being nearly as much as the cost of the land and erection of the first. Mechanics' Hall. The two buildings on the same site vividly illustrate the advance of ideas as well as material resources between the years 1802 and 1870.

The founding of the Mechanics' Bank by this society in 1810 was an enlightened movement and created no little applause, for up to that period only three banks had been chartered in New York, it not being easy to obtain bank charters unless for the best of reasons; hence, this was esteemed a very valuable franchise. The incentive was to benefit mechanical interests, the charter providing that $600,000 of the stock should be offered to mechanics of the state of New York in preference to any one else—an opportunity by no means overlooked by a large number, whose descendants have little cause to regret the investment. For many years seven of the bank directors were by the terms of the charter chosen from the members of this society, whose president was an ex-officio member of the board; and of that number four must actually follow a mechanical profession. At the outbreak of the war of 1812, this bank, which then had the largest capital of any banking institution in New York, came promptly to the rescue of the government.

The Mechanics' School was instituted in 1820 for the gratuitous education of the children of unfortunate or deceased mechanics and tradesmen, and although at first confined to this special class of pupils, it was found to be such a good school and so admirably conducted that, upon application, other children were admitted on the payment of a moderate sum for tuition. But who paid and who did not was never known among the scholars, and no distinction existed, the poorer children having precisely the same advantages as their more affluent classmates. Rooms were hired at first in a building on the corner of Chatham street and Tryon row; but the society wanted a schoolhouse of its own, and it leased from the city for sixty years a plot of ground in Chambers street, upon which it erected the building that is still standing-Nos. 10, 12, 14. The corner-stone was laid June 13, 1821, with much ceremony, and the structure was dedicated November 26 of the same year as the "Mechanics' Institution." The school became very popular, and through a greater part of its thirty-eight years of existence was self-supporting. It had a classical department, and so high was its course of instruction that its graduates were in demand as teachers for other schools. In 1841 it was reported that forty of the young women who had graduated were teachers in public and other schools in New York. The university of the city and Columbia college both extended the privilege of free scholarships to this noble institution, and the

men.

learned Professor Anthon agreed to have always six scholars from the Mechanics' Society in a course of successive preparation for college in his school, free of all charge for tuition, that they might avail themselves of the proffered scholarships. The whole scheme was uplifting, and its moral effects immeasurable. In an address before the society in 1850, the famous Mordecai M. Noah said: "How are we to account for the rapid progress of our country in arts, civilization, literature, commerce, and science? By our free institutions, the quality of our laws, and, above all, by that free education which visits all alike, from the cottage to the palace. What has led to this prosperous current which is carrying us ahead of all our sister states and cities? Our commerce on the one hand, and the enterprise and laborious industry of our mechanics on the other. The time has arrived when it has become apparent that the destinies of our country are to be placed under the control of the mechanics and laboring Well-educated mechanics will fill our legislatures and the halls of congress; their numerical strength will accumulate until they are able to command the highest stations in the government. In what are we to confide—in what will be our guarantee for the safety of the country? I answer, in the education and intelligence of this class of our citizens. The President of the United States was a mechanic-an apprentice boy, as many of my hearers have been.* True, in after life he studied law, and was a successful practitioner; but he carried into that study and into that practice and into the high station he now adorns the elements of patient industry acquired when he was an apprentice. Should not this important fact stimulate us to aid the apprentice in educating himself, in strengthening his mind, and enlarging his sphere of usefulness? It is our duty to place this Mechanics' School and this Apprentices' Library among the great benevolent institutions of our city. To the poor we give food and raiment, to the widow a home, to the blind and insane an asylum; but to the apprentice we give the means of education, the light of intellect, the power to govern himself and to govern others. We place him at the base of the pedestal, from which, step by step, he may advance to the highest honors which our country offers." The Mechanics' School was not discontinued until 1858, when the increasing merits of the public school system rendered it no longer necessary. The society then established the present free evening school, to enable those engaged in daily occupations to study the mechanical arts.

* Millard Fillmore was elevated to the Presidential chair through the death of President Taylor in 1850. At an early age he was sent from home to learn the clothier's trade, and about four months later was apprenticed to a wool-carder in the town where his father lived.

The Apprentices' Library was founded at the same time as the Mechanics' School, in 1820, and it has carried light and pleasure and information into thousands of homes. This circulating library had been for some time contemplated, and was opened with about four hundred books, in the same building as the school, it having been ascertained by consulting with employers and visiting the various workshops of the city that not less than seven hundred and forty apprentices would like at once to become readers. The new library was accessible in the evening only, the books being received and delivered by a member of the society. But in 1854 a librarian was employed, and ever since then the library has been open daily from eight o'clock in the morning until nine in the evening. Even before the advent of a librarian it was estimated that fourteen thousand volumes were loaned four times in twelve months. At the end of a dozen years the Chambers street building was found too small, and the society purchased a three-story brick school-building in Crosby street-including ground (100 x 100) and furniture-for $20,000, and rented the Chambers street house for offices, continuing in receipt of the income until 1881 when the property reverted to the city. At the time the library was removed along with the school, in October, 1832, to its new home in Crosby street, it contained about ten thousand volumes. In 1837 the continued progress of the society was marked by the building of a lecture-room. A wing was added to each side of the school-building, at a cost of nearly $10,000, and courses of lectures were established for the winter months. Professor Renwick of Columbia college delivered ten lectures on chemistry and natural philosophy; Dr. Harvey, ten on eloquence and general literature; Colonel Knapp, four on miscellaneous themes, and Rev. Dr. Spring and others volunteered several excellent lectures. These were largely attended and proved so acceptable that similar courses have been provided every winter season from that time to this. The society presently desired an entrance to its library and lecture-room from Broadway, and in 1845 purchased the building at 472 Broadway, which was duly ornamented with the hammer and hand, and altered so as to connect in the rear with the Crosby street property. About the same time the legacy of the entire library of Benjamin De Milt, nearly two thousand volumes, added greatly to the value of the collection; and there were other generous gifts of money and books. An unexpected source of income came through the leasing of the lecture-room to the original Christy minstrels, which continued for over twenty-five years notwithstanding numerous members of the society regarded the scheme with disfavor. Hon. Abram S. Hewitt, at the centennial banquet of the

society in 1885, made some very happy allusions to his first acquaintance with this library. His father was a member of the society, and took him to visit it when he was eleven years of age. He was captivated. He said, "For the first time in my life I saw books beyond the wildest dream of my fancy. I said to my father, I am your apprentice, so I can have some of these books?' He replied, 'You can take books; you can take them on my account.' Then and there I took my first book; I carried it home, and I shall never forget the impression that that book made upon me. I had heard a great deal of Shakespeare, and I wished to begin with him. The first play I read was The Tempest. I diligently took volume after volume, until I had read every play of Shakespeare. I am bound to say that, while at that age I could not understand fully the scope of what I read, nevertheless the books I thus took from the Apprentices' Library developed a taste for study which was the foundation of after tastes, and until I went to college I was a regular participant in the advantages of the library. I attended the first course of lectures given by Professor Renwick on chemistry. I am convinced that the courses of lectures given by this society have done much to educate the young men of this country in the application of science to business. The influence of this society was certainly very great, indeed, when it moved one of its members to found the Cooper Institute." Chief Justice Charles P. Daly, who presided at this memorable dinner, also said, "Fifty-seven years ago I was admitted as a mechanic's apprentice to take books out of the library, and had the use of it during the five years of my apprenticeship. To the means of self-instruction then afforded I attribute the future course and avocation of my life; and as I am now within a month of retiring from a judicial office that I have occupied for more than forty-one years, I have a feeling of deep gratitude to an institution that afforded me this assistance in my unaided youth." Ex-Governor John T. Hoffman, in a vein of delicious humor, remarked, "There is a manifest propriety in making Chief Justice Daly your chairman this evening, for not only in early life was he a mechanic's apprentice, but for more than forty years has been on the bench, where, as well as in his library which is his workshop, he has been making cases full of books, and books full of cases."

The public reading-room added in 1856 was thoroughly appreciated by earnest readers from the beginning. Attached to it is a special library of reference containing over six thousand volumes; and one need only glance through the society's reports to observe that before the reading-room had been long in existence as many as thirty-six thousand