02 ! 0.623 WES 2a CENTRAL CIRCULATION BOOKSTACKS The person charging this material is re- sponsible for its return to the library from which it was borrowed on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. TO RENEW CALL TELEPHONE CENTER, 033-8400 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN JUL 1 2 1993 AUG G 9 1993 When renewing by phone, write new due date below previous due date. L162 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/memorialhistoryoOOathe Tt ' / MEMORIAL ® HISTORY OF THE 0 3 3 3 30 - W esteriiLArary Association OF AMES TOWNSHIP, ATHENS COUNTY, OHIO, " Means of Instruction should forever be encouraged." —Ordinance of 1787, Sec . VII. PUBLISH HI) BY THE Pioneer Association of Athens County, Ohio. 1882. occ < c < cce o r ; c (fto ,oo ooc c o ' c t c etc :=2 0.^33 ioneet 1 ssociation OF ATHENS COUNTY, OHIO. At a meeting of said Association, held on the 10th da y of November, x 88 , the following resolutxon was passed by unanimous vote : , f „ Monument, as heretofore contemplated „,M. Ttol,™t»a ° pubn , htd in pamphlel rnrriTL; - » ” - — - approval a form of such Memorial and History. In pursuance of said resolution, the Committee appointed thereunder prepared and submitted to Association a Memorial and History of said Library, Cwch after emendation and correction by the Pxohkek Association, was approved and ordered to be Pub- lished in pamphlet form, in an edition o ^at least 5 copies, for the use of the Association, and for di u \ W 5 186871 1 o h (, 11 4 tion among like societies and public libraries in the States formed out of the Northwest Territory. ]vee]vioi*i£l jg:plD The Western Library Association, or as it is some- times, in half-derision, called in later years, the “ Coon- skin Library,” was originated in 1801, in what is now Ames township, in this (Athens) county. The first set- tlement in what is now the State of Ohio , was at Marietta in 1788, and most of the originators and founders of the Library were an off-shoot from that settlement. As early as 1795, just after the close of the Indian war, a temporary road was cut through the then wilderness from the Muskingum river to Federal creek — a stream so named because it has thirteen branches, corresponding in number with the then thirteen United States. Through this wilderness path, on foot and on horseback, or in canoes by the circuitous route of the Ohio and Hockhocking rivers and Federal creek, the sturdy pioneers found their way to the valley of the creek, and there formed the settlement now known as Airms township. The settlement was some twelve miles east of the town of Athens, the county-seat, where a settlement had been begun about a year pre- viously. The settlers in Ames found themselves in the midst of a dense wilderness untouched by the hand of man, and untrodden save by the foot of the savage and the wild beast. The forest, however, was underlaid by a rich 5 a rich and productive soil, and abounded in almost every variety of game ; and it was upon this soil and game, almost alone, that the hardy pioneers had to depend for a scanty subsistence. They were almost utterly without the conveniences and comforts of civi- lized life : No roads, no mills, no lumber, no houses, no money, no schools, no newspapers, no mails, no coaches. An axe, a hoe, and a rude wooden plow constituted their agricultural implements. A gun and a shot pouch were their almost daily companions, and with these, they killed the animals which supplied them with daily food, and to some extent with clothing. u Traces of the elk and buffalo were yet to be seen, and deer, bears turkeys, quails, pheasants, raccoons and squirrels were found in great abundance. Panthers, wolves and wild cats were also numerous, and for a long time were a source of annoyance and danger.” After several visits to the proposed place of settle- ment, in March, 1 798, Mr. George Ewing brought his family out, and settled on what is now known as the Gardner farm. It was nearly a year later that Judge Ephraim Cutler and Captain Benjamin Brown brought their families over from Waterford, on the Muskingum. “The domestic effects and portable property of the two families were loaded into canoes, and sent, in charge of Captain Brown, down the Muskingum and Ohio rivers to the mouth of the Hockhocking, and up the latter stream to the mouth of Federal creek.” The women 6 women and children on horseback, were conducted by Mr. Cutler along the wilderness path over the hills to their new home. In a narrative written subsequently by Mr. Cutler, he thus speaks of this journey: “I, with four horses, took Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Cutler, and all our children, to go twenty miles through an entire wil- derness to our home. Night overtook us before we were able to cross Sharp’s Fork of Federal creek, and we were obliged to encamp. We experienced a very rainy night. The creek in the morning was rapidly rising. I hurried, got Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Cutler and the children, with the baggage and horses over the creek, all except A. G. Brown (Judge Brown of Athens), then a child three or four years old, whom I took in my arms ; and as I stepped on a drift of flood-wood, which reached across the creek, it broke away from the bank. We were in danger, but a gracious Providence pre- served us, and we got safely across. We arrived at our camp , where we afterwards built our cabin, May 7th, 1799.” In May, 1800, Silvanus Ames , afterwards known as Judge Ames, came with his family, and settled near Mr. Cutler, on the farm which he occupied till 1823, the date of his death. Deacon Joshua Wyatt , with his family, came about the same time. Others followed, many, or most of them, from that “jailor of a daring heart,” the “ Mari- etta Stockade.” All, or most of these, bore a large part in the 7 in the early history of “Amestown.” “ Their wives too,” says the author of the History of Athens county , “were persons of solid minds and superior culture.” “The writer remembers,” says the same author, “to have heard Mrs. Ames, who had been tenderly reared in the family of a New England clergyman, * * describe the hardships of her tedious journey from Massachu- setts to Ohio, in the year 1 799, which she made all the way on horseback, carrying an infant in her arms.” Of a like nature were the hardships endured, and the in- domitable courage manifested by most of the emigrants. Under such circumstances, one would think, there could be but little time or energy left for the greater work of providing for the wants of their higher nature. In such cases men are too apt to be busied about “many things,” and to forget the “one thing needful:” Patriotism, morality and education, are too apt to be lost sight of, and as it were, crushed out by the mate- rial necessities of the hour. Not so with these hardy pioneers. They seemed to realize that they were founding an empire. Their prophetic vision seems to have foreseen the present greatness of the North- west, and to have realized the fact that its future, at least to some extent, would depend upon their action. They seemed to realize that they were engaged in lay- ing one of the foundation-stones on which the great States of the Northwest Territory were to be erected — that they were making history, to be read with profit by posterity 8 by posterity — that a little taper light to be kindled by them in this obscure pioneer settlement, would in time unite with other lights, and illuminate the great North- west. They apparently acted under an inspiration like that of the poet who describes the night ride of Paul Revere, rallying his neighbors to the battle of Concord, * * * ‘‘And yet, through the gloom and the light, The fate of a nation was riding that night ; And the spark struck out by that steed in his flight, Kindled the land into flame with its heat.” As has already been said, the Library Association was originated, and provision made for the purchase of books in 1801, but the first installment of books was not procured till 1803, when the Association was duly formulated, and the stock taken by the members. There was great difficulty in procuring funds with which to purchase the books. “Some of the settlers,” says the author of Walker s History of Athens County , “were good hunters, and there being a ready market for furs and skins, which were bought by the agents of John Jacob Astor and others, these easily paid their subscriptions. Mr . Samuel Brown , who was soon to make a trip to Boston in a wagon, would take the furs and skins intended for the purchase of books, and bring back the books in return. His trip was unavoidably delayed longer than he expected, but in the summer of 1803 he went to Boston with the furs, &c., with which he purchased 9 he purchased the first installment of books. These books cost seventy-three dollars and fifty cents, and com- prised the following: Robertson’s North America; Harris' Encyclopaedia, 4 volumes; Morse’s Geogra- phy, 2 volumes; Adams’ Truth of Religion; Gold- smith’s Works, 4 volumes; Evelina, 2 volumes; Chil- dren of the Abbey, 2 volumes; Blair’s Lectures; Clark’s Discourses ; Ramsey’s American Revolution, 2 volumes; Goldsmith’s Animated Nature, 4 volumes; Playfair’s History of Jacobinism, 2 volumes ; George Barnwell; Camilla, 3 volumes; Beggar Girl, 3 vol- umes, and some others. Later purchases included Shakespeare, Don Quixote, Lock’s Essays, Scottish Chiefs, Josephus, Smith’s Wealth of Nations, Specta- tor, Plutarch’s Lives, Arabian Nights, Life of Washing- ton, &c. On the 2d of February, 1804, at the house of Chris- topher He 7 'rold, articles of association were regularly entered into for the government of the Library Asso- ciation. The amount of a share was fixed at two dol- lars and fifty cents , and the owner was required to pay in for the use of the Library twenty-five cents additional every year on each share. The names of the subscri- bers to the Articles of Association, with the number of shares taken by each, were as follows : Ephraim Cutler, four shares; Jason Rice, two; Silvanus Ames, two; Benjamin L. Brown, one ; Martin Boyles, one ; Ezra Green, one; George Ewing, one; John Brown, Jr., one ; one; Josiah True, one; George Ewing, Jr., one; Daniel Weethee, two ; Timothy Wilkins, two ; Benja- min Brown, one ; Samuel Brown, 2d, one ; Samuel Brown, Sr., one ; Simon Converse, one ; Christopher Herrold, one; Edmund Dorr, one; George Wolf, one; Nathan Woodbury, one; Joshua Wyatt, one; George Walker, one ; Elijah Hatch, one ; Zebulon Griffin, one; Jehiel Gregory, one; George Castle, one ; Samuel Brown, one. Among the subscribers in later years appear the names of Ezra W~alker, Othniel Nye, Sally Rice, Lucy Ames, John M. Hibbard, Seth Child, Ebenezer Champlin, Amos Linscott, Elisha Lat- timer, Nehemiah Gregory, Thomas Ewing, Jason Rice, Cyrus Tuttle, Pearly Brown, Robert Fulton, R. S. Lovell, Michael Tippie, and James Pugsley. The Library has long since ceased to exist as such, and has been succeeded by other more modern sources of information. The Charter of the Association, granted by the Ohio Legislature in 1810, has ex- pired by non-user. The books had accumulated to several hundred volumes — a considerable Library for the place and period. Many years later it was divided and part taken to Dover township (where some of the original stockholders lived), where it formed the nu- cleus of another Library, which was incorporated by Act of the Legislature, passed December 21, 1830. The portion retained in Ames township was sold by the shareholders in the year i860 or 1861 to Messrs. J. H. Glazier, 1 1 J. H. Glazier, A. W. Glazier and E. H. Brawley, and they afterwards sold it to Hon. W. P. Cutler, of Wash- ington county. It is to be hoped that an effort may be made to re- deem these old historic books, such of them as can be found, and place them in proper form in some secure public place. The worm-eaten and dilapidated volumes are intrinsically of little value, but they are priceless as mementos of the past. Who would not desire to see the identical volumes read and re-read by Thomas Ewing, Bishop Ames, and their associates, and from which they formed their style, and from which they drew their first inspirations ? The marks of their fingers, and their notations in the margin, are still to be seen upon them. The eyes that scanned them, and the hands that turned their pages are mouldering in the dust, but memory can recall them in all their youthful vigor and life. Let the effort be made. The simple history of this unpretending Library As- sociation is sufficient to challenge the admiration and homage of every true American. It was one of the springs which have made up the great ocean of our State and national prosperity. These pioneers came to their chosen place of abode full of the spirit of the Declaration of Independence, of the Ordinance of 1787 and of the Constitution , which embodied them both. Their descendants are now counted by the hundreds , and are to be found in almost all parts of the country, and especially 0 * 12 and especially in the States of the Northwest Terri- tory. Their proselytes — if that term may be so applied — can be counted by the thousands ; and no human arithmetic can correctly estimate the influence they may have exerted in shaping the destiny of the coun- try. We are told that “ every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual fact, and, that as motion is propagated throughout all space, and endures through all time, so each action of the mind of man affects the spiritual universe;” that “thus the spirit of the age is the sum of individual thoughts, and that each man is to some extent the product of all the preceding ages of the race.” If this be true, what an incentive to virtue and the advancement of knowledge. The subjects of this memorial seem to have believed in its truth. They stand before the world as men and women who lived for others, and not for themselves. They made duty their supreme rule of action, and the love of duty their governing motive. They lived for the future, rather than for the present. They trampled their own selfish propensities under foot, and made of them stepping- stones to a higher and nobler life. They were self- sacrificing, conscientious men * * * ' * * combating Because they ought to combat : Conscious that to find in martyrdom The stamp and signet of a noble life Is all the science that mankind can reach.” It is to 13 It is to such men that the world is debtor for what- ever is truly good and great in human affairs, and to such that we must look for our upward march in the future. The lives of these patriots is a lesson — a les- son that cannot be studied without profit. They teach us not to despise the day of small things. They teach us simplicity of life, and the honorableness of labor, and are, in these respects, in startling contrast with the luxury and extravagance of the present age. But above all, they teach us the value of a life well spent. Their lives, like the lives of all good men, remind us : “ We can make our lives sublime, And departing leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time.” This Library is one of the footprints of these pioneers. It will hardly be considered invidious, to single out the names of some of the more prominent among these men, and speak of them individually. In doing so, how- ever, it must be said that, with no great number of ex- ceptions, they were all men of high character for intel- ligence, morality and patriotism, and that many of them were distinguished by civil and military services in the country. George Ewing , was a native of Salem, New Jersey, He entered the Continental army at the beginning of the Revolutionary war, and served with credit as Lieu- tenant during its whole course. He was the father of the late Hon. Thomas Ewing , the eminent jurist and statesman, i4 statesman, who stood at the head of the Ohio bar for half a century, and who made his mark in the Senate of the United States, and in the Cabinet. Silvanus Ames was the father of the late Bishop Ames , a magnate and ardent worker in that Church, the Methodist Episcopal, which has, perhaps, done more to promote civilization and morality in the pio- neer settlements of the Northwest than any other agency whatever. Benjamin Brown was a Captain in the army of the Revolution ; was engaged in the battle of Bunker’s Hill, and served in the army to the end of the war. He was the father of Hon. A. G. Brown, of Athens, a graduate of the Ohio University, now in his 85th year, late a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and a member of the Convention which framed the present Constitution of Ohio. Benjamin Brown was also the father of the late General John Brown, for many years a prominent citizen of Athens, who died March 29, 1876, in his 91st year, respected and beloved by all who knew him. But a new phase of the history of this Library is opened up when we come to mention the name of Ephraim Cutler , who seems to have been the owner of most of the land on which the settlement was made, and to have been a leading spirit in the enterprise. He was a member of the Convention which framed the Ohio l S Ohio Constitution of 1802, and his son, the present William P. Cutler , of Marietta, was a member of the Convention which framed our present Ohio Constitu- tion. Ephraim Cutler was the son of Dr. Manasseh Cutler, of Ipswich. Massachusetts, a leading spirit among the originators of the Ordinance of 1787 for the Government of the Northwest Territory , and of the Ohio Company , which purchased this part of the Terri- tory. No history of the Amestown Library, or of any other Library in the Northwest, would be complete without something of the history of Dr. Manasseh Cutler. The very mention of his name carries the real history of the Library back to a period antedating the Ordinance of 1787, and the Constitution of the United States. The Library Association was but an outgrowth of that Ordinance — a step taken to carry its wise and beneficial purposes into execution. That Ordinance the cession by Virginia, the purchase by the Ohio Company, and the formation in the Ter- ritories of Libraries like this, are one in spirit and conception equally as Pharaoh's dreams were one. They all had their real birth in the wise and pro- phetic minds of a small group of philanthropists of New England and New Jersey, and a central figure in that group was Dr. Manasseh Cutler. If it be true that Jefferson wrote the Ordinance of 1787, which is denied, it is equally true, figuratively speaking, that Manasseh Cutler Ctitler and his coadjutors guided his hand while he wrote. Whoever wrote it was the mere amanuensis, as it were, of Manasseh Cutler. It was, in a moral sense, his work, written, reported by the Committee and adopted by the Continental Congress, under his inspiration and influence. Manasseh Cutler has justly been called “ the father of the Ohio Company,” and “ the father of the Ohio University;” and it is a mere enlargement of the thought to call him “the father of the Ordinance of 1787.” The Ordinance was adopted on the 13th of July, 1787, and the grant to the Ohio Company was made on the 27th of the same month. The passage of both measures was urged upon Congress by the same parties, with Manasseh Cutler at their head, and as their acting and principal agent. The two measures were considered together by Con- gress. They were reported by the same Committee, and discussed before Congress conjointly. One could not have been passed without the other. Without the Ordinance the purchase would not have been accepted by Dr. Cutler and the Ohio Company for which he acted, and without the purchase the Ordinance never would have been passed, nay, would probably never have been thought of. It took Dr. Cutler and his liberty-loving compeers a long time to inspire the Southern members of Congress, and Jefferson, their master *7 master spirit, with an appreciation and sanction of the principles of that Ordinance. What were the principles of that Ordinance ? They have now become household words; they underlie almost everything that is good and great in the coun- try. They were those principles, which, two years later, found their way into the Federal Constitution, in the shape of a bill of rights ; which, in 1802, were em- bodied in the same form in the Constitution of Ohio, and subsequently in the Constitutions of the other four States of the Northwest Territory. The same bill of rights is found in our present Constitution, adopted in 1852, by a Convention of which the grandson of Ma- nasseh Cutler was a member. The essential and efficient elements of the ordinance are contained in the single provision : “ Religion, Mo- rality and Knowledge being essential to good govern- ment, and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of instruction shall forever be encouraged.’’ In this single provision is embodied the true foundation of national greatness. No wonder that our march of empire since 1787 has been westward. It is because we have marched under this banner. Here is the germ of the riches, the intelligence, and the rapid growth of the great Northwest, nay, of the whole country. It is to the authors of this wise and far-reaching provision that these Northwestern States, and especially our own Ohio, are indebted for whatever is high and noble in the character i8 the character of their people, valuable in their sur- roundings, or bright and promising in the future that awaits them. Our humble little Library was but one of the early outgrowths from this provision of the Or- dinance — a small stream from this beneficent fountain. So was the Ohio University, in whose charter is em- bodied a copy of this provision, and whose endowment, by a grant of two townships of land, was provided for in the purchase of the Ohio Company, which, as has been shown, immediately followed the adoption of the Ordinance. That Ordinance is the legitimate parent of our common school system, which has been in force in Ohio ever since 1825, constantly growing in useful- ness and in public estimation, and constantly extending itself into the surrounding States. Under the magic of this Ordinance, the State of Ohio has been covered over with common schools, high schools, academies, colleges, and public and pri- vate libraries. It was this Ordinance that built our Churches and school-houses. It was this Ordinance that inspired the people of Ohio to expend so largely of their private means, in noble and praiseworthy charitable and re- formatory institutions. This Ordinance has filled the Patent Office at Washington with new and useful in- ventions. It has invented and put in operation for our use the steam-engine, the railroad, the telegraph, the telephone, and countless other inventions and devices for the 19 for the betterment of the race. Whether it be true or not, that these great benefits, in whole or in part, are attributable to the influence of this Ordinance, it is un- deniably true, that during the ninety-five years in which the Ordinance has been in force, more advancement has been made in material civilization than in any ten centuries before. More has been accomplished within that period of ninety-five years to elevate the standard of civilization, to advance the arts and sciences, and to add to the conveniences, decencies and comforts of life, than had theretofore been accomplished in any one thou- sand years during the historic period. And much more has been done during that short period, than in centu- ries before, to elevate and educate the masses ; to level upwards instead of downwards; to extend the domain of free government ; to promote the cause of peace, harmony and brotherhood, and to make religion more rational, tolerant and charitable, and less ritual and dogmatic. Before the passage of that Ordinance the sufferers by the Chicago fire, the Irish famine, and the yellow fever, would have called in vain for the munifi- cent relief which they received at our hands. But for that Ordinance the slave would still have been in bond- age. Justly and truthfully does Mr. Chase, in his in- troduction to the “Statutes of Ohio” say of this Ordi- nance : “ Never, probably, in the history of the world, did a measure of legislation so accurately fulfill, and yet so mightily exceed the anticipations of the legislators. The 20 The Ordinance has well been described as a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night in the settlement and government of the Northwestern States.” Such, briefly, is the history and character of the “Ordinance of 1787,” and it enters into and forms a necessary part of the history of every “ Library Asso- ciation” in the Union. Its instrumentalities are “Re- ligion, Morality and Knowledge.” These instrumen- talities are to be forged and found only in the labora- tories of “ schools,” and other “means of instruction.” The conception is simple, and beautiful as it is simple, “Religion, Morality and Knowledge” may be com- pressed into the single idea of “ Knowledge.” For what are “religion and morality” but “knowledge” in its highest and best sense, in the sense of wisdom ? And so, of “schools and means of instruction.” They may be compressed into the single idea of “instruc- tion,” whether that instruction is to be in schools and seminaries of learning, or in the family, the Church, the Sunday School, the Library, or else- where. The simple thought is that true national greatness, nay, true human greatness, can only be attained by governmental means for the “ instruc- tion ” of the rising generation, by provisions of law which bring the means of instruction within the reach of the masses. Compressed within its narrowest com- pass, the principle asserted is : “ The State must edu- cate." The State 21 The State of Ohio has faithfully obeyed the behest of this Ordinance. She has at all times made educa- tion a primary object of legislation. The result is seen in the high stand which the State now maintains. She has produced a class of men and women of whom no State need be ashamed. She has built fifty thou* sand school-houses, and has expended two hundred millions of public money in common school education. She has built more than ten thousand Churches, and has organized and put in successful operation numer- ous academies, colleges and libraries, which are scat- tered all over the State, and which bring instruction to the doors of the people. Since 1802 the State has added nearly three millions to her population, besides studding the newer States and Territories with her emigrants. Within that period she has redeemed twenty-two million acres of land from the wilder- ness, and converted them into farms, gardens, vil- lages and cities. She has constructed a thorough system of canals, nine hundred and seventy-six miles in length, traversing the State in nearly all directions , and these canals, having served their day and purpose, have been superseded by seven thousand miles of rail- roads, which bring commerce and travel almost to every man’s door. All this has been accomplished within a life-time. Men are still alive who aided in its beginnings, and who are now witnesses of the fact, that the results have outrun the expectations of the most sanguine. It is not 22 It is not claimed that our system and policy of edu- cation is alone to be credited with these vast results, but it is claimed that this system and policy sustains to them the relation which ^Eneas sustained to the sack of Troy — it was the principal agency. An indispensable element in any complete system of education is the Library. It reaches the adult as well as the minor. It is a cheap method of instruction, and available at times and places where other modes are impracticable. The history of the Library which is the subject of this memorial is an instance, and a standing proof of the value of that method. The light of that Library has shone all around it, and is still shining. The traces of its influence are visible in the surrounding commu- nity, and it has to a great extent given tone and char- acter to that community. Its remote causes are still in operation, verifying the saying of the poet, that “Tongues of dead men are not lost,” and, that “Thought kindles as it flies.” The eye that rightly looks back over “ the distant landscape of the past,” sees this little Library as one of the beacon lights that have guided our upward progress. Let us cherish its memory ; let us strew chaplets upon the graves of its founders ; let us, by their example, and by this public memorial of it, be stimulated to follow in their footsteps, by spending more of our efforts and energies in the cause of edu- cation. 23 cation. Let us be co-workers with these pioneers in spreading knowledge among men. Let us so act in the matter that they, in contemplating the success of their work, may realize and appropriate the language of the poet : “ I shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where ; For, so swiftly it flew, the sight Could not follow it in its flight. “ I breathed a song into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where ; F or who has sight so keen and strong That it can follow the flight of song ! “ Long, long afterward, in an oak I found the arrow, still unbroke ; And the song from beginning to end, I found in the heart of a friend.” Memorials of this nature cannot but be of positive value to the community — to the writers as well as the readers. They serve to cultivate the historical spirit, and to beget and keep in the heart a reverence for what is good and great in the past. As we become conscious of our indebtedness to a great past, we are more conscious of our responsibility to a greater pres- ent, and of our obligation to make the future worthy of what has preceded. The savage takes no account of the past, and makes no provision for the future. His whole being, interest and aims are concentered in the present hour. As man rises 24 man rises in the scale of civilization, his interest in the past deepens and intensifies, and there is a correspond- ing increase of his foresight and provision for the future. The multiplication of libraries, lectures, and histori- cal and pioneer societies, will always be found to be an evidence of culture — moral as well as intellectual. The civilization of a community can almost as accu- rately be gauged by these, as you can gauge the weather by the thermometer. On the shelves of a single Library in the State of Connecticut, we are told that there were counted two hundred and forty volumes and pamphlets, “ connected simply with the local history of townships and counties in that State,” and that the whole number of such volumes and pamphlets in that Library were “ vastly greater than that.” The Pioneer Association of Athens county has pre- pared this Memorial in the spirit of the men whose lives and works it sets forth, for the promotion of “good government and the happiness of mankind;” and we send it forth to our brethren engaged in the same good work, in the hope and belief that it will be gladly received, and kindly reciprocated. Let us all unite, for the benefit of all, in placing upon record, and preserving a recollection of our remote be- ginnings. Posterity will thank us for the labor, and the older 2 5 the older the record grows the more value will they place upon it. Who would be willing to forget the history of Plymouth Rock, or Jamestown ? What would the world not now give for an authentic his- tory of the first settlement of Greece, of China, or of Egypt ? Beginnings of a people are generally small, but, unlike most other things, they grow in value as they grow older. Unless recorded by contemporaries, or those within the reach of memory or authentic tra- dition, they are lost to the world. When left to frail memory, they finally vanish, or are resolved into mere myths. There is a wise middle course, between the blind and indiscriminate worship of ancestry observed by the Chinese, and that total neglect and forgetfulness of the »past which characterizes the savage. Good men , and their good deeds, should ever be held up before the eyes of posterity for their reverence and imita- tion , and the names of bad men , and their bad deeds, should be execrated and forgotten. If this be true, as it surely is, then the Western Library Association, and its founders, are eminently deserving of a place in the history of the country. .