AID FUND.

OME account of the AID FUND established by Miss Lydia Carpenter, of Pawtucket, may naturally be expected in The following letter, which was read to the Corporation at its annual meeting held in September, 1860, presents in brief the facts pertaining to the history of this Fund:

connection with the Scholarships.

REV. BARNAS SEARS, PRESIDENT OF BROWN UNIVERSITY

RESPECTED SIR-Miss Lydia Carpenter, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, requests me to place in your possession the inclosed note of the Corliss Steam Engine Co., for $4,000, dated December 3, 1859, payable in four months from date, (3-6 of April next.) She also incloses $83.10, the four months interest thereof.

This note, with the $1,000 heretofore (in March, 1858) placed by her at your disposal, making the principal sum of $5,000, is a donation from her to the University, under the following arrangements and conditions:

To establish a fund to be called the AID FUND, which is to be applied to help deserving students, who may need aid after their admission into Brown University, to obtain a Collegiate education therein, by loans or gifts from the Fund, or from its income.

The principal sum of Fund never to be reduced by its use below four thousand dollars.

The Fund to be invested and kept by the Treasurer separate from other funds of the University, and payments on account thereof to be made only on the written order of the President of the University, actual or acting as such; and no payments to be made which shall reduce the Fund below, or when it is below, $4,000.

All appropriations out of the Fund shall hereafter be made according to the direction of a standing committee of three persons, of which the President of the University, acting or officiating as such, shall be chairman, and Thomas Carpenter, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, shall be one, and William S. Patten, of Providence, shall be one.

When a vacancy occurs in the committee by the death, resignation, or disability of either or both of the last named members, the Chancellor of the University shall fill the first vacancy, and the Secretary of the Corporation the second; and thereafter the committee shall be the President, and the Chancellor and the Secretary of the Corporation "ex officiis."

The committee shall keep minutes of their doings, without giving unnecessary publicity thereof. Their high official stations will insure impartiality in the administration of the Fund.

By not calling the Fund by the name of any person, it is left an open fund, inviting increase by contributions from others, who will be at liberty to identify their donation to the AID FUND by such name and subject to such mode of application, not inconsistent with the general object, as they shall appoint.

The appropriations already made by the President out of the $1,000 heretofore given, are approved and adopted by the donor, and are made in conformity with this donation and her intentions.

I am requested to ask that no needless notoriety be given to the name of the person who has employed my agency in this communication.

Providence, March 9, 1860,

Respectfully yours,

WILLIAM S. PATTEN.

Upon the receipt of the foregoing communication by the Executive Board, the following votes were passed:

VOTED, That the Executive Board of Brown University accept the gift from Miss Lydia Carpenter, of Pawucket, Rhode Island, of $5,000 to the University for an AID FUND, and on the terms thereon.

VOTED, That this University hereby express with gratitude the obligations of the University to her for her unexpected and munificent gift; aware that words of praise can add but little to the conscious enjoyment of one who conceives and performs so noble a benefaction, the influence of which will not cease to cheer the depressed spirits and smooth the toilsome way of the indigent student, as he labors to obtain knowledge and virtue, so long as they are dispensed by this University.

VOTED, That a copy of these votes be sent to Miss Carpenter, signed by the Presi dent and Secretary of this Board, and that the letter with the action of this Board thereupon, be communicated by the President to the Corporation at their next meeting.

The Corporation fully approved of the action of the Executive Board, accepting the donation of five thousand dollars from Miss Carpenter, with all its conditions and restrictions. Miss Carpen

ter afterwards presented to the Treasurer of the University the sum of three hundred and fifty-eight dollars to make up the cost of a certificate of United States six per cent. stock, for the sum of five thousand dollars, which sum now constitutes the AID FUND. The founder of the AID FUND, it may be added, is a maiden lady upwards of seventy years of age, and a worthy member of the First Baptist Church in Pawtucket. She was baptized by the Rev. Dr. Benedict, during the early part of his ministry in that town.

It may be proper to state here, that previous to the establishment of the AID FUND, Mr. Seth Padelford paid into the Treasury the sum of three hundred dollars, to be expended under the direction of President Sears and Professor Hill, in settling the College bills of meritorious students.

FUNDS AND TREASURERS.

UBSCRIPTIONS for the endowment of the College in the

To

beginning were obtained, as we have already seen, by the Rev. Messrs. Edwards and Smith. The amount of benefactions thus secured, a part of which constituted the first permanent funds of the College, was about seven thousand dollars. increase these funds, and also to aid in defraying the current expenses of the Institution, subscriptions were solicited throughout the State and colonies, especially among the Baptists. The records of the Philadelphia, Charleston, and Warren Associations have frequent mention of the College, and of efforts on its behalf. In 1774, these Associations recommended "every member to pay SIXPENCE STERLING annually, for three years successively, to their Elder, or some suitable person; this money to be paid to the Treasurer of the College." At the same time, says Benedict in his history, the Rev. Messrs. John Gano, Oliver Hart and Francis Pelot were appointed to address the various Baptist associations throughout America, and urge their coöperation in procuring funds for Rhode Island College. To what extent these efforts were successful, we have no means at hand for ascertaining. The disturbances of this early period, the breaking out of the American war, and the consequent interruption of Collegiate exercises, turned the thoughts of the people into other channels, and institutions of learning were for a time forgotten.

The first Treasurer of the College was John Tillinghast, Esq., of Newport, who was elected to this office at the annual meeting of the Corporation held in 1764. His duties it is to be presumed were not especially arduous, as College instruction did not begin until the following year, when Mr. Manning was formally appointed President. No annual reports of his appear on file, and no further mention is made of the Treasurer until 1767, when, his term of service having expired, Col. Job Bennet, also of Newport, was appointed his successor. According to the record

The Rev. Edward Upham and Mr. Edward Thurston, Jr., were appointed a committee to receive of John Tillinghast, Esq., late Treasurer of this College, his accounts and papers, and deliver them to Job Bennet, Esq., the present Treasurer.

Mr. Tillinghast attended the meeting at Warren which determined the location of the College, after which his name does not appear in the records of the Corporation until 1776, when having deceased, Mr. Cahoon was appointed a Trustee in his place. From the reports of his successor in office, it appears that he subscribed and paid towards founding and endowing the Institution one hundred pounds.

We present a few extracts from Col. Bennet's reports, in order to place on permanent record the names of some of the early benefactors of the College. The amounts, it will be observed, are in New England currency, six shillings to the dollar :