Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-07-03


riculum of the college or the University,
the student must depend on those accumu
lated treasures gathered within the am
pie storehouses of wisdom and preserved
under the fostering care of generous ana |
far-seeing guardians.
No one would affirm that there is in our
country the same lack of libraries deserv-
ing the name that there was forty or nifty |
years ago. We have begun to supply our
wants, and have proceeded with an energy |
characteristic, it may be nd, OF our ma |
tional character In lS49 the Aston library |
was founded by the muniicen. bequest of
800, 900 by John Jacob Aston. The gilt |
was supplemented by the equal munlh- !
cence OF his son. In 1892 the liberallty OF
Mr. Bates gave new impulse to the Dos
ton Public Library, whose grand total OF
books is now considerably over 3OO,Ot In
1869 DR.. James Rush left his large estate
of more than 81 900 900 to erect u iireprOOf
building To be called the Ridgway branch
of the Philadelphia Library. Many cities
and towns also seem to have Wakeneu To
the necessity of supplying the intellectual
wants of tfIeir inhabitants the West Is
/ quite as eager us the East. Some of our
! COLLEGES and universities too are not very
| far behind the mnicipal or State organlza-
! tons in their valuable and sometime UNI
que collections.
Whatever doubt may be expressed re
speeding the advantages of large collec-
tons of books for the uses of village or
city communities, there can be none what
ever of their absolute necessity to- those
institutions whose main junction IS to in,
| trOduCe the neOphyte to the great fields of
thought The library, with its treasures
of learning, seems in an important sense
to be the heart and centre of the Cniver-
sity, essential to its life and work. 1t IS
true that there are many poor books, yet II
would be hard to say when book is abso-
lutely worthless. Books are not always to
he rpil. lint ia he consulted,
We cannot be Independent scholars so
long as we cannot examine for ourselves.
| We compare the ages, we test our own
progress, we determine what ana where
we are, by the records accumulated III our
libraries. What a world of interest sur
rounds the libraries of the world There
is Il romance and Il charm in modern
Investigation which almost makes us for
get the inestimable value of what has
been brought to light. And it is only, let
| us remember, in an institution free, as far
as may be, from the fluctuations of for
tune that these intellectual treasures can
be safely dcSpoSited. Books are the crown
Jewels of university The library of
Mr.. Marsh may well be held as treasure
unique and priceless. Rich in many de-
partments of literature, of many nations,
and III some languages but little known
among us-as the Catalan and the Dutch
it is perhaps more complete than in any
other, and has value not likely soon to be
superseded. 1t was Mr.. Marsh's wish that
his books, those life long friends of his,
should find their final home in his own
state, and in the town where his profess
sional life began. 1t was his earnest wish
also that he might be able to bequeath
the library us his own gift to the Univer
sity. This he found himself unable to do,
but the result, nevertheless, has been Sc
cured, and two names now, instead of one
those of the nOblemnded scholar and
the princely benetactOr-will be remem
bered and be named together as long as
the spires and turrets of these buildings
catch the light of the morning sun, and
cast their shadows along the slopes of
these green hills,-while the mountains
stand like grim sentinels along the east
ern horizon, and the placid lake reflects
the blue Of the eN ening sky.
After selection by the orchestra, Presi-
dent Buckham introduced to the audience
Prof. y. q. Clark of Boston, formerly OF
the University. Prof Clark spoke, in
brief us follows
Remarks of i'rof. Clark.
Reference has been made to the old Uni
versity library. For years it was my duty
to superntend that choice collection Of
books of which YOU have heard and | gave
many days of labor to the preparation OF
its catalogue, and to the task of securing
funds for the old library building; you
may imagine tneh WIN what great satls-
n"Tt'T' ,n,,n,utoI hniiInn We all ,yhn,
we cnuld those wears. and we thought we
had made A great achievement when We
had secured the old library building. But
oh. my friends. what a day of clad.
ness and THANKSGIVING IS this fo,
every alumnus Of the University
Hnniitifnl buildinrs have often been call.
ed nnems in stone. Rut what shall we cnll
. nix hllildinr-nn e,snyy Is il not rather
. an oruIjnu IN stone snGakinr to all tht
npoule of this commonwealth of the adj
! ynnrnres of broad scholarship and cuIturr
, Ne who were i'm COLLEGE with Mr. Billinp.
and who knew his rrn1v ability his in,
y schnl,rshin his Christian suirii his sym
nnthv with ali that was GOOD and noble ar,
=, hot snrnrisnd thnt nnssessinT tha nhiIit,
and The onnortunitv he shnm1d have md,
his erift ~ his alma mater II * inst Tx,
Inn We alder nlnmmi are Glad thai i,
. was an alnmnus who has TINS crnwne,
tha vnrint,s hnnefnrtions Which The ITnivur
sitv has receIvrd We Of the mast hid hal
fn ihn alumni If the fnture and con%ratu
: late Them mnnn the brl~ht nrosnerts whir,
! are hrfnra thum