 
 I have known that citizen for forty years, and few, 
 outside of his daily associates, have had a better 
 opportunity of learning his characteristics. For 
 nearly three years we served together on the Board 
 of Commissioners of Finance of this City, and there 
 I saw exemplifieci those traits of character which have 
 given -Enoch Pratt so eminent a reputation as a 
 merchant and financier. He combines, to an extra- 
 ordinary degree, breadth and penetration of intel- 
 lectual vision ; his comprehension of financial proposi- 
 tions is almost instantaneous, and as prompt and sure 
 is his power to winnow the grain from the chaff, and 
 note an unsound spot in a plausible scheme. 
 
 As a merchant, respected for his wisdom, honored 
 for his integrity, he has lived among us for the greater 
 part of a long life. At once energetic and unobtrusive, 
 he has never sought posts of honor, nor ever shirked 
 posts of duty. His hand has been felt for good in 
 public affairs, when few knew the guiding spirit ; and 
 his quiet voice has given wise counsel and asked no 
 meed of praise. 
 
 With him, temperament and judgment are so 
 evenly balanced that his determination is almost 
 intuitive, and rarely needs reconsideration. His con- 
 fidence is not lightly given, nor, when given, is it 
 lightly shaken. It is a plant of slow growth, but it 
 strikes its roots deep and strong. 
 
 Mr. Pratt's fortune was not won by speculation ; it
 
 64 
 
 is not the unwilling tribute paid by rashness or folly, 
 to shrewdness or craft. It has been the steady accu- 
 mulation of a life devoted to legitimate business. 
 He saw his purposes clearly before him, as the 
 mariner sees his guiding star, and he never deviated 
 from his course, until his voyage was successfully 
 accomplished. Nor did he seek fortune for the mere 
 sake of accumulation, and to be pointed out as a rich 
 man. In that respect he somewhat resembles the 
 elder Vanderbilt, of whom it was said that, in his early 
 life at least, he did not care for money, but he did 
 care to carry his point. 
 
 Few have surpassed him in the power of close and 
 minute investigation into details, and nothing rela- 
 tive to any plan under his consideration, escapes his 
 observation, or is denied its due weight. In the 
 choice of co-operators, and in the direction of their 
 activity, he has shown that high administrative power 
 which, in the fields of Commerce and Finance, as in 
 other fields, marks the leader of men. 
 
 Of Mr. Pratt's many public and private charities I 
 shall not speak ; but I cannot forbear to mention one 
 act that shows the benevolence of his heart. Some 
 years ago he sold a farm in Virginia to a worthy but- 
 poor young man for $20,000. The purchaser had 
 paid, from time to time, one-half the purchase money, 
 when a series of bad seasons and failure of crops 
 made it impossible for him to meet the subsequent
 
 65 
 
 payments. Mr. Pratt sent for him, and learned the 
 facts. After expressing sympathy for the young 
 man's misfortunes, and encouraging him to persevere 
 and hope, he cancelled his note for the balance due — 
 ten thousand dollars — and handed him a valid deed 
 for the propertyr Astonished and overwhelmed by 
 this princely liberality, the recipient uttered a few 
 broken words and retired from his benefactor's pres- 
 ence. Not until he had reached his Virginia home 
 was he able to find words to express his gratitude. 
 
 The instruction of the people has always been near 
 to the heart of Mr. Pratt. The foundation of this 
 library is a natural sequence to the Pratt Free School, 
 which he founded in 1865 in Middleborough, Massa- 
 chusetts, which is still in successful operation. From 
 that time to this he has revolved plans for educational 
 advancement. 
 
 Desirous of bestowing some worthy gift upon his 
 fellow-citizens of Baltimore, he concluded that one of 
 the greatest needs of the City was a free public 
 library. The Peabody Library is a grand foundation, 
 worthy of the generous man to whom it owes its 
 existence, and its stores are of inestimable value ; 
 but it is of a different character, and meets other 
 wants. Mr. Pratt's design was to found a library of 
 good reading for the entire public, of books which 
 might be read at the fireside, and should carry their 
 stores of knowledge, of beauty, or of innocent recrea-
 
 66 
 
 tion, to the homes of the people. The plan, as the 
 founder matured it, and as it will be explained to 
 you in detail, consists of a central collection, worthily — 
 indeed magnificently — housed, with branches in 
 several sections of the city, each branch to be a minor 
 but representative library, and all in communication 
 with the Central Library and its ample stores. 
 
 I have spoken of the past and of the present ; let 
 me cast one single glance into the future. 
 
 Who can estimate the results, in the years to come, 
 of the Institution we inaugurate to-day? The 
 benefits of a library are not of the kind that force 
 themselves upon the imagination. So, too, are the 
 beneficent operations of Nature. The bursting torrent 
 may inundate a valley, the cyclone may turn a smiling 
 land into ruin and devastation ; but it is the soft 
 pervasiveness of the summer rain that quickens the 
 parched fields into verdure, and makes the whole 
 horizon laugh with the glad promise of the golden 
 harvest. 
 
 It is in this constant, silent, and pervasive influence 
 of the library that its power resides. Who can con- 
 jecture how many homes it will brighten ? — how 
 many firesides will be made more attractive than the 
 saloon or the gaming-house ? — how often it will 
 place the golden key of knowledge in the hand of 
 struggling talent ; how often it may kindle the first 
 sparks of unrecognized genius ? — to how many will it
 
 67 
 
 bring help and solace in the conflict of daily life? 
 to how many it will open new horizons and unknown 
 skies ? 
 
 When years shall have passed away ; whe'n the 
 founder and we his contemporaries have departed ; 
 when this City h'as doubled its population, and this 
 Library, always growing, offers to the Baltimore of 
 another century the works of authors now unborn ; 
 when Science shall have realized some of its proudest 
 hopes, and answers have been found to some of the 
 enigmas which now perplex mankind ; while all the 
 time this Institution has been faithful to its duty of 
 disseminating among the people whatever is best in 
 human thought, then let a balance-sheet be struck and 
 an estimate of this great benefaction be made up, then 
 let some Baltimorean of the twentieth century stand 
 where I am standing, and, seeing clearly the past as 
 I see dimly the future, remind his fellow-citizens what 
 they owe to Enoch Pratt.
 
 ADDRESS OF ENOCH PR A TT. 
 
 It is with great pleasure and satisfaction I meet you 
 to inaugurate the opening of " The Enoch Pratt Free 
 Library of Baltimore City," which I proposed to 
 establish in my letter to the Mayor and City Council, 
 January 21, 1882, and after four years of labor to 
 inform you of the completion in the most thorough 
 and substantial manner of the fine library buildings, 
 and the collecting of over 32,000 volumes of books 
 arranged for your use. 
 
 I have the greater satisfaction of knowing and 
 seeing my plans completed as I designed them. 
 
 It may be proper for me to more fully explain my 
 meaning of a free circulating Library. It is not free 
 for you to take the books as you please and return 
 them or not, but is free from charge for the use of 
 them. 
 
 To protect the Library, the Trustees have adopted 
 rules gathered from experience in other cities, which, 
 I have no doubt, you will find satisfactory when you 
 become accustomed to them. 
 
 I consider the plan adopted to secure the annuity 
 fund for the support and increase of the Library 
 as the great feature, and about the only thing I ask
 
 69 
 
 credit for. As It is founded on a rock, accordino- to 
 Scripture, it must stand. 
 
 Now, in the hope of God's blessing, I hand it 
 over to you, expecting- you will foster, protect and 
 increase it, that its beneficent influences may be for 
 the benefit of the present and all future generations, 
 as long as our beloved city of Baltimore shall exist. 
 
 My work is finished. I am satisfied.
 
 THE ORATION BY HON. GEORGE WM. BROWN, 
 OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES. 
 
 Every city, like every individual, has a distinctive 
 character which is derived from many sources, and 
 has also its own laws of growth and development. 
 We have assembled to-day to celebrate an important 
 event in the life of this City which invites us to look 
 backward as well as forward. The people of Mary- 
 land, at an early period, seem to have entertained the 
 expectation that in the nature of things, a large town 
 would spring up somewhere near the headwaters of the 
 Chesapeake, but it was only after several experiments 
 had been made and had failed, that the proper site 
 appeared to be the spot on which we now stand — a 
 point about midway between the North and South of 
 the country, and in closer proximity to the West than 
 the other cities of the seaboard. 
 
 As a consequence of its favorable position, the 
 little town of Baltimore, laid out in 1734 by the county 
 surveyor on the humble scale of sixty lots in all, each 
 containing about one acre, began, after nearly thirty 
 years of patient waiting, to acquire a healthy and, 
 for that period, a remarkably rapid growth. Enter- 
 prising men of business from other parts of Maryland, 
 as well as from her sister provinces, and from England,
 
 71 
 
 Ireland and Scodand, and a few from the condnent 
 of Europe, were attracted to the new and thriving 
 setdement. In 1756 many of the French inhabitants 
 of Acadia, or Nova Scoda, as it is now called, who 
 had been ruthlessly expelled from their homes by the 
 Bridsh on their occupadon of that province, found 
 shelter here, and the part of the town where they 
 resided was long known as Frenchtown. 
 
 In 1793, during the epoch of the French Revolution, 
 a large and valuable accession of French populadon 
 from San Domingo took refuge in Baltimore, in order 
 to escape the revoludonary outbreak in that island. 
 From such beginnings, and from the tradidonal habit 
 of the people of Maryland to welcome all comers, 
 without regard to country, race or religion, it naturally 
 followed that the cidzens of Baldmore have always 
 been characterized by a freedom from provincialism, 
 by a liberal disposidon to adopt new ideas and 
 methods, and by their hospitable recepdon of strangers. 
 Before the last century closed it came to pass that 
 the white sails of her commerce were to be seen far 
 and near in many waters, while the inland country 
 was traversed by huge wagons, canvas-covered, drawn 
 by two, four, and even six horses, carrying the neces- 
 saries of civilized life to distant towns and hamlets, 
 whence they were distributed to the surrounding 
 country up to the borders of the ever-retreating 
 wilderness, and whence came in return the abundant 
 products of the ferdle and virgin soil.
 
 72 
 
 Amid all this traffic the amenities and amusements 
 of life were not fororotten. The first theatre built in 
 the colonies was at Annapolis, in 1782. During the 
 War of the Revolution dramatic exhibitions were 
 prohibited, but soon after its close they obtained a 
 permanent home in Baltimore. Long after this, and 
 when I first knew them, they were of a high character. 
 An occasional visit to the old Holliday Street Theatre 
 to hear one of Shakespeare's plays rendered by the 
 excellent stock company of that day was the supreme 
 delight of my boyhood. I remember, in Henry IV 
 the manager, Wood, as a right royal Prince Hal, 
 Wm. Warren, Sr., as a veritable Falstaff — even in 
 size — and the elder Joseph Jefferson, who in that 
 play was only the First Carrier, remains to this day 
 impressed on my memory as the very drollest and 
 most charminpf of comedians. He could, when he 
 pleased, with his contagious laugh behind the scenes, 
 before he reached the stage to make his first bow, 
 create a ripple of merriment through the expectant 
 audience. Still later Junius Brutus Booth rendered 
 the part of Richard III. as fascinating as it was 
 terrible by the flashes of his genius. 
 ' But, although in the early days of Baltimore her 
 business men were distinguished for their sagacity, 
 spirit and enterprise, and although there were eminent 
 names in the learned professions, and although the 
 social graces and enjoyments were successfully culti-
 
 73 
 
 vated, it did not necessarily follow that public libraries 
 and other means for liberal culture would be 
 adequately provided. On the contrary, their appear- 
 ance was postponed to a much later period. 
 
 Yet efforts in that direction were not wantino^. 
 The chief of these was the establishment of the 
 Library Company of Baltimore in 1795. It was a 
 stock company, and, therefore, its benefits were con- 
 fined to a few. It was selected v/ith great care, and 
 contained many valuable volumes, but, unfortunately, 
 adequate provision was not made for a constant 
 supply of new books, and this fatal deficiency ruined 
 the hopeful enterprise, and soon after the establish- 
 ment of the Maryland Historical Society, in 1844, 
 this collection of books was transferred to that body, 
 and became the foundation of its library. No public 
 library can be long self-sustaining. It needs a 
 generous hand both for its endowment and support. 
 And yet the old Baltimore Library did good work 
 while it lasted, and I feel greatly obliged to my two 
 grandfathers, one a doctor of divinity and one a 
 doctor of medicine, that they were among its founders, 
 for by their means I became free of its stores. It is 
 true that I read a good many novels and plays which 
 perhaps I ought not to have read, and neglected to 
 read other books which I ought to have read; but 
 none the less am I indebted to the old library for 
 some of the purest enjoyments, as well as the best
 
 74 
 
 inspirations, of my life. I have a kindly recollection, 
 too, of its ancient librarian, the only one in the whole 
 establishment, although I had occasional encounters 
 with him for the last new book, particularly if it was 
 of the amusing sort, which he sometimes, as I sus- 
 pected, kept stored away for a privileged reader, if 
 not for his own perusal. 
 
 In 1839 the Mercantile Library was founded with 
 the object of supplying in some measure the necessity 
 for books then felt by a number of persons. As it 
 was supported by the annual subscription of members, 
 its resources were necessarily limited, but, being in 
 excellent hands, it for many years furnished an 
 important part of the intellectual food of the people. 
 Its usefulness still continues by the generous aid of 
 Mr. John W. McCoy, and I am sure I express the 
 desire which many feel that this library should always 
 be maintained for the benefit of a large class whose 
 wants can nowhere else be so well supplied. In 1857 
 George Peabody, of London, and previpusly of this 
 city, established in his lifetime the Peabody Institute, 
 a great work in itself, and still greater for the noble 
 example thus set, the far-reaching and beneficial 
 effects of which cannot be estimated. The Institute 
 contains a library for reference and research which 
 by its extent and completeness commands the admira- 
 tion of all scholars, and which continues to increase 
 so rapidly as to meet the demands of that portion of
 
 70 
 
 the community. There are in Baltimore various 
 other Hbraries, designed mainly for the use of par- 
 ticular professions or classes, some large and excellent 
 of their kind, all doubtless doing good service in 
 supplying special wants ; but all the libraries in the 
 City, valuable as*" they are, indispensable as some are, 
 fail to 'reach the great need of the mass of the com- 
 munity. This need is of modern growth. When 
 the old Library Company to which I have referred 
 was established in 1795, the schoolmaster and school- 
 mistress had not been abroad. It is not strange that 
 a library company should at that period have been 
 founded for the benefit chiefly of the stockholders 
 and their families. It had not then entered into the 
 minds of men that it is the duty of the State to 
 instruct the whole people, and until the people are 
 instructed they cannot be readers and have little need 
 of books. The effect of public schools has been to 
 create a host of readers. Without books, progress 
 in liberal education must cease with the close of 
 schooldays, and at a period where, instead of closing, 
 it ought to take a new departure and lead up to the 
 great end of all education — a higher and nobler life. 
 Enoch Pratt was among the first to perceive this, and 
 he took the subject into serious consideration. In 
 large cities there are always to be found among the 
 men who are most prominent, useful and successful 
 in the different walks of life, those who in their youth
 
 76 
 
 came from smaller towns or rural districts. Mr. Pratt 
 belongs to this number. Born in North Middleborough, 
 Mass., and having received his commercial education 
 in Boston, he came here at the age of twenty-three 
 and established himself in the iron business, which he 
 still continues. Prosperity soon followed — not rapidly, 
 but steadily, because it was based on those qualities of 
 honesty, industry, sagacity and energy which, mingled 
 with thrift, although they cannot be said to insure suc- 
 cess, are certainly most likely to achieve it. Mr. Pratt 
 and myself have been friends for many years. After 
 he had become a thriving merchant, and when I was a 
 painstaking lawyer, he came to me for legal advice, 
 and as the library question necessarily had a legal 
 side, he frequently consulted me on the subject. In 
 this way I came to know more than any one except 
 Mr. Pratt himself in regard to his intention to found 
 a free library. 
 
 Wherever civilization flourishes there must be 
 libraries, and they must be accessible to scholars. 
 From its very nature, a library should be diffusive in 
 its character. It would seem from recent investiga- 
 tions that the library at Nineveh of the monarch 
 Sardanapalus, 820 years before Christ, was thrown 
 open for the general use of the king's subjects ; 
 and the inscription said to have been placed on the 
 famous library which the Egyptian king, Rameses 
 the First, founded in the fourteenth century before
 
 77 
 
 Christ, tells its own story. That inscription was, 
 ' The Dispensary of the Soul.' 
 
 But the idea of a free circulating library for a 
 large city is of recent origin. It became the fixed 
 purpose of Mr. Pratt that whatever he did must be 
 for the benefit of the whole people of the city of his 
 adopti'on. His plan gradually took its present shape, 
 and it contains some new and valuable features, both 
 as regards the character of its administration and the 
 permanent provision made for its support. The 
 Library could be established only by a large and 
 generous gift of money. 
 
 Mr. Pratt belongs to a school of business men, 
 now somewhat obsolete, by whom fortunes are made 
 not by great and speculative enterprises, but by 
 patient industry. Although a man of wealth, a 
 million of dollars and upwards is to him a large sum 
 of money. His riches have never grown so great as 
 to bring down on him the infliction of any of the new- 
 fangled titles which are used to decorate the members 
 of our American plutocracy. He is not known even in 
 the newspapers as a " Railroad King " or a " Merchant 
 Prince," but simply as Enoch Pratt, sometime and now 
 merchant and banker; and yet the time has already 
 come when he, like George Peabody, has earned a 
 distinction far worthier and more enduring than any 
 tide — the rare distinction of having in his lifetime 
 devoted a large portion of his fortune to the promo-
 
 78 
 
 tion of the happiness and welfare of his fellow- 
 citizens. Only a man of generosity and force of 
 character as well, is capable of making such a sacrifice. 
 Mr. Pratt has explained his plan, and you are 
 entided to hear it in his own words. On the 21st of 
 January, 1882, he addressed a letter to the Mayor 
 and City Council of Baltimore in which he said that 
 for some years he had contemplated establishing a 
 free circulating library for the benefit of the whole 
 city, and, in pursuance of this plan, the excavation of 
 the foundation had already been commenced, and 
 that he had entered into a contract to erect a fire-proof 
 building on his Mulberry street lot, capable of holding 
 two hundred thousand volumes, and that his purpose 
 was to have branches connected with it in the four 
 quarters of the City, under the same management. 
 He estimated that the building would cost about 
 ^225,000, and upon its completion he proposed to 
 convey it to the City. The title to all the books and 
 property was also to be vested in the City, to which 
 he agreed to pay, on the completion of the building, 
 the additional sum of $833,333,333/^, provided the 
 City would grant an annuity of $50,000 per annum 
 forever, payable quarterly to the Board of Trustees of 
 the Library, for the support and maintenance of the 
 Library and its branches. He proposed that a Board 
 of nine Trustees should be incorporated for the 
 management of the Library; that the Trustees should
 
 79 
 
 be selected by himself from our best citizens, and 
 that all vacancies which should occur should be filled 
 by the Board. 
 
 The articles of incorporation were to contain a 
 provision that no Trustee or officer should be appointed 
 or removed on religious or political grounds. The 
 Trustees were to receive from the City the quarterly 
 payments, andto expend them in their discretion for the 
 benefit of the Library. It was believed, he added, 
 that this annual payment would afford a sufficient 
 sum for the purchase of books for establishing the 
 branches, and for the general management. The 
 Trustees were to be required to make an annual 
 report to the Mayor and City Council of their pro- 
 ceedings and of the condition of the Library, and the 
 report was also to contain a full account of the money 
 received and expended. Mr. Pratt said, in conclusion, 
 that the plan thus proposed for the support and 
 management of the Library was the result of long 
 and careful consideradon, and that he was sadsfied it 
 was well adapted to promote the great object in 
 view — the free circulation of the books of a large 
 and ever-growing Library among the people of the 
 whole City. Such was Mr. Pratt's generous offer and 
 judicious plan as set forth by himself. 
 
 On the 30th of March, 1882, the General Assembly 
 of Maryland passed an act incorporating the Library 
 exacdy according to the plan proposed by Mr. Pratt,
 
 80 
 
 and also authorizing the Mayor and City Council of 
 Baltimore to pass an ordinance to carry the plan into 
 full effect, provided said ordinance should be approved 
 by a majority of the votes of the people of the City. 
 The necessary ordinance was accordingly passed by 
 the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore on the 15th 
 of July, 1882, and on the 6th of November, 1882, the 
 ordinance was accepted by the vote of the people. 
 These careful and somewhat complicated proceedings 
 on the part of the Mayor and City Council of Balti- 
 more and of the General Assembly of the State, and 
 their ratification by the subsequent vote of the people 
 of the City, were deemed to be expedient, and 
 .perhaps necessary, in view of a provision of the 
 Constitution of the State. 
 
 The General Assembly of the State of Maryland, 
 in the session of 1882, eloquently expressed in a 
 joint resolution its sense of the beneficence of Mr. 
 Pratt, and of the value of his foundation. 
 
 Never in Maryland has a public Institution been 
 founded with so much care and with such hearty 
 approval on the part of the people of Baltimore, and 
 of the constituted authorities of both City and State. 
 
 As has been stated, Mr. Pratt contributed the 
 sum of $1,058,000, a portion of which was expended 
 in building and other necessary improvements, and 
 the residue — namely, $833,333.33^ — 'was paid in 
 cash to the City. On this sum the City has agreed to
 
 81 
 
 pay interest at the rate of six per cent., or $50,000 
 annually, for the support of the Library. Six per cent, 
 is in Maryland the interest allowed by law on all 
 debts, unless a different agreement is made between 
 the parties. A large portion of the City's debt still 
 bears interest air that rate. Most damaging conse- 
 quences would follow if the income of the Library 
 should vary from year to year with the fluctuations in 
 the market-rate of money. Stability is absolutely 
 essential, and the income thus provided is sufficient, 
 but not more than sufficient, for the great object to 
 be accomplished. For every reason it comported 
 with the dignity and self-respect of the City that on 
 such a debt it should pay the legal rate of interest, 
 and this was approved and agreed to, not only by the 
 General Assembly and City Council, but by the 
 people of Baltimore, acting in their sovereign capacity. 
 Boston, to her great credit, was the first of Ameri- 
 can cities to establish a free library. According to 
 the second report of her Trustees, made in 1854, the 
 Library, after it had existed for two years, contained 
 16,221 volumes. The Pratt Library begins with 
 nearly twice as many. The Boston Library, includ- 
 ing the branches, has increased to the number ot 
 453,947 volumes, but much the greater part is not for 
 circulation or popular use, but for research and for 
 scholars. In addition to an income from investments 
 generously given by individuals, amounting to about
 
 82 
 
 $7000> Boston, during the last two years, has appro- 
 priated each year for the support of her Library 
 $1 20,000, Her Library buildings have cost the city a 
 large sum of money, and a larger building is now 
 contemplated. Much of this great expense arises 
 not from the circulating and popular feature of the 
 library, but from the department of research and 
 study. This department, as I have already said, is in 
 Baltimore amply provided for by the Library of the 
 Peabody Institute. 
 
 There is another consideration which makes a free 
 library especially valuable in this City at this time. 
 For a long period Maryland, in common with her 
 sister States of the South, suffered from the exist- 
 ence of African slavery, now for more than twenty 
 years happily abolished. While slavery lasted it was 
 a hindrance and obstacle to the progress of both 
 races, to those who were free as well as to those who 
 were enslaved. Now Baltimore stands erect, with 
 every weight removed, at the entrance of a free and 
 therefore new South, of which she is a part, and with 
 all the possibilities of intellectual development in 
 which she shares. Already has the genius of South- 
 ern people flowered forth with unexpected luxuriance. 
 Sidney Lanier, who came to Baltimore after the close 
 of the Civil War, was soon honorably associated first 
 with the Peabody Institute, and afterwards, until his 
 death, with Johns Hopkins University as Lecturer. 
 The noble purity and simplicity of his life were
 
 83 
 
 quickly recognized, and the tablet to his memory 
 placed in Hopkins Hall shows the high estimation in 
 which he was held by the University ; but it is only 
 since his death that the published volume of his 
 poems has revealed the subtlety, delicacy and power 
 of his genius. George W. Cable, especially, in his " Old 
 Creole Days," has with singular skill and power opened 
 a new and fascinating region of fiction which seems to 
 belong to himself alone. Joel Chandler Harris, in the 
 wit, wisdom and folk-lore of " Uncle Remus," has won 
 the hearts of young and old. Who has not laughed 
 till he cried over the legend of the "Tar-Baby"? 
 Who does not sympathize with the little boy who, 
 when he saw a dead rabbit, wept bitterly and refused 
 to be comforted, because he said he knew that " Brer 
 Rabbit " was dead at last ? And Mary N. Murfree, or 
 Charles Egbert Craddock, as she prefers to be called, 
 has not only made famous her beloved Tennessee 
 mountains, but has accomplished the more difficult 
 task of creating an interest in the rude mountaineers, 
 ennobled as they are in the light of her genius, by 
 heroic and tender traits in both man and woman. 
 We cannot hear in the city streets the coming foot- 
 steps of our writers and thinkers. They will appear 
 in their own good time, and will not be hastened at 
 our pleasure ; but wherever there is genius it is fos- 
 tered by books freely offered and freely used. Per- 
 haps we may hope at some time for another genius
 
 84 
 
 as bright, but not as wayward, as the poet Edgar 
 Allan Poe, who sleeps in our soil, where he properly 
 belongs, but whose fame is not bounded by the narrow 
 limits of any city or State or country. Free libraries 
 are not made wholly for authors, original thinkers 
 and men of genius, for these must always be few in 
 numbers, but chiefly for those who hunger and thirst, 
 as I believe all intelligent people sometimes do, for 
 something better and higher than the pursuits of the 
 mere workday world in which they live, and to all 
 such the Library, with its books and periodicals, its 
 pleasant reading-rooms, and the instructive or enter- 
 taining volumes to be taken away as home compan- 
 ions, is an unspeakable blessing. The Invitation is to 
 all. A few love knowledge for its own sake, some 
 from a desire to know the truth, and others for various 
 reasons ; but every one who desires to learn some- 
 thing worth knowing, must go for the instruction to 
 the surest source — that is, to the best books. The 
 cordial invitation extended to all seekers for knowl- 
 edge can hardly be better expressed than in the 
 appeal uttered long ago by the wise son of Sirach. 
 He still says to us, in language which our Library reite- 
 rates, " Draw near unto me, ye unlearned, and dwell in 
 the house of learning." There is a much larger class 
 who will resort to this Library, and whose wants 
 should be amply supplied — those who seek for good 
 literature without any definite purpose of study, but 
 for relaxation of mind, for innocent enjoyment, and
 
 85 
 
 for general culture. How many there are to-day in 
 this city who are worn down by household cares, by 
 the drudgery of daily toil, and by the anxieties of 
 business! how many by the still greater trials and 
 bereavements which are inseparable incidents of our 
 chequered human existence ! To such will come as 
 a benediction the invitation which I would fain borrow 
 from the sweet and tender words of Shakespeare : 
 
 " Come and take choice of all my library, 
 And so beguile thy sorrow." 
 
 Good literature! What region of thought and 
 feeline does it not embrace ? What heart does it not 
 soften? What intellect does it not quicken? What 
 soul does it not elevate ? Let me close with an 
 extract from Edgar Quinet, a modern French writer 
 who knew and loved literature well, and who at the 
 close of his career thus expressed his gratitude : " I 
 have profited," he said, " from the days and years which, 
 have been given me to live in familiarity with the 
 great minds of all times. Those good geniuses, who 
 have made the world illustrious, have not disdained 
 me. Without demanding of me my titles, who I am, 
 or whence I came, they have admitted me into their 
 company. They have opened to me their volumes ; 
 they have allowed me to read into their thoughts, 
 their secrets ; they have let me drink of their sweet 
 knowledge. I have forgotten in this occupation the 
 evil days which have come upon me."
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. / MORRISON HARRIS. 
 
 Mr. Pratt, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 In view of this thronged and brilliant audience, 
 so largely representing the culture and intelligence of 
 the City, one may well say, " Peace hath her victories 
 no less renowned than war," and that a quiet and 
 unostentatious citizen may achieve a popular triumph, 
 as brilliant as that accorded the successful soldier, by 
 a simple act that illustrates his acceptance of a great 
 idea — the recognition by wealth of the responsibility 
 of wealth. That money is power, is common experi- 
 ence ' crystallized into proverb. I am not concerned 
 to-day either with the manner of its acquisition or the 
 modes of its abuse. I heartily wish that all who have 
 it may be happy in its possession, and I take it that far 
 too much of the sharp criticism rising into bitter denun- 
 ciation of the rich, because they fail to do the many 
 things we think they ought to do, and are sure we 
 would do in their places, has in it very positive 
 elements of injustice, self-deception and humbug. 
 
 There are, however, phases of the subject in 
 which you and I, leaving to others the cheap luxury 
 of condemnation, have a right both to speak and feel. 
 These are the occasions when the millions are brought 
 in contact with the wants and interests of the many,
 
 87 
 
 and the immense leverage of money applied to the 
 relief, instruction and elevation of the masses of the 
 people, making lighter the burdens of poverty, soften- 
 ing the asperities of adverse fortune, leading ignor- 
 ance into light, stimulating the honorable ambition of 
 willing labor, developing and fostering true manliness, 
 and, through the thousand channels into which the 
 dedicated wealth may be turned, bringing comfort 
 and health and happiness to multitudes dwelling in 
 the deserts and choked with the sands of life. 
 
 Wisely, willingly and cordially we greet the men 
 who so use their abundant wealth, for they have well 
 deserved our acclamations of praise. 
 
 The free-library endowment interests me chiefly 
 because it plants in the community another educa- 
 tional force. I believe in and advocate popular edu- 
 cation widely diffused and free as it is possible to 
 make it ; not as the luxury of the few, but as the 
 primary and essential need of the many, underlying 
 and presupposed by our political theory. We need 
 it on all wise lines and through all legitimate agencies. 
 We want it by public legislation and by private 
 munificence. We want it on the lines of the judicious 
 curriculum, the intelligent and absolutely non-political 
 "and non-sectarian administration of a liberally sus- 
 tained public-school system. We want it on the 
 lines of the Free Library, such as you, sir, have given 
 us, with its seat in the centre of population and its 
 arms reaching out to the circumference, with its doors
 
 88 
 
 open to all, and its treasures of instruction to be 
 availed of, I trust, by ever-increasing multitudes as 
 the years roll on. We want it through the opportu- 
 nities of a Library of scholarly reference and research, 
 and we want it on the yet broader lines of a great 
 University, where studious labor and intellectual fitness 
 may receive thorough equipment, grasp the large 
 problems of philosophy, trace the devious course of 
 history, and in the Hmidess fields of scientific research 
 make brilliant discovery of new and sublime truths. 
 
 Largely as these wants have been met by the 
 munificence of Peabody, Hopkins and Pratt, the need 
 is not wholly fulfilled. 
 
 We have, indeed, great reason to be proud of 
 these comparatively new departures on the line of 
 the City's truest progress, and, in connection with 
 them, of the very well-sustained institutions that 
 evidence the abundant interest of our people in the 
 relief of suffering, misfortune and want — noble insti- 
 tutions that stretch forth hands of benediction over 
 the city, and the mainspring of whose vitality and 
 utility is in the warm hearts, earnest faith and unstinted 
 labor of sympathetic woman. Estimating, however, 
 at the highest the value and results of the Peabody 
 Institute and the Hopkins University, we may still 
 feel that by reason of actual — it may be necessary — 
 limitations there are large classes of our fellow- 
 citizens who derive from these great endowments a
 
 89 
 
 general rather than immediate and special benefit. 
 To the needs of these the free school and Free Library 
 must minister, and thoughtful men will admit that the 
 service they are competent to render touches nearly 
 and certainly the interests of the community at large. 
 It is late in the Say to argue against the curse of 
 illiteracy or seek to prove the close alliance of 
 io-norance and vice. We do not Sfo back to the dawn 
 to seek the source of light with the sun blazing at 
 meridian ; and while it would be folly to insist that 
 education will make men saints, we may not deny its 
 influence in the formation of character and the 
 more intelligent appreciation and maintenance of 
 civil rights. 
 
 If it stops here and secures only these results, it 
 has done much for the common good ; but it goes 
 further and accomplishes more. It is not enough 
 that the classes to which I refer should be made more 
 intelligent as citizens: they should be made happy 
 as men ; they, too, should have their share of the best. 
 They have homes, and the sanctities of the fireside 
 are crowned with a purer influence, and the ties of 
 family unite them with a more sacred bond, in the 
 degree that their homes are made attractive and 
 happy. To teach them and their children to read is 
 a point gained, but it needs to be supplemented by 
 something to read. 
 
 Some people think that the value and delight
 
 90 
 
 of books are a sort of perquisite of the more fortunate 
 classes, just as others assume that the rich alone are 
 the helpers of the poor. They are mistaken in both 
 conclusions. The instant helpers of the poor are the 
 poor ; it may be a broken crust or a shared fagot, 
 but so it is ; and by none is a suitable book more 
 eagerly grasped than by those who are unable to buy 
 one. There are faculties and aspirations that are 
 God's endowment of our common humanity, and 
 they are fortunate co-workers who labor to lift the 
 veil that shrouds and pierce the environment that 
 clogs their development. 
 
 In view of the dependence and interdependence 
 of human relations, it is always well that wealth and 
 influence should regard with kindly consideration the 
 classes that need help ; but there are times when cir- 
 cumstances emphasize the peculiar wisdom of for- 
 bearance and justice. I open no discussion and enter 
 into no details inappropriate to the occasion ; but 
 observant men cannot fail to see the clouds gathering 
 on the horizon and hear the sounds ominous of 
 storm, or to realize that to-day there are questions 
 that must have answer, and problems for which safe 
 solution must be found. 
 
 I advocate, further, the need and value of educa- 
 tion in connection with a special class in our midst — 
 a large and meritorious one, worthy of help because 
 always self-helping. I mean our mechanics ; and in
 
 91 
 
 their case, the higher training I would urge gives 
 promise of outcome in positive relation to the inter- 
 ests of the whole community. The demand of the 
 times and the pressure of competition require that 
 the labor of these artisans, artificers, operatives, these 
 workers with machinery and instruments, should be 
 skilled' labor, and their training should be special, 
 direct and practical, tending to their systematic 
 knowledge of the theory and practice of the indus- 
 trial arts, and so far an art education bearing upon 
 the results to be attained, in obedience to the great 
 principle that intelligence is the most important ele- 
 ment of progress in every department of industry. 
 In all the leading European nations, concurrently with 
 the mobilization of arniies and the greed of conquest, 
 spurred by pride and urged in the interests of national 
 aggrandizement, an earnest struggle is being made 
 for industrial supremacy — the great prize of indus- 
 trial education ; and this struggle enlists the gravest 
 interest of statesmen and thinkers alike, because they 
 realize that national wealth and prosperity rest on the 
 enlightened employment of natural products and 
 forces, and that national advancement is best secured 
 by promoting the intellectual development of their 
 industrial population. Hence, in England, Germany, 
 France, Belgium and elsewhere, schools for special 
 training in industrial arts are constandy muldplying, 
 while this country, with a people keen, capable and
 
 92 
 
 energetic, and a wealth of natural resources almost 
 Incalculable, has scarcely entered into the great com- 
 petition. Herein lies the unfulfilled need to which I 
 before referred. Here is the splendid opportunity for 
 another generous endowment. We need an indus- 
 trial-art school, a technological institute, wherein 
 labor may be trained into skill and skill make return 
 in profit and honor ; wherein our young men may be 
 armed for contest on fair terms upon the field of this 
 great struggle, and women, crushed and despondent 
 under the burdens of life, may be fitted for suitable 
 occupations in which industry and taste will lead to 
 reputation and emolument. I may be oversanguine, 
 but I have faith in my idea, and I have abiding confi- 
 dence in the force of example. Like begets like, and 
 great endowments for noble purposes have followed 
 each other in this community with a rapidity for 
 which we ourselves were hardly prepared, and at the 
 hint of which our grandfathers would have been 
 smitten with great amazement. We have outlived 
 the day and the thought of our grandfathers. 
 
 I recall occasions when I was present at conver- 
 sations between the late Johns Hopkins and Mr. 
 John W. Garrett — my personal relations with the 
 latter of whom for many years, will always be to me 
 matter of gratification and pride — one of which 
 occurred at the time of the last visit of George 
 Peabody to the Institute he had so generously founded,
 
 93 
 
 and where he received a popular ovation honorable 
 to the multitude who so heartily tendered it, and the 
 City in which his name will always be honored. The 
 conversation naturally turned to Mr. Peabody — what 
 he had done and the deep impression made by his 
 liberal act; and T remember Mr. Garrett, turning to 
 Mr. Hopkins, said : " You will have to do somethine 
 like this with your money. You are a bachelor, and 
 after dealing as liberally as you wish for every one 
 you care to provide for, you will have to leave a great 
 estate behind you before long. You will have to think 
 over something on a large scale." I do not recall 
 what Mr. Hopkins said, probably because he made 
 no special reply. At another time, when I talked 
 over with Mr. Garrett the affairs of the Younsf Men's 
 Christian Association, for whose building fund I was 
 anxious to obtain subscriptions, and to the agreement 
 for which he had put his own name for ten thousand 
 dollars, he said : " Now you go and talk to Mr. Hop- 
 kins — I have already done so — and he will give you 
 something." I went, and he subscribed the same 
 sum. Later, I learned that he had been considering 
 a project on the line of the conversation referred to — 
 the establishment, I think, of a line of steamers to 
 Brazil. What influence other than that Mr. Garrett 
 sedulously brought to bear suggested the great uses 
 to which he finally devoted the bulk of his estate, I 
 do not know ; but I am convinced that to the influence
 
 94 
 
 of his old friend and constant adviser we are largely 
 indebted for the ultimate dedication of his wealth, 
 the fruits of which we now, and generations to come, 
 will enjoy. 
 
 So much for personal influence and the value of 
 example. And let us not forget that when the 
 friendly adviser came to deal with his own wealth, 
 and, full of years and crowned with honor, prepared 
 to lay it down — that while he fulfilled all the obliga- 
 tions of family, he made princely provision for wise 
 and benevolent uses by an unrestricted bequest of 
 six thousand dollars every year to the Poor Associa- 
 tion of the city, and a gift of $50,000 to be dispensed 
 annually for " charitable, educational and other pur- 
 poses of public utility, calculated to promote the 
 happiness, usefulness and progress of society" — and 
 this magnificent provision not limited to the present 
 generation, but running on to the grandchildren of 
 the giver. 
 
 Passing for a moment from what has been accom- 
 plished in our midst upon these lines of special and 
 general education, and the enlarged benefits to which 
 we may reasonably look in the near future, I would 
 say a word, before closing, of the incalculable value, 
 sovereign influence and exquisite delight of books; 
 how they store the chambers of memory and 
 strengthen the fibres of mind ; how they bridge the 
 chasms of the past, illumine the present and mould
 
 95 
 
 the future; and how with them we pass from the 
 vagueness of tradition into the Hght of history, grow 
 familiar with the greatness of individual lives, the 
 crystallizations of society, the growth and decadence 
 of organized empire, the convulsions of war and the 
 arts of peace ; and, tracing the flow and reflux of 
 civilization and progress, see its long-fretted and 
 obstructed current widen into the assured breadth and 
 sweep of this, its century of triumphant development. 
 Only by retrospection and introspection do we con- 
 ceive adequately how much we owe to these multi- 
 form digests of the experience and thought of time 
 and the world — these full arsenals to which we go 
 alike for the weapons that arm us for the conflicts, and 
 the contentment that soothes us in the disappointments 
 of life. 
 
 Doubdess there are worthless and dangerous 
 books that tempt the unwary and mislead the weak ; 
 that build up false philosophies and inculcate evil 
 morals; that degrade science by the assumptions of 
 ignorance, and dishonor religion by the bitterness of 
 dogmatism; that touch with doubting finger the 
 holiest shrines of faith, and sap the securest founda- 
 tions of society; but where the few infuse the poison 
 the many bring the antidote, and to-day we go to the 
 printed book for the overthrow of error, rather than 
 to the limited refutation of the pulpit or the ephem- 
 eral discussion of the rostrum.
 
 96 
 
 The complete library ministers to all wants, satisfies 
 all tastes, meets all inquiries. It is the cosmos of 
 mind, the epitome of knowledge. It aids the pro- 
 foundest thinker, and stimulates the simplest reader. 
 It gives the politician the principles and examples of 
 statesmanship, inflames the ardor and illustrates the 
 nobility of patriotism. With its "gift of tongues " it 
 speaks in all languages to all nationalities. In it 
 imagination finds exaltation, and labor learns skill. 
 There are the flaming chariots of genius and the 
 white sails of adventure, and there are revealed the 
 majestic procession of natural forces and the omni- 
 present laws of divine control. 
 
 Upon books rest the promise and security of all 
 progress, material, intellectual, religious; of all 
 science, invention, art ; of all rights, government 
 order; of all convenience, comfort, happiness; and so, 
 touching each arc of the rounded circle of personal, 
 political and social life, with them all possibilities of 
 civilization await us in the future, while without them 
 man's lapse into barbarism, though gradual, would be 
 sure. 
 
 And now, sir (addressing Mr. Pratt), there is left 
 me the great pleasure of uniting with the mass of 
 your fellow-citizens in expressing the general appre- 
 ciation of your noble act, that, while illustrating your 
 high and unselfish spirit, shows that you have met 
 with warm sympathy and wise prevision one of the
 
 97 
 
 great needs of our people, and have very wisely 
 carried out your purpose while living. I do not 
 doubt that the successful and beneficent working of 
 your Library will be a source of great happiness to 
 you in the many years we all hope you will continue 
 to realize it, with the added satisfaction of anticipating 
 the blessing it will prove to multitudes who will 
 succeed those who now applaud you ; to be enhanced, 
 I trust, by the pleasant consciousness that others, 
 affected by your example, have also entered these 
 lists of honor.
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. FERDINAND C. LA TROBE, 
 EX-MAYOR OF BALTIMORE. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen : — In presenting a free library 
 to the city, Mr. Pratt has the satisfaction of knowing 
 that he will give pleasure, instruction and knowledge 
 not only to his fellow-citizens, but to all those who will 
 live here after us. He will know that the people are 
 bettered by his liberality, that he adds another to our 
 monuments — not an inspiring shaft of marble, or 
 statue of bronze, commemorating fame or patriotism, 
 but a storehouse from whose shelves will flow that 
 knowledge which, with mercy, is " like the gentle 
 rain from heaven, blessing him who gives and him 
 who takes." The stream for which he has furnished 
 the inexhaustible supply will continue through coming 
 generations, who will remember his name as long as 
 Baltimore does last. If I may be permitted to say it 
 in his presence, the wisdom, shrewdness and business 
 sagacity which enable him to exercise this liberality 
 are indicated by the fact that it is not a post-mortem 
 bequest, but given in that full tide of life and health 
 which we hope he may long enjoy, and when he can 
 himself witness some of those blessings which we are 
 told belong more to the giver than to the recipient. 
 The acquisition of large wealth is no easy matter, or
 
 99 
 
 more of us would have it ; it represents labor, industry, 
 energy, tact, economy, and a little of what is called 
 good fortune, or, at least, opportunity. Being difficult 
 to win, it is generally hard to willingly part with. One 
 power alone absolutely takes it away — death. There- 
 fore, he who gives without that final compulsion, gives 
 freely,' and, by witnessing the good resulting from his 
 gift, secures at least a personal gratification from his 
 own liberality. We desire that Mr. Pratt may fully 
 realize how much his gift to Baltimore is appreciated. 
 That the Library will be of practical benefit there is no 
 doubt. Each year demonstrates the advantages of 
 free public education. The yearning for learning 
 is engrafted in the nature of American citizens. 
 Believing in the equality of the people, insisting that 
 no man or woman is confined by birth to one class of 
 society — in other words, that " all men are born free 
 and equal" — and having won the acknowledgment of 
 these, as we claim natural, rights, we know they can 
 be withheld only by force of arms or loss of educated 
 intelligence. The former we do not fear, and the 
 latter, far more dangerous, we are determined to 
 guard against. It is admitted by wise statesmen 
 that political liberty rests upon the foundation-stone 
 of free public education. The free schoolhouse is, 
 therefore, regarded as a necessity with those who love 
 republican institutions, and the people submit without 
 murmuring to heavy taxation for its maintenance.
 
 100 
 
 But the schoolhouse is only on the threshold of the 
 temple of knowledge. What those who have left the 
 school-desk require is books to make available the 
 desire for knowledge acquired in the public school — 
 free books within the reach of every one of the 40,000 
 children who annually attend the public schools of 
 Baltimore. We give with free education free books 
 for tuition, but we had no Free Library to furnish the 
 necessary supplement for that necessity, " free schools." 
 It is this Free Library that Mr. Enoch Pratt has given 
 us, at a cost of over one million dollars. For it, this 
 large audience, representing the intelligence and 
 patriotism of Baltimore, has assembled to say, " Mr. 
 Pratt, we thank you."
 
 ADDRESS OF DR. LEWIS H. STEIN ER, 
 LIBRARIAN. 
 
 Ladies and Centlemen: — Your presence at the 
 opening exercises of the Free Library shows your 
 appreciation of the advantages which are expected to 
 be derived from its estabhshment, and how grateful 
 you feel towards the generous founder whose name 
 it bears. I congratulate you, the Board of Trustees, 
 and Mr. Pratt, that, the days of preparation being 
 over, on the morrow the doors of the Central Library 
 will be thrown open to every anxious seeker after 
 knowledge, without respect to rank, condition or color, 
 and that all will have the opportunity, then and thence- 
 forth, to avail themselves of the constantly increasing 
 number of silent instructors which will be at the dis- 
 posal of every one in this people's university. I con- 
 gratulate you, citizens of Baltimore, on the introduction 
 of another instrumentality for the increase and diffu- 
 sion of knowledge and culture in your midst, in addi- 
 tion to those that have of late years so largely con- 
 tributed to the reputation of the City. And I trust 
 that I may also be allowed to felicitate myself upon 
 this formal establishment of such relations with you as 
 will enable me to execute the high trust committed to 
 me, so as to secure the greatest good to the greatest 
 number of the community.
 
 102 
 
 " Ideas once generated live forever," says an old 
 writer. But, in order that these may undergo normal 
 development and healthy growth, they must be 
 planted in favorable soil and supplied with such ex- 
 ternal conditions as will insure the fullest develop- 
 ment of their possibilities and potentialities. So long 
 as the brilliant conceptions of genius remain locked 
 up in the brains of their authors, so long as the sug- 
 gestion of a new application of the forces of Nature 
 lingers concealed in the mind of the inventor, so long 
 as a profound thought is kept from contact with the 
 active, busy world of thinkers, inventors and practical 
 men who may make it useful, so long it is but a life- 
 less seed, unable to grow, develop and bear rich fruit. 
 Hence the necessity for some means of communi- 
 cating the thoughts of others so as to make them the 
 common property of mankind. They must be placed 
 where they can contribute to the good of the race, and 
 be supplied with the conditions that will allow them 
 to furnish perennial proof of the undying life they 
 possess. 
 
 Before the invention of printing, efforts were made 
 to accomplish this by oral communication, or by the 
 slow written multiplication of statements of the truths 
 that man, having discovered, was willing to make the 
 common property of his fellow-man. The former was 
 a very unreliable method of securing accuracy of 
 transmission, and the latter cumbrous and expensive ;
 
 103 
 
 but when printing was discovered, then the thoughts 
 of the wise were enshrined in a permanent shape that 
 might be seized and appropriated as his own by whom- 
 soever it was appreciatively read and lovingly taken 
 to heart. The readers of books, necessarily, at first 
 were a very limited class, and were disposed to con- 
 ceal themselves modestly from a world which was 
 busied with agriculture, commerce, war, and the intri- 
 cate stratagems that seem inseparable from monarchical 
 governments. But the people began to thirst after 
 some of the intellectual enjoyment that seemed pecu- 
 liar to this class. They grew restive under the yoke 
 of slavery. The heaven-born aspirations implanted 
 in every human breast impelled them to pry into the 
 mysteries of knowledge, to seek for the key that 
 would unlock its storehouses, to make an acquaint- 
 ance with those great ideas, truths, and even facts, 
 which were apparently stored away in printed pages. 
 Students sprang up from all classes of society — 
 largely, be it said, with laudable pride, from the 
 masses rather than the nobility ; ideas that had lain 
 dormant began to swell with a 4ife that brought prac- 
 tical science and invention to the front ; the test of 
 practical worth, rather than that of accidental asso- 
 ciation or unavoidable descent, began to be applied 
 to men, and the race actually started out on a new 
 course with a life and energy never dreamed of before 
 by its most hopeful sons.
 
 104 
 
 The ministry of books had been invoked. The art 
 that Faust and Gutenberg and Koster had given to 
 mankind was now enlisted in the service of human 
 advancement. From cloister and cell, where truths 
 had been carefully stored away for centuries in 
 precious manuscripts, knowledge came forth and was 
 lovingly greeted by those who had longed for an 
 acquaintance with its treasures. The brotherhood of 
 man and the equality of all the sons of men before 
 the law then began to assert themselves as truths of 
 primeval origin which had been lying dormant through 
 countless ages. There was restlessness under despot- 
 ism, and dissatisfaction with government not spring- 
 ing from the consent of the governed. These grew 
 and strengthened until they asserted themselves here 
 in their mightiest form — in the establishment of a 
 republic where each should stand the equal of the 
 other, and worth alone should be entitled to the 
 respect and reverence that had been previously paid 
 to circumstances which were accidents in the indi- 
 vidual. 
 
 If we would be true to our duty and properly grate- 
 ful for the blessings which the printed page has 
 brought to us and our homes, we must strive to bring 
 the ministry of books to our fellow-men. This is 
 acknowledged by the advocates of popular education 
 on all sides. Hence the public, when it is sufficiently 
 enlightened to understand the subject, submits cheer-
 
 105 
 
 fully to a fair taxation, in order that schools may be 
 established for all classes, and the blessings of rudi- 
 mentary education may be made as free as the air of 
 heaven or the water of the sea. In this city, under 
 wise and prudent educators, a system of public schools 
 has been established and developed, until it now occu- 
 pies the proud position of being among the best in 
 the United States. But its advantages only arouse 
 and stimulate a thirst for knowledge which must be 
 satisfied in some other way. Those who have com- 
 pleted the requisite curriculum of the schools can no 
 longer rest contented with the g2iasz-Y&gQt2itive life 
 that satisfies him who is altogether devoid of intellect- 
 ual culture ; those who have been allowed only a taste 
 at the Pierian spring will — if opportunity is but 
 allowed them — hasten forward to drink deeper and 
 still deeper draughts of life-giving knowledge. 
 
 Where shall such opportunities be secured ? How 
 shall the wants of the masses, first excited and devel- 
 oped in the schools, be supplied ? It is not only the 
 favored student who has, in college or university, sat 
 under the teachings of mature wisdom, that feels the 
 need of the ministry of books when his days of pupil- 
 age are over. His humbler and less favored brother 
 has the same earnest longing and seeks the same 
 relief. Here the value of a free public library asserts 
 itself. It brings to the people the opportunity of sup- 
 plementing whatever knowledge may have been
 
 106 
 
 acquired in the schools with the glowing thoughts 
 and burning; words of the best writers and greatest 
 thinkers. It places every one on a broad platform of 
 democratic equality such as only has a right to any 
 recognition in the republic of letters. It is the true 
 people's university, where all may read, learn, imbibe 
 and appropriate the results of the thought and study 
 of those who have occupied chairs of instruction in 
 the higher schools, and such as have unselfishly 
 devoted their lives to extending the boundaries of 
 knowledge. The free library and the learned uni- 
 versity have the same ultimate objects in view — viz.: 
 the elevation of the race, its advancement along the 
 lines of culture, and its progressive victory over the 
 trammels of Time and Nature. They dare not antag- 
 onize. Each must assist and help the other. Even 
 now, as in the enthusiastic glow that animates us at 
 the inauguration of the one which we hope will be of 
 priceless value to Baltimore, we dare not forget that 
 the o^/ier — inaugurated not quite ten years ago in 
 this very Academy, and whose faculty honors these 
 ceremonies with their presence — has never been con- 
 tent with the mere attainment of recognition from the 
 learned world, but has always been ready to aid in 
 any enterprise promising to benefit popular culture in 
 the City where it is located. Long may they labor, 
 each in its own sphere, for the diffusion of the bless- 
 ings of human knowledge !
 
 107 
 
 Fellow-citizens, the temptation to speak more at 
 length is great, but I must close. A few words more 
 and the part assigned to me will have been performed. 
 On to-morrow — Tuesday — morning, the issue of books 
 at the Central Library, to those who have secured 
 library cards, will take place, to continue, we hope, as 
 long as the City endures. The Library practically 
 belongs to the citizens of Baltimore. The preserva- 
 tion of its books from injury is an object of impor- 
 tance to every citizen. We invoke your assistance in 
 this regard. You have already shown scrupulous 
 care of the beautiful shrubbery and flowers that adorn 
 your public squares. May we not expect still greater 
 care in reference to the buildings and books that have 
 been so generously donated for your use and that of 
 your children ? 
 
 Twenty thousand volumes have been collected for 
 the Central Library ; twelve thousand more will be 
 placed, within a few weeks, on the shelves of its 
 branches. Yearly additions will be made to these. 
 Starting under auspicious circumstances, may we not 
 trust that this Library and its branches shall, under the 
 enlightened and wise management of its Trustees, with 
 the blessing of that kind Providence who placed the 
 thought of establishing it in the heart of the founder, 
 be the means of making our City and our State wiser, 
 greater and better, and that future generations will 
 bless the name of him who so bountifully provided for 
 the intellectual wants of his fellow-men ?
 
 THE CENTRAL LIBRARY BUILDING. 
 
 The Main or Central Library Building is situated 
 on Mulberry near Cathedral street. It (together with 
 the four Branch Buildings) was designed and the 
 construction superintended by Mr. Chas. L. Carson, 
 architect. It has a frontage of eighty-two feet, and a 
 depth of one hundred and forty feet to a twenty-foot 
 alley, and is thoroughly fire-proof in construction 
 throughout. The building is treated in the bold 
 Romanesque style, with its characteristic semicircular 
 forms, relief mouldings, enriched carvings and embel- 
 lishments. The facade, from the ground line to and 
 including the cornice, is constructed of Baltimore 
 County white marble, tool-dressed to an even surface, 
 with polished granite pillars and pilasters supporting 
 arched windows. In the centre of the front a tower 
 rises to the height of ninety-eight feet, and clearly 
 designates and marks the main entrance, vestibule 
 and staircase hall. On each side of this tower are 
 clustered three large semicircular-headed windows, 
 over which, and in line with the second floor, there is 
 an enriched moulded cornice. Above this point the two 
 wings (east and west) are treated differently as to 
 arrangement of openings. The east wing being three 
 stories, and the west wing but two stories in height
 
 ^a/ionnr' tfiufrfju o/ t^n^/ra 
 
 (D K^^lDli^r^^ML )fJ( )IB ll^xj^sVlunV
 
 109 
 
 and they are designed so as to come within one level 
 cornice line at the roof, thereby presenting even- 
 ness of sky lines broken only by the tower. In the 
 upper story of the tower there is an artistically carved 
 allegorical panel in bas-relief representing History, 
 and in the east and west wings on each side of the 
 towef, in spandrels formed by the circular window- 
 heads, there are five medallion full-relief busts of 
 eminent authors and artists, modelled and carved out 
 of Italian statuary marble. Other appropriate enrich- 
 ments are introduced in proper places, and evenly 
 distributed throughout the building, which, with the 
 general treatment and outline, are designed to pro- 
 duce a feeling of earnestness and repose. 
 
 The building is entered by a large centre doorway ten 
 feet wide. Heavy carved oaken doors, the inner pair 
 having cathedral glass in large panels, swing back, dis- 
 closing exquisite tints in enamel tiles, which cover the 
 walls above the wainscoting, in buff, blue, chocolate, 
 white, black and brown. The floor of the vestibule is 
 laid with marble in black and white. The wainscoting 
 is of Tennessee and Vermont marbles, principally of 
 a dove-color. A graceful arch of Cheat River blue 
 sandstone faces the entrance, supported by two 
 columns of Tennessee marble, of the tint known as 
 " maiden's blush." The bases of the columns are of 
 black Irish marble. The stairway of marble is broad 
 and easy, and is constructed of Italian treads and
 
 110 
 
 maiden's-blush risers, upon a framework of iron. The 
 balustrade is massive, but in excellent proportions. 
 The balusters are of bronze, with a mahogany rail. 
 The newel-post is a block of dove-colored marble, from 
 which rises an elegant bronze gas fixture. 
 
 The room to the right, thirty feet square and twenty 
 feet high, is for the delivery of books. This room is 
 the one most frequented by the people, and the one 
 where borrowers must wait till the books called for 
 can be brought from the shelves and charged to them. 
 It is provided with an open fireplace, and a large 
 heated ventilating flue, four feet by fourteen inches, 
 runs directly through to the roof in an inner wall, to 
 keep the air pure during the business hours of the 
 day. A counter runs the entire length of the room. 
 The floor is of marble, the woodwork of old oak with 
 antique chimneypieces, etc. A window for books 
 and a door for attendants open into the large book 
 room behind, and a small lift extends to the upper 
 stories for ready and safe transit of books. 
 
 On the left of the vestibule is another room, of the 
 same size, for the return of books, finished in the 
 same style and of the same materials. This room 
 is also connected with the great book rooms and with 
 the delivery room. Behind these front rooms are the 
 two large book rooms, arranged one above the other 
 in two half stories, each room seventy-five feet long, 
 thirty-seven feet wide, and nine feet high, the building
 
 Ill 
 
 being drawn in twenty feet on each side to furnish 
 light and air. Shelves crossing each of these rooms 
 from east to west divide it into fifteen alcoves five 
 feet wide, and every alcove is lighted by a window at 
 each end of it. Passageways three feet wide run 
 north and soHth alono- the walls and throug^h the 
 centre of the rooms. No books are placed on the 
 outer walls. The two stories are connected by iron 
 stairs and lifts for the easy and rapid transmission of 
 books to the delivery room. The floors of both book 
 rooms are laid with iron plates, and the windows 
 provided with iron shutters on the inside. These 
 rooms will hold 1 50,000 volumes. At the top of the 
 marble stairway, in the vestibule, is a spacious hall, 
 paved and wainscoted with marble, and lighted by a 
 large window of stained glass. In the southwest 
 corner of the second story on Mulberry street is a 
 suite of rooms for the Trustees, consisting of a large 
 meeting-room, a smaller committee room, and suitable 
 offices. 
 
 But the grand feature of the building is the 
 reading-room. It is placed in the second story, 
 directly over the two book rooms and at the head of 
 the grand stairway, and is seventy-five feet long, 
 thirty-seven feet wide and twenty-five feet high. The 
 walls are frescoed in buff and pale green tints, the 
 ceiling is heavily panelled, with rich gilt moulding 
 tracing the cornice, the wainscoting is of Lisbon, Irish
 
 112 
 
 and Tennessee marble, the floor is inlaid with cherry, 
 pine and oak, and over the windows are circular 
 transoms in stained glass bearing the portraits of 
 Bryant, Pope, Scott, Dante, Moliere, Byron, Goethe, 
 Shakespeare, Schiller and Milton, Eight pure brass 
 gas fixtures, two with twelve burners and the others 
 with six, afford a brilliant light. There are ten large 
 windows — five on each side — set five feet from the 
 floor to admit a flood of light from above — the most 
 agreeable light possible for reading. It is provided 
 with two larofe ventilatina flues to secure a constant 
 supply of pure air, even when the room shall be 
 occupied by the 250 readers that it will accommo- 
 date. A long desk is placed in the south-east corner 
 of the room, near the entrance door. This desk is 
 connected by a stairway with the book rooms below, 
 and by a door with another large book room directly 
 over the delivery room. This latter room is situated 
 in the southeast corner of the building, on the Mul- 
 berry street front, is thirty feet square, is divided into 
 two stories of nine feet each, and will hold 50,000 
 volumes. While this room is designed especially to 
 accommodate the reading-room which adjoins it, and 
 will contain maps, books of reference, and such other 
 works as will be most used in that room, it is rendered 
 conveniently accessible by stairs and a lift to the 
 delivery room below it. Space is thus provided for 
 the safe and convenient storage of 200,000 volumes
 
 113 
 
 of books. Besides these four rooms, there are two 
 others in the basement that can be fitted with shelves 
 in case of need, and the walls of the Librarian's room 
 and the work room can be lined with them. Ample 
 accommodation will thus be afforded for 250,000 
 volumes, but' the building- was planned for only 
 200,000 volumes ; and this number its three book 
 rooms will hold without crowding. 
 
 North of the reading-room and the two principal 
 book rooms the building again expands for twenty 
 feet into a width of seventy-six feet, and extends 
 back to a twenty-foot alley. This portion of the 
 edifice contains the janitor's apartments ; a room for 
 receiving and unpacking the boxes of new books, 
 and for packing and sending off books to the Branch 
 Libraries ; a room for repairing books injured by use ; 
 a work room for recording and cataloguing new books, 
 and preparing them for the shelves; a Librarian's 
 room ; separate lavatories and other offices for male 
 and female attendants ; a large chimney to be utilized 
 in ventilation; stairways (of iron), and a large lift ex- 
 tending from the cellar up through all the stories. It 
 will be seen that the reading-room occupies the centre 
 of the lot, and is separated both from Mulberry street 
 and the back alley by the wider intervening parts of the 
 building. It is thus removed from the noise of both 
 streets — an important gain for undisturbed reading 
 and quiet study. This Library Building has been
 
 114 
 
 planned with the utmost care, after long and careful 
 study of the needs of such a structure and the con- 
 veniences required in it, and after an examination and 
 study of the important libraries of the world. The 
 aim has been to provide storage for 200,000 volumes 
 of books ; to render these volumes easily accessible 
 to the delivery room, to the returning room and to 
 the reading-room ; to provide a convenient, comfort- 
 able, light, cheerful and healthful reading-room, with 
 accommodations for not less than 200 readers, and 
 to provide all other rooms necessary for the accommo- 
 dation of the borrowers of books, the Trustees, the 
 Librarian, the janitor, and all the attendants of both 
 sexes required in such an establishment ; rooms for 
 the reception of new books, and for the transfer of 
 books to and from the Branches.
 
 THE BRANCH B UILDINGS. 
 
 The four Branch Buildings are located in the north- 
 western, southwestern, southern and extreme eastern 
 portions of the City, and are of uniform architecture. 
 They are each forty by seventy feet, one story in height ; 
 with a high, well lighted basement ; are built of Bal- 
 timore pressed brick laid with red mortar, with buff 
 Dorchester stone trimmings. The style of architecture 
 is Romanesque; the treatment bold and striking. 
 The elaborate terra-cotta moulded panels, the quaint 
 high peaked slate roof with " eye-brow " windows, 
 though not so imposing as the Central Building, yet 
 being unique in general appearance, they present a 
 pleasing architectural feature in the different localities 
 where situated. The location of each has been care- 
 fully studied ; and the buildings being on prominent 
 thoroughfares and at the intersection of streets, will 
 continue to be prominent landmarks, and reflect the 
 sagacity of the founder, who not only provided 
 the citizens of Baltimore with the best and most 
 carefully selected reading matter, but brought it to 
 their very doors. These buildings have a large hall, 
 with one high open-timbered story finished to the roof. 
 At the end of this hall is the counter for issuing and 
 receiving books. Opening into this is a large reading
 
 116 
 
 room ; the partition of opaque glass above the wains- 
 coting separating the two, extending only to the height 
 of the square of the building, allowing free circulation 
 of air and light. The reading-room is finished in light 
 wood, and amply lighted and ventilated. The book 
 room (with shelving for fifteen thousand volumes), and 
 the Librarian's work room, etc., etc., occupy the rear 
 end of the building. In the interior finish — of hard 
 wood — and the decorations, the harmony of colors 
 used, the enamelled brick interior of the vestibule, 
 the stained glass windows, antique brass gas fixtures, 
 etc., the Branch Buildings are especially well adapted 
 to the purposes for which they are designed, and an 
 atmosphere of quiet comfort and repose pervades 
 their precincts that is particularly attractive to the 
 student or the lover of good literature. A supply of 
 periodicals is kept at the Branches, and the reading 
 room is furnished with the latest lexicons, encyclo- 
 paedias, and other books of general reference.
 
 A SKETCH OF THE FOUNDER. 
 
 Enoch Pratt was born in North Middleborough, 
 Massachusetts, September loth, 1808. He is the son 
 of Isaac and Naomi (Keith) Pratt. His father's record, 
 and that of his ancestors, is well known in the North. 
 He graduated at Bridgewater Academy at the age of 
 fifteen. Two weeks before he closed his term at the 
 Academy, he wrote a letter to an intimate friend of 
 his family in Boston to obtain for him as soon as 
 possible a good place in a wholesale dry goods 
 house. He said : " I suspect that I am old enough 
 
 to do considerable business The preceptor 
 
 thinks that I am My school will be out in a 
 
 fortnight, and I do not want to stay at home long 
 after it is out." A position was soon secured for him 
 in a first-class house in Boston, where he remained 
 until he was twenty-one years of age. In this place he 
 had the benefits of the old-fashioned traininof in 
 business peculiar to Boston, and the influence of the 
 examples of good men to aid him in developing those 
 traits of character which have distinguished him from 
 boyhood to manhood, and through life. His un- 
 exceptionable habits and tireless application to busi- 
 ness ; his quick perception of what was right and
 
 118 
 
 what wa3' wrong, and his iindeviating integrity ; the 
 simplicity of his method, and his unbounded confidence 
 in the principles of common sense, and in the results 
 of legitimate industry, gave him an early reputation 
 for sound judgment of far greater value than the 
 possession of money as a capital, with its dangerous 
 tendency to mislead in the choice of doubtful projects 
 of speculation. The slow and sure methods of acqui- 
 sition afford the most profitable information in respect 
 to the fundamental laws of trade and the means of 
 success. No young man more thoroughly mastered 
 these laws and observed them than the subject of 
 this notice. 
 
 In 1 831 Mr. Pratt removed to Baltimore, and 
 established himself as a commission merchant. He 
 founded the wholesale iron house of Pratt & Keith and 
 subsequendy that of Enoch Pratt & Brother, which 
 latter now consists of himself and his brother-in-law, 
 Henry Janes. No firms have been more successful 
 in business, though much of the time of Mr. Pratt has 
 been given to industrial enterprises of a public nature, 
 and to financial institutions. He has been Director 
 and President of the National Farmers' and Planters' 
 Bank for forty-five years; Director and Vice-Presi- 
 dent of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore 
 Railroad for twenty-seven years; also President or 
 Director of numerous other institutions. In the early 
 history of railroads, he identified himself closely with
 
 119 
 
 the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore, as well 
 as with other railroads and steamboat lines connecting 
 with Baltimore or the South. During his residence 
 of fifty-five years in Baltimore, Mr. Pratt has devoted 
 not only his means largely, but his energy and talents 
 to all enterprises of a public nature that have been 
 projected, having for their object the commercial or 
 industrial advancement of the city. His capital and 
 encouragement have been extended to many of the 
 various manufacturing industries in our midst, as he 
 recognized the great importance of the development 
 of domestic manufactures, while not neglecting the 
 establishment of new and better highways for our 
 commerce, both foreign and domestic. 
 
 He is now President of the House of Reforma- 
 tion (for Colored Children), at Cheltenham, Prince 
 George's County, and of the Maryland School for 
 the Deaf and Dumb, at Frederick. To the success of 
 both Institutions he contributed largely of his own 
 private means. Mr. Pratt has also taken a lively inter- 
 est in the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the 
 Mechanic Arts. The costly bell and clock in the tower 
 of the Institute building were his gift. As the 
 Treasurer of the Peabody Institute, he was highly com- 
 plimented, by the late eminent banker who founded it, 
 as one of the ablest financiers he had ever known. The 
 ease and success with which he conducted the great 
 trust of millions without loss, and with a skill to
 
 120 
 
 secure all possible legitimate gains, afford a singular 
 contrast to modern examples of administrative weak- 
 ness. In 1877 he was unanimously elected by the 
 City Council one of the Finance Commissioners of 
 the City, a post of honor and great responsibility. 
 This was truly a high compliment, for the reason that 
 he was not a member of the political party then in 
 power. His services as Commissioner proved to be 
 invaluable in shaping the financial policy of the 
 municipality. 
 
 The pressure of his private interests, however, 
 induced him after a time to withdraw from this 
 position. 
 
 One of his colleagues at that time was the Hon. 
 James Hodges, now Mayor of Baltimore. 
 
 Soon after the induction of Mr. Hodges into office, 
 the City Council, with great unanimity, elected Mr. 
 Pratt again to the pQsition of Finance Commissioner, 
 which office he now holds. This compliment, entirely 
 unsolicited and unexpected, was paid to Mr. Pratt in 
 recognition of his former services to the City in the 
 same position, and as a tribute to his ability and long 
 experience as a financier and a citizen to whom Bal- 
 timore owes much. 
 
 With this exception, Mr. Pratt has uniformly 
 declined all overtures from the citizens of Baltimore 
 or the State of Maryland to hold any political office, 
 although frequendy urged strongly to allow his name 
 to be used in such a connection.
 
 121 
 
 But in favoring his adopted city, Mr. Pratt did not 
 forget his native town in Massachusetts. In 1867 he 
 endowed an academy in North Middleborough with 
 the sum of $30,000, and made it free to children within 
 a certain distance. In 1858, when the Congregational 
 church of Titicut was burned, he aided them to 
 rebuild, and presented them with a clock and bell. 
 
 Of his happy domestic relations, it may be proper 
 to add that he was married August ist, 1837, to a 
 most estimable lady, Maria Louisa Hyde, whose 
 paternal ancestors were among the earliest settlers of 
 Massachusetts, while on the mother's side she is 
 descended from a German family which located in 
 Baltimore more than a hundred and fifty years ago. 
 The circle of his home, whether large or small, is 
 made as happy as the means of wealth can command, 
 and the presence of a noble and cheerful mind can 
 inspire. 
 
 Mr. Pratt is in the full possession of mental and 
 physical vigor, and is enjoying, without display or 
 ostentation, the rewards of an unspotted career and 
 a life of unclouded prosperity. His large fortune has 
 been accumulated entirely by the labor of his own 
 hands, and is the direct result of a tireless industry 
 and the application of strict integrity and fixedness 
 of purpose to acquire and a wise economy and sagacity 
 to save. When he left his Northern home to seek 
 his fortune in Baltimore he had not a dollar at his
 
 122 
 
 command. During his long commercial career he 
 has studiously avoided engaging in speculation of any 
 kind, however alluringly presented ; confining himself 
 strictly to the slow gains from the channels of legiti- 
 mate trade, thus avoiding the rocks upon which so 
 many hopes and fortunes have been wrecked. 
 
 No man is more unassuming in his manners, or 
 more modest in speaking of what he has done, or of 
 his personal merits. It cannot be seen that good 
 fortune adds to his vanity, or good deeds to his pride, 
 or that occasional losses annoy him. He dislikes 
 flattery and unnecessary ceremony, and in his inter- 
 course with his neighbors and friends he has a kind 
 and ready greeting for all classes, uttered with an 
 unchangeable dignity that is the natural language of 
 high motives and undisguised sincerity. 
 
 In his religious views Mr. Pratt is an eclectic, 
 believing in the rule of God, and finding good in all 
 things. His scale of duty is not measured to time, 
 and in his acts of to-day he religiously provides for 
 the future. He is an active member of the Unitarian 
 Society of Baltimore ; but he looks for a man's 
 religion in his deeds. He may be spoken of, in the 
 language of Tennyson, as one 
 
 Whose faith has centre everywhere, 
 Nor cares to fix itself to form.
 
 ~^o
 
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