USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1875 > Part 14
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SEC. 27. No company shall draw water from the reservoirs, except in case of fire, unless by special permission of the Chief Engineer, nor shall any engine, hose, or hook and ladder be taken to a fire out of the city, without permission of an engineer; nor shall any apparatus of the Fire Department be taken from the city, other than to a fire, without permission from the Mayor and Aldermen.
SEC. 28. No person under the age of eighteen years shall be employed or act as a member of the Fire Department; nor shall any person be so employed or so act unless he is a citizen of the United States.
SEC. 29. There shall be paid to each member of the Department, such sum, in semi-annual payments, as the City Council may from time to time deter- mine; and any member of the Fire Department who shall perform the duties for a less term than one year, shall be paid pro rata, for the number of months he may have been in service; but no compensation shall be allowed for a less term of service than three months.
SEC. 30. The members of the several companies shall not assemble in the houses intrusted to their care on the Sabbath, except for the purpose of taking the engine or apparatus, on an alarm of fire, and of returning the same to the house, and taking the necessary care of said apparatus after its return, and any member violating this regulation herein made, shall be liable to be discharged from the Department by the Mayor and Aldermen. This regula- tion shall not apply to the officers and stewards of the several companies.
Sec. 31. No person shall bring into, or suffer to remain in, any building occupied by any Company in the Fire Department, any cards, dice or other articles used for gaming, nor shall any intoxicating liquor be kept or used therein, and no person not a member of the Fire Department shall frequent the house of any fire company ; nor shall any person under the age of eighteen years, run with any such company.
SEC. 32. No person shall insult, menace, hinder, obstruct, oppose or give an order to any Engineer or fireman while on duty, nor shall any person pre- sume to act as a member of any company belonging to the Fire Department of the City of Worcester until he has been duly appointed and qualified.
SEC. 33. No fire engine, hook and ladder truck, or hose carriage shall, in going to or returning from any fire, or at any other time, be run, driven, wheeled, drawn or placed on any sidewalk, except by the special order of the Chief Engineer, or of an Assistant Engineer.
SEC. 34. In case of an alarm of fire the several bells of the city shall be rung or tolled and the whistles sounded under such rules and regulations as
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the Board of Engineers shall from time to time prescribe, and no person shall knowingly give a false alarm of fire, or knowingly proclaim that any fire is extinguished or out when it is not.
SEC. 35. No person shall keep or suffer to be kept in any building or tene- ment occupied by him within the limits of said city any friction match, or matches, unless the same be kept inclosed and well secured, in a box or ves- sel of iron, or some other incombustible material.
SEC. 36. No person shall keep ashes in any vessel made of wood; nor shall any person set on fire any straw, shavings, or other combustible materi- als, in any street, lane, alley, or other place in said city, except between sun- rise and sunset.
SEC. 37. No person shall carry fire in or through any street, highway, lane, alley, or public place in said city, except in some covered, secure vessel; nor shall any person have in his possession in any rope-walk, barn or stable in said city, any fire, liglited pipe or segar, nor lighted candle or lamp, except such candle or lamp is kept in a secure lantern.
SEC. 38. No person shall carry into, or use in any barn, stable, hay-loft, or other place in said city in which hay or straw is kept or used, any lighted candle, or lamp, not inclosed in a lantern, nor any lighted pipe or segar.
SEC. 39. No person shall leave any shavings, straw or other combustible matter, in any highway, street, lane, or other public place, or in any other situation in said city, exposed to fire.
SEC. 40. The tenant of each and every workshop in said city, shall, at least once in six days, cause all shavings in such shop to be removed therefrom to some suitable or safe place.
SEC. 41. The municipal year of the Fire Department shall begin on the first Monday of January annually at 6 o'clock P. M.
SEC. 42. Whoever violates any provision of this ordinance shall forfeit and pay to the use of the city of Worcester a sum not exceeding twenty dollars.
SEC. 43. The nineteenth chapter of the Laws and Ordinances of tlie City of Worcester is hereby repealed; but such repeal shall not affect any act done, or the tenure of office of any person holding office at the time it takes effect.
SEC. 44. This ordinance shall take effect from and after its passage.
FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
REPORTS
OF THE
DIRECTORS AND LIBRARIAN.
DIRECTORS IN 1876.
TERM EXPIRES.
CHARLES O. THOMPSON,
CHARLES H. MORGAN,
Jan. 1, 1877
THOMAS L. NELSON,
THOMAS E. ST. JOHN, 1878
CHARLES H. DOE,
JOHN J. POWER,
66 1879
GEORGE E. FRANCIS,
EDWARD EARLE,
66 1880
PETER C. BACON,
EDWARD H. HALL,
1881
NATHANIEL PAINE,
J. EVARTS GREENE,
66 1882
ORGANIZATION FOR THE YEAR 1876.
PRESIDENT. T. L. NELSON.
SECRETARY AND TREASURER. NATHANIEL PAINE.
COMMITTEE ON THE LIBRARY.
C. O. THOMPSON, T. E. ST. JOHN, G. E. FRANCIS, P. C. BACON, E. H. HALL.
COMMITTEE ON THE READING ROOM.
CHARLES H. DOE, J. EVARTS GREENE, EDWARD EARLE.
C. H. MORGAN,
COMMITTEE ON THE BUILDING. EDWARD EARLE, J. J. POWER.
N. PAINE,
COMMITTEE ON FINANCE. P. C. BACON, CHARLES H. DOE.
LIBRARIAN. SAMUEL S. GREEN.
MISS SARAHI F. EARLE, Assistant Librarian, Green Library. MISS JESSIE E. TYLER, Assistant Librarian, Circulating Library.
DIRECTORS' REPORT.
To the Honorable Clark Jillson, Mayor, and the City Council of the City of Worcester :
THE Directors of the Free Public Library respectfully submit their Sixteenth Annual Report.
The Report of Mr. Samuel S. Green, the Librarian, and the reports of the several Standing Committees of the Board, here- with transmitted, contain full information relative to the condi- tion of the Library at the present time, and its management during the year.
The additions to the Library the past year have been as fol- lows : To the Green Library, by gift, 9 books and 2 pam- phlets, by purchase from the Green Library Fund 443 books and 36 pamphlets ; from other sources 26 books and 26 pamphlets ; in all 522. To the Circulating and Intermediate Departments, by gift, 215 books and 299 pamphlets ; volumes of magazines and newspapers from the Reading Room bound and placed in the Intermediate Department, 170; purchased for the Circulating and Intermediate Departments, from the City Appropriation, 2,657 books and 72 pamphlets; in all, 3,042 books and 371 pamphlets. The total increase in all the Departments has been 3,955.
The number of volumes in the Library is as follows :
Green Library,
17,407
Intermediate Department,
5,566
Circulating Department,
14,996
Total,
37,969
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CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 30.
There has been a most gratifying increase in the use of the Library during the year. The number of books given out in the Circulating Department, has been 122,456, being an in- crease of 19,881 over the year 1874. The number of persons consulting the Green Reference Library has been 22,833, an in- crease over the previous year of 2,283. The Sunday use of the Library has also continued to increase. The whole number of persons visiting the Library on Sundays has been 10,142, mak- ing an average of 195 persons for each Sunday. The whole in- crease in the Sunday attendance has been 2,963, and in the average attendance 57, over the previous year.
The Reading Room has been open to the public on every day of the year. Full use of the Reference Department of the Green Library has been allowed every day in the year, except six legal holidays and Memorial Day, and on those days books from this department have been procurable for use in the lower reading room upon application to the assistant in attendance. The Cir- culating Department has been kept open 306 days and has been closed only on Sundays and holidays.
The losses of the Library during the year have been insignifi- cant, not exceeding 13 volumes.
The Catalogue of the Green Library is now complete.
The Standing Committee on the Library for the last year has consisted of Rev. Wm. R. Huntington, D. D., Prof, C. O. Thompson, Nathaniel Paine, Esq., Rev. T. E. St. John, and Geo. E. Francis, M. D. To them and to the Librarian is com- mitted the duty of preparing the list of books to be submitted to the Board for their approval before purchase, and this most important service has been performed by them with great faith- fulness and vigilance.
The Report of the Committee on the Reading Room, C. H. Doe, Esq., Rev. J. J. Power, and Rev. E. H. Hall, exhibits the progress and condition of this most attractive and useful depart- ment.
The Report of Nathaniel Paine, Esq., the Treasurer of the
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Reading Room Fund, shows that the amount of this fund is now $10,650, invested as follows ;
City of Worcester Bonds,
$5,000 00
United States Bonds,
5,650 00
Total,
$10,650 00
The amount of the revenue of this Department, and the man- ner in which it has been appropriated, appears in the Treasurer's Report.
The Report of the Committee on the Library Building, con- sisting of C. H. Morgan, Esq., Hon. Edward Earle, and Hon. P. C. Bacon, calls attention to the fact that more room is needed for all the departments, within easy reach of the attendants, and that this want can be supplied at a very moderate cost, by mak- ing available for this purpose, the unoccupied room in the French roof by means of a Water Pressure Elevator, which will give easy and rapid access to all parts of the building. The atten- tion of the Honorable City Council is respectfully solicited to their recommendations.
The Report of the Committee on Finance, Nathaniel Paine, Esq., T. L. Nelson, and Hon. P. C. Bacon, exhibits in detail the manner in which the City appropriation has been expended. It also shows the condition of the Green Library Fund. The income derived from this fund for the year has been $2,645.07,- one-fourth of which, $661.27, has been added to the principal, as required by the will of Dr. Green. The balance, $1,983.80, has been appropriated for the purchase of books for the Green Library. The fund now amounts to $35,724.23, and is invested as follows :
Notes secured by mortgage,
$24,548 50
Bank Stocks (par value),
6,700 00
Deposited in Savings Banks,
4,475 73
Total, 29
$35,724 23
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CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 30.
For further information respecting this fund, and for the man- ner in which the City Appropriation has been expended, refer- ence is made to the Report of the Committee.
The Report of our accomplished Librarian, Mr. Green, ex- hibits with great minuteness and detail, the condition of the Li- brary, and the operations of its various departments. It is replete with information touching the characteristics of the library and of the additions which have been made to it during the year, both from the fund for which the city is indebted to the munificence of Dr. John Green, as well as from the liberal appropriations which the City Council have placed at the dispo- sal of the Directors.
The Directors have taken great pains that the books added to the Library should be of the highest character, and adapted to the peculiar wants of a community such as ours.
T. L. NELSON,
President.
FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY,
January 31, 1876.
REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN
OF THE
FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
To Thomas L. Nelson, Esquire, President of the Board of Directors of the Free Public Library.
HEREWITH I present my fifth annual report as librarian. The most striking feature in the history of the library during the past year, as in the year before, has been the great increase in its use in all its departments. While dulness prevails everywhere around us, this institution has presented a scene of intense activity, and its resources have been taxed to the utmost to meet the regular demands of users.
With this single introductory remark I proceed to give the statistics which belong to my report, and to state what work has been done in the library during the last year.
NUMBER OF VOLUMES IN THE LIBRARY.
The following figures show the number of volumes in the dif- ferent departments of the library, and the whole number of volumes belonging to it December 1, 1875 :
Green Library,
17,407
Intermediate Departments,
5,566
Circulating Department,
14,996
Total,
37,969
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CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 30.
These figures have been obtained by adding to the results of what I regard as a careful count of the volumes contained in the library July 1, 1875, the number of volumes put into the library between that date and December 1, as shown by the en- tries in our accessions catalogues.
ADDITIONS
have been made to the library, as follows, during the past year,- that is, from December 1, 1874, to November 30, 1875 :
BOOKS. PAMPHLETS AND PAPERS.
Gifts to the Green Library,
9
2
Purchases from Green Library Fund,
443
36
Additions to Green Library from other sources,
26
26
478
64
Gifts placed in the Intermediate and Circulating Departments,
215
299
Volumes bound and placed in the Intermediate
Department :-
Magazines,
96
Newspapers,
74
170
Purchases for the Intermediate and Circulating Departments,
2,657
72
3,042
371
It appears from this statement that a smaller number of books has been added to the library during the past year than in the one preceding. The explanation of this circumstance in the case of the Intermediate and Circulating departments is obvious. Less money was placed at our disposal during the last year than in the year before. Therefore fewer books were bought. A large number of unfilled orders are outstanding for books to be added to the Green library. When these come to hand, they will swell the number of additions to this department. In the year 1873-4, 586 volumes were placed in the Green library,
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FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
and 3,626 in the circulating and intermediate departments. During the year 1874-5, 478 and 3,042 books, respectively, were placed in these two divisions of the library.
A list of givers has been prepared, and will be found appended to this report. The United States government, through several of its departments, has given us 70 volumes and 22 pam- phlets. Senator Washburn has sent us 32 volumes, and Hon- orable George F. Hoar, 19 volumes and 44 pamphlets. We are indebted to Professor Alexander Agassiz and the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge for 6 books and 48 pamphlets. This gift includes a set of the reports of the trus- tees of the museum, and of the bulletins issued by it, and such portions of the illustrated catalogue of the institution as we needed in completing our set. Especially valuable is the elabo- rate and profusely illustrated treatise of Professor A. Agassiz himself, entitled Revision of the Echini. The American Anti- quarian Society, and Mr. Haven, its Librarian, deserve hearty thanks for their generous response to our application for assist- ance in perfecting our set of the society's Proceedings. We have received from them, in addition to volume 4 of the Archæo- logia, 22 numbers of the Proceedings. Many of these are very rare, some of them hardly procurable. Although charged to us on our exchange account, these rare publications are placed in the account at a price which is only nominal. Emory Banister, Esq., has given us a valuable volume of orations and addresses. Many of these are copies which were sent by the authors to the late Rev. Dr. Austin, and many, too, are of especial interest in this city, because they are productions of our own citizens, or were delivered in Worcester in times which we call olden. The State of Massachusetts has given us 20 volumes and 3 pamphlets ; Miss Sarah F. Earle, 6 volumes and 30 pamphlets ; and Miss Susan B. Anthony, 3 volumes. Drew, Allis & Co., have, as in previous years, made us a present of 3 directories. Hon. J. Hammond Trumbull has given us one of his valuable monographs on subjects connected with the North American Indians.
Some of our resident authors have kindly remembered us by
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CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 30.
sending to the library copies of some of their works. Honorable Alexander H. Bullock has given us a copy of his much prized address, entitled Intellectual Leadership Illustrated in American History ; and Honorable Stephen Salisbury two copies of his carefully prepared paper on Troy and Homer. Mr. Charles H. Doe has given us an autograph copy of Buffets; and Mr. E. B. Crane, a volume containing his account of the Genea- logy of the Rawson Family. From Reverend Henry T. Cheever we have received eight volumes written by him several years ago. They are upon various subjects, but largely devoted to experiences and observations while traveling or residing away from home. We are indebted to our townsman, Hon. Phinehas Ball, for a copy of reports made by him in regard to the Springfield Water Works, and to Honorable George F. Hoar for copies of speeches delivered by him in Congress. Mr. C. P. Morrison has presented us four pieces of music composed by him. Among former residents of Worcester who have remembered us.during the past year by sending us results of their literary labors, are John K. Tiffany, Esq., of St. Louis, to whom we are indebted for a copy of his extensive bibliographical work called the Philatelical Library; Governor Daniel H. Chamberlain of South Carolina, who has sent us a copy of his oration delivered before the Yale Law School "On some of the relations and pres- ent duties of the legal profession to our public life and affairs ; " Professor Pliny E. Chase, of Philadelphia; and Hamilton A. Hill, Esq., of Boston.
In the last two numbers of the Proceedings of the Antiquarian Society, which the Society gives us, I find papers or reports writ- ten by Samuel F. Haven, Esquire, and our former distinguished townsman, Judge Benjamin F. Thomas, besides the elaborate pa- per of Mr. Salisbury, acknowledged above.
In the last report it was stated that a valuable gift of books had been received from the Mayor, aldermen and citizens of Worcester, England. It appears now, that these books, although sent to us through the municipal government of Old Worcester, are really the gift of Alexander Clunes Sherriff, Esquire, Member of Parliament for that city. An acknowledgment of his gift,
223
FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
you will remember, has been made to Mr Sherriff. The books have also been properly marked so as to show the giver.
No set of books has been bought during the past year which stands out conspicuous for its voluminousness or cost. All the books, however, which have been added to the library, are valua- ble and have been selected with great care. Many of the addi- tions are copies of the choicest works in literature. In the de- partments of history, biography and travels, the most expensive and one of the most important purchases of the year is the extensive collection of old voyages and travels, issued by the Hakluyt Society of London. Fifty-two volumes have already been published in this serial. In the last report it was announced that we had procured a copy of Michelet's Histoire de France in 17 volumes. We have this year bought copies of the histories of France by Sismondi and Martin, the one in 31, and the other in 17 volumes. We have also bought Sismondi's great work on the Italian republics of the middle ages, in 10 volumes, and Napier's Florentine History in 6 volumes. A valuable addition is the collection made by Henry Ellis of Original Letters illustra- tive of English history. We have secured a fine copy of the three series of this work in 11 volumes. We have recently received from Germany, a copy of the original German edition of Schlie- mann's work on the remains found at the reputed site of Troy. The text of this work is accompanied by a portfolio containing profuse photographic illustrations of the objects discovered. From Paris have come several of Brasseur de Bourbourg's works on the antiquities of America, and among them his elegant folio volume on the old monuments of Mexico. Fine illustrated editions of Froissart's and Monstrelet's Chronicles, each in 13 volumes, have been added to the library during the year. We have secured several of the works of George Catlin on the American Indians, including his portfolio of sketches, and have completed our set of Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes of North America. Monographs relating to the Concord fight and the battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill, and accounts of recent Centennial celebrations, have been carefully collected.
I cannot speak at further length of the additions to the depart-
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CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 30.
ments of history, biography and travels, and will only append the following list of some of them :
Letters and Life of Lord Bacon, by James Spedding ; Ban- croft's Native Races of the Pacific States; William Robertson's works, in 12 volumes ; a series of choice autobiographies in 33 volumes ; Jomini's scarce life of Napoleon ; the new edition of Smiles's Lives of the Engineers ; the volumes issued of the Comte de Paris's history of the civil war in America, both in French and in English ; a duplicate copy of Knight's History of Eng- land, 10 volumes ; George Sand's Histoire de ma vie, 10 vol- umes ; Elliot's Debates on the Federal Constitution, 5 volumes ; Theiner's Acta Genuina SS. Oecumenici Concilii Tridentini; a set of Macmillan's Statesman's Year Book; the two series of French's Historical Collections of Florida and Louisiana; Lives of Count Cavour and the Mexican Emperor, Maximilian ; Koldewey's German Arctic Expedition ; Asher and Adams's Atlas and Gazetteer of the United States ; the Harvard Book, 2 vols .; Sanderson's Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of In- dependence ; Gray's Atlas of the United States, &c. ; Memoirs of Bartholomew Fair, by Henry Morley ; the volumes of the new edition of Prescott's works ; the parts of Smith's Historical At- las of Ancient Geography that have appeared during the year ; Bertall's Communists of Paris, 1871; Smith's Vagabondiana ; Black's Life of Michael Angelo ; Schmid and Stieler's Bavarian Highlands and the Salzkammergut; Marcoy's Travels in South America ; and George Smith's Assyrian discoveries.
Numerous additions have been made during the past year to the departments which may be grouped under the general heads of the Natural Sciences and the Industrial Arts.
Volumes of Specifications and Drawings of Patents have been sent to us as soon as issued, and the volumes of the General sub- ject matter index of Patents (1790-1873), were promptly pro- cured as they came from the press. It was thought wise to secure also a duplicate set of the Patent Office Reports for the years 1847-1871, and this series has been bought.
A valuable addition to the collection of works placed in the
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library with the purpose of aiding the industries of the city, are the volumes of Le Garde-Meuble, issued since the beginning of the year 1860. This work is composed of colored plates giving representations of pieces of furniture and of hangings, and is of interest, not only to cabinet makers and upholsterers, but to all of the numerous class of persons who are aiming to furnish their homes tastefully. Among other important and useful books belonging to the departments now under consideration, and which have been added since the last report was written, are the following :
B. F. Isherwood's Experimental Researches in Steam Engi- neering; Weissenborn's American Locomotive Engineering ; the introductory volume of the new edition of Percy's Metallurgy ; the volumes that have been issued of Knight's Mechanical Dic- tionary ; Senefelder's Complete Course of Lithography ; Public Health reports and papers ; Weinhold's Introduction to Ex- perimental Physics ; Beale's How to work with the Microscope ; Griffith and Henfrey's Micrographic Dictionary ; Wilson and Bonaparte's American Ornithology, in five volumes, quarto ; two copies of Emerson's new edition of his Report on the trees and shrubs growing naturally in the forests of Massachusetts, one of the copies with the plates colored ; and Scammon's Marine Mam- mals of the Northwestern Coast of North America. We have also secured during the year, a set of the Transactions of the Society of Engineers, which has its headquarters in London.
The most costly addition to the Department of the Fine Arts, is probably the Musée Royal, in two folio volumes. This work, it will be remembered, is supplementary to the Musée Français, an elegant reproduction in engraving of the finest works of art collected in the Louvre gallery in the time of Napoleon the first. The Musée Français has been of great service to persons inter- ested in the study of painting, sculpture and engraving, and has been much used by students. These supplementary volumes will undoubtedly prove as useful and improving as those of the main work. We have procured copies of Meyrick's Ancient Armour, in 3 volumes; of Flaxman's Compositions from the divine poem of
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