4. It shall be the business of the Librarian to keep the books carefully that belong to this Society, and write on each of them, that it belongs to "The Library of the New-Lebanon Juvenile Society for the Acquisition of Knowledge;" to receive all contributions of money or books that may be made by the friends of knowledge and virtue for the encouragement and benefit of the Soci ety; to receive all books that may be lent to the Society: to keep a separate catalogue of them, and an account of the fines received upon them, which shall be paid to the owners of the books; to collect fines and money subscribed, which money he shall lay out for books and such other articles as he shall deem necessary to promote the interest of the Society; to keep a record of the books drawn, and an account, of receipts and expenditures, and to keep all the papers and writings belonging to this Society. 5. It shall be the office of the Secretary to write a record of the proceedings and resolutions of the Society. And as this association is formed with a view to diffuse useful knowledge, and promote virtue as extensively as possible, the Secretary shall exhibit on the meeting house of New Lebanon, once in every six months, an advertisement, inviting all the youth of New Lebanon, between the age of 12 and 21 years, to join this Society : and the Librarian is authorised to admit all such youth as members of the Society, on signing these articles; but no person shall be a member of the Society, who is not between the aforesaid ages. 6. It shall be the duty of the committee to examine the books retuned at each meeting; and on all books damaged by ill usage, they shall lay such fines as they shall deem just and reasonable: tearing, greasing, dirtying, and turning leaves down to be considered as damages done by ill usage. 7. The stated monthly meetings of this Society shall be held at the house of the Librarian, on the first Monday in every month in the year, at six o'clock in the afternoon; when every book before drawn out, shall be returned, in order that they may be inspected and that a new drawing of books may take place. And any member that draws a book and neglects to return it before the stated time aforesaid, shall pay a fine of six cents, and B 2 one cent per day thereafter until it is returned; and if not returned within two months after it was drawn out, the delinquent shall pay for the book at the appraisal of the committee. 8. Any member that is indebted to the Society for fines or otherwise, and neglects to pay the debt within one month after it becomes due, shall be prohibited the use of the Library until it is paid. 9. Any member returning a book, before drawn, to the Librarian, before another meeting, may draw any other one found in the library. 10. The members of this Society shall be divided into six classes, alphabetically, according to the first letters of their sir names, the beginning of the alphabet to draw first, the second class to draw next, and so on at the first, meeting; at the next meeting the first class to draw last, and the second class first, and so on from time to time, by just rotation, each class agreeing among themselves who shall draw first. 11. This Constitution may at any time hereafter be amended or altered if found necessary, by the agreement and consent of two third parts of the members of this Society and not otherwise. 12. The Librarian may, if he shall see fit, hire out books to persons not members of this Society, at the rate of six cents per week for each book. 13. We do agree to pay to the Librarian, the sums of money or its value in such books as he will accept, set against our names, which money he shall lay out for books for the use of the society. We whose names are subscribed do solemnly engage to conform ourselves to this Constitution. In witness whereof we have hereunto set our names." JESSE TORREY, Jun. The following form of an instrument for subscription, is as nearly similar as I can recollect, to the one which I prepared and circulated among the citizens of New Lebanon, during the winter evenings in 1803 and 4. The amount generally subscribed by each was fifty cents;some subscribed a dollar and some 25 cents; others contributed books. The young persons of both sexes, who were possessed of means, also, generally subscribed from 12 cents to a dollar, on signing the articles of the constitution. But many were admitted who contributed nothing. Form of Subscription for Free Libraries. "The subscribers, impressed with the belief, that the general dissemination of useful knowledge and instruction among the rising generation, would tend to the promotion of virtue and happiness, agree to contribute and pay to the amount, or its value in useful books, set respectively against our names; to be appropriated to the institution of a free circulating library. And whenever twelve youth, of either sex, between the age of 12 and 21 years, shall have associated for the purpose of mental improvement, the aforesaid is authorised to deliver the money or books by us subscribed and paid, to such agent or committee as shall be appointed by the society to receive, and purchase books with the same." ESSAYS On the pernicious effects of the habitual intemperate or temperate use of Spirituous Liquors. Verily and sincerely is my conviction of the notorious fact, that, independent of all the other infernal marshals that annoy mankind under the banners of Ignorance, the grand head traitress, (making the brain her head-quarters) Intemperance, her commanding chief, directing a fiery, deathly army of assassins, consisting of millions of battalions of half gills, gills, half pints and pints of whiskey, gin, rum, brandy, &c. &c. treacherously and murderously betraying their poisoned arrows, (with a smile and a kiss) into the sanguem cordis (heart's blood) of their dearest lovers and friends; commits, annually, greater and more irretrievable depredations on the lives, health, wealth, domestic harmony, virtue and morals, and physical power of the aggregate population of the republic of the United States, than a numerous hostile army could inflict by a perpetual warfare! A few days after having written the above paragraph, looking over a bundle of old pamphlets, I met with an account of the proceedings of that benevolent association of people generally styled Quakers, "for promoting the improvement and civilization of the Indian natives." Here I found a speech addressed to the committee of Friends, at Baltimore, by the Indian Chief called the Little Turtle, in 1802. I consider it a still more superb and moving specimen of Indian eloquence than that of Logan-It is a pathetic sermon or epitaph on thousands of his poisoned brethren! As short as it is, before I could go through it, I was several times compelled to pause, until I could suppress the sympathetic emotions which it excited, and recover my interrupted vision from irresitible suffusions of moisture. Who, that has not a heart of flint and an eye of horn, can view this picture, drawn by an unlettered savage, and then wheel his eye over the frightful portraiture, (as large, and no less real than life) which exhibits the present assimilated condition of us civilized white men, with apathy? Here is the speech: “Brothers and friends-When our forefathers first met on this island, your red brethren were very numerous. But since the introduction amongst us of what you call spirituous liquors, and what we think may be justly called POISON, our numbers are greatly diminished. It has destroyed a great part of your red brethren. My Brothers and Friends-We plainly perceive, that you see the very evil which destroys your red brethren; it is not an evil of our own making; we have not placed it amongst ourselves; it is an evil placed amongst us by the white people; we look to them to remove it out of our country. We tell them-brethren fetch us useful things; bring goods that will clothe us, our women and our chil dren, and not this evil liquor that destroys our reason, that destroys our health, that destroys our lives. But all we can say on this subject is of no service, nor gives relief to your red brethren. "My Brothers and Friends-I rejoice to find that you agree in opinion with us, and express an anxiety to be, if possible, of service to us in removing this great evil out of our country; an evil which has had so much room in it, and has destroyed so many of our lives, that it causes our young men to say, we had better be at war with the white people, this liquor which they introduce into our country, is more to be feared than the gum and the tomahawk. There are more of us dead since the treaty of Greenville, than we lost by the six years war before. It is all owing to the introduction of this liquor amongst U8." "Brothers-When our young men have been out hunting, and are returning home loaded with skins and furs, on their way, if it happens that they come along where some of this whiskey is deposited, the white man who sells it, tells them to take a little drink; some of them will say no, I do not want it; they go on till they come to another house, where they find more of the same kind of drink; it is there offered again; they refuse; and again the third time; but finally the fourth or fifth time one accepts of it and takes a drink, and getting one, he wants another; and then a third and fourth, till his senses have left him. After his reason comes back again to him, when he gets up and finds where he is, he asks for his peltry-the an swer is " you have drank them"-where is my gun? "It is gone;" where is my blanket? It is gone;" where is my shirt? "you have sold it for whiskey!!". Now, Brothers, figure to yourselves what condition this man must be iu. He has a family at home; a wife and chil dren, who stand in need of the profits of his hunting. What must be their wants, when he himself is even without a shirt !" 64 One of the most prominent advantages of civilization over the savage state, is considered to be the protection of the rights of the social compact and it members, by equitable laws, from aggressions of individuals. Let us inquire whether the habitual drinker of distilled spirits does not, first by anticipation, and eventually in reality, plunder the public treasury? A rich man, or a poor man, no matter which, (for Intemperance, like its legiti mate successor, Death, soon levels all distinctions as to fortune, and the former does also, in dignity and respectability) and perhaps honest, except his fatal mistake, of being willing to sacrifice his health, life, property, reputa tion, his wife and children, together with almost every source of social enjoyment to the heathenish God of stills, swallows daily the worth of a given amount in distilled spirits, exceeding the collateral income of his trade, |