The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-04-11
PREMIUMS FOR MARRIAGE
OLIVER SMLTH'S BENEFICENT CHARITY AND ITS RESULTS,

Not Only Has His Estate Helped the Widow and the Orphan, but 1t Has En- couraged Boys and Girls to be Thrifty
 and seif-supporting-Dow of Three Hundred Dollars for Brides.
 Early in the life of Oliver Smith, bachelor of Hatfield, Mass, twenty thousand dollars fell to his share as an inheritance. This he invested in stocks, bonds and mortgages, and from that time on his great delight was in watching the fund grow. He rarely used any part even of the inter- est. The grim forefinger of Jonathan Edwards was held before his genera ton, luxuries were considered tempta- l tions and physical comfort weakness. | Therefore this man scrimped and saved and denied himself. His chief | dissipation was the mild excitement 1 of a Journey to town to look after his | investments. He put up his horse ASNS | there till he was ready to go home. | This saved a fee to the tavern boy. | He also carried his own dinner of bread and cheese wrapped up in a pa per, and never allowed himself to buy | anything to go with it. At dinner time he withdrew from the merry company of tavern frequenters to the large front room of the Warner House l and, spreading his meal out on his knees, ate it in solitary state.
 Seen in the light of his will, Oliver l Smith makes a pathetic figure. For ] by this document he showed himself to have been a curiously tolerant man. with wise pity for the widow and or plan, and a humanity large enough to l include the negro, at that time partic- | ularly unpopular. His charities are so arranged that they foster indepen- | dence and industry, and make retribu- | tion follow swiftly on any moral de- l flection. During his years of lonelt- | ness and self denial he watched, wist- | fully. perhaps, the happiness of the married state, and for that reason he makes the path easy for young men and women who wish to join them selves in wedlock.
 Since 1859, fourteen years after the death of Oliver Smith, more than one million dollars have been paid out for his charities. Indigent boys, girls, young women and widows are those | included under the provisions of the will. All beneficiaries must belong to | one of these Massachusetts towns | Northampton, Hadley, Hatfield, Am herst, Williamsburg, Deerfield and | Greenfield, but there shall not lever be any distinction made or preference l given on account of any religious sect or political or other party whatsoev- CT"
 I Widows, indigent or in moderate cir | cumstances, who have child or chil- | dren dependent on them, obtain on ap- | plication the sum of fifty dollars. A good moral character and frugal, in | dustrious habits when in health are | the only restrictions laid upon them. | and at the discretion of the trustees l they get fifty dollars or part of that sum every year until payment has been made seven times. But no boun- | ty is given after their youngest child ] has reached the age of fourteen. | Widows, the trustees say, are the most grateful of all those helped, and the most judicious in using their mon- | ey.
 Indigent young women above eight cen and under forty-fve, residents of one of the named towns and of good moral character, have the tempting | reward of fifty dollars if they take | unto themselves 8 husband also sober | ...l T1y. Ice, the trustees of their ability to read and write as the least admissible ed
 ucational qualification for the mis-
 tress of family" Fickleness and
 broken engagements are distinctly
 discouraged by a clause of the will
 which enables the trustees at their
 discretion to withhold the payment of the marriage portion in all cases till
 after the marriage has taken place.
 But widows and indigent young
 women were merely incidental in the
 plan of Oliver Smith. Indigent boys
 and girls were those on whom he built
 his hopes. Caught young, trained in
 the way they should go," seems to
 have been his belief By the provi-
 sions of the will children having a
 full equipment of living parents are
 chosen last, orphans and children with
 one living parent having the prefer
 ence. A girl to be eligible must be at
 least twelve years of age, but under
 sixteen, of sound health and intellect
 Further, no two girls in family are
 allowed to receive the benefit of the
 fund at the same time, and no family
 is allowed to employ more than one
 girl at a time. If a candidate meets
 with the approval of the trustees, she
 is bound out in the family of a farmer
 or mechanic, to be instructed in
 housekeeping and such other things as
 the wife of a farmer or mechanic
 ought to know. She must not be
 bound to any trade or allowed to work
 in shop or factory.
 Oliver Smith thought probably that
 training school for wives would
 solve some social problems and bring
 about an era of happier homes. Sta
 tistics are sometimes deceptive things
 but if the managers of the Smith
 charities are accurate, the result is
 what Oliver Smith wished. More
 marriages take place among the bene-
 fciaries than among other girls of the same grade in life, and family jars
 disturb the peace less often. For the