Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1904-01-01

i'll the deed or the vii. ye5 the trustees
fy'n conversations With Afr. Merrill
understood him to hold the view that
the people would p@ze hi. generous
gift more highly if it Was Jeff TO tham
in a large measure t. detray the eX
pense Of maintaining tl=-zs.44.tBtis=2.
The Young Mems Chria' asss.e..3.
tion was not mentioned i. szezt
E,tt Mr.. Merrill expressed zffz
tees his appreciation Of the = sz Fl
the association, saying that =#=.=
9anizatiOn more nearly met hi
il its work and young people Iha
other organization known to him, s.
that he desired the association to h.
a home in the building Acting On ii.
suggestion. sooa after the eompletioa
OF the building, and while Mr. Merrill
was still alive, the trustees entered
into an agreement with the Young
Mems Christian association by which
the association was granted a home in
the Merrill Institute building for one
year from May /. 1890 and all the
rents OF the store roCm and the two
office rooms and all fees or dues. upon
condition that the y. NJ. C. A. keep
the building in repair and pay al the
= I,
tuition and that they manage and carry
on the institute subject to the general
supervision and control of the board
of trustees of the Merrill Institute. The
agreement further provided: THAT no
person of disorderly character shall be
allowed to frequent the building, and
no profane language, betting, drinking
or smoking shall be allowed" This
agreement was formally renewed once
or twice and since that has continued
by tacit consent until the present
time. and the association has kept the
building open all these years and has
endeavored to make it attractive and
beneficial to the young people of the
city.
To further carry out the trust i'm
posed upon them the trustees engaged
the best obtainable lecturers, enter
tainers and concert companies to give
entertainments and instruction in the
n ing ifryfn or,I Of
from ten tc, twelve excellent enter
, talnments have been provided by the
rustees every season since the institute
was opened with the exception of one
year. and these entertainments and
lectures were furnished at an almost
! nominal cost to those who attended
them. The customary price for lee
ture was twenty five cents, often for
talent which in other places command
ed from seventy-five cents to one dol.
lar. For a number of years these lee
lures and entertainments We're appre-
ciated and we'll attended by the people,
but owing to the nominal price of ad-
mission it was very rare that the sale
of the tickets fully paid the expense of
the entertainment But of recent
years. although the talent procured by
the trustees has been as good as for
merly, yet the people seemed to have
lost interest and the attendance has
been very ncagre, much to the disap-
pointmeni # the trustees. AS an ex-
ample Of this lack of interest upon the
part Of the people We give here state
ment relative to last seasons enter
tainments: Ten attractions we've pro-
vided Among them were the Chicago
Glee Club. the BostOnia Sextet, Bertha
Kuntz Baker, G. P. Serviss. Dunbar
Hand Bell ringers, Rogers Griley and
others. The ten events were furnish
ed at a total cast t. the trustees of
S1350.S5 The total receipts from these
entertainments. including season tick
cts. We're S33725. leaving net loss to
the trustees of $101S.G0. The trustees
have never expected the sale of tick
cts to defray all the expense of the
course, but the means at their com
mand will not permit continuation of
the losses incurred last season. The
total income of the trustees from rents