We are often reminded that the days of the billionaires are over, that never again, under modern tax laws, can there be the vast accumulations of~fami Iy wealth such as were amassed by the Astors and the Vanderbi Its, the Harrimans and the Carnegies, the Rockefe Ilers and the Fords. For a number of years now the trustees of co I I eges and hosp i ta I s have been tol d they must look to othe r sources for endowment and bui Iding funds than to individual donors.<\/p>\n
The statement is only partly true. Year after year the largest source of funds for America’s non-profit institutions is the aggregate of individual givers.<\/p>\n
Neverthe less it is true that the larger gi fts are comi ng more and more from corporations and foundations.<\/p>\n
The charitable foundation is a peculiar phenomenon of our time, and only a few weeks ago we saw the Ford Foundation make grants to colleges, hospitals and medical schools totaling half a bi Ilion dollars — by far the largest gift ever made from a single source in the whole history of American phi lanthropy.<\/p>\n
Early last fall I commented on the astounding growth of the Rockefeller Foundation’s resources. The same story applies to the Ford Foundation. When they gave away that $500,000,000 a month ago, they gave away more than they possessed, except for a little joker in that particular pack. The Foundation’s holdings were in stock of the Ford Motor Company, which had no established value because it had never been put on the market. The shrewd trustees of the Foundat\u00b7ion very we II knew that, when a large block of that stock went on the market in early 1956, their holdings, carried on the books at less than half a mi Ilion dol lars, could have an actua I va I ue in excess of two bill i on do II ars.<\/p>\n
It is quite possible that in the future the chief support of private education and private hospitalization in America wi I I be great foundations like Ford and Rockefe Iler, and others yet to be formed.<\/p>\n
One of the earliest and most helpful contributors to this program was the late Jotham Hobbs of Fairfield. Since Mr. Hobbs’ death his widow, who had an equal interest with her husband in old time things, has frequently brought valuable items to my attention. Recently she put into my hands a number of things that I shal I bring to your attention during the coming weeks. Tonight I want to refer to just one of those items. It is a handwritten document signed “I vory Lord” and “Jotham Hobbs”. The I atter was the _grandfather of the Jotham Hobbs to whom I have a I ready referred and was a prominent man of Fairfield a hundred years ago. In fact the Hobbs family has been “prominent in Fairfield for a long time. The first settler of that name cleared a farm in 1797 just north of the p I ace where Mrs. Jotham Hobbs now lives on the left of the Fairfield-Skowhegan highway, just OPPOSite Shawmut vi 1-<\/em>lage. Many of the 01 d letters preserved by Mrs. Hobbs are addressed to the 01 d name of that p I ace, Somerset Mi I Is.<\/p>\n Now back to the document in question. It sets forth the specifications for a new school house to be bui It in District No.2 in the town of Fairfield in the year 1849. It was to be 28 x 22 feet and 10 feet to the cei ling, with whatever loft the sloping roof provided. The frame was to be of sound, seasoned hemlock, covered with pine c I apboards:sawe”d” gra i n-.w lese.<\/p>\n AI I my life I have known about cedar shingles, but I did not know that someti mes pine sh i ng les were preferred. Th i s Fa i rfie I d committee speci fied pine sh i ngles by preference, but would approve cedar if pine was not readi Iy avai lab Ie. They also demanded that the outside be primed with pure white lead and linseed oi I as fast as it was finished, and that two additional coats of the same materials be app lied before winter.<\/p>\n Remembering all we hear about red schoolhouses in the old days, notice that th is schoo I house was to be pa i nted whi te. There was to be an entry wi der on the two sides than in the middle~ for at that point was to be a jog from the main room~ where on a platform was to stand the teacher’s desk.<\/p>\n The specifications continue to cal I for the interior fixtures. Besides the outer and inner doors ~ a I I four of wh i ch ca lied for good hardware hinges and I atches ~<\/p>\n a d for the outer doors mortice locks~ the contractor had to bui Id and instal I the desks and seats. Some of uS are just old enough to have used school fixtures like those ca I led for in th i s document.<\/p>\n to the front of the desk behi nd it.<\/p>\n Except for the back row~ each seat was attached In fact the back of the seat was the front of the desk. Each seat and desk accomodated two pupi Is.<\/p>\n In this particular Fairfield schoolhouse the contractor had to provide four tiers of six seats each~ a total of 24. The uprights for the seats were to be morticed into the floor timbers. In short~ back then in 1849~ school desks and seats were not . bought .sepatatEHy’~but were bui It as part of the schoolhouse and fastened to it to stay.<\/p>\n The speci fi cati ons demanded that the seats and desks be made of “good merchantab Ie ~ sap clear pine boards thorough Iy seasoned”. A I I the ins i de wood work, inc I uding the desks and seats~ were painted bluish gray~ and that was exactly the color of the old seats in the Primary A Schoolhouse in Bridgton in 1897. The actual words of the Fairfield specifications are “to have two good coats of pure white lead and Jlinseed oi I and japan colored light slate”.<\/p>\n These 01 d-ti me speci fi cati ons often refer to other buLl di ngs for compari son.<\/p>\n For instance, the plans for Watervi lie’s First Baptist Church in 1826 called for a spire like that on a church in Winthrop, and balconies like those in a church at Hallowell. So the plan for this old schoolhouse says: “The seats and writing desks to be finished after a plan which William Tobey has that he finished a house by in Yassa I borough.<\/p>\n The contractor had not only to bui Id the house and put in desks and seats. He had to provide and set the foundation. The specifications, which were drawn up on May 8, 1849, demanded that the masonry be fi n i shed by November 1, and everyth i ng finished by December 1, except the final two coats of outside paint, which could be put on during December.<\/p>\n What do you suppose the contractor got for a I I that work? Remembe r he had to supply all the materials and provide all the labor. Well, let me quote just what the speci fi cations say: “I f a II is comp leted sati sfactory to the committee before January ” 1850, the contractor shal I then be entitled to his money, to the total amount of $315. N<\/p>\n Then is added what seems to be a ki nd of afterthought, but was incl uded within the same $315: “The contractor is to bui Id a small necessary in a plain way.tT If you don’t know what was called a necessary, you’ve never attended an old-time country schoo I \u2022<\/p>\n The Clinton Advertiser of December 20, 1877 printed a good yarn concerning the old prohibition days. It seems that a stray barrel showed up at the freight house of the Maine Central Rai I road in Portland. It had lost all tags or markings showing consignee or destination. There it lay for a couple of weeks with no claimant.<\/p>\n Meanwhi Ie the freight handlers at the station had determined that the barrel con-.I \u2022\u2022<\/em><\/p>\n tained liquid, and they finally determined to sample it. Boring a hole, they inserted a straw and, after some preliminary smelling and tasting, they pronounced it good Medford rum. After that, straws were inserted frequently and the drinks were long. When the leve I of I i qui d had been appreci ab Iy reduced, one day there appeared at the frei ght house a professor from the Bowdoin Madi ca I School in search of a barre I that had been sh i pped fron New York but had never showed up in Brunswick.<\/p>\n Shown the barrel which had caused so much joy to the freight crew, the professor identified it as the one he was looking for \u2022. The ringleader, who had first proposed tapp i ng the barre I, cou I d not ho I d back his curi os i ty . “What’s in it?” he asked the professor. The reply was dumbfounding: “Oh, it’s only a late departed criminal on his way to the college for dissection.”<\/p>\n Robie Frye, oldest I iving graduate of Colby College, who has already made some fi ne contri butions to th is program, te II s me a good story about forme r Pres i dent Taft. Mr. Frye says that, when Taft was a young man, he took his bride to London.<\/p>\n Soon after their arrival it was announced that Gladstone was to make an important speech in the House of Comnons. Natura Ily Mr. and Mrs. Taft were anxi ous to hear the Great Commoner. So Mr. Taft went to the U.S. Legati on and asked for ti ckets.<\/p>\n He was told that the legation had been allotted only ‘a few tickets and they were all spoken for. But Mr. Taft was persistent, and he was referred to Henry White, then secretary of the legation, who later became a prominent care’er diplomat. White confinmed what Taft had already been told and added that al I tickets had been reserved for very important persons. That so aroused Taft that he vowed then and there that some day he would get even with Henry White.<\/p>\n Years went by and Bi II Taft became Pres i dent of the Uni ted States. ~anwh i Ie Henry White had become the American Ambassador to France. One of Mr. Taft’s first acts was to recall that ambassador.<\/p>\n Now comes the story’s interesting sequel. In 1931 Wi Ifred Lufkin, Collector of Customs at Boston, was in London. Hearing that Ramsay MacDonald, head of the Labor Gove rnment, was to make an important speech in the House of Comnons, Lufk in went to the U. S. Embassy for tickets. He was given the usual brush-off. Then Lufkin told the embassy secretary the story of Mr. Taft’s simi lar encounter with Henry White. The story so delighted the secretary that he gave Lufkin two tickets, saying that was the best he could do. Lufkin had asked for three, because two companions had accompanied him from Boston.<\/p>\n When Lufk in returned to his London hote I, he was prepared to di sappoi nt one of his friends, when he discovered a blank ticket stuck to the back of one of those on which the secretary had written I’8mes. With plenty of American nerve, Lufkin went back to the embassy and asked to have the blank ticket fi lied in with the name of his disappoinTed friend. The secretary refused, but suggested that they go to the House of Commons and tell their story to Sir So and So, who had the final authority.<\/p>\n Lufkin and his companions fol lowed the suggestion and found the British functionary so tickled by the Taft story that he let in the third man without a named ticket.<\/p>\n It has been several months since we talked about words and expressions. Let’s take up a few familiar expressions tonight. When we designate anything as superior, we say it is “A No.1”. How did we get that expression? It is a nautical term coming from Lloyd’s Register, the famous ship insurance group in London. At Lloyd’s the lette r A denoted and sti I I denotes new sh ips. The stores fo r a vesse I are designated either 1 or 2, signifying that she is well or poorly supplied.<\/p>\n How did a kind of muscular stiffness come to be called a “charley-horse”? In the 1890’s a horse named Charley, with a peculiar limp, was well known to all White Sox basebal I fans, for he was The horse that drew the roller around the White Sox park. J-ence The fans applied the term Charley-horse to limping players.<\/p>\n The exp ress i on “make no bones about i t n means “Oon’t hesi tate to be I ieve it, to swa I low it, to do it. You won’t get a bone in your throat.”<\/p>\n Why do we say “between the devi I and the deep blue sea”? Like A No.1, Th is expression has a nautical origin. A seam between the planks of a wooden ship was called a devi I. Such a seam was often on the deck nearest the ship’s side, and was dangerous to calk or fi I I with pitch because there was such a narrow footing. The seaman who did the job had to stand precariously between the devi I and deep blue sea.<\/p>\n Year: 1956<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #290, broadcast on January 29, 1956<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[790,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7594"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7594\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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