probating his will. There seemed little prospect of such a windfall, however, until just before the time-limit was to expire, when the astounded board was notified, in March, 1877, of "a munificent donation" of $50,000 from Caleb S. Green and Charles E. Green, residuary legatees under the will of the late John C. Green, through his widow, Mrs. Sarah H. Green, thus securing to the institution the whole Dorr bequest.

Overjoyed at this unlooked-for benefaction, which far transcended their fondest dreams, and which in all was more than double the noted Bromfield gift to the Boston Athenæum in 1846,-an instance of intelligent generosity repeatedly brought forward as a precedent by successive appeals in behalf of the Library,—the Trustees at once returned suitable thanks and ordered the new funds to be deposited in the National Bank of Commerce, their investment to be subject to the direction of Robert Lenox Kennedy, to whom they extended a hearty appreciation of "the munificent result of his zealous efforts in procuring . . the donation just received." Soon afterward the "free use of the Library" during their respective lifetimes was tendered to Mrs. Green and to the Messrs. Green.

In deference to the expressed wishes of Mrs. Green, a special by-law, recommended by Messrs. Kennedy, Nash and Drisler, was passed in June, entitled "Of the John C. Green Fund," in brief as follows:

1. That the said endowment of $50,000 be forever "kept invested in such interest-bearing securities as are allowed by law for the investment of trust funds," and not to be used "in the purchase of lands, or the construction or repair of buildings"; the said fund to be kept invested by itself and its "condition" to be given in the Treasurer's yearly report.

THE JOHN C. GREEN ENDOWMENT

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2. The net income thereof to be "applied to the purchase and binding of books," each book to be labeled or stamped, "Purchased from the income of the John C. Green endowment."

3. "The alcove in the library-room fronting the entrance from the stairs" to be set apart for these books with "a bust or portrait of Mr. Green," and to "be designated the John C. Green Alcove."

4. One half of the income of the fund to be applied to "the purchase and binding of works relating to the Fine Arts," and not to be loaned save to Mrs. Green; "the residue of said income to be applied to the purchase and binding of books of General Literature, excluding, however, all works of prose fiction." 5. The annual report to contain a list of books bought from this income.

6. This by-law, "in the nature of an agreement with the donors," to be "of perpetual obligation."

Such was the noble foundation of the Green Art Collection of the Society Library, an endowment that has brought prestige not alone to the institution but to the great city of New York as well. After the lapse of a full generation it stands to-day, as it will stand for all time, a monument indeed more enduring than bronze or marble to the enlightened philanthropy of its founders. Honor is due also in no slight degree to those gentlemen whose cultivated judgment and unwearied devotion have been so freely offered year by year in its further enrichment. As has already been said, the nucleus of this collection, as also the elegant decoration of the alcove, was the princely gift of Robert Lenox Kennedy, in memory of his friend Mr. Green.

John Cleve Green, a great-grandson of the Rev. Jonathan Dickinson, first president of the College of New Jersey, was for years a well-known and prosperous figure of the old China trade, and director in manifold

financial, railway and charitable organizations. He left a fortune of over four millions to "the cause of Christian education," a large portion of which served to endow the school of science at Princeton and the celebrated academy at Lawrenceville, N. J., his birthplace. His wife, Sarah H. Griswold, was a daughter of George Griswold, one of the noble "old merchants" of New York, whose counting-house Mr. Green had entered as a youth. Closely following these legacies came a third bequest, $3000 from the estate of George J. Foster. This sum was received in April, 1878, with no less satisfaction for its being somewhat overshadowed in amount by the previous donations. Like them it was at once invested in bond and mortgage, its income alone to be used in the purchase of books.

The quarter-century ending with April, 1879, therefore, left the Library in by far the most prosperous state in its history hitherto. The value of its property on University place (books excepted) was then estimated at $130,000,-the insurance on the building being $44,000, with $46,000 on the books,-while in addition the total gift funds of $58,000 were securely invested in "improved property in the city of New York worth double that amount." Consequently it was wholly proper for the Trustees to "feel themselves authorized to congratulate the Shareholders on the general state of the trust committed to their charge, and the great improvement of the establishment during the past year"; and, for the future, to hope "that the friends of the Library will not remit their endeavors to increase the fund for the purchase of books."2

This chapter cannot be concluded without chronicling * Annual Report, 1879, p. 4.

1 Annual Report, 1878, p. 4.

2

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