rr in : 
 
 
 
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MEMORIAL. 
 
 Alfred Theodore Lilly, 
 
 Biographical Sketch. 
 Funeral Service. 
 Obituary Notices. 
 
 Dedication of the Lilly 
 Library Building. 
 
 He has striven hard and long 
 In the world's unequal fight, 
 Always to resist the wrong. 
 Always to maintain the right. 
 
 And o'er his couch of rest, 
 His epitaph shall be : — 
 ■*' Here sleeps the truly blest, 
 Whose life from vice was free." 
 
 FLORENCE, M.A.SS., 
 
 BRYANT .V BROTHER, PRINTERS. 
 
 iSqO. 
 

 
x4- 
 
 •v^ 
 
 Preface. 
 
 OJ 
 
 The Trustees of the Florence Kindergarten, and of the 
 Lilly Library Association, have prepared this Memorial volume 
 for general distribution and future use. 
 
 The life of one who did so much for others, and the general 
 recognition of its value, will be interesting and instructive 
 to all. 
 
 Florence, June 7, 1890. 
 
 ARTHUR G. HILL, 
 EMILY K. LEARNED, 
 MARY S. MANN, 
 HENRY B. HAVEN, 
 CHIARA A. PLIMPTON, 
 ELIZABETH POWELL BOND, 
 DANIEL W. BOND, 
 
 Trustees 
 of the 
 Florence 
 Kindergarten. 
 
 WILLIAM H. RILEY, 
 JOHN B. O'DONNELL, 
 MARTHA B. GARY, 
 ELLA G. ELDER, 
 MARY W. BOND, 
 GHIARA A. PLIMPTON, 
 ARTHUR G. HILL, 
 HENRY B. HAVEN, 
 DANIEL W. BOND, 
 
 Trustees 
 
 of the 
 
 Lilly Library 
 
 Association. 
 
Biograph ical Sketch. 
 
Biographical Sketch. 
 
 Alfred Theodore Lilly was horn in Mansfield, C cr.ntcticut 
 April 15th, 1813. 
 
 His mother's maiden name was Jerusha Swift. She was 
 born in Mansfield. A friend writes of her : — " vShe was a 
 very intelligent and most e.xcellent woman ; kind and be- 
 nevolent, ever ready to assist any one in distress to the 
 extent of her ability ; she always had a kind word for the 
 children, and was beloved by every one who knew her." 
 She died in Mansfield, January ist, 1859, aged 76. 
 
 His father, Alfred Lilly, was born in Ashford, Connect- 
 icut. He moved to Mansfield, an adjoining towil, quite 
 early in life, where he learned the trade of blacksmith ; 
 after working at this trade for several years he engaged in 
 the manufacture of screw augers and auger bits. 
 
 The town of Mansfield is noted for its early efforts in 
 the silk industry. In 1766, the State of Connecticut sent 
 half an ounce of mulberry seed to every parish in the 
 state, and for a time offered a bounty on mulberry trees 
 and raw silk. Two hundred and sixty-five pounds of silk 
 were raised in Mansfield in 1793; in 1830, thirty-two hun- 
 dred pounds ; and at its height it gave the people of the 
 tow'n an income of $50,000 per year. At this period the 
 silk was all spun by hand. In 1827 or 1828 Edmund 
 Golding of Macclesfield, England, came to this country 
 when he was seventeen years old, and expected to find 
 read}' employment in the silk mills at his trade of "throw- 
 ster." He sought employment in Mansfu-ld in vain, till 
 his money was gone, w'hen he accepted an offer to work 
 for a merchant in town for his board. Alfred Lilly, who 
 
8 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 was engaged in the'^manufacture of screw augers and auger 
 bits, took an interest in the boy, and invited him to spend 
 his evenings at his house, where he described to Mr. Lilly 
 his work as a "throwster," the mode of spinning silk by 
 machinery in England, and made sketches of the winding, 
 doubling and spinning frames. Mr. Lilly was familiar with 
 the efforts to manufacture silk by machinery in Mansfield, 
 and with their failure ; but he brought the information of 
 Golding to some of his townsmen ; a company was formed 
 of which he was a member ; machinery was built, some of 
 it in Mr. Lilly's shop, and put in motion under Golding's 
 charge. This company w^as incorporated in 1828 as the 
 Mansfield Silk Co.. and carried on the business for sixteen 
 years. It originated the silk industry in the United States 
 which has since grown to such large proportions, but its result 
 was disastrous financially to the incorporators. Mr. Lilly was 
 the first of this company to yield to adverse fortune, failing in 
 1835. He always attributed his misfortune to the silk manu- 
 facture. His son always felt that a small sum of money would 
 have enabled his father to continue his auger and bit business. 
 The goods were well known in the market and were sought for 
 by dealers. It used to be said by the dealers that they wanted 
 no other guaranty of the quality of the goods than the name 
 of the maker stamped upon them. The depression in business 
 of 1837 was beginning to be felt ; goods had been sold on 
 long credit, and money could not be collected ; banks would not 
 make loans ; time, money and efforts had been given to the 
 silk manufacture, which, applied to the auger business, might 
 have averted the failure. He was past the meridian of life at 
 the time of his failure, and his wounded feelings never recov- 
 ered from the shock. Upon the place which was purchased 
 by the son after his father's failure, was a tract of poor land 
 of but little value ; it had a peat swamp upon it, and the father 
 spent his time and found much enjoyment in improving this 
 land ; he made great efforts to raise as large crops as others ; 
 he visited the corn-fields of his neighbors and counted the ears 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 9 
 
 of corn upon a rod of land and compared the number with his 
 own crop ; he finally succeeded in producing larger cr(jps of 
 corn and grass than any one near him. and his fields attracted 
 the attention of the entire neighborhood. His son encouraged 
 this work, and later in life recalled it in connection with his 
 own work. He died March 5th, 1857. 
 
 Alfred Theodore attended the summer and winter terms of 
 the district school until he was twelve years old. and the winter 
 terms until he was seventeen. One who knew him at school 
 writes : — "He was a very bright and apt scholar, of quick and 
 discerning mind, far ahead of his school fellows, and always 
 for the right. He set an excellent example for his school fel- 
 lows ; 'commit no wrong,' was his motto, and he lived up to it." 
 One who knew him both as boy and man, writes : — " As a boy 
 he was good, as a man he was noble." He was often sent by his 
 father, when a small boy, on important business ; as early as 
 thirteen he was sent to Hartford, thirty miles, with a load of au- 
 gers to deliver to merchants, and to bring home stock and gro- 
 ceries, and perform such other business as might be entrusted 
 to him. He commenced early to keep his father's account 
 books, and did his work neatly and correctly. When he ceased 
 to attend school, he worked for his father at auger and bit 
 making until he was twenty-one. After he was twenty-one he 
 worked for his father as a journeyman about a year — until the 
 failure. The bank nearest to Mansfield was at Tolland. His 
 father came home from the bank very much depressed, and told 
 his son that he had been unable to obtain any money and should 
 be obliged to make an assignment of his property for the benefit 
 of his creditors ; that the burden of supjiorting the family after 
 that would fall upon him, and on this account he would make 
 him a preferred creditor to the amount of his claim. The son 
 thought of the matter over night, and in the morning told his 
 father that he had concluded to share equally with the other 
 creditors, and his father complimented him on his decision. 
 
 At the age of twenty-two he assumed the burden thus 
 placed upon him. He decided to go on with the auger and bit 
 
lo ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 business, borrowed a small sum of money and for fifteen years 
 he applied himself closely to his work. No defective work was 
 allowed to leave the shop ; all goods were of superior work- 
 manship, and gave excellent satisfaction ; he had orders from all 
 parts of the country. He was punctual in all his affairs no 
 matter how trivial ; and he gained at once a reputation for in- 
 tegrity by all who knew him. His health failed, however, and 
 in 1850 he was obliged to give up the business. He took a posi- 
 tion as Superintendent of the Rixford & Butler Silk Manufac- 
 turing Co., at Mansfield Center, where he remained one year 
 when the company failed. Mr. Lilly then accepted for a short 
 time a position as traveling salesman for George R. Hanks, a 
 silk manufacturer of Mansfield. After this he went to Provi- 
 dence, R. I., and engaged in the business of retail grocer, where 
 he remained until the Spring of 1853, when he came to Florence 
 and took a position as superintendent of the silk mill of the 
 Nonotuck Silk Co.,- — Samuel L. Hill and Samuel L. Hinckley, 
 proprietors. He remained with this company until his health 
 failed, February ist, 1887. 
 
 When Mr. Lilly came to Florence, Mr. Hill was the treas- 
 urer and general manager of the company. He applied himself 
 faithfully to the business, and after a few years Mr. Hill asked 
 him to assist as treasurer and general manager ; he purchased a 
 small interest in the business and was allowed to pay for it as 
 he was able. In 1865, Mr. Hill appointed him acting treasurer, 
 and he was elected treasurer of the company in 1872. Prior to 
 i860, Ira and Lucius Dimock, two brothers from Willington, Ct., 
 became interested in the business, additional mills were pur- 
 chased, and the manufacture of silk commenced at Leeds. 
 Since then from time to time other mills have been built and 
 purchased at Florence, Leeds and Haydenville, until the Nono- 
 tuck Silk Company is now one of the largest and best known 
 manufacturers of silk in the United States. The same spirit 
 which governed Mr. Lilly in the manufacture and sale of 
 augers and bits, governed this company in the manufacture 
 and sale of silk, until now their silk has become noted for its 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. n 
 
 excellent quality, and the company for its honest dealine; with 
 its patrons. 
 
 If Mr. Lilly's father lost his property as a pioneer in tiie 
 silk manufacture of this country, the son later in life acquired a 
 competence in the same industry, and it is reasonable to assume 
 that the son would not have been connected with the silk busi- 
 ness at Florence, excejit for the early efforts of his father and 
 the people of Mansfield. 
 
 Mr. Lilly did not acquire wealth as soon as he came to 
 Florence. During the early part of the time it was difficult for 
 him to meet his obligations ; his own family, his father, mother 
 and sisters received his assistance. His aid to them did not 
 consist in visits and verbal expressions of regard and affection ; 
 to the extent of his ability he ])rovided for them a comfortable 
 home. A friend who knew him at this time writes: — "Mr. Lilly 
 supported his father and mother for many years, devoting his 
 early life and means to their comfort, and caring for them in 
 every way ; he was one of the kindest of sons to his parents 
 that it is possible to conceive of, and but few instances can be 
 found where a man showed so much love and devotion to pa- 
 rents as Mr. Lilly showed for his." Mr. Lilly wrote to a friend 
 in 1888 with reference to this period of his life : — "Fifty-three 
 years ago father failed in business and the house was sold over 
 his head. I was just twenty-two years old, and from the time 
 he failed, so long as he and mother lived, it took every cent of 
 my earnings to keep our whole family comfortable. I suppose 
 as a good and dutiful son I was serving God, for a bountiful 
 reward has been bestowed upon me since my parents passed 
 away. I never have done a good or kind deed to my parents, 
 sisters or brother, or to any human being, but that a living 
 pleasure has been afforded me by the act." 
 
 A friend and life-long acquaintance writes: — "He was 
 always kind and full of sympathy for any one in trouble." An- 
 other writes : — " He was ever ready to advise and assist all who 
 applied to him, and he was always a safe and prudent coun- 
 sellor." 
 
12 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 To a distant relative advanced in years, he wrote : — " I do 
 not want you to be troubled for money. It is a great pleasure 
 to me that I am in a condition which enables me to help you out 
 of pecuniary troubles; with all my 'skepticism' I enjoy helping 
 those I love. Be free to name the amount you need and I will 
 forward it to you promptly." 
 
 He did a great deal more than is publicly known to aid 
 others in various ways. To some he gave or loaned money to 
 aid them in obtaining an education, to others to enable them to 
 start in business, and to others to assist them in continuing 
 their business. He gave to various enterprises for education 
 and charity. Since his death it has been discovered that he dis- 
 tributed an amount of his income for such purposes far in excess 
 of the amounts given by him in ways which are publicly known. 
 
 At his funeral, when Mr. Hinckley read, "I have given bread 
 to the hungry," a poor woman in the audience said to herself in 
 a low voice, "and that's the truth," and as he continued reading, 
 "water to the thirsty, clothes to the naked, and shelter to the 
 stranger," she again responded in the same low tone, "and that's 
 the truth too." He was not indifferent to the good opinion of 
 his fellow men, and those who knew him intimately, can under- 
 stand how the recognition of his useful life by this poor woman 
 would have given him greater satisfaction than the praises of 
 people of any other class. 
 
 This desire to assist others led him to become a stockholder 
 and director in the Florence Furniture Company in 1873. The 
 company during its first years of business was not successful, 
 and it was due to Mr. Lilly and a few others that it became 
 prosperous, and is now an important addition to the business of 
 the village. Mr. Lilly was its president from the time of its or- 
 ganization to his death. 
 
 He was one of the original incorporators in 1S73 of the 
 Savings Bank in Florence. It was organized as the " Working- 
 men's Savings Bank," but the name was changed to the Florence 
 Savings Bank. The interest he had in its establishment and 
 prosperity continued to the end of his life, and he freely gave 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 13 
 
 his time to its manatjement. It was established tt) encourage 
 economy and savings among working people, and he lived to 
 see its deposits amount to nearly $300,000 ; and during the en- 
 tire period no misfortune came to the business of the bank. 
 
 He aided several other industries in Florence and elsewhere 
 in various wavs not pul)liclv known, and bv such aid contributed 
 largely to the prosperity of the people interested. 
 
 He always took an active interest in the public business of 
 the town, was a regular attendant at town meetings, performed 
 his part of the work upon town committees, and aided by his 
 suggestions his fellow townsmen in all public work. 
 
 He voted at all elections for state or national officers, but 
 always declined public office on account of the demands upon 
 his time. He was a careful observer of public men and political 
 action, and had decided views upt)n political measures. 
 
 At the age when Mr. Lilly ceased attending the public 
 school, Benjamin Lundy had been endeavoring to interest 
 people at the North in the great evil of African slavery as it ex- 
 isted in the United States. \Vm. Lloyd Garrison had com- 
 menced the publication of the Liberator. Two years later. 
 Prudence Crandall had started in Canterbury, Conn., less than 
 twenty miles from Mansfield, her school for colored girls, and 
 the State of Connecticut had enacted a law making it a penal 
 offense to establish a school for colored children not residents of 
 the state. Mr. Lilly took an active part in politics ; his first 
 vote at a presidential election was in 1836 for Andrew Jackson, 
 but he ceased to act longer with his party because he became in- 
 terested in the anti-slavery reform. A bright, active young man 
 could not avoid coming to some conclusion upon slavery and the 
 right to talk about it. Rewards had been offered for the arrest 
 and conviction of Mr. Garrison, and other anti-slavery agitators; 
 the governors of several of the Northern states had called the 
 attention of the legislatures of their respective states to this 
 discussion, which was a source of "unpleasantness " to the slave- 
 holders of the South ; public meetings had been broken up by 
 mobs in Willimantic, only a few miles from Mansfield, and the 
 
14 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 lives of anti-slavery men were tlireatened and in danger. It was 
 quite a change from a "Jacksonian Democrat" to the upholding 
 of anti-slavery agitation. President Jackson in his message of 
 1835 had called attention to this agitation as violating the sacred 
 compromises of the Constitution, but a young man who cared 
 more for principle than for party was forced to the position 
 which Mr. Lilly took ; the right of free speech and free thought 
 which he desired for himself, he must uphold for others. From 
 this time he was found acting with the political party op- 
 posed to slavery, and always for the right of free speech. 
 
 He was a firm believer in the utility of a protective tariff. 
 From 1835 he had been an observer of the growth of manufac- 
 turing in this country. He was especially familiar with the 
 growth of the manufacture of silk in this country. In 1875, '^^ 
 prepared a carefully written paper on the silk industry in the 
 United States from 1766 to 1874, which was printed in the Bul- 
 letin of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers, and 
 afterwards in a separate pamphlet. It was considered a valu- 
 able contribution to the early history of this important industry, 
 and was used in preparing a History of the Silk Industry of 
 America for the Centennial Exposition of 1876. So firmly was 
 he devoted to the American theory of " home industry " that he 
 did not always listen patiently to the advocates of free trade, and 
 he was equally disturbed by the newspaper discussions in favor 
 of free trade previous to political elections. 
 
 During the rebellion of the South he was an uncompromis- 
 ing supporter of the government, and always felt that there was 
 a large debt due the Union army. In many ways he recognized 
 this obligation ; he was a large contributor to the treasury of 
 the Wm. L. Baker Post, G. A. R. ; and in 1886 he presented it 
 with a donation of $1000. He was an honorary member of the 
 Post, and in various ways sought to aid it, while on the part of 
 the other members of the Post, they never failed to show their 
 appreciation of him and his good will for them. 
 
 When Mr. Lilly lived in Connecticut all able-bodied men 
 were required to do military duty from the age of eighteen to 
 
BlUGRAl'lUCAL SKLTCH. 15 
 
 forty-five. He complied with the requirements of the law, and 
 was early appointed on the Colonel's staff as quartermaster 
 sergeant, and subsequently became drum-major. He was an ex- 
 cellent drummer, and nothing seemed to excite him more than 
 to play upon a drum. Next to drumming himself, he enjoyed 
 hearing others drum. He encouraged the formation ot a drum 
 corps in Florence bv a number of boys, and ^upiibed lliein with 
 drums and uniforms, ll was called "The Lilly Dium Corjis." 
 He took great pride in lliis organi/alion, an 1 they in turn were 
 always ready to play for his enjoyment. He enjoyed music 
 from every variety of instrument. lw>r a time a member of his 
 household had her piano in his sitting-room ; it was stipulated 
 that she should play for him whenever he requested. He be- 
 came so much attached to the playing that when she went away 
 and this piano w-as removed, he missed it so much that he pur- 
 chased one for his home, and said that he found among his visi- 
 tors a sufficient number to play for him to more than pay for the 
 investment. 
 
 The singing of a school of children was to him a source of 
 great enjoyment. He enjoyed being with children at all times 
 and witnessing their amusements, while their ha]-)py voices en- 
 gaged in singing school songs created in him intense delight. 
 
 He was much interested in the singing at Cosmian Hall, and 
 the members of the choir were always remembered by him at 
 Christmas ; the last remembrance of this kind was a gift of an 
 expensive, two-volume edition of "Robert Elsmere." He en- 
 joyed reading this book very much, and contemplated having a 
 sketch prepared tracing resemblances between the members of 
 the Free Congregational Society and the characters in Mrs. 
 Ward's book. His strength failed so fast, however, that this plan 
 was never executed. His interest in the singing led him to de- 
 sire something for the choir to use other than the Hymns in com- 
 mon use. A collection of Hymns prepared by Elizabeth Powell 
 Bond and Rev. F. A. Hinckley was used at Cosmian Hall. In 
 1888, Mr. Lilly had prepared by L. K. Washburn at great cost, a 
 book on the same plan as the Hymn Book used in churches for 
 
i6 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 congregational singing. It was printed by Oliver Ditson & Co., 
 and Mr. Lilly hoped that it would be found acceptable to all free 
 religious societies and adopted by them. Some of the work on 
 this book was done by Mr. Lilly only a year before his death. It 
 was Mr. Lilly's intention to have a book of the highest moral 
 sentiment united with the choicest music, free from all sectarian- 
 ism. It is entitled " Cosmian Hymn Book." 
 
 Mr. Lilly inherited from his father a love of agriculture. 
 In 1867, he purchased a tract of land in a low state of cultiva- 
 tion and commenced improving it. He thoroughly drained and 
 leveled it, and by deep plowing and a generous use of fertilizers 
 for a series of years, he obtained a tract of twelve acres which 
 he seeded to grass, and from it he cut six tons of hay to the 
 acre. He found much enjoyment in this work, and desired to 
 awaken an interest among the farmers to improve their grass 
 crop. He att-ended the farmers' meetings and explained his 
 work and its results, and advocated their trying to raise more 
 grass per acre. To encourage them in such an effort he offered 
 for several years a premium of one hundred dollars for the best 
 crop of grass in the County upon two acres, with a proviso that 
 he might compete for the premium. In one instance the pre- 
 mium was awarded to another competitor, although the com- 
 mittee told Mr. Lilly that the difference between the crops was 
 hardly noticeable, and the award was made because they 
 thouglu it would encourage the other man. Later Mr. Lilly pur- 
 chased other land and cultivated it quite extensively. He be- 
 lieved that if farming were conducted with as much system, en- 
 ergy and intelligence as is given to manufacturing, it would be 
 as profitable. 
 
 In all his business transactions he was thorough. He inves- 
 tigated every subject before he acted until he fully compre- 
 hended it. If necessary to consult others, his maxim was to 
 consult the best, and no matter how much time it required, he 
 must be made to fully understand all that was required before 
 he would act. He was quick to see difficulties and remedies. 
 He could consider both sides of a transaction, and his judgment 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 17 
 
 was excellent upon the course to be pursued. He was punctual 
 and always reliable. He was a just man not only in all his bus- 
 iness transactions, but in all his conduct with men. If b}' an}'- 
 hasty word or act he felt tliat lie had done a man an injustice, he 
 made haste to repair the wrong. 
 
 At one time Mr. Lilh' was much annoyed by reckless young 
 men who were addicted to the use of intoxicating liquors. They 
 had often broken into his barn and slcj)t on the hay. He em- 
 ployed counsel to prosecute them. Two of them were arrested 
 on a charge of vagrancy. When they were brought from jail, 
 they stated to the Court that they had no counsel because they 
 had no money with which to employ one. Mr. Lilly at once in- 
 structed his lawyer to secure a continuance of the case, saying 
 that he wanted the boys to have a full and fair trial. He then 
 asked the boys to name the lawyer they wanted ; they did so, 
 and he retained him to defend them. The trial took place, the 
 crime charged was not proved, the boys were discharged, and 
 Mr. Lilly paid the bills. 
 
 From boyhood Mr. Lilly was strictly tenijierate ; he used 
 neither tobacco nor intoxicating liquor in any form. His exam- 
 ple and precept were constantly against their use, on the ground 
 of economy, health and prosperity. Sometimes in his labors 
 with young men he was very decided and emphatic in his expres- 
 sions upon this subject. Years ago he was advising a young man 
 to leave off the use of tobacco. The young man replied that he 
 had formed the habit and could not leave off its use. Mr. Lilly 
 said to him: "Then if I were in your situation, I would go out 
 and hang myself ; if I had come to the condition that I could 
 not control my own conduct I would put an end to my life." 
 At another time, a young man in poor health, consulted Mr. 
 Lilly about starting a "saloon " for the sale of confectionery, to- 
 bacco and beer, for the purpose of supporting himself and his 
 family. Mr. Lilly heard him through patiently, and then said to 
 him, that if he felt sure there was no other way for him to ob- 
 tain a living except by the sale of tobacco and liquor, he had 
 better consider seriously whether it was not time for him to die. 
 
i8 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 Those who knew him intimately, will recall how he appre- 
 ciated and remembered favors and acts of kindness. Through- 
 out his life he had not always been able to control circumstances, 
 and toward all who in any way aided him, he cherished a kindly 
 remembrance. During the last years of his life he was heard to 
 express his gratitude to the men who aided him, after his father's 
 failure, to start in business. It was not alone the important fa- 
 vors which he remembered ; little acts of kindness from all 
 classes of people were never forgotten. 
 
 The interest which Mr. Lilly manifested in the various methods 
 of general education was worthy of the subject and exhibited 
 the nobility of his nature. Wendell Phillips once said, "Edu- 
 cation is the only interest worthy the deep controlling anxiety of 
 the thoughtful man." It may also be said that the person who 
 endeavors to benefit mankind by education exhibits a nobility of 
 character of the highest order. He was proud of the record 
 of his native state as to what it had done for public schools, 
 and of the resulting fact that there were so few people in the 
 state who could not read and write. 
 
 In 1857-8-9 there was a debating club formed in Florence, 
 and it comprised a number of young and middle-aged men who 
 had unusual capacity for debate. A paper was prepared and 
 read at the evening meetings. Mr. Lilly encouraged the young 
 people to take part in the meetings, and was himself a constant 
 attendant and contributor for the paper. His articles for the pa- 
 per were of a humorous character, written in an easy style 
 and were much enjoyed. In debate he was an original thinker 
 and logical reasoner. By general consent religious matters were 
 not discussed, and it was an unwritten law that nothing should 
 be said in debate to wound the feelings of people upon religious 
 matters. Mr Lilly was as thoroughly honest in debate as he was 
 in his life, and he would use no argument which was not founded 
 upon reason and morality. This element in his character as a 
 debater led to his being styled, by one of the members, the 
 " Cato of the Florence Lyceum." 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 19 
 
 Soon after he came to Florence, under the school district 
 system, he was chosen prudential committee of the district. He 
 was a strong supporter of the schools and school teachers, and 
 was always ready to assist them. He would labor with a pupil 
 who did not seem to appreciate school advantages, and was glad 
 to converse with those who were interested in their studies. For 
 several years there was a feeling in Florence that the school 
 terms ought to be as long in Florence as those of the same 
 grade in any other part of the town. Efforts were made liy 
 Florence people to accomplish this with the money appropriated 
 by the town for school purposes, but for a time the money had 
 to be provided t)y private subscriptions. For several years the 
 people of Florence asked the town for larger school appropria- 
 tions to give them longer terms of school, and Mr. Lilly was one 
 of the parties relied on to bring the question before the town 
 meeting and to advocate it. At one of the town meetings the 
 argument of "hard times" was urged persistently, and with the 
 usual result. When the appropriations for lighting the streets 
 came up for action, Mr. Lilly urged upon the meeting the con- 
 sideration that if the "hard times" were such that money could 
 not be afforded for schools, it was time the town economized in 
 other ways, and he opposed the appropriation for street lights 
 with such force that none was made. When the school district 
 system was abolished, the care of the schools was taken from 
 the people in the locality, but Mr. Lilly always maintained his 
 interest in the schools, and in various ways aided in sustaining 
 them. 
 
 In 1859, an effort was made to establish an evening school 
 for those who worked in the mills. At this time the town did 
 nothing for evening schools. Mr. Hill and Mr. Lilly, acting for 
 the Nonotuck Silk Company , were prominent among those who 
 aided in the enterprise and rejoiced at its success. They both 
 lived to see the evening school become one of the public schools 
 of the town, which was largely due to their efforts. 
 
 At the annual town meeting in 1869, the town appropriated 
 $25,000 to erect a Memorial Hall and Public Library building 
 
2.0 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 provided an equal sum should be contributed from other sources, 
 and a committee of five, of which Mr. Lilly was one, was ap- 
 pointed to purchase a lot and erect the building. Plans for a 
 building were secured, subscriptions solicited, additional appro- 
 priations were obtained from the town, until in 1874 the building 
 was completed and occupied, at a cost of nearly $80,000. Mr. 
 Lilly was afterwards chosen by the town a member of the Public 
 Library Committee and continued upon the committee to the 
 time of his death. 
 
 In 1884, Mr. Lilly learned while riding upon the cars with 
 President L. Clark Seelye of Smith College, that the College 
 needed a building for scientific education, and that he was going 
 to New Bedford to try and obtain funds for the erection of such 
 a building. Mr. Lilly did not forget the interview ; he was 
 pleased with the spirit manifested by President Seelye, and much 
 interested in the object which he had in view. Seeing President 
 Seelye a year later he learned that the necessary funds had not 
 been secured, and the result was an arrangement whereby Mr. 
 Lillv was to furnisli the required amount. 
 
 Mr. Lilly allowed the following paragraph to be incorpo- 
 rated in the report of the executive committee of the Free Con- 
 gregational Society in 1888 : 
 
 "The majority of your committee would occupy this para- 
 graph to declare, what the modesty of our esteemed associate, 
 Mr. Lilly, forbids him to say, that it was owing to what he saw 
 and experienced of the happy effects of giving the women an 
 equal part with the men in the business of this society and in its 
 public teachings, that he was led to make to Smith College, his 
 noble and princely gift — the Lilly Hall of Science, — the first edi- 
 fice of the kind, built for the benefit of women for instruction in 
 natural science ; or to use the terse words engraved on the tab- 
 let, "to teach the truth in nature," no expense having been spared 
 that was needed to fit this building to the purpose for which it 
 was designed." 
 
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKKTCH. 21 
 
 The buildiiiu,' was dedicatt-d Juiu- 226, 1886. Prof. J. P. 
 Lesley of Philadelpliia, delivered an address in Music Mall on 
 the " Utility of Physical Science in I^ducation," after which the 
 audience adjourned to the lecture hall of the new Scientific 
 huildini^. I'p to this time the name of the donor was not i>ub- 
 licly known. 
 
 President Seelye, in his introduction of Mr. Lilly, said : " I 
 should much prefer that this building should be dedicated in si- 
 lence. It speaks for itself. It marks an era in the education of 
 woman. It is tlie lirst time in the history of the world, when a 
 building like this has been devoted to the study of science in a 
 female College. I met the donor ()f tiiis edifice on my way to 
 Boston, two years ago, when I was seeking funds for a scien- 
 tific building. He was in perfect sympathy with my errand, 
 and put into mv hands the money with which to erect this Hall 
 of Science. The donor believes in the education of women. 
 If this College was for men the donor said he would never givea 
 cent. He believes in science, and believes that truth is as valu- 
 able for women as men." President Seelye then uncovered a 
 bronze tablet bearing the words: "THE GIFT OF ALFRED 
 THEODORE LILLY. TO TEACH THE TRUTH IN NA- 
 TURE." After prolonged applause, the President announced 
 that the building would hereafter be called the 
 
 "LILLY HALL OF SCIENCE," 
 and called upon the donor for remarks. Mr. Lilly was received 
 with great enthusiasm. He said : 
 Jfr. President, Ladies and Genilente?i : 
 
 All of you who have a love for studying cause and effect, 
 may be glad to learn how it was that the present event was 
 brought to pass. Two years ago I became acquainted^with the 
 needs of Smith College. The scientific department lacked the 
 facilities to enable the Institution to afford that full and com- 
 plete scientific education desirable. It was through the Presi- 
 dent of the Institution, that I obtained in a free and easy con- 
 versation this knowledge, as we were seated in a car taking us 
 from Springfield to Boston. I think that the President was 
 
22 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 moved to open up the subject more to keep up a waning con- 
 versation, than to accomplish the object of his journey. He let 
 it appear that the College was in great need of a building, which 
 should be complete in all its appointments, to enable students to 
 obtain a full and complete scientific education. He wanted facil- 
 ities, which would enable him to bring the students in direct 
 contact with nature — to learn its truths, believing that the result 
 would be a lasting benefit to mankind. I inquired if he thought 
 woman possessed the intellectual capacity, fitting her to grasp 
 the facts of science, equally as well as man ? The answer was, 
 " Yes, and from my observation and experience, I believe more 
 so." 
 
 My most intimate friends will readily see that the President 
 had presented a theme, and in a manner that found a ready re- 
 sponse in my own mind. The President let it appear that the 
 pecuniary condition of the College would not allow the trustees 
 to make the necessary expenditure ; and hence they must find 
 some person of means who was willing to aid them with a gift 
 of sufficient amount to secure the object ; that he was then mak- 
 ing a journey to New Bedford for that purpose. On parting, I 
 expressed my sympathy in the work in which he was engaged, 
 wishing him most heartily success in his undertaking. One year 
 passed away. I inquired of the President as to what success he 
 had met with in securing funds for the building he wanted. The 
 answer was, that he had not met with any success ; and further, 
 he had not met with any person who expressed such interest in 
 the enterprise and sympathy with him, as myself — and somehow 
 it seemed to me that he was seized with the idea that the ex- 
 pressed interest was of itself sufficient to enable me to furnish 
 the necessary means required, and — what is strange in the matter 
 — made me believe it. 
 
 We now stand in an edifice dedicated to science ; and may I 
 fondly hope, to be exclusively devoted to the elevation and in- 
 creased intelligence of woman. According to the record, man 
 is indebted to woman for opening up to him the avenues of 
 knowledge ; and still, he has until within a comparatively short 
 
BIOGRAIMIICAL SKKTCH. 
 
 23 
 
 period, ever kept her in a state of ignorance. Strange, indeed is 
 it, that every fair-minded man, being ready to admit that woman 
 is the greatest blessing bestowed upon him should have treated 
 her thus. Progress of the world is marked by evolution, and as 
 we compare the present with the past, we can see with the eye of 
 vision, a bright future for woman. I am assured, that the build- 
 ing we now dedicate to science, is complete in all of its parts, 
 and of sufficient capacity to afford all of the facilities necessary 
 to secure as complete an education in the sciences to the stu- 
 dents of Smith College, as those afforded by Colleges devoted 
 to the use of men exclusivcdy — and allow me here to discover a 
 pride that I feel in this being the first building of equal capacity 
 for the purpose intended, bestowed upon woman, and which I 
 now" give as an humble tribute for ilie high esteem I have of her. 
 May I not fondly hope that my estimate of the benefits to man- 
 kind, which are to follow as the result of this act are not over- 
 drawn ? At all events, may I not feel, that in connection with 
 this building, the Observatory which is to be bestowed upon this 
 Institution by a person or persons, governed by generous im- 
 pulses, and whose aspirations pierce the sky, will -afford the stu- 
 dents of Smith College help "to learn the truth in nature?" 
 " Science ! thou fair, effusive ray, 
 
 From the great source of mental day, 
 
 Free, generous and refined ; 
 
 Descend with all thy treasures fraught, 
 
 Illumine each bewildered thought, 
 
 And bless the studious mind. 
 
 Oh ! let thy powerful charm impart 
 The patient head, the candid heart, 
 Devoted to thy sway ; 
 Which no weak passions e'er mislead. 
 Which still with dauntless steps proceed. 
 Where reason points the way." 
 
 When the Free Congregational Society was organized, books 
 and periodicals were purchased for a free public library and 
 
24 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 Reading Room in Florence, and in the second story of the School 
 building a room was made for this purpose. It was soon found 
 that there was a feeling among those who did not belong to the 
 Society, that the Library and Reading Room should be so owned 
 that all who desired might feel free to use it. An effort was 
 made in 1864, to have the Warner school district own it, and the 
 Society offered to join with the people of the district in estab- 
 lishing a free Library and Reading Room belonging to the district, 
 but it did not succeed. In 1S70, an effort was made to have the 
 town establish a branch library in Florence ; this was accom- 
 plished in 1872, and the books of the Free Congregational Soci- 
 ety were transferred to the town. In this effort to establish t^ie 
 Library and Reading Room so that all might feel free to avail 
 themselves of its advantages Mr. Hill and Mr. Lilly took an ac- 
 tive part. In 1882, the room in the school building was needed 
 for^school purposes, and it was necessary to find another place 
 for the library. An effort was made by Florence people to have 
 the town erect a building suitable for the purpose. Mr. Lilly 
 was very much interested in this movement, and at his own ex- 
 pense procured plans for a suitable building and offered to give 
 the land for it. The Florence people were greatly interested, 
 and with a single exception, it is believed were in favor of it. 
 Mr. Lilly attended a meeting of the Public Library committee 
 and endeavored to obtain from it a recommendation favoring the 
 new building, but without success. A special meeting was called 
 in 1883, to act upon the matter, and also upon the report of a 
 committee to provide funds for tablets in Memorial Hall. Some- 
 thing of the spirit of the opposition to the movement can be 
 discovered in the following editorial item taken from a local 
 paper previous to the town meeting: — "Taxes are creep- 
 ing up in this town contrary to the general wish. The annual 
 meeting appropriated considerable more than last year, and now 
 ^6,500 is wanted for memorial tablets, and Florence wants a li- 
 brary building which will cost $5,000 to $10,000 more. The 
 Philistines are upon us again sure ; and who is there that dares 
 say no ? " 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKHTCH. 25. 
 
 In the village of Florence at this time were about three 
 thousand inhabitants, composed of as intelligent, industrious, 
 law-abiding people as could be found in any community. The 
 united pay rolls of the mills in the village amounted to about 
 $40,000 per month ; they paid tlieir proportion of the taxes of 
 the town, and wanted as good schools, and equal opportunities 
 to enjoy a public library and reading room, as the people enjoyed 
 in any other part of the town ; they had the same right as other 
 voters to ask the town to make a legal appropriation of public 
 money, and why it should have been assumed by the editor of 
 the paper that those who opposed their project were the 
 '•paints," and the people of Florence a horde of barbarians, was 
 never clearly understood in that village. At the town meeting 
 the vote was very close ; upon a test informal vote it was found 
 that the "Philistines" in favor of the Florence project had a 
 small majority ; upon a formal motion to appropriate $6,000 for 
 a Library building in Florence, it was declared carried ; a doubt 
 was expressed, and the meeting adopted a method of taking the 
 vote which caused considerable delay, and gave an opportunity 
 for a person in the meeting to go out upon the street and obtain 
 a few men whom he hurried into the meeting to "vote against 
 Florence," and by a vote of 144 to 125, the "Philistines" were 
 defeated. 
 
 The people of Florence were very much disap]>ointed at the 
 result, and dissatisfied with the method by which it was ob- 
 tained, no one more so than Mr. Lilly, who felt that no more had 
 been asked than should have been granted. He went to work, 
 however, and through his influence a place was obtained for the 
 Library and reading room, which, while it was not all that was 
 needed had the effect of increasing the use of books and period- 
 icals. At this time Mr. Lilly was a very busy man and the de- 
 mands upon his time and thought were unlimited, but he never 
 overlooked the need in the village of a library building. He 
 preserved the plans wliich he procured in 1S83, and when he de- 
 cided to furnish the building, he gave them to the Library Asso- 
 ciation, and asked that they be considered with others in decid- 
 
26 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 ing upon a plan for a new building. In 1888, after consultation 
 with several persons in the village, he finally selected nine per- 
 sons known to be interested in the Library, asked them to or- 
 ganize as a corporation under the laws of Massachusetts as a 
 Library Association, and deeded them a tract of land upon 
 which to erect a building. He gave the Association $12,000 for 
 the building, which was afterwards increased to $13,000. He 
 also gave the Association $5,000 to expend for books, and pro- 
 vided that the books of his private library, amounting to about 
 four hundred volumes, should be placed in the Library, except 
 such as the trustees of the Association might not desire to have 
 placed there. Mr. Lilly was in feeble health at the time he 
 arranged for this work, but he was able to consult with the trus- 
 tees of the Association about the plan for a building, and the 
 purchase of books. Whenever he was able he rode out to wit- 
 ness the progress of the building. By the contract it was to 
 have been completed in December, 1889, but the work under 
 the contract was not completed till March, 1890. It was dedi- 
 cated May 7th, 1890. 
 
 Mr. Hill and Mr. Lilly both lived to see the public schools 
 in Florence in a satisfactory condition, with every prospect of 
 their continuance. Mr. Hill was constantly on the alert for ad- 
 ditional methods to improve the system of public education. 
 When the Kindergarten system was first introduced into this 
 country it attracted his attention, and after investigation he de- 
 cided in 1872, to commence the experiment in Florence under his 
 personal observation. He employed a competent Kindergar- 
 tener and established a Kindergarten in his own house. Later 
 a room was used in Cosmian Hall. In 1876, he erected a build- 
 ing expressly for a public Kindergarten, and employed a corps of 
 Kindergarteners for the work. In December, 1876, he was ob- 
 liged on account of his health, to leave his home for a change of 
 climate ; he therefore placed the Kindergarten in the care and 
 management of his children and a few friends, whom he ap- 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKKTCII. 27 
 
 pointed Trustees and Directors of the Institution, and made 
 provision for the payment of all expenses. In his letter of ap- 
 pointment, Mr. Hill set forth the object he had in view in the 
 
 following words : 
 
 "The oliject of the Institution being, as you are aware, to 
 promote a healthy physical, intellectual and moral development 
 of young children, and as may be practicable in connection 
 therewith, to afford some appropriate education to llie mothers, 
 regardless of conventional differences in society ; therefore in 
 order that the advantiiges of the Institution may be acceptably 
 extended to the people of the village generally, it is hereby 
 made a condition of its direction and management, that it shall 
 be conducted unmixed with any ecclesiastical or theological ex- 
 ercises and influences." 
 
 In another communication to the Trustees, he stated : 
 
 "What was designed in making this experiment, was patient, 
 persevering effort of the best Kindergarteners available with the 
 means at command, through a series of years, with children 
 who could be gathered in from the village, indiscriminately as 
 to class or condition." 
 
 By his will, Mr. Hill gave the Trustees certain property in 
 trust, and provided for the payment of certain annuities. With 
 reference to the Kindergarten, he made the following provision : 
 "Said trustees are hereby directed to appropriate annually the 
 balance of said income, or such portion thereof as they may 
 deem expedient to continue in said village of Florence, the Kin- 
 dergarten, so called, which has already been commenced and 
 placed under their care and management by me ; said Institu- 
 tion to be continued and conducted as heretofore, viz.: unmixed 
 with ecclesiastical or theological exercises or influences, and es- 
 pecially for the promotion of a healthy physical, moral and in- 
 tellectual development of children of about three to seven years 
 of age, residents of the village, without distinction on account 
 of race, nationality, or previous condition, and is to be extended, 
 continued indefinitely, or discontinued, at the discretion of said 
 Trustees." He further provided : "Said Trustees are hereby 
 directed to set apart the balance of the income from said trust 
 
28 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 funds for educational, charitable or other kindred purposes, or 
 either of them, to be appropriated at their discretion in such 
 manner as to them may appear expedient to promote the well- 
 being and elevation of humanity." 
 
 After Mr. Hill's death, by a special act of the Legislature of 
 Massachusetts in 1884, the trustees were made a corporation by 
 the name of the "Trustees of the Florence Kindergarten," for 
 the purpose of holding and managing the funds bequeathed to 
 them by Mr. Hill, and other property, real and personal, not 
 exceeding in all Five Hundred Thousand Dollars, for the pur- 
 poses of the trust set forth in said will. 
 
 Mr. Lilly was one of those selected by Mr. Hill as a Trustee 
 and Director of the Kindergarten. Upon the organization of 
 the Trustees, he was chosen President of the Board, and contin- 
 ued to hold that office to the time of his death. He devoted 
 himself to this work with the same thoroughness with which he 
 performed all other work ; he made himself familiar with the 
 theory upon which the system of education is based, and 
 found great enjoyment in visiting the sessions of the Kinder- 
 garten, and witnessing the children at their exercises. During 
 the sixteen years that he was connected with the Institution, he 
 very rarely failed to attend the meetings of the Trustees, and 
 endeavored faithfully to carry out the wishes of the founder of 
 the Institution. The course of training occupies four years, the 
 last year of the course being devoted to preparing the children 
 to enter a certain grade of the public school. The average at- 
 tendance is about eighty. The experiment thus commenced has 
 been continued a length of time with sufficient care and in a 
 manner to demonstrate to every one who has taken pains to in- 
 vestigate it, that the Kindergarten system should be adopted as 
 a part of the public school system of the city. 
 
 Mr. Lilly, by his will, gave all of his estate to the Trustees 
 of the Florence Kindergarten. He provided for an annual pay- 
 ment to the Free Congregational Society, and a discretionary 
 amount to the Lilly Library Association, and that the remain- 
 der of the income "shall be applied in accordance with the trust 
 
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKI-TCII. 29 
 
 u]:)()n which all the property of said Trustees of the Florence 
 Kindergarten is held." 
 
 Mr. Lilly's public action in religious etlucation was mainly 
 in connection with the Free Congregational Society of Florence. 
 
 He was one of the twenty-seven persons who signed the 
 following call : • 
 
 "To THK People of Florence .^xd Vicinity: 
 All interested in the promotion of good morals, general edu- 
 cation and liberal religious sentiments, whether Catholic or 
 Protestant, or of whatever sect, creed or nationality, are invited 
 to meet in the South School House, on Sunday, May 3, 1H63, at 
 3 1-2 o'clock P. M., to organize arrangements for the better at- 
 tainment of the objects above named." 
 
 At a meeting held in juirsuance of this call, a corporation 
 was formed under the following 
 
 "ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT. 
 
 We, the undersigned, inhabitants of Florence and its vicin- 
 ity, in the town of Northampton, wishing to avail ourselves of 
 the advantages of associate effort for our advancement in truth 
 and goodness, and for the promotion of general intelligence,, 
 good morals and liberal religious sentiments, do hereby agree 
 to form ourselves into a body corporate under the name of the 
 Free Conoregation.al Society of Florence. 
 
 Respecting in each other and in all the right of intellect and 
 conscience to be free, and holding it to be the duty of every one 
 to keep his mind and heart, at all times open to receive the truth 
 and follow its guidance, we set up no theological condition of 
 membership, and neither demand nor expect uniformity of doc- 
 trinal belief ; asking only unity of purpose to seek and accept 
 the right and true, and an honest aim and effort to make these 
 the rule of life. And, recognizing the brotherhood of the human 
 race, and the equality of human rights, we make no distinction 
 as to the conditions and rights of membership in this Society, 
 on account of sex, or color, or nationality." 
 
 He was chairman of the executive committee from its or- 
 ganization to the time of his death, and its treasurer from 1864. 
 
30 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 to the day of his death. He was a constant attendant at its 
 meetings, and took an active part in its Sunday school. By his 
 will, he provided for the annual payment of one thousand dollars 
 to the Society, "so long as said Society shall keep alive the work 
 in the Sunday school and platform speaking, on the same liberal 
 basis as has been practiced since the organization of the Society 
 to the present time." 
 
 The work of the Sunday school is fully outlined in the fol- 
 lowing extracts from the reports of the executive committee : 
 
 "In this Sunday Scho )1, to which every Sunday forenoon 
 is devoted, both the young and old are profited and cheered by 
 music, by declamations, by exhortations, by discussions, by les- 
 sons in science, literature and goodness ; and all are encouraged 
 to read, think and speak with entire freedom on all subjects re- 
 lating to man's welfare. In addition to the adult classes for con- 
 versational discussions, and the children's classes for moral in- 
 struction, there have been others for the study of Natural History, 
 Drawing, Book-keeping, the French and German languages, 
 Botany, Physiology, Political Economy and Shakspeare ; all 
 taught by competent teachers. Though the Bible has been used 
 as one of the text-books, the members generally have not re- 
 ceived it as authority, except so far as its teachings commend 
 themselves to that reason and conscience which the Creator has 
 implanted in man for his guidance. The children have been 
 taught to think for themselves, and encouraged to study the 
 great, older book of Nature ; to consider the starry heavens 
 above them, and, as higher than all, the light of reason within 
 them. They have been given free access to a library embracing 
 a wide range of literature, containing expositions of almost 
 every phase of belief ; and thus while teaching them to obey the 
 injunctions of Jesus, to judge for themselves what is right, they 
 have at the same time, been provided with opportunities and fa- 
 cilities for so judging." 
 
 The liberal basis upon which the platform speaking has been 
 practiced, is fully stated in the following extracts from the re- 
 ports of the executive committee : 
 
 "The resident speaker is not, like the minister or pastor of 
 most religious societies, pledged to advocate and defend a formal 
 statement of faith. He is at liberty to express his latest 
 
BIOGRAl'IIICAL SKI:TCII. 31 
 
 thought. It is understood that he speaks only for himself, and 
 that his utterances, like those of any member of the Society, are 
 at all times open to criticism. He is usually engaged to speak 
 for a portion'^of the year, as it is the purpose, and has been the 
 practice of the Society to have, during each year, a variety of 
 speakers, so that every phase of tliought may he fairly repre- 
 sented. The Society has been addressed by the representatives 
 of Judaism, by orthodox and heretical Christians, by Spiritual- 
 ists and Materialists, Theisls and Agnostics, and those who could, 
 perhaps, hardly be classed theologically anvwhere." 
 
 The Free Congregational Society of Morence was organized 
 upon the theory of free thought and free speech. William Lloyd 
 Garrison most clearly set forth this theory, and the reasonable- 
 ness of it, in the following language, which was fully endorsed 
 by the members of this Society : 
 
 " Let, then, the mind and tongue and press be free. Let 
 free discussion not only be tolerated, but encouraged, and as- 
 serted as indispensable to the freedom and welfare of mankind. 
 
 If I give my children no other precept — if I leave them no 
 other example — it shall be a fearless, impartial, thorough inves- 
 tigation of every subject to which their attention may be called, 
 and a hearty adoption of the principles which to them may seem 
 true, whether those principles may agree or conflict with my 
 own, or with those of any other person. * * * 
 
 I desire them to see, hear and weigh both sides of every 
 question. For example: — I wish them to examine whatever may 
 be advanced in opposition to the doctrine of the Divine inspira- 
 tion of the Bible, as freely as they do whatever they find in sup- 
 port of it ; to hear what may be urged against the doctrines, 
 precepts, miracles or life of Jesus, as readily as they do anything 
 in their defense ; to see what arguments are adduced for a belief 
 in the non-existence of a God, as unreservedly as they do the 
 evidence in favor of his existence. I shall teach them to regard 
 no subject as too holy for examination. * * * 
 
 And why do I intend to pursue such a course? Because I 
 am not infallible, and therefore dare not put on the robes of in- 
 fallibility. Because I think free inquiry is essential to the life of 
 truth among mankind." 
 
32 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 When this Society was first organized, its meetings and Sun- 
 day school were held in the " South School House." In 1864, 
 Samuel L. Hill built, at a cost of $33,000, the present High 
 School building in Florence, and deeded it to the Warner School 
 district, reserving the use for ten years of the second story, 
 which comprised a large hall for meetings, a smaller hall, and a 
 third room for a Public Library and Reading Room. These 
 rooms were used by the Society for meetings, Sunday school, and 
 Public Library and Reading Room, until they were needed for 
 school purposes. In 1S72, it was decided to erect another build- 
 ing for the accommodation of the Society, and permit the second 
 story rooms to be used for the public schools. This building 
 was dedicated in 1874 as " Cosmian Hall." It cost about $40,- 
 000, the larger part of which was paid by Samuel L. Hill. Mr. 
 Lilly contributed about ;*;io,ooo towards the building, and was a 
 large annual contributor to the Society. 
 
 Mr. Lilly belonged to a class of religious skeptics called 
 "Agnostics," the class to which such men as Tyndall, Huxley 
 and Herbert Spencer belong. He believed in the most exhaust- 
 ive investigation, with provisional suspension of positive conclu- 
 sion. He did not deny the Divinity, and did not reject creative 
 energy as a possibility — he said he knew nothing about it. Mr. 
 Lilly was greatly interested in the doctrine of the immortality 
 of the soul. He was familiar with all the grounds of such be- 
 lief, and admitted the force of some of them, but while he would 
 not assert that there is no future existence, he was not convinced 
 that such is the fact. " He lived for this world ; if there be 
 another he will live for that." 
 
 No biographical sketch of Mr. Lilly would be complete 
 without more than an incidental reference to his home and do- 
 mestic life. He was married at Hebron, Ct., in 1838, to Lucy 
 Maria Crane, daughter of Isaac and Constantia (Young) Crane 
 of that town. Mrs. Lilly was a quiet, thoughtful, kind-hearted 
 woman, highly esteemed by all who knew her. She was an ex- 
 
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. ^^ 
 
 cellent judge of character, firm in lier convictions, and very de- 
 voted to her friends. She was very much attached to her home, 
 and found her enjoyment there. To his friends, Mr. Lilly often 
 spoke of the cheerfulness with which she practiced economy and 
 self-denial, in their early married lift', thai he mii;-hl aid his 
 father and mother, and often remarked that he owed his pros- 
 perity largely to his wife. It was noticed that as he acquired 
 property, he never failed to procure whatever he could learn 
 would be a pleasure to his wife. She found enjoyment in the 
 cultivation of fiowers, and a large part of the yard was devoted 
 to this purpose. Nothing was spared by Mr. Lilly at this period 
 to render the home all that his wife desired, and on her part the 
 house was maintained solely for his comfort. This home was to 
 him of the utmost importance ; he could not have applied him- 
 self so continually to the active, responsible work which he per- 
 formed, if it had not been for the rest and recreation of his 
 home. Here he was at his best. To the stranger who had 
 claims on his hospitality, to his acquaintances and friends, he 
 devoted himself with a cheerfulness and consideration for their 
 comfort and enjoyment which was the delight of all. 
 
 Mrs. Lilly was in full sympathy with her husband in all of 
 his benevolence, and was especially pleased with his gift to 
 Smith College for the Hall of Science for Women. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Lilly had no children, but from childhood, 
 Mrs. Mary Valentine Ross lived with them until the time of her 
 marriage. Mrs. Ross' children were at home in Mr. Lilly's 
 house, and were a great comfort to Mr. and Mrs. Lilly in their 
 declining years. 
 
 Mr. Lilly's sister, Mrs. Martha Crane, of Mansfield, Conn., 
 died in 1881, a few days after a visit to his house. His sister, 
 Julia, whose home had been with him, and who had been a help- 
 less invalid for years, died in 1884. Mrs. Lilly died November 
 2d, 1886. After this he seemed to be alone. He made an effort 
 to arrange his household, and to occupy his time with his work 
 that he might not feel his loss so keenly. 
 
34 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 He was fortunate in his household arrangement after the 
 death of his wife. The nurse who had cared for his sister dur- 
 ing the years of her illness, and who remained with them while 
 Mrs. Lilly lived, continued, with her sister, as his housekeeper. 
 All that it was possible to do, was done to make his home what 
 he needed, and to care for him. 
 
 He tried to be cheerful and bear his sorrow without outward 
 manifestations, but to his most intimate friends he sometimes 
 disclosed the great grief which oppressed him. He had outlived 
 all of his race except a few distant relatives. To his friends it 
 was apparent that he was gradually declining. He continued 
 to act as the treasurer of the Nonotuck Silk Company until the 
 end of his term of office in 1887, but by the advice of his phy- 
 sician and friends, he declined a re-election. After this he oc- 
 cupied his time about various matters of business for himself 
 and others, enjoyed the society of his books and his numerous 
 friends, and hoped by proper care to maintain his strength. 
 
 He was constantly visited by his friends and neighbors ; 
 even the children found enjoyment in calling upon him and 
 bringing him flowers. On his birthday in 1887, several friends 
 called upon him with congratulations and sweet remembrances 
 of their call. A local paper reported the event as follows : "The 
 flowers gave a surprise party yesterday to that flower that Solo- 
 mon, in all his glory could not compare with, — the ' Lilly.' 
 Early in the morning came the thoughtful pansies to remind him 
 that the seventy-fourth year had begun, and bringing with them 
 the lovely ' Lady Washington.' Then came the roses, the calla 
 lilies, and from Cosmian Hall Sunday school a large delegation 
 from the rose family ; but all these beautiful blossoms could not 
 outshine the last visitor, the modest little English violet, which 
 filled the air with exquisite perfume. Standing there, surrounded 
 by all these rich exotics, the ' A. T. Lilly ' was king of them all." 
 
 In the early fall of 1888, he arranged for the erection of the 
 Library Building, and the same season he provided by his will 
 for the disposition of his estate at his death. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 35 
 
 He was able to ride out till late in the fall of 1889, and con- 
 tinued to hope for a little improvement in his health. 
 
 Thus among his friends, surrounded by such recognitions of 
 his useful life, his strength gradually failed, until the end came, 
 January 21st, 1890. 
 
Funeral Service. 
 
Funeral Service. 
 
 The tuneral service was helci on Tliursday afternoon, Jan- 
 uary 23d, at two o'clock. 
 
 It was arranged at first to iiold the service at Mr. Lilly's 
 house, but the desire to attend was soon found to be so general, 
 that it was necessary to have it in Cosmian Hall. 
 
 One of the largest gatherings that ever convened in this city 
 on a funeral occasion, filled the Hall long before the hour named. 
 All the seats and standing room were occupied, and many were 
 unable to gain admission. Business was generally suspended, 
 and all classes of the community were largely represented, in- 
 cluding large delegations from the Grand Army Post, Smith 
 College faculty and students, the local military organizations. 
 and business and professional circles. 
 
 Messrs. George T. Cutler, Myron C. Howard, L. F. S. 
 Plimpton and George S. Graves acted as bearers, and the Lilly 
 Drum Corps, Grand Army Veterans and Military representatives 
 performed escort duty. 
 
 A large crayon portrait of Mr. Lilly looked down upon the 
 vast assembly from the platform, amid a wealth of floral beauty, 
 furnished and arranged by Mrs. Mary S. Mann. 
 
 The Cosmian choir rendered the musical selections : "Why 
 Mourning Humanity ?" "Benevolence," and "Lay Me Low." 
 
 AT THE HOUSE. 
 
 Rev. F. A. Hinckley read selections as follows : 
 A true home is more than the world, more than honor and 
 pride and fortune. The light, the noon-day sun, may not yield, 
 and yet the tiny flame of one pure beam of love enkindleth, and 
 sympathy makes to burn forever. 
 
40 ALFRED THEODORE] LILLY. 
 
 We saw him in the garden, the pleasant garden, with his 
 companions and his friends, the friends whom he loved. His 
 friends and his neighbors blessed him. His home was the shel- 
 ter of happiness. Peace be unto him I We saw him giving 
 food to the hungry, and clothing to the naked. We saw him 
 giving help and succor to the aged, and good counsel to the 
 young. He suffered not the stranger to sleep in the streets ; he 
 opened his door to the wayfarer. Peace be upon him. 
 
 — Syrian. 
 
 Genius has its triumphs, fame its glories, wealth its splen- 
 dor, success its bright rewards, but the heart only hath its home. 
 
 Mr. Hinckley then said : 
 
 The hearts that have had their home here have all ceased 
 to beat. The years during which this home has been a Mecca to 
 so many of us have come to a close. And we now go to bear 
 away all that was mortal of him who did so much to make it 
 what it was. It is a tender errand. May we discharge it faith- 
 fully in reverence and love. 
 
 AT COSMIAN HALL. 
 
 After an organ voluntary, the following selections were read 
 by Mr. Hinckley : — 
 
 He has done the work of a true man, — 
 Crown him, honor him, love him. 
 Weep over him, tears of woman, 
 Stoop manliest brows above him. 
 
 For the warmest of hearts is frozen, 
 The freest of hands is still ; 
 And the gap in our picked and chosen, 
 The long years may not fill. 
 
 No duty could overtask him, 
 No need his will outrun ; 
 Or ever our lips could ask him, 
 His hands the work had done. 
 
FUNERAL SERVICE. 41 
 
 And he saw ere his eye was darkened, 
 The sheaves of the harvest-bringing ; 
 And knew while his ear yet hearkened, 
 The voice of the reapers singing. 
 
 — Whit tier. 
 
 He was one of the leaders of the people, men renowned for 
 power, for counsel, for understanding and foresight, rich men 
 furnished with ability, living peaceably in their habitations, wise 
 in their teachings, and by their knowledge made fit helpers of 
 their fellow-men. Such are honored in their generation, and are 
 the glory of their times. They leave a name behind them, and 
 their remembrance is sweet as honey in all mouths. Their bodies 
 are buried in peace ; but their works live on forever. The people 
 will tell of their wisdom, and after times will show forth their 
 praise. For the memorial of virtue is immortal. While it is 
 present men take example of it ; and when it is gone they desire 
 it. It weareth a crown forever, having gotten the victory, striv- 
 ing for undefiled rewards. 
 
 — Hebrew. 
 
 I lived in truth and fed my soul with justice. What I did to 
 men was done in peace. I have given bread to the hungry, wa- 
 ter to the thirsty, clothes to the naked, and shelter to the stranger. 
 
 — Egyptian. 
 
 I have had no greater joy than to walk in the truth. 
 
 It is only when one is thoroughly true that there can be 
 purity and freedom. Falsehood always punishes itself. 
 
 — German. 
 
 Hide not the truth when you know it ; and clothe not the 
 
 truth with falsehood. 
 
 — Arabian. 
 
42 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 Let truth and falsehood grapple. Who ever knew truth put 
 
 to the worse by a free and open encounter ? 
 
 — ATiltivi. 
 
 The unbeliever is he who deliberately declines to speak 
 
 what he thinks, or to trust humanity with what helpful truth has 
 
 been entrusted to himself. 
 
 — Samuel Johnson. 
 
 Let thine eyes look straight on, and let thine eyelids look 
 
 straight before thee. Remove thy feet from evil. Turn not to 
 
 the right hand nor to the left. Ponder the path of thy feet, and 
 
 let all thy ways be established. 
 
 — Hebrew. 
 
 Let the counsel of thine own heart stand, for there is no 
 man more faithful unto thee than it. A man's mind is sometimes 
 wont to tell him more than seven watchmen that sit above in a 
 high tower. In no wise speak against the truth, and refrain not 
 to speak when there is occasion to do good ; for by speech wis- 
 dom shall be known. 
 
 — Jewish. 
 
 He that feeds men serveth few ; 
 
 He serves all who dares be trvie. 
 
 — Emerson. 
 
 I am a man, and nothing that concerns human beings is in- 
 different to me. — Roman. 
 
 The world is my country. To do good is my religion. I 
 believe in the equality of men, and I believe that duty consists in 
 doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fel- 
 low-creatures happy. 
 
 — Thomas Faine. 
 
FUXERAL SERVICE. 
 
 43 
 
 My doctrine makes no distinction between high and low, 
 rich and poor. It is like water which washes and purifies all 
 alike. It is like the sky, for it has room for all. 
 
 — Hindoo. 
 
 I will live and die with this testimony, — that I never invaded 
 another man's freedom, and that I preserved mv own. 
 
 — Roman. 
 
 I call that mind free which sets no bounds to its love : which 
 is not imprisoned in itself, or in a sect ; which delights in virtue, 
 and sympathizes with suffering, wherever they are seen ; which 
 conquers pride, anger and sloth, and offers itself up a willing 
 victim to the cause of mankind. 
 
 — CJianniiiir. 
 
 Up and away, like the dew of the morning, 
 That soars from the earth to its home in the sun, 
 So let me steal away, gently and lovingly. 
 Only remembered by what I have done. 
 
 My name, and my place, and my tomb all forgotten. 
 The brief race of time well and patiently run ; 
 So let me pass away, peacefully, silenily. 
 Only remembered by what I have d(5ne. 
 
 Up and away, like the odors of sunset, 
 That sweeten the twilight as darkness comes on ; 
 So be my life, — a thing felt, but not noticed. 
 And I but remembered by what I have done. 
 
 Yes, like the fragrance that wanders in freshness, 
 
 When the flowers that it came from are closed up and gone ; 
 
 So would I be to this world's weary dwellers, 
 
 Only remembered by what I have done. 
 
 Needs there the praise of the love-written record, 
 The name, and the epitaph graved on the stone? 
 The things we have lived for, — let them be our story, 
 We ourselves but remembered by what we have done. 
 
44 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 I need not be missed, if my life has been bearing 
 (As its summer and autumn moved silently on), 
 The bloom, and the fruit, and the seed in its season ; 
 I shall still be remembered by what I have done. 
 
 I need not be missed, if another succeed me. 
 
 To reap down those fields which in spring I have sown. 
 
 He who ploughed and who sowed is not missed by the reaper. 
 
 He is only remembered by what he has done. 
 
 Not myself, but the truth that in life I have spoken. 
 Not myself, but the seed that in life I have sown, 
 Shall pass on to ages, all about me forgotten. 
 Save the truths I have spoken, the things I have done. 
 
 So let my living be, so be my dying ; 
 So let my name lie unblazoned, unknown, 
 Unpraised and unmissed, I shall still be remembered. 
 Yes, but remembered by what. I have done. 
 
 — Bo liar. 
 
 The choir then sang one of Mr. Lilly's favorite hymns, after 
 which Mrs. Elizabeth Powell Bond spoke as follows : 
 
 This silent presence, dear friends, is more eloquent than 
 words can be. The strong personality of our beloved friend 
 seems yet to invest this worn out temple of his untiring mind. 
 The unseeing eyes and the unspeaking lips are powerless to 
 make him dead ; in him was such fullness of life. 
 
 The lines which come to my mind for this memorial hour, he 
 might not have chosen to use himself ; but I love to recall the 
 gentleness and heartiness with which he would sometimes say, 
 " You and I do not see things exactly alike, but we need not 
 quarrel with each other for that, and you shall report things as 
 they seem to you, and I will enjoy the same liberty." His 
 strong, sincere life brings to my mind the lines of Emerson :. 
 " One accent of the Holy Ghost, 
 This heedless world has never lost." 
 The life which we commemorate in this hour, was not an accent 
 merely — it was a whole message of the Holy Ghost ; and it will 
 not be lost upon a heedless world. Its message was sincerity. 
 
FUNERAL SERVICE. 45 
 
 He fearlessly sought the truth, and witliout fear or mental reser- 
 vation he expressed his convictions. By nature an idealist in the 
 finest meaning of that word, from the force of circumstances in 
 early life it had become the lial)it of his mind to question ideals, 
 to satisfy himself (nily with realities that he could analyze and 
 classify. His questioning of ideals, not always gentle, it is true, 
 sometimes impatient even, was always sincere ; and I believe 
 that his name can never be named in our community that it will 
 not, be a witness for the Truth. This is high praise ; but you 
 who knew him best will feel as I do, that it is a testimony earned 
 by a long life of faithful endeavor. 
 
 In this last hour in which we shall have his bodily presence 
 with us, I wish to couple witli his t)wn a name which he always 
 softened his own to speak. It seemed as if he could not enough 
 express his tenderness and love when he said, " My honored 
 father." It was a beautiful example of filial devotion. The 
 strong man, the man of three score and ten years, became of 
 childlike spirit when lie recalled the wisdom and virtue of his 
 "honored father." His tenderness and devotion in the family 
 relation, as son and brother and husband, were graces of his na- 
 ture, that, like the growth of some elms, seemed to wreathe the 
 ruggedness of his strength, and soften the outlines of his stal- 
 wart character. Sons and daughters of his own blood had he 
 not. But there is one to whom he stood as a father ; one who 
 has been a devoted daughter to him, and to whom his departure 
 is an irreparable loss. How generous he has been of fatherly 
 love, and practical interest in many young people who have 
 come under his notice. How he watched the young men of this 
 village, and called to his aid in planning for their welfare, those 
 whose sympathies he thought would draw the yt)ung to them. 
 The little children loved him. It would be sweet to him to 
 know, that one mother, almost a stranger to him, holds him in 
 pleasant memory, because her little three-year-old boy watched 
 for his coming, to be patted on the head by his gentle hand, and 
 to receive his caressing words. It was in his power to bestow 
 large gifts upon his townsmen ; and he did not forget the smaller 
 
46 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 benefactions, the light and warmth of the bright word, and the 
 cordial greeting. 
 
 We are here, not only as fellow citizens, as interested neigh- 
 bors, as loving friends, but we are all heirs of his bounty. The 
 competence earned by hard work, coupled with business ability, 
 he has shared with us for all time. It is a beautiful thought 
 that his life is perpetuated in the aids which he has provided for 
 the scientific study which he so much valued ; that where he 
 toiled and spent himself in the years of his business activity, he 
 was really setting in motion forces that must go on in their re- 
 sults forever and ever. We shall not see his face among us any 
 more ; but surely his life will go on in our midst ; in the means 
 of mental and spiritual life which he has stored up for us in the 
 Library which will bear his name. 
 
 Science Hall and the beautiful Library, both the children of 
 his bounty, will perpetuate his name in this community ; indeed, 
 his name will be borne by the maidens whom he delighted to 
 serve, beyond his own town and state. I do not forget — I think 
 he would wish me not to forget — that there are strong young 
 men who have his name in their keeping. Whatever may have 
 been his hopes for good, from the scientific study which he pro- 
 moted, and from the store of books which he has provided for 
 us, they could hardly have come so near his heart's core as these 
 young men who bear his name incorporated in their own. For 
 his dear sake, I would remind them that it is a sacred trust. It 
 is a name that stands for sincerity, for integrity, for tenderness, 
 for personal purity. No result of hard work, of the stern disci- 
 pline of life, could be so precious in his sight as the honor of 
 his own name multiplied and brightened in the attainments of 
 these young sons of his adoption. 
 
 He would say that he had tried to live for the good of man. 
 Not a word would he add. I, seeing things as I do, would add 
 that every life lived for the good of man, is a life lived to the 
 glory of God, — that cvily a life lived for the glory of man can be 
 a life lived to the glory of God. He called by the name of Law, 
 the invisible, inscrutable Power that it is given to some natures 
 
FUNERAL SERVICE. 47 
 
 to invest with more personal elements than he could ; and to 
 this Power he bowed with absolute loyalty, without question 
 and without impatience. Without profession of faith in the or- 
 dinary acceptance of this expression, he was so faithful, that I 
 seem to see mourning among the Heavenly Powers that our 
 needy world should miss his steadfastness. 
 
 After the death of his wife, a little more than three years 
 ago, he wrote to me, "The whole atmosphere about me seems to 
 be permeated with sympathy, making me feel that both my wife 
 and self have builded better than we knew." The close sympa- 
 thy of his friends in these last years of declining health has been 
 very precious to him — "like dew upon the mown grass." It has 
 been the manna ujion which his soul has fed. 
 
 Dear, tender, stalwart soul, we give thanks for thy life 
 among us, for thy benefactions to us. We give thee joy that 
 physical infirmity is ended ; we, left at our posts to do this 
 world's work will remember thy courage and steadfastness, and 
 press on in thy footprints. 
 
 After another hymn sung by the choir, President L. Clark 
 Seel^'e of Smith College, bore his tribute to Mr. Lilly's life and 
 work. 
 
 The following words give a brief abstract of President 
 Seelye's address : — 
 
 It is said that when Saladin died, his garment was fastened 
 to his spear and carried through the streets of Damascus, with 
 the cry, "This is all that is left of Saladin." This coffin does 
 not contain all that remains of our departed friend. We call 
 him dead, but his life encompasses us ; the walls of the l)uil(ling 
 in which we gather ; this Society ; these various industries ; this 
 prosperous community ; the adjoining Library ; the various ed- 
 ucational, civil and military organizations here represented, — all 
 speak to us of him. That which is mortal vanishes, but the 
 power of his life remains. Love never dies, charity never faileth. 
 It is fitting that to-day we emphasize some characteristics of the 
 life which we commemorate. 
 
48 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 It was an upright life. The strictest integrity characterized 
 his dealings with men. No one hesitated to trust his word. He 
 was true to his business engagements. By nature a doubter, he 
 had nevertheless, a strong desire to know the truth, and what he 
 believed to be the truth he held, regardless of consequences. 
 
 It was a philanthropic life. He was a lover of men, although 
 he was severe in his denunciation of all shams or unfair dealing. 
 His sympathy was with the poor and oppressed ; the slave had 
 in him a champion, and his voice was ever in favor of human 
 liberty. 
 
 " I feel," he writes in one of his letters, " that it will be a sat- 
 isfaction to me at the close of my life, to be able to quote 
 Othello with variations, to wit : — ' I have done mankind some 
 service.' " 
 
 It was because he felt that women had not had equal 
 advantages, that he seconded so heartily the movement to give 
 them a higher education. His generous gift to found the Lilly 
 Hall of Science will be a lasting monument to his philanthropy. 
 In regard to the gift he wrote : — 
 
 " I do not give from pecuniary or mercenary motives, neither 
 do you receive for financial or self-aggrandizement, — but both 
 have the same object in view — that of benefiting mankind 
 through a source long neglected — the education of woman." 
 
 To perfect man through a knowledge of the truth, was his 
 aim. To this end he gave generously of his fortune. The in- 
 scription upon the memorial tablet in Lilly Hall, expresses his 
 spirit : — " To teach the truth in Nature." 
 
 It is not for me to speak to-day concerning his creed ; others 
 can do that more appropriately. I may say, however, although 
 we differed widely in our religious opinions, I respected his sin- 
 cerity. To him I might apply the words which Jacobi once 
 wrote of Spinoza, — "However thou mightest philosophize over 
 the nature of the Highest Being, and lose thy way and thy 
 words, His truth was in thy soul, and His love was thy life." 
 Whatever speculations Mr. Lilly may have had concerning im- 
 mortality and the great hereafter, he sought to regulate his life 
 
FUNERAL SERVICE. 49 
 
 by the truth, and charity was its hit;lu'st inspiration. Believing, 
 as I do, in a religion which is more com]-)rehensive than our 
 creeds, and whose characteristic spirit its founder expressed in 
 the words, " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, 
 my brethren, ye have done it unto me," I cannot but hope that 
 this friend who recognized so clearly the common brotherhood 
 of man, will at last recognize the common fatherhood of God. 
 To every sincere seeker after truth the promise is, "Ye shall 
 know tlie truth, and the truth shall make j^ou free." With faith 
 in that promise, may we not ccMifidently leave him in the keeping 
 of an all-loving and gracious God? 
 
 Mr. Hinckley then said : — 
 
 Earnest man, brave thinker, tender-hearted friend, how in- 
 adequate seem all our words in the presence of thy completed 
 earth-life. Sharers of thy counsels, recipients of thy silent 
 kindnesses, witnesses of thy public benefactions, how shall we 
 pay the debt we owe ? We can seem to see thee now in thv early 
 struggles, assuming on the very threshold of young manhood, 
 responsibilities such as come to few, meeting every exigency of 
 mature life with inflexible honesty and perseverance, and win- 
 ning slowly, but surely, in the home of thy adoption, a large 
 and lasting material success. We can seem to see thee, now, 
 giving the hand of sympathy to every sorrowing and troubled 
 heart, calling the children about thee in confidence and affection, 
 and taking a constant interest in the welfare of young men. We 
 recall at this hour, thy unpopular championship of both phvsical 
 and mental freedom, when their friends were but few ; thy ser- 
 vice to the cause of temperance, by thine own personal habits 
 and public advocacy ; thy active interest in all town and city af- 
 fairs ; thy enthusiasm for the Grand Army with all of its stirring 
 memories and its higher ambitions, — how well some of us knew 
 that ; thy devotion to education, early and always shown toward 
 the public school, and in one of the crowning acts of th}' life, in 
 the structure of a Hall of Science for the study of Truth as it 
 is in Nature ; and last, though not least, the expression of th\' 
 
50 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 love for this immediate community in the Library building 
 which rightly bears thy name, and shall breathe thy spirit. We 
 see all these things now ; we recall them all now. And gathered 
 here, representatives of them all, with a warmth of feeling 
 toward the man who knew so well how to stand in a minority of 
 one, of which he little dreamed, we can but think that thou hast 
 been fortunate in thy life, and fortunate in the time of thy 
 taking off. 
 
 Thy sheaves ripe for the harvest, beneath all differences of 
 theology or politics, thy goodness recognized, thy work practi- 
 cally done, thou hast left behind thee only a sacred memory and 
 grateful hearts. Peace to thee — loving son, brother and hus- 
 band ; peace to thee, — good neighbor and friend ; peace to thee 
 — public-spirited citizen, and friend of human rights ; in the 
 name of the truth, which was thy leader, and the love which 
 toned thy life, we will now all say, peace be to thee. 
 
 The choir then sang, " Lay . me low," and Mr. Hinckley 
 closed the service with these words : — 
 
 And now we go to lay low the body, but the real man still 
 lives in a community made better by his presence ; still lives, 
 and will live always, in immortal memories and immortal hopes. 
 
 An opportunity was then given for a last look at the familiar 
 features, after which the large company followed the body to the 
 cemetery. As it was lowered into the grave, Mr. Hinckley said: 
 
 And now, farewell, kind friend, upright citizen, brave man, 
 — farewell. The good universe which has always held thee, 
 holds thee still. Its peace be forever thine. 
 
Obituary Notices. 
 
Obituary Notices. 
 
 From tlie Northanipto)i Daily Ihrald. 
 
 In the death this morning of Alfred T. Lilly, this city loses 
 from its citizenship, one of its most honorable and most honored 
 men, and all of its material and moral interests suffer the loss 
 of a foremost, fearless, steadily useful, and invariably reliable 
 advocate and champion. The w^orld loses one of the most honest 
 and most just of independent thinkers, and t)ne of the sincerest 
 of souls in obedience to what were his own convictions of right 
 and justice. That Mr. Lilly was a man of iron will, a rugged, 
 invulnerable individuality that held inflexibly to its own course, 
 against all opposition, wise or otherwise, when once that course 
 was decided upon, with an invincibleness that was sometimes 
 deaf to the influence of the modifying second thought that is 
 often a wise counsellor, his best friends also admit ; and while 
 this inflexibility of will largely made its possessor the man that 
 he was, it also created for him experience undesirable, and made 
 him liable to misapprehension among those who would other- 
 wise have understood him best and esteemed him most. But if 
 ever the world has held a man true to what he believed was 
 truth, and right, and justice, Alfred Theodore Lilly was such a 
 
 man. 
 
 Mr. Lilly was born in Mansfield, Conn., April 15, 1813, as he 
 himself often remarked, with all of the sturdy independence of 
 the spirit of the war of 181 2. His father was Alfred Lilly, with 
 whom the deceased had his first experience in silk manufacture, 
 but the venture proved unsuccessful. Mr. Lilly also engaged in 
 the business of auger-making for some time. Afterwards he was 
 for a short time employed in the grocery business in Providence, 
 R. L, and while there was recommended to the late Samuel L. 
 
54 
 
 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY 
 
 Hill of Florence, as a reliable business man, Mr. Hill at that 
 time being in search of such a man for an assistant in the Non- 
 otuck Silk business in Florence. The result was that Mr. Lilly 
 entered the business as an employe in May, 1S53, steadily rose in 
 it, until he became a leading member of the firm, was chosen 
 a director when the Company was incorporated in 1865, and 
 made its treasurer February 5th, 1872. a position he retained un- 
 til he resigned it in 1887, owing to his increasing physical feeble- 
 ness. 
 
 In 1838, Mr. Lilly married Lucy Maria Crane of Hebron, 
 Ct., and for forty-nine years Mr. and Mrs. Lilly found their 
 married life one of harmonious mutual happiness, such as is 
 rarely experienced, Mrs. Lilly being a woman of a gentle, quiet 
 nature, but richly endowed with the beauty of soul which is a 
 perennial charm, only increasing in value with added years ; and 
 ever faithfully and with true wifely devotion she stood beside 
 her husband alike in adversity and prosperity, and Mr. Lilly al- 
 ways declared with deep feeling that he " owed everything to 
 her." Mrs. Lilly died three years ago, and earth has been a 
 lonely place for the aged husband since, the shadows her passing 
 left within his heart and upon his face, never having been lifted 
 or lightened. No children were ever born to them, but Mrs. 
 Dwight Ross of Florence, was from childhood, we think, an in- 
 mate of their home, and bore to them the relation of a 
 daughter. 
 
 Mr. Lilly was treasurer of the Free Congregational Society, 
 since its organization, and was ever one of its leading spirits and 
 most prominent workers and largest supporters. He gave $400 
 every year to the financial aid of the Society, always largely 
 aided the Sunday School connected with it in various ways, one 
 feature of this benevolence being the contributing of forty or 
 fifty volumes to the Sunday School library yearl}^ He always 
 furnished the annual Christmas dinner for the Cosmian Hall 
 Sunday School, and always remembered the teachers of the 
 Sunday School and members of the choir each Christmas with 
 appropriate gifts. 
 
FUNERAL SKRXICL;. 55 
 
 Mr. Lilly's charities were a leading feature of his late years, 
 but they were dispensed with his characteristic peculiarity of 
 purpose and method. \''ery rarel}^ did his left hand know what 
 
 his right hand was doing, and the left hand was usually as busy 
 as his right. His benevolence to the poor has been far more ex- 
 tensive than but very few know, and often his beneficiaries never 
 knew where their aid came from. To young men struggling 
 against povertv and obstacles of any character, whom he be- 
 lieved were doing tlu'ir best to make their own way, Mr. Lilly 
 was always very kind, in the sid)slantial way which best illus- 
 trates sympathy, as many can and do testify to-day, with wet 
 eyes and faltering tones, which lunor their manhood. 
 
 The soldiers of the civil war always found in Mr. Lilly one 
 of their warmest friends, intense patriotism being one of his 
 predominating characteristics, and the local Grand Army vet- 
 erans have again and again received generous evidence of this 
 interest, Mr. Lilly presenting the relief Fund of the Post with 
 $1000 in cash, and always was ready to give an open-handed lift 
 to all their enterprises. The youthful Drum Corps, which bears 
 his name, and was organized by him, was one of Mr. Lilly's pro- 
 teges, he being himself an ardent and skillful wielder of the 
 drum sticks in his young days, and the young men who makeup 
 the Lilly Drum Corps have received all their equipments, 
 uniforms, instruments, etc., from their kindly patron. 
 
 The Smith College Lilly Hall of Science, for llu- founding 
 of which, in 1885, Mr. Lilly gave $30,000, is the most conspicu- 
 ous illustration of the benevolence of the deceased, he subse- 
 quently adding $2,500 to the sum, and has also donated other 
 money gifts to the College, having a very great interest in the 
 general advancement of women, and taking special interest in 
 the educational advancement of the sex. 
 
 Mr. Lilly is also the donor of the Free Library building, 
 which has just been completed in Florence, giving $13,000 for 
 the purpose. 
 
 E,' Anti-slavery days had no more aggressive and fearless 
 champion of human rights than Alfred T. Lilly, he being one of 
 
56 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 the Spartan band of simon-pure Garrisonians who steadily ad- 
 hered to the no-surrender, no-compromise, I-will-be-heard policy 
 till victory crowned them. The temperance conflict of these 
 later days, also loses in his death one of its truest and ablest 
 friends, and all effort looking toward the uplifting and moral 
 betterment of humanity always received his warm sanction and 
 generous helpfulness. 
 
 Of late years, Mr. Lilly has engaged quite extensively in 
 farming, and local land improvement, holding the opinion that 
 more money could be made in agricultural pursuits than in any 
 other way, if only proper methods were applied in the work. 
 
 For many years Mr. Lilly has been afflicted with chronic 
 bronchitis, but not until the last two or three months has he 
 yielded to physical weakness so as to be confined to his home. 
 But for the last three weeks failure has been rapid, and for the 
 last week his suffering has been such that the end brought wel- 
 come release. 
 
 The funeral will be held on Thursday afternoon, at 2 o'clock, 
 at the residence of the deceased. Rev. Mr. Hinckley conducting 
 the service, assisted by Mrs. Elizabeth Powell Bond, the former 
 resident speaker of the Cosmian Society, and the beloved and 
 valued friend of Mr. and Mrs. Lilly. Wm. L. Baker Post and 
 Lilly Drum Corps will be present in full numbers and perform 
 escort duty. 
 
 Next Sunday will be made a Memorial Sunday at Cosmian 
 Hall. In the morning, the Sunday School services will be of that 
 character, and old friends of Mr. Lilly will be invited to take 
 part in the exercises. In the afternoon, Mr. Hinckley will give 
 a discourse. The public generally will be very cordially wel- 
 comed. 
 
 Front the Spritii^field Repul'lUan. 
 
 Alfred Theodore Lilly, the philanthropist and manufacturer, 
 died at his home in Florence early yesterday morning, in his 77th 
 year. Mr. Lilly will be missed, and not alone in the immedi- 
 diate community, whose business interests he so largely devel- 
 oped. His memory will be perpetuated by the Scientific Hall he 
 
OBITTARV NOTICES. 57 
 
 endowed at Smith College ; by the Library which he gave to the 
 village in which his life was passed, and the schools that he aided 
 largely in supporting. But the personality of his sturdy charac- 
 ter, the impress of his original and independent convictions, and 
 above all, the unrecorded deeds of kindness, will be more wide- 
 reaching in their influence than any Institution that his money 
 endowed. Mr. Lilly would not associate himself with professing 
 Christian believers, liut the harsh characterization of " atheist," 
 could only be ajij^lied by those unacquainted with the gentleness 
 and purity of his character, and the earnestness with which he 
 sought after truth. Men often misunderstood him on account 
 of his religious views, but they could not fail to admire his hon- 
 esty, generosity and strength. In the Cosmian Hall Society, 
 which he supported because of its educational work, he was the 
 patriarch, and in its Sunday School was the children's friend. 
 He took special delight in the concerts of the infant department, 
 and was never happier than wIumi surrounded bv a group of little 
 ones. His birthdays were remembered by the children, and the 
 ceremony of wreathing garlands of flowers about him was a fea- 
 ture of one of these anniversaries that illustrated their fondness 
 of him. 
 
 Mr. Lilly was born at Mansfield, Ct., April 15, 1813. As he 
 grew up he became associated with his father in the manufacture 
 of augers, and after his father retired from business in 1835, the 
 young man carried on the business for a number of years and 
 later became interested in silk manufacture, and for a time 
 traveled to introduce the sale of American silk, an industry then 
 in its infancy. Subsequently he went to Providence, R. I., 
 where he was found by the late Samuel L. Hill, and induced to 
 remove to Florence in 1853. Having a practical knowledge of 
 the manufacture of silk, Mr. Lilly at once assumed the superin- 
 tendency of the business, which was then a small affair. From 
 that time he remained with the Company until 1887, taking the 
 position of treasurer and general manager in 1872, on the retire- 
 ment of Mr. Hill, although he had been the active head for years 
 before that. His ability at the head of such a large business was 
 
58 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 readily recognized. His associates relied upon him as thor- 
 oughly frank and truthful, a man who would tolerate no sham. 
 The hundreds in his employ respected, and almost revered him, 
 and labor questions were never a source of annoyance at the 
 Nonotuck silk mills. 
 
 Mr. Lilly always took a deep interest in educational matters, 
 and his admiration for scientific knowledge took practical shape 
 in his generous gift to Smith College. The Lilly Hall of 
 Science, which he founded at a cost of $35,000, was formally 
 opened June 22, 1886. 
 
 The love of real, accurate, scientific knowledge influenced 
 Mr. Lilly in religious matters, and led him to discard all biblical 
 revelations, so that he never got very near the Christian church. 
 What could be demonstrated by science he would accept, and he 
 would stop right there. While he was a large contributor to the 
 Free Congregational Society of Florence, and one of its leading 
 officers since its organization, he united with it as an educational 
 enterprise, and not as a religious institution. To him it was an 
 instrument of education, and he insisted that the platform 
 should be free — that every man should have a right to express 
 his opinion. Mr. Lilly always took a lively interest in town af- 
 fairs, and regularly at town meetings was an advocate of all im- 
 provements, especially if they related to schools or libraries. 
 For a score of years he was a member of the Public Library 
 committee, and he contributed liberally towards the Memorial 
 Hall. Last year he gave about $20,000 for the erection and 
 equipment of a Library building at Florence, which is now 
 nearly completed. Few men were more patriotic than Mr. Lilly, 
 and his love for the war veterans, and what they represent, is 
 well known. Not long ago he gave Wm. L. Baker Post, G. A. 
 R., $1000, to be used for charitable purposes. With him money 
 was used as a means of usefulness and aid to his fellow-men. 
 He was ever the poor man's friend, and his benefactions were 
 wide and varied. Many a young man owes his start in life to 
 Mr. Lilly, and many a person in distress was relieved by his gen- 
 erosity. 
 
OBITUARY NOTICES. 59 
 
 His business energies were not confined wholly to the silk 
 industry, but he was ever alert to aid by his means and counsel 
 any promising enterprise. He aided in the organization of the 
 Florence Savings Bank, and was its president from its establish- 
 ment to his death. The same is true of the Florence Furni- 
 ture Company. At the request of Mr. Hill, he acted as one of 
 the Trustees of the Florence Kindergarten. About two years 
 ago, he made a will, by which his estate goes to the Florence 
 Kindergarten for educational purposes in general. 
 
 By this will, D. W. Bond and A. G. Hill were designated ex- 
 ecutors. So far as known Mr. Lilly left no near relations. He 
 married Lucy Maria Crane of Hebron, Ct., in 1838, and for near- 
 ly fifty years they lived a happy, contented married life. Mrs. 
 Lilly's death, about three years ago, was a blow from which he 
 never fully recovered. 
 
 The man's modest and unassuming nature is well illustrated 
 in his expressed wish that there be no public demonstration at 
 his funeral. President Seelye stated yesterday that the Smith 
 College faculty and students wished to attend. The Grand 
 Army Post, and other organizations will express a similar wish, 
 and, in deference to these requests, friends decided to hold the 
 services in Cosmian Hall. The services will be held to-morrow 
 afternoon at 2 o'clock. Rev. F. A. Hinckley, and Mrs. E. P. Bond, 
 formerly resident speaker of the Free Congregational Society, 
 will officiate. Wm. L. Baker Post, and the Lilly Drum Corps 
 will be present, and do escort duty. The 31st Regiment, of 
 which Mr. Lilly was an honorary member, will attend the 
 funeral in a body, meeting at the City Hall in Northampton, to- 
 morrow noon for the purpose. 
 
 The Freethinker's Magazine for March, 1S90, published en- 
 tire the obituary notice of the Northampton Herald, and added 
 with a portrait, the following : 
 
 . It is with sadness and sorrow that we learn of the death of 
 A. T. Lilly. He was one of the bravest and noblest and most 
 
6o ■ ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 generous Freethinkers in this country. He was a very quiet, 
 unostentatious man, who never made a great exhibition of his 
 Liberalism nor his liberality. His generous gifts were large and 
 many, and were always made with as little publicity as possible 
 — the only object he seemed to have in making them was to ac- 
 complish all the good he could. He contributed much more for 
 this Magazine than has any other person, and wdienever he sent 
 us aid, he always made a special recjuest that we make no public 
 mention of it. We are sure that without his liberal contribu- 
 tions, made without solicitation, this Magazine would now be a 
 thing of the past. 
 
 The Boston Investigator, in its issue of January 29, 1890, 
 published entire the obituary notice from the Northampton 
 Herald, and added the following : 
 
 The w^orld has lost a brave, true, generous-hearted man in 
 the death of Mr. Lilly. He was among the most advanced Lib- 
 erals of the day. * * * ^ warmer heart 
 for humanity and human suffering, never beat in human breast. 
 He loved the truth as ardently as he detested falsehood. His 
 hand was stretched to the world in help. He made money, and 
 he used it to make the world better. He was modest, sincere, 
 and upright. He lived a long and useful life, and over his grave 
 will be shed many a tear. We knew his worth, and we feel his 
 loss. Farewell ! 
 
 Copy of a Letter from Theodore D. Weld. 
 
 Hyde Park, January 24, 1890. 
 Dk.4R Mr. Hunt : — The paper sent by you announcing the 
 death of our beloved brother Lilly, reached me all too late, even 
 for a telegram to his funeral. His venerated form had been 
 already lovingly consigned "dust to dust." "Howl! Fir trees 
 for the Cedar has fallen." " The memory of the just smells 
 sweet, and blossoms in the dust." 
 
OBITLARV NOTICES. 6i 
 
 During my long life, I liave known a few, (alas I how few)! 
 whose character seemed perfect. They had embodied " the law 
 of love," "the golden rule," and "the sermon on the mount." 
 Of that sacred few was Alfred T. Lilly. 
 
 Verily he had always been "eyes to the blind, feet for the 
 lame, a tongue for the dumb." He always wrought with might 
 and main, as tireless, as ceaseless, with brain, heart and hand ; 
 thinking, feeling, willing, doing and giving to, and for others. 
 His life was his creed, writ large and cross-lined all over, and 
 thus was known and read by all. His name is his monument. 
 His memory a precious boon, fervently cherished. He lived 
 only to serve the needs of others, to ease their pains and soothe 
 their sorrows, in tender sympathy with the sufferings of all. 
 
 How happy the lot of your Cosmian Community, man, 
 woman and child, in having had so long in your midst, such a 
 presence wending on in the quiet, even tenor of his wav, in and 
 out, up and down in every thing, with every one at home, and 
 every one at home with him ; shedding sunshine all around, and 
 finding it all around t)n its way back to him, till from all to all, 
 light shone, and thus all caught the glow and flaslied it abroad. 
 
 Such a spirit, example and life as his, made the dark light, 
 the rough smooth, the crooked straight, and could not fail to- 
 leave their strong impress upon those in such close contact with 
 him. Just such a lasting impress marked that signal life, — was 
 born in it, and thus birthmarked its whole career. Incessantly 
 thinking, planning, willing and striving to quicken, help and 
 bless all by every practicable form of good doing, always intent 
 upon such works, ways and modes of action upon all from the 
 least to the largest objects, subjects and causes, they all grew 
 into him, and he into them, as fractions become one in the unit.. 
 In them he lived, moved and had his being. They not only be- 
 came his life vocation, but the ruling passion of his soul, grow- 
 ing stronger and sublimer up to his last hour of earth. Yea, 
 more, — when that last hour came, it found him just as intense as. 
 when in the height of his manly prime. 
 
62 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 Then thus his life's hour-glass dropped its last sands ; the 
 last pulse throbbed, the last gleam fled from the glazing e^^e, the 
 latest breath fell cold from his pallid lips, and all that was mor- 
 tal has ceased to be. 
 
 Now look at that stark dead form as it lies along and tell 
 me, is that clod of clay our brother Lilly ? The v^ery being whom 
 we loved ? Love still and venerate ? Is it indeed he, whose 
 spirit, character, qualities and principles of mind and soul, have 
 so long drawn us to him by irrepressible affinities ? Nay, verily 
 — never ! That head and brain, that eye and heart, those lungs, 
 limbs, muscles and nerves are all that body's parts, members 
 and organs, internal and external, with their flesh, bones and 
 blood ; is any one of these, or all of them together, our brother 
 Lilly's very self ? They are but the house he lived in, with its 
 furniture, they were the clothes he wore, the tools he used, they 
 were to him what the shell is to the kernel, the husk to the ear, 
 the pearl oyster to the priceless pearl its rough shell encloses. 
 True they were always his, but never him. 
 
 All of him that our bodily senses revealed to us we knew by 
 these senses, but what could they give us of his real intrinsic self ? 
 His absolute, ultimate being ? The primal source and starting 
 point of them all ? 
 
 But this letter has already spun itself out all too far. 
 Greatly regretting that the knowledge of our brother's death 
 did not reach me till too late for me to be present at his funeral, 
 I ask you to convey to our Cosmian friends, my profound sym- 
 pathy in this great bereavement. 
 
 I am, my dear brother, in the old time love to you and all 
 yours, 
 
 Faithfully, 
 
 THEO. D. WELD. 
 
OBITUARY NOTICES. 63 
 
 Annual Report of the Executive Committee of the Free 
 
 Congregational Society of Florence, for the Year 
 
 ENDING April 7, 1890. 
 
 On the 2ist day of January last, after many months of try- 
 ing invalidism, patiently and bravely borne, the great heart of 
 Alfred T. Lilly ceased to beat. He was a strong and enthusias- 
 tic friend and helper of the Free Congregational Society of 
 Florence. Ft)r more than a quarter of a century this Society 
 had the benefits of Mr. Lilly's wise counsels and untiring efforts 
 to uphold its existence, and promote its prosperity. lie executed 
 with integrity and success the various important offices with 
 which the Society had always gladly intrusted him. 
 
 Mr. Samuel L. Hill and Mr. Lilly, though differing from 
 each other in theological views, were the largest contributors in 
 aid of the founding and maintenance of this Society ; though 
 neither of them favored the organization for any selfish purpose. 
 It was the great principle of equity on which the platform was 
 grounded, that won their admiration and support. 
 
 And yet we find that the motives of these noble men have 
 been so misconstrued, — certainly, misrepresented, — that to each 
 has been attributed the preposterous remark that he paid $30,- 
 000 to stand on Cosmian Hall platform and declare, "There is 
 no God." We are informed that Mr. Lilly, to whom this saying 
 was first imputed, was by persons now living, twice heard to 
 denv, publicly, in the Sunday School, that he ever uttered such 
 a remark. So far from wishing to stand on the Cosmian plat- 
 form to defend their own personal views, they supported it be- 
 cause every honest belief could there be defended and be sure of 
 fair play. Probably the one feature of the platform that above 
 all others, had the regard of these two men, was the one that 
 placed human rights above the accident of sex, or color, or na- 
 tionality. They rejoiced that there was one pulpit whose occu- 
 pants could preach deliverance to the captive, and the opening 
 of the prison to them that are bound ; for these men had seen 
 the Church pulpits barred against the advocacy of humanitarian 
 reforms ; particularly, the anti-slavery reform. 
 
64 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 With the appr(.ival of both of these good men, Charles C. 
 Burleigh, a firm believer in God, was chosen the first resident 
 speaker of the Society, and held the office for ten years ; while he 
 continued a member of the Society until his death. 
 
 Your committee and other members of this Society had fre- 
 quent occasions to note the honorable way in which i\Ir. Lilly 
 bore himself, regarding the presentation of his own peculiar 
 views. He was always ready to stand aside to give to the advo- 
 cates of different sentiments from his own, the preference on the 
 platform. 
 
 As one instance illustrating this honorable trait of his char- 
 acter, we learn that when arranging for the disposition of his 
 private or home library, he directed that only those books that 
 the Trustees of the Library Association desired, should go into 
 the Public Library. 
 
 Mr. Lilly's views, were, in various respects, misunderstood. 
 For instance, he did not deny the d(')ctrine of immortality, but 
 he had not received evidence sufficient to convince him of its 
 truth. He believed in the immutability of law ; sought the 
 truth in nature, and aimed to put himself in line with the work- 
 ings of natural law. While Mr. Lilly was a doubter, we believe 
 that often, through doubt, lies the pathway to truth, and that 
 there is wisdom in the poet Tennyson's words, where he says : 
 " Therj lives more faith in honest doubt, 
 Believe me, than in half the creeds." 
 
 Even the general tenor of the New Testament, is more in 
 condemnation of an infidelity or unfaithfulness to known duty 
 than of honest error in speculative belief. We have been told 
 that Jesus held up as an examplar of his religion, the Good Sa- 
 maritan, who was the infidel, if not the atheist of his day, with 
 whom the Jews would have no dealings. It was against those 
 who professed to know God, but in their works denied him, that 
 the sternest rebukes of the New Testament were uttered. 
 
 We see that so great was Mr. Lilly's interest in this Society, 
 that even death could not separate him from its regard ; for, in 
 his will, he directs his Trustees' to pay to the Free Congrega- 
 
OBITUARY NOTICES. 65 
 
 tional Society of Florence, $1000 a year, so long as said Society 
 shall keep alive the work of the Sunday School and platform- 
 speaking on the same liberal basis as has been practiced by it since 
 the organization of the Society to the present time. This gen- 
 erous bequest of their lamented friend should encourage the liv- 
 ing members of the Society to give even more liberally than 
 heretofore, according to their means, to aid the noble cause in 
 which they are engaged. 
 
 MEMORIAL DAY AT COSMIAN HALL. 
 
 The Sunday following the funeral, January 26th, was made 
 a Mc'mot-i;il D;i\- by the Free Congregational Society. 
 
 SUNDAY SCHOOL SERVICE. 
 
 The Sunday School met as usual at 10.30 A. M. A, life-like 
 picture of Mr. Lilly, decorated with smilax, and surrounded by 
 flowers, stood upon the platform. The exercises were partici- 
 pated in by Messrs. Seth Hunt, Joseph Marsh, A. G. Hill, Miss 
 Mary W. Bond, Miss E. C. Elder, Mrs. M. B. Cary and Mr. 
 Hinckley. The different speakers bore testimony to the warmth 
 of Mr. Lilly's well known affection for the School and its work, 
 and to the generous aid he was always ready to render it. His 
 interest in young men, and in little children was tenderly recalled, 
 and selections and songs which had been favorites of his were 
 sung. 
 
 At the regular afternoon service, Mr. Hinckley delivered the 
 following 
 
 MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 
 
 The last sad rites have been performed, the public word has 
 been spoken, the tribute of the people without regard to sect, 
 party or locality, has been paid. We gather to-day, a smaller 
 and closer company, following with gentle thoughts our revered 
 fellow-Cosmian, who has passed from mortal vision into the si- 
 lent land. For nearly thirty-seven years his feet have trod these 
 streets, his form has been a familiar one in tliis community, his 
 energies and ambitions have been an integral part of its life. 
 Even since his vears of sickness we have felt that he was still 
 
66 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 with us, thinking about us, planning in his hours of weakness 
 and loneliness new measures for the good of the little spot on 
 earth, which he loved so well, and had so long made his home. 
 But to-day is the first Sunday when we must feel that his place 
 here, so far as his bodily presence is concerned, is forever vacant. 
 To-day is the first Sunday when it would be in vain to long 
 
 " For the touch of the vanished hand, 
 And the sound of the voice that is still." 
 
 We shall never grasp the one, we shall never hear the other 
 within these walls again. 
 
 Fresh from his new-made grave, we come now with loving 
 hearts to contemplate his life and character. Not this the place 
 for cold analysis, not mine the lips for critical review. There 
 was somewhat about this man so brave, so true, so kind, that we 
 who knew him best, naturally wish to dwell upon his memory, 
 and recount his virtues in a spirit as brave, as true, as kindly as 
 his own. What was it that brought to him, who began his ca- 
 reer with nothing save indomitable energy, and devotion to un- 
 popular causes, in whose service he never flinched to the hour of 
 his death, — what was it that brought to him at last the tribute of 
 well-nigh universal respect and affection ? What was it about 
 him, man of strong convictions that he was, that has made those 
 who differed most widely from him in matters of belief, eager to 
 affirm that he has left the world better for his living in it ? In 
 trying to answer these questions, it is at once my sacred privilege 
 and duty to paint as best I may to-day the picture of our friend's 
 career. The coloring may seem warm, but I shall endeavor to 
 keep it true. 
 
 Alfred Theodore Lilly was a man of business ; he gave him- 
 self to business with that sort of devotion which means success ; 
 and yet as I contemplate his finished earth-life, it seems to me it 
 can be said of him, as of very few men of affairs, that he had a 
 life-work outside of his business. Whether in his father's auger 
 factory in Mansfield, the grocery trade in Providence, or the silk 
 industry in Florence, he exhibited those elements of character 
 which command the financial situation. His record is one of 
 
OBITUARY NOTICES. 67 
 
 perseverance, foresight and economy, beginning at the foot of 
 the ladder, and mounting slowly, but surely, round by round, to 
 the top. He was a thoroughly successful business man. But 
 nevertheless, he was not a mere money-getter ; with him, money- 
 getting was a means rather than an end. Business success was 
 his opportunity, and he knew well how to improve it ; from first 
 to last he did improve it. And yet there are many men who 
 have just such opportunities and fail to improve them. What 
 made his an exceptional case ? Plainly the elements wliich were 
 native to his character, and the circumstances which surrounded 
 him. What were these elements ? What were these circum- 
 stances ? 
 
 First of all let us say, he was a man of marked mental in- 
 tegrity. As a boy, as a young man, in the maturity and in the 
 decline of his powers, his was a clear head. Passing at once 
 from the not elaborate common school education of sixty years 
 ago, to the ever-increasing activities of a prosperous Ijusiness 
 career, he had little time or energy to give to general reading. 
 But as is so often the case with self-made men, his keen percep- 
 tions, sharpened by the necessity of dealing with affairs, stood 
 him well in stead. He comprehended the bearings of argument; 
 as we sometimes say, he took in the situation, quickly and accu- 
 rately. He may have seemed harsh in his judgments at times, 
 but he was rarely the victim of sophistry. His life furnishes 
 many illustrations of this clearness of mental discernment, of 
 which none is more significant than one which may be taken 
 from his youthful experience. He was only twenty-two years of 
 age when his father failed, owing him quite a sum for labor. By 
 that failure, the support of the family devolved upon hini. " I 
 will make you a preferred creditor," said his father. He thought 
 over the proposition, analyzed it in his mind, and with the new 
 and heavy responsibility staring him in the face, gave the Spar- 
 tan reply, "No, I will take my equal chance with the rest." He 
 did take his chance with the rest. He did assume the new re- 
 sponsibility. He did ultimately pay the last of his father's 
 debts. Many there are who under similar circumstances would 
 
68 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 have found some specious course of reasoning to have justified 
 a more selfish conchision. Not so he. He meant to be perfectly 
 honest, and he possessed even then that exceptional intellectual 
 acuteness which showed him where the border lines of honesty 
 lay. It was the same quality which in after years made him so 
 sensitive to every encroachment, whether in business, in reform, 
 or in religion, upon mental integrity ; made him under all cir- 
 cumstances, sincere with others, and sincere with himself. 
 
 But closely interwoven with keen mental perception there 
 went in him strong mental purpose. It is one thing to see duty, 
 it is another thing to do it. In him the mental and the moral 
 elements seemed inseparable. So closely and generall}^ the deed 
 followed upon the thought, the life upon the theory. How often 
 we have all seen him stirred with deepest indignation at the 
 sense of some injustice to himself or to others. He was pardon- 
 ably proud of his own moral integrity, and of the moral integ- 
 rity of the little company of unpopular thinkers, with whom he 
 did pioneer work. Many a time within the last dozen years, he 
 has pointed me to some, young man, saying, " That is one of our 
 boys, he is honest and clean ; there is nothing to be ashamed of 
 in him." Many a time when some radical writer, in a larger 
 recognition than his, of what we call the spiritual side, has cast, 
 advertently or inadvertently, a seeming reflection upon such as 
 he, I have heard him resent the injustice in such a wa}' that no 
 one who knew him could withstand. Mentally clear, morally 
 strong, he certainly was. 
 
 There was, however, another element in his character, which 
 we all knew, and knew well. He had the warmest of hearts. 
 This was constantly illustrated in his depth of affection for the 
 children. I have never heard him express more regret at any- 
 thing, than that in these later years when Christmas time came 
 round, he could not mingle with them in their festivities. It was 
 the same element which made it so easy for him to help others,, 
 ere he had scarcely begun to help himself ; to fight other 
 people's battles while he fought his own. He delighted espec- 
 ially to be the uncompromising exponent of mental freedom. 
 
OBITUAR'- Nv^.-i-.r^^- (,^ 
 
 but standing in this place, I can never forget how often I have 
 seen his eyes moistened by some appeal to the feelings, how sus- 
 ceptible he was to that touch of sentiment, which, if free from 
 labels, and free from the narrowness which labels so often indi- 
 cate, always goes straight to the very depths oi a sensitive 
 nature. 
 
 Such were the formative elements in this man's character 
 and life : — a clear head, a strong moral purpose, a warm heart. 
 Add now to all this, the circumstances of early and constant 
 struggle, such as clarified his thoughts, intensified his moral con- 
 victions, and warmed to a deeper glow his feelings, and we have 
 the primal causes which made him what he was. It is said that 
 he never forgot a favor, and it always seemed when he was asked 
 for help, as if the first thought which came to his mind, was of 
 how he once needed and received help too. It was an unfailing 
 source of pleasure to him to dwell upon the life of Voltaire — his 
 persecutions, his struggles, his assistance from influential friends, 
 and the way in which in his old age, he also rendered assistance 
 to those who needed it. He saw likenesses between these ex- 
 periences of the illustrious Frenchman and his own, and he liked 
 to dwell upon them, and to talk of them. 
 
 So it was that native traits and worldly conditions conspired 
 to make him a man sure to want to put some of the wealth that 
 came to him, to high and noble uses. Inheritance and environ- 
 ment united to make him business man and philanthropist in 
 one. 
 
 And now, what was this man's life work? Stated in one 
 comprehensive phrase, I should say, devotion to truth and en- 
 thusiasm for humanity. Under this head, we may easily group 
 the various causes which it was his constant happiness to serve. 
 
 First of these in order of time, I think, certainly first in his 
 own estimation, was Free Thought ; and for him, as for so many 
 others, this was at first inseparably connected with the anti- 
 slavery conflict. 
 
 It is exceedingly difficult for the younger of us, now to reab 
 ize the ecclesiastical conditions which he, and such as he, met all 
 
70 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 about them. They found the Church possessing a power over 
 the minds of men, such as nobody dreams of its possessing to- 
 day. Little was known of the nature of the non-Christian 
 world, and it was held that only those, who, having heard of 
 Christ, had professed belief in Him, could escape the fires of 
 hell. They found the Christian Bible taken as the exclusive me- 
 dium of God's message to humanity, equally inspired in all its 
 parts, and therefore an infallible guide. They found church 
 forms and ceremonies based on what they conceived to be super- 
 stition. They found the old dogmas of the fall of man, total 
 depravity, and everlasting punishment, almost unquestioned, in 
 what was regarded respectable society. They found institu- 
 tional religion neglecting the things it had seen, in looking after 
 the things it had not seen, and in the nature of the case, could not 
 see. They found craven silence in the pulpit concerning right- 
 eous principles. And worst of all, when some one thinking out- 
 side the lines, ventured to speak for the chattel slave, ventured 
 to speak for the inalienable right of every man to obey the dic- 
 tates of his own conscience, and to respect the workings of his 
 own mind, they found narrowness and bigotry lighting the torch 
 of persecution, and branding such, as Atheists, and infidels, and' 
 fellows of the baser sort. What could they do, practical men 
 that they were, abolitionists that they were ? Just what they did 
 do. They proceeded to think for themselves, and resolved, at 
 whatever cost, to speak just what they thought. Their motto 
 was as old as Milton, their spirit as lofty as his who lost his eyes 
 in defense of freedom. 
 
 " Give me the liberty to know, to think, to believe, and to 
 utter freely, according to conscience, above all other liberties." 
 This was the immortal principle in whose service they did as 
 brave and as unpopular work as was ever done. They began by 
 antagonizing the Church, and defying its authority. Against its 
 doctrine of heaven for professing Christians, they affirmed the 
 rights of all men here and now. Against Biblical infallibility, 
 they affirmed the supremacy of reason. Against forms and cer- 
 emonies, they affirmed as the real test, the good life. They said 
 
OBITUARY NOTICES. 71 
 
 we know nothing about what we cannot submit to intellectual 
 proofs. We know this is a universe of law, cause preceding ef- 
 fect, effect following cause ; we know, therefore, that the higher 
 duty of man is to study the laws of the universe, and conform 
 himself thereto. Beyond this, all is speculation ; we will have 
 none of it. To hold such views as these, for many years after 
 Alfred Theodore Lilly first held them, meant banishment from 
 what we all naturally crave, the fellowship of mankind. Public 
 opinion could only see the iconoclast destroying the temple and 
 its gods. It was not prepared to see the love of outward nature, 
 the respect for moral order, the enthusiasm for humanity, which 
 was already rising upon the ruins of the old, a more than worthy 
 substitute for what was lost. "Above all things, truth beareth 
 away the victory," — that was the central point of the unwritten 
 life-creed in these early pioneers of free thought and free men. 
 There was never a time in the life of our honored friend, from 
 his earlv manhood, through the maturity of his powers, to the 
 very moment of his death, when it was not the central point of 
 his unwritten life-creed. Not truth according to some sect or 
 system, but truth absolute and impartial, as superior to all sects 
 and all systems. Time has gone on, and thanks to the mighty 
 movement in behalf of freedom thus early begun, all the old 
 sects have been liberalized. Catholic and Protestant, evangeli- 
 cal and liberal, conservative and radical, can and do to-day meet 
 each other in the mutual respect of sincere manhood and woman- 
 hood ; meet not to talk about Heaven there, but about how to 
 make Heaven here. Not yet, however, is the slavery to form 
 and creed entirely abolished ; not yet has the time come when in 
 Mr. Lilly's view the struggle for entire freedom can be sus- 
 pended. Perhaps he did not realize fully how far the process of 
 liberalization had gone, though I have very vivid impressions of 
 his talks with me about Robert Elsmere, and the enthusiasm 
 with which he regarded Mrs. Ward's book as a sign of the gen- 
 eral recognition of the principle which had been dearer to him 
 than all others, and for which, if necessary, he would, at any 
 time, have laid down his life. We may well pardon the old war- 
 
72 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 horse, if after the smoke of battle clears away, he still seems to 
 scent the conflict from afar. I never knew a man who would be 
 more scrupulously particular than he on this point, or who with 
 head erect, and keen eye, and heart on fire, could say more sin- 
 cerely, in the words of Charles Sumner, " I feel that I cannot go 
 wrong, when I lean to the side of liberty." The older of you re- 
 member how when this Society was organized, he declined at 
 first to take part in the preliminary work, because he did not be- 
 lieve it possible that any company of people could live up to the 
 standard of perfect freedom. He has often told me the story of 
 how he had t(j be persuaded to 'join in the movement, how he al- 
 ways insisted upon his right to rise at any time in the meetings, 
 and present his view after the speaker for the day had finished, 
 and how, though finding himself often in the minority, the Soci- 
 ety had alwa3's kept faith with him, always protected him in the 
 freest utterances of his thoughts. And it must be said in sim- 
 ple justice to liim, that if sometimes there seemed to be a shade 
 of intolerance in his manner, there was never an}^ intolerance in 
 his heart. He spoke earnestly, incisively ; he wanted others to 
 do the same, but lie yielded gracefully and sweetly where con- 
 science was not concerned. Freedom and respectful toleration 
 for all — that was his ideal. It was because to him this move- 
 ment embodied that ideal, that he early came to have such ad- 
 miration for its spirit, such faith in its work ; that he contributed 
 so freely in life and in death to its support, and put so handsome 
 a sum of money into this Hall. For whatever of good this 
 building has stood, or may yet stand, grateful thanks are due 
 first of all to Samuel L. Hill and Alfred Theodore Lilly. Co- 
 workers in life, the latter now passes on in the footsteps of the 
 former, to join the company of the benefactors of their race ; 
 the liberty for which he stood, left to us unimpaired. Ah ! dear 
 friend, you and I did not always agree, some words which you 
 did not like are very precious to me ; but I am so glad you died 
 in the faith in which you lived ; that it was not any concession 
 in belief, but thy devotion to truth, and thy grand spirit of hu- 
 manity, which made this city "one in respectful sorrow above thy 
 
OBITUARY NOTICES. 73 
 
 grave. Because you never wavered, the atmosphere all about us 
 is fuller of the sentiment to-day, than it otherwise would have 
 been : — No matter what one believes, all matter what one is ; no 
 matter how one fails to meet our sectarian and party measure- 
 ments, so he be true to himself, and true to his own ideals, " A 
 man's a man for a' that." We could not spare, dear friend, one 
 particle from thy thought and life which goes to emphasize that 
 supreme lesson. 
 
 Naturally Mr. Lilly was the friend of education. His ser- 
 vice of this cause, constitutes one of the most beautiful features 
 of his career. Under the old district school system, he was a 
 member of the prudential committee, and was always something 
 more than a mere functionary in that capacity. He put his per- 
 sonality into his work, as every conscientious public servant is 
 bound to do. He established sj'mpathetic relations with the 
 teachers. He advised with individual pupils who needed 
 special assistance. Later on, he was one of those who gave 
 freely of energy, time and means, for the establishment of an 
 evening school for those employed in the mill. With the aboli- 
 tion of the district system, his official connection with the schools 
 ceased, but as a private citizen he made himself more or less ac- 
 quainted with them, and kept up an active interest in their work. 
 His early and constant interest in the Kindergarten showed 
 plainly that his mind was open to new methods in education, as 
 in other things, and that he meant to throw his influence here as 
 elsewhere, on the side of progress. One of my earliest recol- 
 lections of Florence, is of the enthusiasm with which he talked 
 to me of this Institution, and the noble work being done there- 
 in. Regarding the Kindergarten not only as a good thing in it- 
 self, but as the foundation upon which our whole system of pub- 
 lic instruction is sooner or later to be built, it is certainly no 
 small thing in the life of an active business man, to have been so 
 intimately, in official and unofficial ways, its appreciative friend. 
 He was for a long time a member of the Public Library commit- 
 tee, and an efticient helper in the erection of the Public Library 
 building. In due time he made an effort to have the town build 
 
74 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 a suitable branch Library at Florence, but failed ; and, as I 
 hardly need say, the attractive Library building soon to be ded- 
 icated, and to bear through all coming years his name, was his 
 personal effort to meet the local need. For the present the most 
 widely known of his public gifts for educational purposes, and 
 in some respects the most significant, is the Lilly Hall of Science 
 at Smith College. When the proposition for that presented it- 
 self, it had at once, for him, two favorable aspects. It was an 
 opportunity to help the natural sciences, which was, to him, by 
 far the most valuable phase of all education. It was, further- 
 more, an opportunity to help young women to an education in 
 these sciences, a cause in which he heartil}'' believed. But there 
 was one consideration, which would have been insurmountable 
 to some men, which once probably, would have been insurmount- 
 able to him. The College was under the management and influ- 
 ence of one phase of that very religion to which he had been so 
 antagonistic. I listened with warm enthusiasm when he told me 
 of his plans before they had taken visible shape. I think of the 
 whole transaction now with enthusiasm, as especially honorable 
 to all the parties concerned. I can but feel that the building is 
 a monument to the spirit of universal religion, in its peaceful 
 and beautiful conquest of sectarian religion on the one side, and 
 of antagonism to what was supposed to be all religion on the 
 other. I cannot but think of it now with enthusiasm, as a com- 
 mon meeting ground, on which widely differing mental philoso- 
 phies have joined hands in the spirit of brotherhood to promote 
 the study of Truth as it is in Nature. It is fitting that the 
 last word, made known only since the death of the author of all 
 these benefactions, should be one of emphasis upon the cause of 
 education, and of promise of further assistance to its advance- 
 ment among men. 
 
 But this man was not confined in his interests to the realm 
 of theology, or to that which we technically call the realm of ed- 
 ucation. He was a thoroughly good and patriotic citizen. He 
 was not a stay-at-home man in politics, he understood too well 
 the relation between the individual and his government, not to 
 
OBITUARY NOTICES. 75 
 
 discharge his entire dut}' on all occasions. Some of you can re- 
 call his activity in the old town meetings. Some of you remem- 
 ber how at the breaking out of the war of the rebellion in 1S61. 
 when the question of raising money to promote the enlistment 
 and equipment of troops came, he stepped forward, giving lib- 
 erally of^his means, and offering, if necessary, to sacrifice all his 
 possessions. Some of you will remember how intensely enthu- 
 siastic he was in every movement looking tu tlie vigorous sub- 
 jection of the rebellion, and the entire abolition of chattel slav- 
 ery. Those''!were heroic days, and his was the heroic spirit. He 
 never forgot the one, he never lost the other. We all know how 
 the Grand Army always stirred his enthusiasm ; we all know 
 how he opened his pocket for its benefit, how he risked his life a 
 year ago, to^witness one of its parades, how the drum and the 
 fife always had for him stirring associations of loyalty. Whether 
 in war or in peace, beseemed to have his eye open, to be lookino- 
 for the things needing to be done. To advance the upright, and 
 to set aside the crooked, was always his animating impulse, as 
 one of the body politic. He was the citizen of clean and sober 
 habits ; the citizen who wanted safe streets and wholesome 
 amusements for the young and the weak ; the citizen who alwavs 
 had town or municipal improvement of some sort in mind. He 
 belonged to that company whose character gives a pure atmos- 
 phere to the community, and stability to the state. 
 
 Something ought to be said of his private benefactions, as 
 neighbor and friend. It is difficult, however, to speak of them, 
 because they were always so quietly and secretly tendered. I 
 doubt not, that within the sound of my voice, are many who, if 
 lips should speak the feelings of the heart, could tell that which 
 would make a wondrous story of practical, '^unostentatious as- 
 sistance, such as has helped over many rough7places. Counsel 
 always ready, and always wise ; the bank account easily accessi- 
 ble, sometimes for the drawing of small, sometimes for the draw- 
 ing of large sums, — how quickly this would be demonstrated, 
 could we take the silent testimony of the multitude of such re- 
 cipients. Men of wealth are not in the habit of yielding other- 
 
76 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 wise than reluctantly, to calls for financial aid. I imagine an 
 applicant whom he deemed worthy, never found a man more 
 easily approachable than he. In a world where perhaps there is 
 more of caution, than of sympathy in such things, I can but 
 think it a very touching tribute to his memory, that while his 
 name is borne aloft on blocks of stone for all to read, and his 
 portrait shall adorn public walls for all to see, the requiem of his 
 goodness is sung in so many private hearts of all classes and 
 conditions, whom he helped to make serene and happy. 
 
 And so it is that our good friend, good saint we must call 
 him now, beginning with nothing but his own character, and 
 planting that in the face of public opinion, has at last, uncon- 
 sciously to himself conquered the hearts of all. Henceforth as 
 our children walk these streets, as new students, year after year, 
 come to yonder College, they shall be reminded of the man who 
 has been this way. Henceforth, when some of us, who knew 
 him best, have some unpopular duty to discharge, we shall re- 
 call his noble fidelity. Champion of the slave, champion of tem- 
 perance, champion of woman, champion of free thought, educa- 
 tion, universal good will ; the ear that heard him shall bless him; 
 the eye that saw him shall give witness to him ; the blessing of 
 him that was in trouble, shall be his eternal, great reward. And 
 we, we who for so many years shared with him a close and ten- 
 der fellowship, we will ever keep his memory green. Farewell, 
 revered brother, honored leader, noble man, we were, 
 
 " One in our faith, and one in our longing 
 To make the world within our reach, 
 Somewhat the better for our living, 
 And gladder for our human speech. 
 
 To homely joys and loves and friendships, 
 
 Thy genial nature fondly clung ; 
 And so the shadow on the dial 
 
 Run back and left thee always young. 
 
 All hearts grew warmer in the presence 
 
 Of one who, seeking not his own. 
 Gave freely for the love of giving. 
 
 Nor reaped for self the harvest sown. 
 
OBITUARY NOTICES. 77 
 
 Thy greeting smile was pledge and prelude 
 
 Of generous deeds and kindly words ; 
 In ihy large heart were fair guest-chambers, 
 
 Open to sunrise and the birds. 
 
 O friend ! if thought and sense avail not 
 
 To know thee henceforth as thou art, 
 That all is well with thee forever. 
 
 We trust the injiiincts of the heart." 
 
 RESOLUTIONS. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the stockholders of the Nonotuck 
 Silk Co., held at their office in Florence, January 28th, 1S90, the 
 following resolution was passed : — 
 
 "Whereas, in the decease of Mr. A. T. Lilly, we have lost a 
 valued friend and former associate, and the silk industry one of 
 its pioneers. 
 
 Resolved, That we place upon the records of this meeting 
 an acknowledgment of his faithful service to this Company, and 
 that we cherish his memory as that of one of Nature's truest 
 noblemen." 
 
 At the annual meeting of the Florence Savings Bank, held 
 April 2d, 1S90, the following resolutions on the death of A. T. 
 Lilly, were adopted : 
 
 Whereas, by the death of A. T. Lilly, w'ho was President, 
 and chairman of the finance committee, of the Florence Savings 
 Bank, from its organization, April, 1873, until the time of his 
 death, January 21st, 1890, this corporation has lost one of its 
 most useful members, therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That we, the corporators of said Bank, desire to 
 express our appreciation of the services rendered this Institu- 
 tion at the time of its organization, of his untiring efforts to 
 promote its stability and healthful growth, giving freely his time 
 and business ability, up to December 30th, 1889 ; and that we 
 will honor and cherish his memory as a wise worker in our be- 
 half, and a man of staunch integrity and fidelity in all positions 
 of trust. 
 
78 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 The following resolutions were passed at the meeting of the 
 Florence Furniture Company, held February 4th, 1890 : — 
 
 Whereas, Mr. A. T. Lilly, a Director and President of this 
 Company, from its organization, died on the 21st of January, 
 1890, we, the stockholders of the Florence Furniture Company, 
 at a meeting held this 4th day of February, 1890, remembering 
 the active interest he always had in the management and success 
 of this Company, his hearty readiness to assist by his experi- 
 ence, counsel, the liberal use of his name, and financial aid free- 
 ly extended to us, during the years of our business necessities; 
 and that to him, more than to any other person, this Company is 
 beholden for any measure of success which may have resulted from 
 the establishment and prosecution of said enterprise; we recog- 
 nize in his connection with us, a high expression of unselfish in- 
 terest, of devotion of time and thought to doing for and with 
 others, as opportunity occurred ; that we recall his honesty and 
 integrity of purpose, his fidelity to principle, his untiring energy, 
 and his steadfast friendship in difficulties, as qualities worthy our 
 best efforts to imitate ; that we feel the loss of his personal 
 presence : and as an expression of our appreciation of the mem- 
 ory of his association with us, we authorize the entry of this 
 statement on the records of this Company. 
 
 At the regular meeting of Wm. L. Baker Post, G. A. R., the 
 following resolutions on the death of A. T. Lilly, were unani- 
 mously adopted : 
 
 Whereas, by the decease of Alfred T. Lilly of Florence, a 
 sense of bereavement has pervaded this community, and partic- 
 ularly this Post, of which he was an honorary member, there- 
 fore. 
 
 Resolved, That we recognize in this event the loss of an hon- 
 ored citizen ; a distinguished philanthropist ; a benefactor of 
 mankind ; a patriot, loyal and true ; a lover of truth, honesty 
 and virtue, and a doer of good works. 
 
 Resolved, That this Post has found in him a warm friend of 
 the soldier, who manifested his friendship not alone in words, 
 but in substantial deeds. He was a noble type of New England 
 manhood, whose warm sympathy we have felt, and whose pres- 
 ence was an inspiration, and an uplifting force. We shall cher- 
 ish his memory, and think of him, dead, as the man who, living, 
 
OBITUARY XOTICES. 79 
 
 remembered the veteran soldiers of this Post, and cheered and 
 warmed their hearts by his generous gifts, his patriotic words, 
 and his noble example. 
 
 Resolved, That as a further mark of respect for the mem- 
 ory of the deceased, the vote on tlie adoption of these resolu- 
 tions be taken by rising ; that they be entered upon the records 
 of this Post, and a copy given to the press for publication. 
 
 Resolutions by the Executive Committee for the Free Con- 
 gregational Society : 
 
 Whereas, our beloved and honored associate, Alfred Theo- 
 dore Lilly, has passed from mortal vision to the unseen world, 
 therefore. 
 
 Resolved, That in his death the Free Congregational Soci- 
 ety has lost one of its oldest and most faithful members, and 
 the cause for which it stands a staunch and loyal friend. 
 
 Resolved, That we gratefully recognize in this hour of part- 
 ing, his brave maintenance of freedom of thought and speech ; 
 his broad toleration of honest differences of opinion ; his excep- 
 tional warmth of feeling ; and his large humanitarian spirit. 
 
 Resolved, That while these characteristics were grandly 
 shown to the general public by his interest in the public schools 
 and the Public Library ; in the gift of the Lilly Hall of Science 
 to Smith College ; in the founding of the Lilly Library Associa- 
 tion in Florence ; in his labors as a Trustee of the Florence Kin- 
 dergarten, and his endowment of that Institution ; they were as 
 grandly shown to us, his immediate associates, by his generous 
 contributions towards the erection of Cosmian Hall, by his an- 
 nual subscriptions to this Society, by his labors for nearly twen- 
 ty-seven years as chairman of the executive committee, and for 
 twenty-six years as our Treasurer, and in his generous annuity to 
 the Society by will. 
 
 Resolved, That his interest in the Sunday School and the 
 children was so earnest, and so tender, as to deserve special men- 
 tion, and to inspire a special feeling of gratitude for his life. 
 
 Resolved, That we think of him now, and shall ever think 
 of him, as a shining example of manly integrity and independ- 
 ence ; as one who always took "Truth for authority, not author- 
 ity for Truth ; " and as one who has left his neighborhood, his 
 city, and the world, better because of his brave and jihilanthropic 
 life. 
 
8o ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 Resolutions passed by the Public Library Committee : 
 
 Whereas, death has removed from us Alfred T. Lilly, who 
 was appointed by the town in 1S69, a member of a committee of 
 five, to take charge of the purchase of a lot, and the erection of 
 a building, for a Public Library and Memorial Hall, and who was 
 elected a member of the Public Library Committee in 1874, his 
 surviving associates desire to express and record their apprecia- 
 tion of his services relating to said Building and Library, there- 
 f<M'e, 
 
 Resolved, That the services of Mr. Lilly, as a member of the 
 Committee appointed to purchase a lot, and erect a suitable 
 building thereon, were of great value to the people of this com- 
 munity ; for five years the thoughts of this Committee were 
 turned upon the waA'S and means of erecting a suitable building, 
 Avhere their fellow-townsmen of all ages and conditions, without 
 distinction of race and religion, may resort for self-education, 
 and find there, in every instructive form, the literature of their 
 choice ; by their effort a building was secured which is admira- 
 bly adapted for the purposes of a Public Library and Reading 
 Room. 
 
 Resolved, That through a service of sixteen years on the 
 Public Library Committee, Mr. Lilly has not only shown him- 
 self deeply interested in the Institution, but his large business 
 experience, and his readiness to give time and attention to the 
 work of this Committee, have made his service exceedingly 
 valuable. 
 
 Resolved, That the interest he manifested in the Branch of 
 the Public Library at Florence, and the personal attention which 
 he gave to its management, as chairman of the committee of the 
 Florence Branch, were of great value to the people of that vil- 
 lage, and did much to increase the use of our Library there ; the 
 change from the limited quarters in 1SS3, to the rooms on Maple 
 Street was largely due to his exertions, and the use of the Li- 
 brary was nearly double immediately ; in 1882 the number of 
 books drawn from this Branch was 3,673, and in 1889 the num- 
 ber drawn was 12,815 ! ^^^ number of visits to the Reading 
 
OBITUARY NOTICES. 8i 
 
 Room at Florence in 1S82 was 5,737, and in 18S9 the number of 
 visits increased to 7,662 ; his interest in this Branch, led him to 
 provide a suitable building designed expressly for a Free Public 
 Library and Reading Room in that village. 
 
 Resolved, That the active interest which he took in the Mu- 
 seum connected with the Library, led to a supply of suitable 
 cases for it, and his endeavors to interest others in this work for 
 the purpose of securing a collection of articles illustrating the 
 early history of this locality, will always be gratefully remem- 
 bered, and it is hoped will ultimately result in a valuable col- 
 lection from a locality rich in material suitable for this purpose. 
 
 Resolutions passed by the Lilly Library Association : 
 
 Whereas, On the 21st day of January, 1890, death removed 
 from us Alfred Theodore Lilly, who selected us, and at whose 
 request we associated ourselves as a corporation under the laws 
 of the Commonwealth, to assist and enable him to provide a 
 Free Public Library and Reading Room for the village of Flor- 
 ence, we desire to place upon our records some recognition of 
 his life and character, therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That while we are grieved by his death, and in 
 common with the entire community feel his loss as that of a per- 
 sonal friend and benefactor, we are comforted by the recollection 
 of his busy, useful life, his sincerity and truthfulness, his gener- 
 osity and disinterested benevolence, and his love of humanity, 
 as shown by his public and private acts, and particularly by his 
 last public act, the foundation of a Free Public Library and 
 Reading Room for the village of Florence, an Institution which 
 will not only be a source of enjoyment to the people of this vil- 
 lage forever, but will be an ever increasing means of usefulness 
 for promoting "the well-being and elevation of humanity." 
 
 Resolved, That we, appreciating the important trust he has 
 committed to us, and the high ideal he had formed for this, his 
 last great gift to Florence, will try faithfully to execute his 
 known wishes for this creation of his mind and heart, and the 
 proceeds of his labor, to the end that the Lilly Library may ac- 
 complish its highest power for good in the development of 
 youth, the enrichment of the mature man, and the comfort of 
 old age. 
 
82 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 Resolution passed by the Trustees of the Florence Kinder- 
 garten : 
 
 Whereas, the death of our honored President, Alfred Theo- 
 dore Lilly, has removed from our Board one of the Trustees 
 selected by the founder of the Florence Kindergarten, to admin- 
 ister the trust created by him, we would place upon our records 
 some expression of our personal affection for him as a co-worker 
 and friend, and our sense of the great loss sustained in his re- 
 moval by death, therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That by his death the Kindergarten has sustained 
 an irreparable loss; that during the thirteen years we were asso- 
 ciated with him in this work, he was always ready to cheerfully 
 give his time and efforts in the administration of the trust con- 
 ferred upon this corporation ; appreciating, and in close sympa- 
 thy with, the aims of the founder of the Florence Kindergarten, 
 he brought to bear upon the administration of the affairs of the 
 Board of Trustees, his long and successful experience as a busi- 
 ness man, combined with a practical view of the Kindergarten 
 work, and a liberal spirit in promoting it ; clear and decisive in 
 the expression of his own views of the work, he was always hos- 
 pitable to the views of his fellow-workers, and loyal to the letter 
 and spirit of the expressed wishes and instructions of the founder 
 as to the policy to be pursued in the management of the Kin- 
 dergarten ; that in giving by his will, all his estate remaining at 
 his death, to this corporation, for the same purposes for which it 
 was established, viz.: — "to promote the well-being and elevation 
 of humanity," he has shown how much he was interested in the 
 work for which he was associated with us, and his example shall 
 always be an incentive to us to renewed energy and devotion to 
 the work given us to perform. 
 
Dedication of the Lilly 
 Library Building. 
 
r 
 
 > 
 
 a 
 
 r 
 
 • S 
 5 
 o 
 
Dedication of the Lilly 
 Library Buildino;. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE LIBRARY BUILDIXG. 
 
 The first story is of Monson granite, and the second of Phil- 
 adelphia pressed brick, with handsome ornamental bands and 
 granite trimmings. The roof is slated, with terra cotta ridges 
 and finials. The whole structure, which on the ground is shaped 
 somewhat after the cross pattern, is 50 by 63 feet. The Library^ 
 Reading Rooms, Conference and Consultation Rooms, are on 
 the second or main floor, which is reached by an eas)^ flight of 
 granite steps. On the side of the arched porch, which has a tile 
 floor, is a fine polished granite tablet, with the words "Lilly 
 Library" cut upon it. Passing through a Yestibule, a pleasant 
 hall, 12 by 32 feet, is reached, out of which branches the Library, 
 21 by 28 feet, with ample room for 10,000 volumes, a Reading 
 Room 14 by 14 feet, and a Consultation Room 10 by 14 feet, and 
 so arranged that the Librarian can have complete oversight of 
 the whole. This floor is finished in selected white ash with quar- 
 tered yellow pine floors, except the Book Room, which is finished 
 in western white wood. The lower floor is entered through a 
 vestibule under the main porch, and contains a lecture and other 
 rooms connected by large folding doors. There is also a large 
 attic with plenty of room for storage purposes, while closets, 
 wash-rooms, and other conveniences are properly located in the 
 building. The structure is well lighted by large windows with 
 stained glass transoms ; is heated by steam, and lighted by elec- 
 tricity, with neat fixtures, while the furniture, oak tables, chairs 
 and fixtures are of original designs, and were made to order. 
 
86 ALFRED THEODORE LILLV. 
 
 IXTR(»DUCTORV ADDRESS BY WILLIAM H. RILEV. 
 
 Ladies axd Gextlemex : — By request of the Lilly Library 
 Association I have the honor to preside at this meeting. We ex- 
 tend to you all a most cordial and hearty welcome. 
 
 As a people, we have every reason to rejoice to-night that 
 the time has come when we can dedicate and set apart for its 
 own peculiar use the permanent home of our valuable village 
 Librarv ; that we can enter in and take full possession of this 
 symmetrical and substantial structure, so well adapted to the 
 purposes for which it was designed. Our only regret is that 
 the donor, whose generosity and wisdom made such a consum- 
 mation possible, cannot be with us, in the body, to enjoy these 
 felicitations. He saw the strong foundations laid, and witnessed 
 the erection of those sturdy walls, while the last days of his use- 
 ful life were brightened by the knowledge that this home for 
 books was being moulded and wrought for the whole people, 
 and for generations to come. Indeed, as we look upon the 
 framed outlines of his benign and fatherly features, he seems to 
 speak out his hearty approbation, as he approvingly says to us 
 all, "Well done." 
 
 This structure and its contents, will be the grandest of mon- 
 uments to his memory. As a memorial of a good man's life it is 
 our ambition that this Library may ever have an uplifting power 
 to make men and women better ; to enrich their intellectual life, 
 and stimulate them to seek and find the blessings of a higher 
 education. 
 
 Much will depend, however, upon the memorial's faithful 
 use, to insure such an abiding success. The door to knowledge 
 may be thrown wide open and you not enter ; the tree of wisdom 
 be loaded with fruit and you not pluck it ; the road to prosperity 
 be in sight and you not travel it. Improved facilities and en- 
 larged opportunities for acquiring knowledge, increase our re- 
 sponsibilities. It but remains for us, therefore, to develop the 
 resources wdthin our reach. 
 
 Northampton is wonderfully blessed with educational insti- 
 tutions and literary repositories. With the present large Library 
 
DEDICATION OF LILLY LIIJRARV BUILDING. 87 
 
 at the Center, — to the building of which, Mr. Lilly contributed 
 so liberally, — the well-equipped Library dedicated to-night, and 
 the prospective Forbes Library, there is not a city in this country, 
 or perhaps in the world, of equal population, which can boast 
 such an array of Libraries. 
 
 The first speaker, who will tell us something of the growth 
 of Libraries in this village, is too well known to need any intro- 
 duction at my hand. His honored father will long be remem- 
 bered as the great benefactor of this people. It gives me 
 pleasure to make way for his honored son, Arthur G. Hill. 
 
 ADDRESS OF .ARIHUK G. HILL. 
 
 Mr. Presidext, Ladies axd Gextlemex : — It is a little diffi- 
 cult for me to realize that my age entitles me to be classed 
 among those who are expected at reasonable times and on suit- 
 able occasions, to give reminiscences of what has occurred in 
 the gone-by period. I would wish to be still considered as be- 
 longing to this age, and as one of the factors in the problems of 
 the day. I am by no means ready to be seated on the back row 
 of seats with the honorable, respected and sometimes rever- 
 enced veterans, known as the "oldest inhabitants," whose 
 startling revelations of the past are so frequently injudiciously 
 sprung upon an unsuspecting present. 
 
 At this time when we are called together to accept, as a vil- 
 lage, the thoughtful inspiration to noble character-building, 
 which comes to us as the last thought for our welfare, from one 
 whose life here was tilled with thoughts and deeds for us, it has 
 been thought appropriate for me to turn back a few pages in the 
 thin volume of my life's history, and to read to you what I can 
 find therein that relates to what is now being written by the 
 universal pen, for the succeeding pages. 
 
 A well known, light-hearted writer has stated for a fact, 
 that he came into this world when he was very young. Though 
 that assertion may be combatted by some of the philosophers, I 
 feel authorized to say that, from the best testimony that I can get, 
 my first appearance here was at an early period of my life. 
 
88 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 My early glances at the surroundings did not present to me 
 this village as it now is, or as it is now named. The beautiful 
 Florence on the river Arno, Italy, had not then loaned us its 
 name ; the hundreds of pleasant homes here, had no existence 
 then, even in dreams, and but very few of those here this even- 
 ino-, or who daily walk our streets, had any knowledge then that 
 such a pretty spot was here located. Florence was then "War- 
 ner School District," a little semi-independent grand duchy, 
 holding its yearly meetings for the election of moderator, village 
 clerk and school officers. 
 
 The only streets here in my young boyhood days, were 
 those now known as Main, Nonotuck, Pine, Park, Maple, 
 Meadow, Chestnut, South, West and Spring, but much of our 
 travelling was '' 'cross lots." I have seen each of the other 
 streets staked off. laid out and built upon. Main Street had then 
 but six houses, — no houses between this spot and the junction of 
 roads where Mr. John F. Warner now lives, — Maple Street had 
 four houses, Park Street had four. Pine Street two, Nonotuck 
 Street four. Meadow Street three, and five houses on the other 
 side of Mill River. 
 
 Warner School District in its evolutionary existence has out- 
 grown that name, and survived the periods when it was known 
 as Bensonville and Greenville, and until on the map of the city 
 of Northampton, it is comprised within the fifth, sixth and 
 seventh wards. Fortunately for us, our post-office will keep alive 
 the name of Florence, until the time of the great " Looking 
 Backward " period, when our individuality is to be absorbed in 
 the great culmination of the nationalist's prophecy. 
 
 Now about Libraries. When the people were few, the 
 books were few. This experience was the same with us as with 
 other sparsely settled places. The old " Northampton Associa- 
 tion for Education and Industry," familiarly known as the "Com- 
 munity," had had a few books, and they were scattered about 
 among the few houses, sometimes found in one place, and then 
 in another. Though they have all long since passed out of my 
 
DEDICATION OF LILLY LIP.RARV RriLDIXG. .^'9 
 
 circle, I occasionally got a glimpse of one and an'jther of them 
 in the days of the happy past. 
 
 A small Methodist society was early gathered together, and 
 its weekly meetings were held in what was known as the South 
 school house, which building served for school house, church 
 and village hall, and in which all the public gatherings were then 
 held. This little religious association was finally honored with 
 a leader who came to us as an itinerant preacher. An interest- 
 ing and enthusiastic Sunday school was organized, to which the 
 village children went generally, irrespective of the various creed 
 beliefs of the parents. A wealthy New York lady, temporarily 
 stopping here for her health, presented to the School, in which 
 she had become much interested, a Library of new books, to the 
 number of about a hundred. This little Library was well cared 
 for and well read. One of the principal events of each Sunda}' to 
 us was the exchange of books. That Library meant a good deal 
 to us, and though the stories and moral lessons were similar, 
 that fact only served to make more plain to us the duty of being 
 good, even if most of the good boys in the stories were called to 
 a higher life before the wi)rkof manhood had commenced. One 
 other of the Trustees of this Lilly Library besides myself, Mr. 
 Haven, served as librarian of the early little Christian Library 
 and I am confident that he will say with me, that it had a good 
 influence over our early lives, and the lives of our then asso- 
 ciates. 
 
 In my father's book case, when I came to the early reading 
 age, were a few books, most of them of a religious character, as 
 his reading had been almost exclusively of that nature. These 
 I soon got control of, and though many were too deep for me, I 
 soon had an idea of their contents, and was permitted to use 
 them as a nucleus for a Library. Bunyan's Holy War, and Bun- 
 yan's Pilgrim Progress were the ones that attracted me most, 
 and sometimes other boys were prevailed upon to read them. I 
 can remember Baxter's Saint's Rest, — I never could read it, — 
 Malcolm's Bible Dictionary, Fox's Book of Martyrs, another 
 book about the earlv martvrs, Barber's Historical Collections of 
 
90 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 Connecticut, a valuable book to me, Universal Gazetteer, Jona- 
 than Edwards' sermons, and perhaps twenty or thirty more. I 
 had several books given me each year, so that I soon accumulated 
 quite a collection, and thus had a small Library. I divided my 
 books into three classes, and numbered and lettered them accord- 
 ingly. Letter A, contained my school books and books of like 
 nature ; B, was the religious and other books of solid reading,, 
 while C, contained my stories and miscellaneous literature. I 
 was allowed to loan them, and soon had a free circulating Li- 
 brary to which all the boys of the village were allowed to come 
 and get reading matter. My Library was well patronized, and 
 I was as delighted as if I had drawn a prize in a lottery when I 
 had a new patron. The books that were the most frecjuently 
 called for, were the Rollo books, the Jonas series, the Franconia 
 set, the Aimwell stories, the A. S. Roe novels, and two or three 
 of the Capt. Marryatt novels, which appealed strongly to our 
 boyish love for adventures. I have great pleasure in remember- 
 ing those sunny days of boyhood, and rejoice to think that I 
 thus early acquired the great love for books, which to-day I con- 
 sider one of my redeeming characteristics. 
 
 When the Free Congregational Society was formed in 1863,, 
 the need of a village Library was immediately recognized, and 
 contributions were taken among its members to procure books. 
 This Library was sustained for many years, and thrown open 
 to the free use of the people by that Society. Many present 
 must remember the awkward location of the Library up a steep, 
 narrow flight of stairs in the front room of the second story of 
 the school house, and how the books were in great demand in 
 the village. 
 
 It has been many times demonstrated that if books are ac- 
 cessible to the people, a great many of the people will read. All 
 that is essential to do, is to turn the young readers in the right 
 direction for reading, to have them receive the good of a Library. 
 Much of the ill-directed youthful reading of to-day weakens us. 
 At the time of the starting of the Free Congregational Library^ 
 I was away at school and college, and had no use for my Libra- 
 
DEDICATION OF LILLY LIBRARY RriLDIXG. 
 
 9' 
 
 ry, and I presented it to form the l)eginninp; for the first really 
 Public Library that the village has had. The needs of the vil- 
 lage grew as the villagers became more numerous, and it became 
 apparent that better Library facilities were necessary. The 
 voters at the town meeting were appealed to, and a branch of 
 the town Library was located here, the Free Congregational So- 
 ciety presenting to the town all of its books that were thought 
 desirable by the town committee. Books have from time to time 
 been added by the town committee, and the reading facilities 
 have been taken advantage of to a commendable extent, so that 
 we have learned to recognize its great importance, and are keen- 
 ly appreciative of this great gift that we publicly recognize this 
 evening, as being an extension of the great advantages we have 
 been privileged to enjoy. 
 
 When Mr. Lilly had fully determined to erect a building for 
 a Public Library, his health was too much impaired to permit 
 him to attend personally to the execution of his plan. He se- 
 lected from his acquaintances in the village, nine of those he be- 
 lieved were interested in the enterprise, and desired them to as- 
 sociate themselves together as a corporation under the laws of 
 the Commonwealth to receive the title to the land which he con- 
 veyed to them, and upon which the building was to be erected ; 
 he placed in tlieir hands a sum of money sufficient to pay for the 
 building, and an additional sum of $5000, to be expended for 
 books. The persons he selected, without exception, cheerfully 
 accepted the trust and at once entered upon its execution. 
 
 Mr. Lilly did not live to see the building completed, or the 
 receipt of the books selected, but he lived to see and know the 
 plans proposed with reference to each, and of their completion 
 to quite an extent, and to express himself as in every way 
 pleased with all that was proposed and accomplished. The gift 
 to the Lilly Library Association is without any other restriction 
 or condition than that the Library and Reading Room shall not 
 be discontinued, and shall be free ; upon the failure to comply 
 with these conditions, the property is to go to the Trustees of 
 
92 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 the Florence Kindergarten, where it had been provided that the 
 rest of his estate should be placed. 
 
 It was from no suggestion of Mr. Lilly that the corporate 
 name of the Library should include his name, or that the Libra- 
 ry building should be called the Lilly Library. This determina- 
 tion of the Association was communicated to him, and he per- 
 mitted it to be done. Those whom he selected to execute his 
 plan, feeling the necessity of selecting some name, considered 
 that it was due to his memory that those who might receive the 
 benefit of what he had provided, should be reminded of the 
 person who placed such advantages within their reach. 
 
 We are in many ways favored in this village, and much 
 should be expected of us. Those who possess much should 
 show corresponding results in well doing. If we merit our 
 great benefactions we have much to do. 
 
 At the close of Mr. Hill's address, Mr. Riley said : 
 The gentleman who is to give the address of the evening, 
 had not the honor of having been born in this village, but he 
 did the best he could to repair the misfortune by coming here as 
 soon as he attained his majority, and the village has ever been 
 proud of him as an adopted son. About thirty years ago, by 
 invitation of the late Samuel L. Hill, he came here to teach an 
 evening school. From that time on, few men, if any, have done 
 more by precept and example to educate the people, and mould 
 the characters of our young men. He is a worthy illustration of 
 what persistent application to study and diligent work will do ; 
 a striking object lesson of a self-made man. I am sure you will 
 all join me in according a hearty welcome to him who will de- 
 liver the principal address of the evening, Daniel W. Bond. 
 
 ADDRESS OF DANIEL W. BOND. 
 
 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : — The occasion 
 which calls us together is one of more than ordinary interest to 
 the people of our village ; the opening of a Public Library and 
 Reading Room, in so pleasant and desirable a building as has 
 just been completed here, is always an important event in any 
 
DEDICATION OF LILLY LIIJRARV UUILDIXG. 93 
 
 community, Ijut the circumstances connected witli this occasion 
 give it an unusual solemnity and interest. 
 
 Our friend who caused this buildincr to be erected is dead ; 
 wherever death occurs, or is remembered, there is solemnity ; 
 nor can we wholly free ourselves even from mourning whenever 
 a revered man has left us, however full his measure of a favored 
 life may have been. This gift was one of Mr. Lilly's last public 
 acts ; at the time he was arranging for its construction, he made 
 his will, by which he gave all his estate remaining at his death 
 for educational purposes. 
 
 Under the circumstances, it is right that we should consider 
 the motive which prompted the gift. Why did he apply himself 
 so closely to business throughout his life, and at its close leave 
 all he had accumulated for educational purposes ? 
 
 The beneficial influence of a gift is often largely dependent 
 upon the spirit with which it is given. As the years go by, a 
 knowledge of the motive which prompted this gift will be an in- 
 centive to the people of this community to seek its advantages ; 
 so generous and unselfish an act will always be accepted and ap- 
 preciated with a spirit of thankfulness and recognition shown by 
 its use in the method desired by the giver. 
 
 If Mr. Lilly had lived, he would have told us in his own 
 way why he made this provision for the village in which he re- 
 sided so long. This arrangement was made with him at a time 
 when it was thought he might be present with us at its comple- 
 tion, but the disease which was upon him, and which caused his 
 death in January last, has deprived us of that statement, and we 
 are left to discover his motive in what we know of his history. 
 
 He lived here nearly forty years ; many of us knew him in- 
 timately, and every one in the community has known something 
 of his life. 
 
 We judge a man by his acts, but his acts do not appear pre- 
 cisely the same to each of his most intimate friends ; they see 
 him under different circumstances. During a period of over 
 thirty years, I saw Mr. Lilly in connection with his business ; a 
 part of the time I was a member of his household ; our rela- 
 
94 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 tions were more than friendly ; from his own words I learned 
 much of his life, his thoughts, his desires, and the motives which 
 prompted his acts. I must speak of him, therefore, as I knew_ 
 him, in my presentation of his motive for the act which we have 
 assembled to commemorate. 
 
 The main features of his life before he came to Florence 
 have recently been called to your attention. His boyhood was 
 spent in a locality where the educational advantages were not as 
 good as most young men enjoy now. It was when books were 
 not easily obtained, and the means of education were necessa- 
 rily limited. Like many other 3^oung men in New England 
 country towns, he had a desire for knowledge which could not 
 be gratified by attendance at institutions of learning, or by an 
 extensive use of books. This desire for knowledge, resulted in 
 thought, reasoning, the formation and expression of ideas, and 
 the interchange of views with his fellows. This practice had its 
 advantages ; it developed in him a power of tliought, a clearness 
 of vision and expression, and a reasoning power, which made 
 him one of the best extemporaneous speakers I have ever heard 
 among unprofessional speakers ; this early life developed the 
 mind, but it did not give extensive knowledge. Mr. Lilly always 
 felt that this want of an early education, of books and opportu- 
 nity to read them, placed him at a disadvantage all through his 
 life, and he never ceased to feel the great benefit which a free 
 Public Library and Reading Room would have been to him, and 
 those about him, in his boyhood. The desire for knowledge 
 which he had in early life, continued until the end of his days. 
 Although he did not make up for the want of early advantages, 
 he found time and opportunity to obtain a general acquaintance 
 with the learning of his time. He loved scientific knowledge ; 
 its exactness suited the peculiar qualities of his mind ; he be- 
 lieved in its utility in the practical affairs of life, and in its effect 
 upon the general welfare of mankind. Again and again I have 
 heard him say to young people : — " Every particle of practical 
 knowledge you acquire, will at some time, be of service to you, 
 whatever may be your occupation in life ; " he believed, too, that 
 
DEDICATION OF LILLY LIBRARY BUILDING. 95 
 
 the civilization of mankind has been, and is to be advanced by 
 the acquisition and diffusion of knowledge. 
 
 He was not a believer in the theory that there was a time 
 when mankind were in a higher state of civilization than at pres- 
 ent, and that there has been a gradual decline since that early 
 period. This was a favorite theory in early historic times. In 
 the mythologies of most peoples there exists a tradition of a 
 " Golden Age," when the earth was the common property of man, 
 and produced spontaneously all things necessary for an enjoya- 
 ble existence ; when the land flowed with milk and honey ; 
 beasts of prey lived peaceably with other animals, and mankind 
 had not yet by selfishness, pride and other vices and pleasures, 
 fallen from a state of innocence, but lived secure and happy in 
 pleasant associations, without discord, without care, without toil 
 and without weariness, while good of all kinds abounded. The 
 periods of degeneration since that time have been termed by 
 these early theorists, the "Age of Silver," the "Brazen Age,'" 
 and the "Age of Iron." 
 
 The recent science of prehistoric archaeology, which uses the 
 spade in its investigations, teaches that at the time of the earliest 
 traces of man's existence upon the earth, he was a barbarian, 
 dwelling in caves by the sea, and living upon such fish and ani- 
 mals as he could catch, and such vegetables as grow without 
 cultivation ; his weapons were made of stone, roughly shaped 
 by a process of chipping away fragments from a large mass, so 
 as to produce cutting edges. It is not determined that he had 
 any spoken language, and it is believed that his existence dates 
 back to what is known in geology as the quartenary period, and 
 is variously estimated to have been from fifty thousand to two 
 hundred thousand years ago. How long man existed upon the 
 earth before he was able to make even the rude implements 
 which have been discovered, probably can never be ascertained ; 
 we know, however, that man's advancement in the manufacture 
 of implements was slow, and that the bow and arrow were not 
 made till long after the early period to which I have alluded. 
 
96 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 Within a comparatively recent period, instead of sighing for 
 the " Golden Age" of the past, men have been looking forward 
 to the golden age of the future, and endeavoring to ascertain the 
 law of human progress. 
 
 Pascal, who died in 1662, wrote : — " By a special prerogative 
 of the human race, not only each man advances in the sciences, 
 but all men together make continual progress therein as the uni- 
 verse grows ; because the same thing happens in the succession 
 of men which takes place in the different ages of an individual. 
 So that the whole succession of men in the course of so many 
 ages may be regarded as one man u/io lives al-uuiys, atid learns con- 
 tinuallv." In 1669, some of Pascal's works were published, but 
 that part which treated upon the advancement of the human 
 race was omitted, and it was not until the next century that it 
 was disclosed to the world. 
 
 In the eighteenth century, a book was written by Vico, a 
 Venetian professor, entitled, "The Principles of a New Science 
 concerning the Common Nature of Nations," devoted to the 
 philosophy of history, and recognizing the,fact that the progress 
 of humanity is governed by law. 
 
 Later, Leibnitz formulated the thought : — " The Present, 
 born of the Past, is pregnant of the Future." and declared that 
 " Man seems able to arrive at perfection." 
 
 Herder in his Philosophy of History says : — " There is noth- 
 ing enthusiastical in the hope that wherever men may dwell at 
 some future period, they will dwell rational, just and happy, — 
 happy not through the means of their reason alone, but of the 
 common reason of the whole fraternal race." 
 
 Descartes declared: — "The experience which I have in 
 physics teaches me that it is possible to arrive at a knowledge 
 of many things which will be very useful in life, and that we 
 may yet discover methods by which man, comprehending the 
 force and the action of fire, water, air, stars, skies, and all other 
 bodies which environ us, as distinctly as we comprehend the 
 different trades of our artisans, shall be able to employ them in 
 some fashion for all the uses to which they are appropriate, and 
 
DEDICATION OF LILLY LIBRARY BUILDING. 
 
 97 
 
 thus shall render himself master and possessor of nature. Men 
 may learn to enjoy the fruits of the earth without trouble, their 
 health will be preserved, and they will be able to exempt them- 
 selves from an infinitude of ills as well of the bodv. as of the 
 mind, and even j'jerhaps from the weakness of old age." 
 
 \Yith()ut attempting to trace the growth of tliis theory, but 
 coming down nearer to our own time, we find attempts have been 
 made to state the law which governs human progress. 
 
 By one it has been stated : — ''The evolutions of humanitv 
 correspond with the evolutions of thought." 
 
 By another : — 'We are justified in concluding that the order 
 of human progress in all respects will mainly depend on the or- 
 der of progression of the intellectual convictions of mankind ; 
 that is, on the law of successive transformations of human 
 opinions." 
 
 By still another it is stated: — " Tlie progress of mankind 
 depends upon the success with which the laws of phenomena are 
 investigated, and on the extent to which the knowledge of these 
 laws is diffused." 
 
 Another important statement has recently been made : — 
 ''The extraordinary strides which have been made in the differ- 
 ent sciences during the past century, are owing more to the gen- 
 eral interest which has been awakened in study among all classes 
 of the population, than to the individual labors of single savants 
 however eminent." 
 
 In the foregoing declarations, I find stated the theory of our 
 friend, that the acquisition and diffusion of scientific knowledge 
 leads to still farther discovery, and at the same time to a higher 
 and still higher degree of civilization. He believed in it, he acted 
 upon it, and his faith in it led him to give for Cosmian Hall and 
 the Free Congregational Society, for the Lilly Hall of Science, 
 for our Library Building, and to devote all his property remain- 
 ing at his death, to still farther ])romote the progress of hu- 
 manitv. 
 
98 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 Possibly every one may not agree with the theory that our 
 civilization is due to the influence of science to the extent that 
 Mr. Lilly believed, and as many others have believed. 
 
 Prof. Huxley stated in a lecture published in this country 
 in 1867 : — " Modern civilization rests upon physical science ; take 
 away her gifts to our own country, and our position among the 
 leading nations of the world is gone to-morrow ; for it is physi- 
 cal science only, that makes intelligence and moral energy 
 stronger than brute force. The w^hole of modern thought is 
 steeped in science ; and has made its way into the works of our 
 best poets, and even the mere man of letters, who affects to ig- 
 nore and despise science, is unconsciously impregnated with her 
 spirit, and indebted for his best products to her methods. I 
 believe that the greatest intellectual revolution mankind has yet 
 seen is now slowly taking place by her agency. She is teaching 
 the world that the ultimate court of appeal is observation and 
 experiment, and not authority ; she is teaching it to estimate 
 the value of evidence ; she is creating a firm and living faith in 
 the existence of immutable, moral and physical law, perfect 
 obedience to which, is the highest possible aim of an intelligent 
 being." 
 
 This statement may seem to some an exaggerated one, but 
 all who reflect upon this matter will agree that science has exer- 
 cised, and must always continue to exercise, a vast influence upon 
 civilization. 
 
 Who can estimate the influence upon the progress of man- 
 kind resulting from the knowledge of astronomy ? — The effect of 
 the change from the belief that the earth was a vast immovable 
 plane, about which all heavenly bodies revolved, and in some 
 way influenced the destinies of mankind, to the belief that the 
 earth is one of a system of planets revolving around the sun, 
 governed in their motions by laws as well ascertained as the ex- 
 istence of the planets themselves. 
 
 Under this change, slowly, but inevitably, the system of as- 
 trology gave way, with all its calculations and heavenly houses, 
 for other and more rational ideas. 
 
DEDICATION OF LILLY LIBRARY BUILDING. 99 
 
 When the mechanism of the heavens is as well understood 
 by all, as the motions and character of our planetarj- system are 
 understood by comparatively a few, who can foretell the result, 
 from the enlargement of the human comprehension, upon the 
 progress of mankind ? 
 
 Who can estimate the influence upon human progress, of the 
 knowledge already acquired of the geological history of the 
 earth ? — The knowledge of its development from an immense 
 body in a state of igneous fusion, when no ocean bathed it, and 
 no atmosphere surrounded it, when no wind blew over it, and no 
 rain fell upon it, but the intense heat held all its materials in so- 
 lution. In those days, the rocks which are now the very bones 
 and sinews of our mother earth, her granites, her porphyries 
 her basalts, her syenites, were melted into a liquid mass, moving 
 in its orbit around the sun, its surface gradually cooling, until 
 an atmosphere was formed, with all the phenomena connected 
 with it, — the rising of vapors, their condensation into clouds, the 
 falling of rain, and the gathering of waters upon the surface of 
 the earth, until a condition was reached when vegetable and an- 
 imal life in their simplest forms could exist, and for ages after, 
 until the higher order of plants and animals, and finally, man 
 appeared upon the earth, and then for innumerable years after 
 until man arrived at a state when history began, and a record 
 was made of the changes in the localities of man's existence. 
 It is only by the most careful examination that man has been 
 able to read the record contained in the rocks and the crust of 
 the earth. "Geology teaches us," says Goethe, "that nature 
 will be reported. All things are engaged in writing their own 
 history. The planet and the pebble go attended by their shad- 
 ows ; the rolling rock leaves its scratches on the mountain ; the 
 river its channel in the soil ; the animal its bones in the stratum; 
 the fern leaf its modest epitaph in the coal ; the falling drop its 
 sculpture in the sand or stone ; not a foot slips on the snow or 
 along the ground, but prints in characters more or less lasting, a 
 map of its march. The air is full of sounds, the sky of tokens. 
 
loo ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 the ground of all memoranda and signatures ; subjects covered 
 with hints which spealv to the intelligent." 
 
 Who can calculate the benefit the world has derived from 
 the knowledge of chemistry? — The change from the time when 
 all matter was supposed to be divided into four elements, fire, air, 
 earth and water; the change from the theories of the alchemists, 
 who assumed that it was not the intention of nature to make any 
 other metals than gold and silver, and who occupied their time 
 in attempting to change all baser metals into either gold or silver, 
 and to discover the philosopher's stone, which should not only 
 work this desired change in metals, but should heal all diseases, 
 and indefinitely prolong human life. In urging this theory upon 
 Pope Nicholas IV, it was explained that an old man, while plow- 
 ing in the field, found some yellow liquor in a golden phial, and 
 drank it, and thereupon he became transformed into a hale, ro- 
 bust and accomplished youth. It was thought that this wonder- 
 ful substance would change the most wicked man into one kind 
 and charitable, and whose chief pleasure would consist in con- 
 templating the wonderful works of the Deity. When alcohol 
 was discovered, it was thought that the desired elixir had been 
 produced, but it was afterwards learned that it not only did not 
 change wicked men into good, but that its effect upon good men 
 was not always desirable. This sanguine, but suspected class, 
 considered themselves to be under the special guidance of the 
 Almighty. th(_»ugh popular prejudice associated alchemists with 
 the powers of evil. We must give them credit, however, for 
 preparing the way for the modern science of chemistry. This 
 science enables us to determine with accuracy the composition 
 of minerals, the elements of food, and the change whicli it un- 
 dergoes in its transit through the animal economy, and the trans- 
 formations that take place in organic substances generally ; the 
 compounding of medicines ; the compositions of soils and ma- 
 nures ; the ingredients of plants, and the best modes of supply- 
 ing the food they require. This science takes cognizance of dead 
 matter and the changes it undergoes, together with the sub- 
 stances obtained from plants and animals, and it furnishes us 
 
DEDICATION OF LILLY LIDRAKV LIILI)IX(;. loi 
 
 with an explanation bordering on natural philosophy. In its 
 practical application to the industries of life, it includes the art 
 of manufacturing various substances employed in commerce and 
 in domesticlife, and is connected with the arts and manufactures, 
 and the substances used in medicines. 
 
 The science of botany too, has been of the utmost benefit to 
 the world. The history of this science shows a growth from a 
 simple and often imperfect description of less than three hun- 
 dred species of plants, till now we have a list of one hundred 
 thousand different forms of flowering plants, and twenty-five 
 thousand flowerless ones. The study of this science has given 
 delight to vast numl)ers of people ; it has shown that there is 
 not a flower that blooms but has some beauty only unveiled to 
 the minute inquirer, some peculiarity in structure fitting it to its 
 destined place and purpose, and yet not apparent to the casual 
 observer. To the intelligent student, it furnishes a delight and 
 mental discipline found in (i^w otht'V studies. The invention 
 of the microscope, and an untold amount of labor, has unfolded 
 to us the method of the growth of plants, and the laws of their 
 existence. An idea can be obtained of the amount of labor per- 
 formed, from the fact that in 1850 a list of books on botany was 
 published, numbering fifteen thousand. So thoroughly has the 
 work been done, that it is said by Prof. Whitney, if a man 
 were placed upon any part of the earth without any knowledge 
 of his whereabouts, if he were familiar with the science of bot- 
 any, he could give a tolerably good guess as to his location by 
 the flora of the locality, and that this could not be determined 
 by a knowledge of any other science. It is evident to every one 
 that the general physiology of plants, which pre-supposes a 
 knowledge of physical and chemical laws influencing them, to- 
 gether with the concrete natural history of the species dealt with, 
 must form the only secure basis for scientific agriculture ; that it 
 has not been fully recognized as such, hitherto, depends upon 
 its inevitable imperfections, wiiich will be sooner removed, in 
 proportion as agriculturists devote themselves to the study of 
 physiological laws. Botany finds a place in the study of geology 
 
T02 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 and geography. The perishable nature of vegetable structure 
 renders the fossil remains of plants less valuable as objects of 
 paleontological reasonings than the better preserved hard parts 
 of animals, especially as the latter afford safer grounds of esti- 
 mating how much has been lost, how much has been preserved, 
 of ancient forms of organization. But botanical reasonings 
 form an essential link in geological inductions. \n physical ge- 
 ography the concrete natural history of plants becomes a por- 
 tion of the concrete natural history of the glebe ; the physiolog- 
 ical laws are involved with physical laws of climate and soil, in 
 the explanation of possible distributions either in an abstract 
 point of view, or for the purpose of practical application, while 
 svstematic classification, and the natural history of particular 
 species, become the only guide by which we can attempt to trace 
 back the existing conditions of distribution towards their origin, 
 .and thus perform the share due from botany, in the historical 
 connection of physical geography with geology. 
 
 If the knowledge of astronomy, geology, chemistry and 
 botanv, has been of such vast benefit to mankind, what shall we 
 sav of the influence of the knowledge of the animal kingdom ? 
 In the latter part of the seventeenth century, it was estimated by 
 Rav, that the number of species known as beasts was one hun- 
 dred and fifty, birds five hundred, fishes five hundred, and it was 
 supposed that "the whole sum of species of beasts and birds 
 mi-^ht exceed by a third part, and fishes by one-half, of those 
 known," making a total of sixteen hundred vertebrates. After 
 two hundred vears, it is now estimated that the number of spe- 
 cies of mammals is twelve hundred, birds seventy-five hundred, 
 reptiles two thousand, fishes ten thousand, making a total of 
 twentv thousand species. Of the invertebrate groups, it is esti- 
 mated that over one hundred thousand species of beetles alone 
 are to be found in the museums of the world, the total number 
 of distinct forms of insects is placed at half a million, while in 
 the whole animal kingdom, there exist about a million species. 
 In 1843, it was estimated that there were fifty-three hundred 
 British fossils ; to-day, fifteen thousand are in the museums, and 
 
DEDICATION OF LILLY LIBRARY BUILDING. 103 
 
 twenty- five thousand are described in the rocks of the world. It 
 is estimated that two million species of the animal kingdom 
 have lived and died upon the earth, and in the waters of the 
 earth, since the creation of animal life. St)me idea can be gained 
 of the vast amount of labor performed in this branch of science 
 from the fact that Prof. Baird, in the compilation of his work 
 " The Mammals and Birds of North America," consulted over 
 two thousand volumes. 
 
 This vast number of animals has been examined, studied, 
 classified and described, both as to their structure and habits of 
 life, specimens collected in museums, books with illustrations 
 have been prepared, until even little children can tell the names 
 of many of them from the pictures in their holiday books. 
 
 A knowledge of their wonderful structure, their beautiful 
 adaptation, amazing instincts, admirable powers and interesting 
 qualities, tends to expand the mind and elevate the heart. This 
 study disciplines the memory, it demands the exercise of patient 
 investigation, it enforces attention to minutiae, it leads to the de- 
 tection of differences where none but the practiced eye would 
 perceive them, to trace out analogies or affinities, which reflec- 
 tion alone can discover. Its aim is truth, and therefore it must 
 be a noble and elevating pursuit. " To every man," says Martin, 
 " whose heart is well attuned, whose feelings are pure and unde- 
 based. Nature presents a thousand charms. At every step she 
 delights him with new wonders ; she invites him to acquaintance 
 and well is he rewarded who obeys her call. The votary of na- 
 ture deems no object unworthy of examination, none destitute 
 of interest ; nor does the spirit of philosophic inquiry suffer him 
 to rest satisfied with a casual glance at the multitudinous phe- 
 nomena around him. He is not content to wonder and admire ; 
 but, urged onward, he attempts to trace back effects to causes ;. 
 he investigates, he discriminates, he analyzes, he combines,, 
 and still proceeding in his course, endeavors to obtain a glimpse 
 — imperfect it may be — of the mighty plan of creation — a 
 glimpse of the grand scheme, by which the whole is blended into 
 unitv." 
 
I04 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 We shall not forget in our study of Nature, for it has never 
 been forgotten, that "the proper study of mankind is man." 
 As Sir William Hamilton expressed the thought : — " On earth 
 there is nothing great but man ; in man there is nothing great 
 but mind." No one can study the history of science without 
 being reminded of the words of Pericles : — ''The whole earth is 
 the monument of illustrious men." It is one of the noblest de- 
 lights for those who reflect and love to be grateful, to trace the 
 chief components of the monuments of illustrious men to their 
 authors — to find whence came the discoveries, inventions, con- 
 ceptions, institutions and endeavors of the ages in the field of 
 culture, freedom and truth. Who has not enjoyed the pleasure 
 of finding the spots on the charts of human progress, where you 
 put down your finger and say: — "Here are Pythagoras, Plato 
 and Socrates ; here is x\ristotle ; here are Copernicus, T)'cho 
 Brahe and Kepler ; there are Galileo, Newton, La Place and the 
 Herschels ; here are Leibnitz, Werner, Lyell and Miller ; here 
 are Harvey, Ray, Linnceus, Cuvier, Humboldt and Agassiz ; 
 here are Archimedes, Stephenson, W^att and Arkwright ; here 
 are Franklin, Morse and Edison ; here are Fulton, Whitney and 
 McCormick ; here are the historians, Heroditus, Thucydides, 
 Xenophon, Sallust, Livy, Pliny, Tacitus, Niebuhr and Gibbon ; 
 here are the great poets, orators, artists, and men of literature ; 
 here are the successful generals, there the great statesmen ; here 
 the world's great navigators ; here the teachers of the Church 
 and the Reformers ; here the heroes and martyrs ; here we can 
 trace the civilization of Greece, and there the civilization of 
 Rome ; here the influence of the printing press and the causes 
 and effect of the University. 
 
 It will not be understood that study has been, or should be, 
 confined to the subjects I have named. History, the science of 
 human government, jurisprudence, art, literature, the various 
 industries of the world, the systems of theology and religions of 
 mankind, have each received, and are entitled to receive, equal 
 attention. 
 
 I know it may be said with trutli that no person can have a 
 
DEDICATION' OF LILLY LIBRARY BL'ILDING. 105 
 
 thorough knowledge of all these subjects, but it is equally true 
 that every one may have a general knowledge of them, and a 
 more extended knowledge of a few chosen subjects. It is not 
 necessary tliat a person should examine every house in a city, 
 and count all the doors, windows and bricks in each, in order to 
 understand the plan of the city. Rosseau said that a man 
 might be a very great botanist without knowing the name of a 
 single plant, and if this is true of a botanist, a man may be a 
 zoologist, or a geologist, or a physicist, if not great, at least in- 
 telligent, without, meantime, troubling himself with technicali- 
 ties. But even if an extended knowledge cannot be gained of 
 any one branch of study, a general knowledge of a single branch 
 is preferable to entire ignorance of all. I know it has been said 
 that "a little learning is a dangerous thing," but this thought 
 has often been misapplied. Its application often reminds one of 
 the man who desired to put to practical test the claim that soft 
 feathers make an excellent bed ; he placed a single feather upon 
 a large rock, and laid down upon it for his night's sleep. When 
 he awoke in the morning, sore and lame, he exclaimed, " If one 
 feather makes such aches and pains in a man's bones, what would 
 a whole bed full of them do?" It was not the little feather, but 
 the great rock that had caused the trouble ; it is not the little 
 feather of learning that is the dangerous thing, but the great 
 rock of ignorance ; it is the over-estimate of the amount learned 
 compared with the vast amount unknown, that is dangerous. A 
 little learning is always useful, a greater amount is still more 
 valuable, while a thorough knowledge of any one of the subjects 
 to which I have alluded, will be a source of enjoyment forever, 
 and of great use to the possessor in u«hatever calling he may be 
 engaged. 
 
 Samuel Johnson says : — " He who enlarges his curiosity after 
 the works of nature, demonstrably multiplies the inlets to his 
 happiness." 
 
 "A youth," says President Oilman, " who has been taught 
 to observe the. phenomena of nature, who knows the aspects of 
 the starry heavens, who welcomes the ' procession of the flowers. 
 
io6 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 from the Arbutus to the Asters, who knows the birds from their 
 songs, who loves to chase the brilliant butterfly, who has watched 
 the animals of the forest, who has studied the star-fish and the 
 jelly-tish in their seaboard homes, who has learned the rocks of 
 the region where he dwells, who delights to climb the mountain 
 and trace out the range of the ridges, the interlockings of the 
 valleys, and the courses of the flowing waters, — the youth who 
 can thus hold 'communion with the outward forms of nature ' 
 has the foundation laid for a life-time of culture, for an infinite 
 variety of intellectual enjoyment." 
 
 The little Kindergarten graduate, whose older brother had 
 tapped a maple tree to give the little fellow the enjoyment of 
 gathering sap, who, after watching it drop for a time, went into 
 the house, and asked for a book so that he could find out " What 
 made the sap run," disclosed the spirit of inquiry, which, gratified 
 and continued, ends in wisdom. The practice of studying a 
 little each day of the year, continued for fifty years, will result 
 in the acquisition of a vast amount of knowledge. 
 
 People differ in their tastes for the various branches of 
 knowledge ; one enjoys the study of plants, another a knowledge 
 of animals ; some are interested in the study of geology, while 
 others delight in the study of astronomy ; some find infinite de- 
 light in the truths of chemistry, while others find equal enjoy- 
 ment in the truths of history. Whichever branch is chosen for 
 thorough study, it will be found that a vast amount of knowl- 
 edge will be incidentally acquired in every other branch. 
 
 May we not hope that among the young people of our vil- 
 lage, the enlargement of our Library in a more convenient build- 
 ing, may be the means of so increasing the interest in the vari- 
 ous branches of knowledge, that from a love of learning, classes 
 may be formed, similar to those already in existence, and that 
 each class will take up the study of some branch, and strive to 
 acquire an interest and an enjoyment in its pursuit, until we 
 shall have in our village an entire community of thoughtful, stu- 
 dious and cultivated people, who, if they cannot be called dis- 
 coverers of scientific knowledge, and possibly not scholars in 
 
DEDICATION OF LILLY LIBRARY BUILDIXG. 107 
 
 the broadest sense of that word, may be properly classed among 
 intelligent and well-informed people, who form the highest and 
 best class of society in any community — an aristocracy founded 
 upon intellectual cultivation and knowledge, rather than upon 
 mere wealth and artificial surroundings. 
 
 Then will the means of enjoyment of our people be vastly 
 increased, and the wishes of the founder of the Lilly Library be 
 to some extent realized ; then will the advantages furnished by 
 the two great benefactors of our people — Samuel L. Hill and 
 Alfred T. Lilly — be more and more instrumental in promoting 
 what'they each desired so much, — " the well-being and elevation 
 of humanity." 
 
 At the conclusion of Mr. Bond's address, the following orig- 
 inal ode, written by Rev. F. A. Hinckley, was sung by the school 
 children under the direction of the Principal of the school, W. D. 
 Miller : 
 
 Let there be light ! Such the command of old. 
 When law from out the reign of chaos rolled. 
 Let there be light ! Such still the edict kind, 
 Which lifts and glorifies the human mind. 
 
 Not now Brute Force the power that rules shall be, 
 But Knowledge, blessing all from sea to sea. 
 Thought takes the scepter in his own strong hand, 
 And moulds the nations to his purpose grand. 
 
 With grateful hearts for what the past has brought, 
 Glad for the lesson a good life has taught, 
 A temple, calling eager minds its way. 
 Sacred to thought, we consecrate to-day. 
 
 Speak, silent walls, for lips that now are dumb, 
 Speak, loaded shelves, for all the years to come. 
 Speak in the Truth, thy founder loved so well, 
 Its message to mankind forever tell. 
 
 The song finished, Mr. Riley said : 
 
 Mr. Lilly gave to the Trustees $5000, with which to buy 
 books for our Library, with the request that each Trustee should 
 select two hundred books of his own choice. The next speaker 
 
io8 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 will tell us how to use these and other books. For a quarter of 
 a century he has been up and down among us, respected, trusted 
 and honored by all. He has christened our babes, educated our 
 children, married our neighbors, and buried our beloved dead. 
 With willing hands for every good work, he has almost come to 
 be recognized as our common village parent and pastor. It 
 gives me great pleasure to introduce to you. Rev. E. G. Cobb. 
 
 REV. E. G. COBB'S ADDRESS. 
 
 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : — If books were 
 capable of resentment, as people are, there would be a perpetual 
 feud between them and us on account of the abuse they get. 
 
 A book, when we consider the thought in it, the art of the 
 printer, engraver and binder, is a marvellous thing, worthy of 
 reverent and affectionate handling. 
 
 Do not break a new book back till the covers touch, in order 
 to make it stay open. Open it on a table, and press the leaves 
 down till they lie flat. 
 
 In using a book, do not hold it by one side, or with your 
 thumb in the center. Let it lie easily in your left hand, your 
 thumb and fingers supporting each cover. 
 
 Do not turn over the leaves with your moistened thumb. 
 That will soil and wrinkle them. Catch them singly at the top 
 with the forefinger of the right hand, and turn them. Do not 
 lay an open book down on its face. Close it, using a slip of pa- 
 per to mark your place. If the book contain plates, protected 
 by a tissue leaf, do not try to turn the tissue with the hand. A 
 light puff of breath will turn it quickly and smoothly. Do not 
 use books for chair cushions. Do not rest on them with the el- 
 bows as they lie open on the table. Right handling will keep 
 books neat and double the time during which they will last. 
 
 In the use of books, read for improvement. Some have an 
 ambition to be great readers, and hurry over as many volumes 
 as possible. This is like gross feeding without digestion. It in- 
 duces dyspepsia and feebleness. Others read merely for en- 
 tertainment, to pass the time. Such take easy books that 
 
DEDICATION OF LILLY LIP.RARV lU'ILDIXG. 109 
 
 gratify fondness of adventure, or stimulate imagination, or 
 feed curiosity as to how the story is coming out. This is as un- 
 profitable as pouring water through a sieve to see it trickle. 
 
 But inasmuch as story books fill so large a space in Public 
 Libraries, and in the reading of the young, let me give this ad- 
 vice : — Read with pencil and paper at hand. Note defects and 
 excellencies, and after reading, write out an estimate of the book 
 with reasons. It need not be long, and it will ensure some im- 
 provement even from reading a poor book. After reading sev- 
 eral or all the books of an author, write an estimate of him. with 
 specifications from his works. File these estimates, review them 
 occasionally, and you will soon be able to converse on what you 
 have read, intelligently and instructively. As soon as you can 
 come to it, read strong, instructive books. Read them slowly. 
 One a month is better than one a day. 
 
 The value of reading is to give information and stimulate 
 thinking. In general, the person who reads a little, and thinks 
 a good deal, is clearer, stronger, and more original in his views, 
 than one who is continually filling himself with the thoughts of 
 others. Just to read and remember is to pile up lumber. Ma- 
 terial should be used. Learning alone is dull. Learning, think- 
 ing and working make the full, ideal man. We should use books 
 and not let them use us. 
 
 While improvement is the great object in reading, it is yet 
 proper, in the choice of books, to consult our tastes and moods. 
 As with food, it is well to take what best agrees with us. The 
 news of the day, some of the best humor, occasionally a story, 
 snatches of poetry, as one feels the need, are all healthful tonics, 
 if not real food, and should have place with heavier reading. So 
 much indeed depends on taste, mood and habit in reading, that 
 few positive rules can be given that will apply to all cases and 
 circumstances. 
 
 It will not do, however, to be the slaves of appetite and pas- 
 sion in reading. We form tastes and habits. If they are de- 
 praved, we must reform them. We should learn to like what is 
 good for us. Those who have the responsibility of selecting 
 
no ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 books for a Public Library, should carefully exclude those which 
 are morally bad. In deference to the manifold tastes of readers, 
 they may put in almost every other kind of book. Readers 
 should resolutely tone up their taste to the best. When this is 
 done, a Library may be set open in a community, like a garden 
 of flowers, and the people, like bees, may be left free to gather 
 honey according to their own sweet will. Young readers need 
 the advice of parents, teachers, or a prudent librarian, as to what 
 they shall read. Our benefactor, Mr. Lilly, has already provided 
 a choice collection of books, and the sum of what I need to say 
 to the people of Florence, on the subject assigned me is, be sure 
 to use them. In no other way can we so fitly honor his memory, 
 as by getting the greatest possible good out of what he has so 
 generously provided. 
 
 Mr. Cobb's address concluded, Mr. .Riley said : 
 The next speaker has resided with us only a short time, but 
 long enough to prove that he is a worthy acquisition to our vil- 
 lao-e, that he is a man of liberal education and a zealous worker 
 for every good cause. Mr. Lilly, who was a keen observer of 
 men, quickly discerned his good qualities, and gave him his con- 
 fidence. That he understands the topic on which he is to speak 
 has been well exemplified in his earnest efforts to interest our 
 young men in educational work. I am much pleased that I can 
 introduce to you Rev. P. H. Gallen, who will speak on the best 
 way to spend spare hours. 
 
 ADDRESS OF REV. P. H. GALLEN. 
 
 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : — Almost a year 
 ago in a conversation with the late Mr. Lilly, to whose generos- 
 ity we owe much as a community, he referred with feeling to the 
 precious time that men waste. Having always at heart the wel- 
 fare of humanity, and especially that portion belonging to the 
 so-called industrial class, he suffered much when he considered 
 their carelessness in matters that intimately concerned them. 
 He felt that the few spare hours they possessed daily, should be 
 devoted to improving their condition, should be employed in 
 some way to benefit themselves and society in general. 
 
DEDICATION UF LILLY LILKAKV BL ILDING. iii 
 
 Most men think of this wiien passing a lounging group on a 
 street corner in the evening. The crowded saloons and other 
 loafing centers also tell of opportunities lost, of time worse than 
 wasted. Of course some pleasure is just as necessary in life as 
 labor. Toil and weariness, unrelieved by periods for rest and 
 amusement, would lead to physical ruin. A judicious mixture 
 of work and recreation is desirable, but the preponderance of 
 either marks imperfection. After devoting the requisite number 
 of hours to labor and recreation, most men have some time 
 which they feel is theirs to do with as they like. They may 
 waste it in frivolity, or use it to good purpose. It may be spent 
 in a way to injure themselves morally or physically, or to build 
 up a more perfect manhood. In what way it may be spent to 
 insure the most profit to the individual and to society, is a ques- 
 tion which each one, knowing his own wants, abilities and op- 
 portunities, must decide for himself. If he be an ordinary work- 
 inginan, he may not hope to have the company of the learned or 
 distinguished among men. During a spare hour he dare not 
 enter the charmed circle where well-trained minds are used to 
 sit at "reason's bancjuet." Society excludes him, because so- 
 cially he is nobody, and the reading or scientific club will have 
 nothing to do with him for obvious reasons. What can he do in 
 his laudable desire for self-improvement ? God has given him 
 faculties to develop. Is society in arms against him and God ? 
 Is he to starve mentally, while plenty surrounds him ? Have 
 the so-called better classes need of his muscles only, as of the 
 horse or the ox? It must have seemed so at some time in the 
 not very distant past, to the toiler, but to-day, thanks to an en- 
 lightened public sentiment, and true Christian progress, he who 
 labors may learn also, and he who gains knowledge may advance 
 toward perfection. 
 
 Invitingly open stand the doors of our Free Libraries to all, 
 and within are the world's treasures. Says Emerson : "A com- 
 pany of the wisest and wittiest men that could be picked out of 
 all civil countries in a thousand years, have set in best order the 
 results of their learning and wisdom. The men themselves 
 
112 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 were hid and inaccessible, solitary, impatient of interruption, 
 fenced by etiquette ; but the thought which they did not uncover 
 to their bosom friend, is here written out in transparent words 
 to us, the strangers of another age." 
 
 The Library invites men to forsake the unprofitable and 
 dangerous companionship of street and saloon. What does it 
 offer them instead of the vulgar amusement, the coarse jest or 
 depraved company ? Has it something to give men that will in- 
 terest, please and entertain as successfully as the village story- 
 teller? Well we know the answer, and it is only the question of 
 a very short time when the masses, the toiling majorities whose 
 welfare is our welfare, upon whose progress ours depends, with 
 whom we rise or fall, — 'tis not long until they too shall compre- 
 hend the superior advantages a Library affords. That they do 
 even now, to a great extent, is apparent. Self-interest is a pow- 
 erful motive for action. Material advancement is often depend- 
 ent upon knowledge, and when men are convinced that there is 
 something to be gained by study, and everything lost in this life 
 and prospectively in the next, by abuse of God-given time, then 
 such conviction shall bring reform. When the official positions 
 of our civil service shall be the rewards of education and intelli- 
 gence, instead of political preference, then a great impetus will 
 be given to the pursuit of knowledge among the masses. The 
 discussion of social questions, now so general throughout the 
 world, and affecting so intimately the people at large, has led in- 
 quiring minds to seek information at first hand, rather than as 
 in the past, depend altogether upon matter furnished by their 
 leaders. When the great questions now agitating the minds of 
 men, socialism, labor, capital, etc., come up in the future for final 
 settlement, the masses will be fully prepared to act intelligently. 
 We shall find that our free schools and free libraries have borne 
 good fruit, and that our benevolent rich, were faithful stewards 
 of God, saving and giving for all humanity. 
 
 In the Library, where the good and the great still live, where 
 the accumulated wisdom of centuries is preserved, where the 
 successes and mistakes of former generations are recorded 
 
DEDICATION OF LILLY LIIiRARV lU'ILDIXG. 113 
 
 where immortality is self-evident — these men will find in leisure 
 moments all that soul or mind may crave. Hours spent in the 
 companionship of the greatest minds are never wasted. Philos- 
 ophers, historians and poets who once walked this earth in the 
 flesh, are waiting in spirit to join the men of to-day in the in- 
 terchange of thought. Call any one of them down from his 
 shelf-throne, and he will obey. He will go to your home with 
 you, let it be palace or garret. He will live with you, converse 
 with you. All he knows he will tell you. He will introduce you 
 to his friends who excel him in other departments of knowledge, 
 and thus extend your acquaintance until it embraces the most 
 charming, the jnirest, the most delightful companionship the 
 world of genius holds. In such society our spare hours may well 
 be spent with profit, and he who has so generously given us such 
 a beautiful home of books, deserves our grateful remembrance. 
 
 At the conclusion of Mr. Gallen's address, Mr. Riley said : 
 An attractive feature of our new building is the pleasant 
 Reading Room. More than a year ago a gentlemen appeared 
 among us, unknown and untried to our village community, and 
 during his residence here, by his earnest work for morality, and 
 the uplifting of man in every walk of life, our people have 
 learned to consider him one of their own. This gentleman, Rev. 
 A. R. Xichols, will tell us something about our Reading Room. 
 
 ADDRESS OF REV. A. R. NICHOLS. 
 
 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : — The most im- 
 portant problem that can demand attention, at any time by any 
 community, is the one that relates to the development of true, 
 brave, strong character in its youth. There is a principle deeply 
 laid in human nature, that resents dictation, and that demands 
 an assertion of one's own personality. You may tell me not to 
 do a thing, and very likely that will be the very thing I shall 
 want to do, if for no other reason than to show my independence 
 and my freedom from outside interference. You tell our youth 
 not to gather upon the streets, not to frequent saloons, not to as- 
 sociate together where low influences corrupt the taste, debase 
 
114 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 the moraJs, degenerate character, and develop the low tendencies 
 of their being, and will not the bright, active, social, companion- 
 able boys do these very things ? The better way is to put be- 
 fore them strong counter attractions that will appeal to the 
 higher elements of their being, not to tyrannize over conduct, 
 but to influence choice, and to draw them unconsciously, but 
 none the less surely, to things refining and ennobling. 
 
 It is hoped that in the equipment of our Reading Room, it 
 may win by its cheerful brightness, its superior advantages, and 
 pure attractions, from the questionable influences of the street, 
 to those that are truly helpful ; that it may successfully put in its 
 bid, not only for many a leisure hour, but for character as well. 
 
 We live in a manufacturing community. The convenience 
 of rC)om or boarding-house will not, ordinarily, be sufficient to 
 hold young men to any course of reading, or line of study, and 
 besides slender purses will seriously interfere with the expense 
 that the purchase of papers will necessarily involve. It is in- 
 tended that our Reading Room will be fully furnished with quar- 
 terlies, monthlies, weeklies and dailies, so that every one, how- 
 ever poor, can keep abreast of the times in the current events 
 that are taking place all over the world, and in the most recent 
 discoveries that are made in this age of rapid thought and won- 
 derful invention, and that revolutionize our industries, and 
 change our habits of life. Different phases of thought will be 
 presented in the discussion of questions of politics, morals, reli- 
 gion, and all social reforms that affect the community. 
 
 In visiting the Cyclorama of the battle of Gettysburg, you 
 leave the stir and din and confusion of city life, and when the 
 landing of the flight of stairs is reached, and the historic battle, 
 the vividness of a Pennsylvania landscape, the heat of a July 
 day that gives a tremor to the atmosphere, are all before you, 
 you can but feel that you are ushered into a new world, — so 
 marked and sudden is the transition. 
 
 Through the Reading Room one comes into the larger life 
 of the world. His mind will be quickened and enlarged with a 
 broader outlook in range of opportunity. He will feel and know 
 
DEDICATION OF LILLY LIP.RARV lU'ILDING. 1.5 
 
 that he lives in a busy world, larger than the humdrum life of 
 his daily toil, which for a moment he leaves behind. 
 
 Eyes get weary in looking intently a long time at objects 
 near at hand ; great relief is found in lifting them, if but for a 
 moment, to more distant things. One gets weary, exhausted, in 
 the monotonous treadmill of daily work. Zest of life seems 
 gone, the thrill of high incentive becomes deadened, and ambi- 
 tion loses its stimulus, when the pressure and strain of unre- 
 lieved care finds no respite ; but one can come into the Reading 
 Room for a half hour and look out upon a world beyond his 
 sphere, get interested in the live questions of the day, his sym- 
 pathies enlisted, his personalities enlarged by the consciousness 
 of a wider knowledge, and an increased intelligence, and he 
 finds a wonderful relief. New interest is given to life. Energies 
 become quickened. Work is accomplished with greater effi- 
 ciency, and looked upon, not as an end, nor as drudgery, but as 
 a means by which better, richer results are obtained. One can- 
 not keep informed as to the affairs of the world without receiv- 
 ing a firmer grasp to mind, developing greater intellectual vigor, 
 refining taste, and giving culture and broadness of view. Then 
 a glance into these things, may give such tendency to some mind 
 among the many, as shall lead it to great achievements, shall 
 strike a lead that will open to richest mines. Some dormant 
 power may be awakened that will greatly bless the world. If a 
 man does not have time for the higher literature, he need not be 
 discouraged. A few minutes each day scrupulously used in 
 gathering information will make one fairly intelligent upon al- 
 most any question that may arise, and he will not feel entirely 
 shut out from those of larger literary culture. Opinions will be 
 more rational, judgment more nearly correct, decisions truer, and 
 plans wiser and more successfully carried out. Confidence in 
 one's own powers and resources will become firmer, and greater 
 intelligence will lift to a higher plane of living. 
 
 I rejoice in this auspicious occasion. I congratulate this 
 community upon the opening of a Reading Room so elegant in 
 all its furnishings. I sincerely hope that a grateful and appreci- 
 
ii6 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 ative public will as graciously respond to this munificent gift in 
 its large and universal use as it was generously given, and that 
 the founder's earnest wish that the whole influence of Library 
 and Reading Room in enlightening mind and strengthening 
 character will be fully realized. 
 
 At the conclusion of Mr. Nichols' address, Mr. Riley in in- 
 troducing the next speaker, said : 
 
 The poet of the evening, whose discriminating words have 
 been so well sung by the school children, was the pastor and 
 particular friend of the donor of our Library. To him he cheer- 
 fully expressed his opinions, hopes and desires upon various 
 topics, many of which occupy the best minds of the country to- 
 day. Li the short time that he has been among us, he has ac- 
 quainted himself with our necessities and desires, and not only 
 made himself one of us, but a constant and active worker for 
 our welfare. Permit me to introduce to you, Rev. F. A. 
 Hinckley, who will speak on Free Village Libraries. 
 
 ADDRESS OF REV. F. A. HINCKLEY. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Friends : — If it be true as has been 
 said that a good book is a world, and that next to acquiring 
 good friends, the best acquisition is that of good books, what 
 shall we say of the acquirement of a Repositor)' of such books ? 
 Surely that it can be nothing less than a public benefaction. 
 But a Free Village Library, which is the library localized, is more 
 than a repository, it is, or may be under proper management, a 
 positive educational force. That community is fortunate, which 
 has a place where those who want reading, and know just what 
 they want, may go to find it. But it is more, far more, to have 
 an educating influence which does not wait for people to come 
 to it, which goes direct with all its blessings to them. 
 
 Nothing is more important in a community like ours, than 
 the cultivation of the studious habit, and the Free Village, or 
 local. Library, may be among the best educators of that habit. 
 It is, however, a nice matter to know just where to draw the 
 lines in the selection of books, and in the choice of methods for 
 getting them read. To furnish weak, dissipating reading on the 
 
DEDICATION OF LILLY LII'.RAKV P.riLDING. 117 
 
 one hand, is to throw away opportunity. To aim above the head 
 of your constituency on the other hand, is to throw away oppor- 
 tunity. To make connection with the popular demand, and yet 
 keep just enough in advance of it, to draw it up and on, — this is 
 success in the supervision of a Library. 
 
 Now how is this success to be won, in the use of a Free Vil- 
 lage Library ? Plainly, it seems me, by appealing to certain 
 special classes, and aiming to supply certain special, conscious 
 needs. What are some of these classes, what are some of these 
 needs? First, there are the school children. What a work we 
 can, if we will, make this Library do for them I In their study 
 of History they are interested at any given time in certain special 
 topics. By consultation between the Library management and 
 the teachers, let books be provided bearing on these special 
 topics, and attention called to them at the moment when they 
 are needed, and will therefore have a special interest. In other 
 words, let there be formed an intimate and advisory relation be- 
 tween the Library and the school ; let the Library be considered 
 by the pupils as supplementing the work of the school. Nothing 
 for example, could be better calculated to cultivate the use of 
 good English, and to interest the young student, than the read- 
 ing of Hawthorne's True Stories in connection with his study of 
 New England history. Let his attention be called to them at 
 the proper time, and in a similar manner to other books equally 
 good. 
 
 Second, there are the Reading Clubs, of which we have so 
 many. The Teacher's Meeting, with its study of educational 
 methods, and of the record of the men and women who have 
 contributed more or less directly to the ever-growing wisdom of 
 these methods ; the Chautauqua circle, with its suggestive and 
 valuable work in so many lines ; the German group, pursuing 
 during winter evenings the great thought and the rhythmic 
 beauty of the language of Lessing, Goethe and Schiller ; the 
 Civil Government class, with an endless list of books of refer- 
 ence and side reading which could always be used to advantage; 
 these and like demands, in consultation between the library au- 
 
ii8 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 thorities and those conducting such meetings, circles, groups, 
 and classes, could be advisedly met, and in their meeting a large 
 contribution would be made toward the cultivation of the stu- 
 dious habit among us. 
 
 Third, there is the general public always to be appealed to. 
 Not most successfully by simply providing a collection of mis- 
 cellaneous reading, but by reading bearing directly upon the 
 topic uppermost at the time. When Bismarck withdraws from 
 the public service, we want to read about him and about German 
 politics. Then is the time for books giving information in that 
 line. And so on through the whole list of topics. L'nite with 
 the substantial qualities of the Library the freshness of the 
 newspaper, and books will be sought eagerly, and used under- 
 standingly. 
 
 The great thing in every case is to make the connections. 
 To this end, weekly, and perhaps daily, bulletins are invaluable. 
 Furnish them to the school, the club, the public, as a sure me- 
 dium of constant communication, telling each just what it wants 
 to know at the moment the information is received, and the ed- 
 ucational work of the Library is assured. This has been done 
 elsewhere. I rejoice to think of the possibility of its being done 
 here. 
 
 It is in the contemplation of the Library as such an educa- 
 tor, that I come to this meeting with unalloyed satisfaction, 
 feeling it a privilege to take part in the dedication of this third 
 memorial of our revered and beloved friend. This Hall is in 
 part his monument ; the Hall of Science in yonder College is to 
 him a most worthy monument ; and this Library building is his 
 monument. Representing his love of intellectual freedom, his 
 love of " the truth as it is in Nature," and his love for this im- 
 mediate locality, and its highest welfare, it taxes them all to do 
 justice to the breadth and warmth of his philanthropic life. But 
 to-night belongs especially to the Library. May it stand in all 
 future time, an influence for enlightenment, for refinement, for 
 culture, such as the heart and conscience of this community will 
 never willingly let die. 
 
A p p e n cl i X . 
 
Appendix. 
 
 It is deemed fitting that the following report of the funeral 
 service of Mrs." Lilly, from the Northampton Herald, should be 
 preserved in the Memorial volume of her husband, 
 
 THE LAST TRIBUTE. 
 The funeral service of the wife of Alfred Theodore Lilly 
 occurred yesterday afternoon, at Mr. Lilly's residence, every 
 available space being occupied by friends and relatives of the 
 deceased. Many floral tributes were sent to the house by near 
 and dear friends, a pillow made of choice hot-house exotics, with 
 the initials, " L. M. L." in the center, being the appropriate de- 
 sign placed at the head of the casket. The opening exercises 
 consisted of the reading of the following selections from Whit- 
 tier, by Mrs. Elizabeth Powell Bond : 
 
 The blessing of her quiet life 
 
 Fell on us like the dew, 
 And good thoughts where her footsteps pressed, 
 
 Like fairy blossoms grew. 
 
 Sweet promptings unto kindest deeds 
 
 Were in her very look ; 
 We read her face, as one who reads 
 
 A true and holy book ; 
 
 The measure of a blessed hymn. 
 
 To which our hearts could move ; 
 The breathing of an inward psalm , 
 
 A canticle of love. 
 
 There seems a shadow on the day, 
 
 Her smile no longer cheers ; 
 A dimness on the stars of night, 
 
 Like eyes that look through tears. 
 
ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 Still let her mild rebuking stand 
 
 Between us and the wrong, 
 And her dear memory serve to make 
 
 Our faith in goodness strong. 
 
 And grant that she who, trembling here, 
 
 Distrusted all her powers, 
 May welcome to her holier home 
 
 The well-beloved of ours. 
 
 A track of moonlight on a quiet lake, 
 
 Whose small waves on a silver-sanded shore 
 
 Whisper of peace, and with the low winds make 
 
 Such harmonies as keep the woods awake, 
 
 And listening all night long for their sake, 
 
 A green-waved slope of meadow, hovered o'er 
 
 By angel troops of lilies, swaying light 
 
 On viewless stems, with folded wings of white, 
 
 A slumberous stretch of mountain-land, far seen 
 
 Where the low westering day, with gold and'green. 
 
 Purple and amber, softly blended, fills 
 
 The wooden vales, and melts among the'hills ; 
 
 A vine-fringed river, winding to its rest 
 
 On the calm bosom of a stormless sea. 
 
 Bearing alike on its placid breast. 
 
 With earthly flowers, and heavenly stars impressed, 
 
 The hues of time and of eternity ; 
 
 Such are the pictures which the thought of'thee 
 
 O friend, awakeneth, — charming the keen'pain 
 
 Of thy departure, and our sense of loss. 
 
 Requiting with the fulness of thy gain. 
 
 Lo ! on the quiet grave thy life-long work 
 
 Dropped only at its side, methinks doth shine, 
 
 Of thy beatitude the radiant sign ! 
 
 No sob of grief, no wild lament be there. 
 
 To break the silence of the holy air ; 
 
 But, in their stead, the silent breathing prayer 
 
 Of hearts still waiting for a rest like thine, 
 
 O spirit released ! Forgive us, if henceforth. 
 
 With sweet and pure similitudes of earth. 
 
 We keep thy pleasant memory freshly green, 
 
 Of love's inheritance a priceless part, 
 
LTCV MARIA LILTA' 123 
 
 Which, fancy'^ self, in reverent awe, is seen 
 
 To paint, fortjetful of the tricks of art, 
 
 With pencil dipped alone in colors of the heart. 
 
 The Cosmian choir rendered in an effective manner this 
 hymn : — 
 
 Happy the man whose cautious steps 
 
 Still keep the i^olden mean ; 
 Whose life, in wisdom's rule confirmed. 
 
 Preserves a conscience clean. 
 
 Not of himself too highiy thinks, 
 
 Nor acts the boaster's part ; 
 His modest tongue the language sp:;aks 
 
 Spontanaous from his heart. 
 
 Not in low scandal's arts he deals. 
 
 For truth dwells in his breast ; 
 With Ljrief he sees his neighbor's faults, 
 
 And thinks and hopas the best. 
 
 To sect or party, his large soul 
 
 Disdains to bs confined ; ' 
 
 He loves the good of every name, 
 
 'Mong all the human kind. 
 
 The touching address of Mrs. Bond, given beh^w, called out 
 expressions of deep emotion from those present, and the tender 
 feeling evinced by the speaker during her remarks, spoke more 
 eloquently than words of her love and regard for the departed. 
 
 MRS. bond's address. 
 
 Perhaps no words could be so eloquent as this silence, to 
 express the sympathy that has drawn us all hither to-day, to en- 
 ter into the sorrow that has come upon this household. And yet 
 it is the impulse of human hearts to try to put into words the 
 tenderness they feel when a kindred heart is sorely stricken. 
 But words have still another part in such a service as this, a part 
 to perform in memory of the dear friend whose silent form is in 
 our midst. For it is the compensation of right living, as it is the 
 penalty of a faithless life, that the hour of death emphasizes all 
 the past ; brings out in strong relief the characteristics that have 
 
124 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 stamped themselves upon the passing hours that have made up 
 the whole of life. The life of this dear friend comes before me 
 like a placid lake, deep, and quiet, and sheltered, and lying 
 broad open to the sun. Home has been her kingdom. It is said 
 that the happiest women leave no histories behind them. Her 
 life history is happy, and without any element of tragedy in it. 
 We know that it must have had its share of anxieties and cares, 
 since it was a human life ; we know that the early years were 
 years of hard work, for competency came to this household as 
 the fruit of busy, faithful work at the hands of both husband 
 and wife. But work never irritated or soured her nature. She 
 accepted it gladly and thankfully, and brightened it with her 
 own good cheer. When in later years a sense of relief came, 
 from the pressure of work, and she might have folded her hands 
 and rested on her oars, she could not lay her duties down. It 
 was her hands that had ministered all these years to the needs of 
 her husband, and this privilege she could not be persuaded to 
 yield, and so the untiring hands kept on, almost to the last day, 
 in their service of love. Forty-eight years these two have lived 
 and worked together ! It has been her part to make a home so 
 peaceful, so sunny, so restful, that it has been a secure haven in- 
 to which the hard-buffetted, business-worn husband could re- 
 treat, and find renewal of strength and courage. In all these 
 forty-eight years, of which I speak in memory to-day, she has 
 never been heard to speak unkindly or uncharitably of any. 
 What a record is that I What an element of peace in the world ! 
 Who can tell what streams of saving influence have had their 
 source in her sweet charitableness. It is of such saviors as this 
 that the world stands daily and hourly in need ; such sunny, 
 kindly natures that shine down the evil ; that make warm and 
 fertile soil for all good seed to grow in. Dear friends, let us all 
 take to our hearts this beautiful lesson of her life. The years 
 that may still be left to us, let us fill with sunshine as she did, 
 leaving no dark corners in our natures for dark thoughts, or 
 harsh judgments, or evil deeds to germinate in. 
 
 She was not a mother, and yet she has filled a mother's place 
 
LUCY MARIA LILLY. 125 
 
 to one who came to love her with true daughterly affection. And 
 young children grew up about her, supplying to her life, as com- 
 pensation in part for what she had bestowed, the freshness and 
 joyousness, that else might have l)eeii in some measure wanting. 
 
 Are you asking in your hearts, what was her belief ? I do 
 not know. We read in the New Testament, "The fruit of the 
 spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, faith, meek- 
 ness, temperance." In all these fruits did ht-r spirit abound. 
 And since her life was rooted in all that was gentle, and loving, 
 and unselfish, we know that she has laid hold upon all immor- 
 talities that are vouchsafed to the human soul. The influence 
 of her life will still live on in the lives of those who cherish her 
 memory. Our faiths take different forms. To some of us it is 
 clear that all this gentleness, this self-forgetfulness, this sweet 
 charitableness, are not of the earth, and do not go down to the 
 grave with the changing form, but pertain to that which is not 
 perishable. Toothers, faith takes the form of perfect trust that 
 the ordering of the universe is wise and beneficent, and this per- 
 fect trust takes the trusting soul into perfect rest. Early in the 
 week I stood with the sorrowing parents and sister of a young 
 man who had laid down his work just at the thresliold of life, 
 just as he was entering with gladness and enthusiasm upon his 
 student life. There seems an element of tragedy in such a death, 
 when so many hopes are disappointed, when so much promise 
 of useful work comes to naught. But no element of tragedy 
 darkens our memorial service to-day. It is a well-rounded and 
 ripened life that we bear in tender memory. The service has all 
 been rendered, and life has yielded an abundant harvest to her, 
 of comfort and joy. And she has been spared the anguish of 
 seeing her dear ones suffer with her the agonies of prolonged 
 illness. 
 
 And now our thought turns again to those who will miss 
 from their midst this gracious, loving presence. Time is very 
 merciful, and softens our griefs into ministering memories ; even 
 changes them to ever-present comforters. Fortj'-eight years of 
 united, happy, married life. It is only the chosen few who have 
 
126 ALFRED THEODORE LILLY. 
 
 such a life experience. We will not dwell upon that which is 
 gone. Rather let us give thanks for such abounding blessed- 
 ness ; let us give thanks that this dear friend whose sorrows we 
 are permitted to share, has all the consolation of remembered 
 appreciation and faithfulness on his part, to bear him up in this 
 hour of bereavement. There are sorrows that are sweeter than 
 common joys, and I know that this sorrow is such. She has 
 ministered long and faithfully to him ; but it was reserved for 
 him to perform the last service, to see her safely through all toil 
 and all suffering. I know that he must be glad and thankful in 
 this great privilege. I know too that such sorrow, sorrow with 
 no shade of bitterness in it, has consolations that the world 
 knows not of, and cannot divine. With this sorrow in his house, 
 will peace and blessedness still dwell with him. 
 
 The services closed with the rendering of the following 
 hymn: 
 
 Why should we fear to tread 
 
 The gloomy vale of death? 
 Why should our minds be filled with dread. 
 
 When forced to yield our breath ? 
 
 How calm ! how gently sweet ! 
 
 The sleeping corse appears ! 
 Now sympathetic mourners meet, 
 
 To dry each others" tears. 
 
 Not one will e'er repine, 
 
 Nor without measure mourn ; 
 Since all the virtues live and shine, 
 
 Though friends can ne'er return. 
 
 Then let us try to gain 
 
 The boon which virtue gives ; 
 And leave behind a noble name, 
 
 A name that ever lives. 
 
 With such a claim as this, 
 
 No mortal need to fear ; 
 It fills the mind with social bliss, 
 
 And everv heart doth cheer. 
 
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