Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1881-10-14
FROM BOSTON.

AN AUCTION SALE AS TELL TALE-DEATH OF
HENRY r. DURANT FOUNDER OF WELLESLEY
CoLLEdE-AN UNUSUAL PERSONAL HISTORY
MRS. wooLsoN's LEoTUREs-THE sToD.
DARD LEcrUREs-UNwELooM VISITORS.
BosToN, Oct 10th.
Has it ever occurred to any of you what
revealer Of family secrets and makeshifts an
auction of household goods is2 II was
specially anxious to expose all the domestic
workings Of my home, would most certainly
advertise all my furniture at public sale. This
is apropos Of one which was held in house
in the most fashionable quarter of Boston a
few days since. Outwardly the house was ell
egant, and one would have supposed it the
abode of luxury. Inside ii was barren: the
furniture on the first floor was snowy and
cheap on the floors above il was cheap with
out being snowy, and as one ascended still
higher it became scaroer and scarcer There
were no ornaments or piotures-nothing that
makes house cheerful or pleasant Now,
people are not TO blame who can't have these
things; but it seems the very sillest thing in
the world for people to deprive themselves Of
all the comforts and little luxuries which go
to make life pleasant, merely to say that they
live in a certain portion of the town. There
are people whom it gives more real satisfac.
ton to see a fashionable address on their Wis
iting card than it would to own the loveliest
| picture that ever was painted and l have
known people to live on inadequate food that
they might meet the rental Of house in a
locality that should satisfy their ambitious
l.. Ill A
nonsense. But, after all, who expects a sur
plus of good sense in this worldI
The death of Mr.. Henry F. Durant of We'll
lesley, which occurred last week, was a shock
to the community, although from the nature
of his illness it was not unexpected. Yet no
one can hear of a man like this passing away
without feeling of genuine regret. In late
years Mr.. Durant has been oftenest heard of
in connection with Wellesley college, which
he founded and has supported. To this in
stitution he gave not only his money, but his
time and personal influence. In him the cause
Of education has lost q true and earnest friend.
No doubt there are those among my readers
who remember the time when Henry +. Du-
rant led the Boston bar. He was twenty
years ago accounted one Of the best lawyers,
not only in the state, but in the country. His
logic was unRnswerable, and his eloquence
and intense personal magnetism could carry
any jury. Just at this time, when he might
have taken any position of honor in the coun-
try, hts only son died, and he never practced
a day after that He became intensely inter
ested in religious matters, and threw himself
into religious and philanthropic work with his
whole heart. He went down among the poor
in the worst portions of New York city, and
did the work of dozen men; and he not
only carried spiritual comfort, but gave mate
rial aid as well, recognizing the fact that peo.
pie can't be good Christians on an empty stom-
ach and with insufficient clothing. He was
known in every good work in Boston, and the
Young Womens Christian Association of this
city owes much Of its prosperity to the advice
and material aid given by him and his devoted
wife from its establishment to the hour of his
death. But the crowning work of his life was
Wellesley college, and it is that by which he
will be remembered by generations of CRATE
full women. He believed thoroughly in tho
higher education Of women, and he believed
that along with this should go also high NOR
al culture; and it was to give precisely this
that Wellesley was founded. He argued that
the morality of the world depended largely
upon its women. II they were trained Alright,
with high principles and correct ideas Of life,
there was little danger that the other sex would
go wrong. The college gives to girls all the
advantages that universities for young mer
give to their students, and it also gives them
an elegant and refined home. Architecturally
the buildings are among the most beautiful in
the vicinity of Boston, and they are fitted up
with every appliance TO facilitate the pupils in
their studies. 1t never looked lovelier than on
that beautiful autumn day when its beloved
founder was carried out of its hospitable doors
for the last time. The girls of the school had
strewn green branches along the driveway
and the odor of pine and hemlock came VI
from them as the slow wheels bruised them in
their passage on their sad journey from Wei
lesley to Mount Auburn.
Lectures bid fair to be as popular a means
Of morning entertainment this winter as they
were last. Mrs. Abba Goold Woolson opens
the ball on the first of November, when she
begins a new course of twelve lectures on sub
jects relating to English history and litera
ready taLsn for tho sn,;ro oonrso 80 anaTSon, ~ -
NO dopbt the Hawtbo,no RoouS iii ha an
AZ evsrv Iectrra os ,ha, 80 H., -
course on Fnolisb l,ers,rra-0 oonvao -, a. 81,
wav tba, 7 ytish a,ar. :, $3.50, 80 -
Mrs wooIson cove ~ aar,o -. - =. Va "a
=. - u s. '-,o 0~-Io ''uiS !" "ASn
ine'on' !" mrs. oiAnin psriors' TWO years ago
and so much did they please that she wa
obliged to give them a second time, in the
evening, in order that the members of Con
gress night hear them. Among her most in
terested listeners was the late President, who
complimented her very highly, not only by hil
constant presence. but nv bis annraciativ,
NFF