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Popular passagesI., pnge 413. nearer home, of the most praiseworthy and successful cultivation of useful knowledge, on the part of an individual, without education, busily employed in mechanical industry. I have the pleasure to be acquainted, in one of the neighboring towns, with a person, who was brought up to the trade of a leatherdresser, and has all his life worked, and still works, at this business... Page 48 The example of the poor apprentice, of the hard-working journeyman-printer, who rose to the heights of usefulness and fame, had often cheered the humble leather-dresser, as it has thousands of others similarly situated, in the solitary and friendless outset of his own career. The teachings of the philosopher of common sense had found a clear echo in his practical understanding : and so, at the close of his life, he pronounced the eulogy of the great man whom he so highly honored and warmly appreciated... Page 41 Sir, we have a guaranty for the value of his library in the inducement which led Mr. Dowse, very early in life, to commence its formation, and which has never deserted him. His interest in books is not, like that of some amateur collectors, limited to their outsides. He has loved to collect books because he has loved to read them ; and I have often said, that I do not believe there is a library in the neighborhood of Boston better read by its owner than that of Mr. Page 56 Under the same roof which covers his workshop, he has the most excellent library of English books, for its size, with which I am acquainted. The books have been selected with a good judgment, which would do credit to the most accomplished scholar, and have been imported from England by himself. What is more important than having the books, their proprietor is well acquainted with their contents. Among them are several volumes of the most costly and magnificent engravings. Connected with his library... Page 48 It cannot be doubted that the gratification afforded him, both by the act itself and by the manner in which it was accepted and acknowledged, did much at once to prolong his life beyond his own expectation or that of his friends, and to impart comfort and serenity to his last days. He lived long enough, after every thing had been arranged, to lend a modest but cordial assent and cooperation to the... Page 62 Pilgrims," — being numbered 812 in the catalogue now in the press of Messrs. John Wilson & Son, is delivered by me, on this thirtieth day of July, 1866, to the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, President of the Massachusetts Historical Society, as an earnest and evidence of my having given the whole of my library to said Massachusetts Historical Society, — the books to be preserved for ever, in a room by themselves, and only to be used in said room. THOMAS DOWSE. In presence of OW Watriss, George Livermore. Page 7 Society was called together on the 5th of August. I shall ever look back to that meeting, at which Mr. Dowse's intention to bestow his library upon the Historical Society was announced to us, as one of the interesting occasions of my life. This collection had for at least sixty years been in progress of formation. For half that period, its value had been known to the public. Mr. Dowse's personal career and history awakened interest. There was an approach to romance in the manner in which he acquired... Page 64 ... himself with a noble collection of books ; has found leisure to acquaint himself with their contents ; has acquired a fund of useful knowledge ; cultivated a taste for art, and thus derived happiness of the purest and highest kind from those goods of fortune which too often minister only to sensual gratification and empty display. I rejoice, sir, that our friend has adopted an effectual method of preventing the dispersion of a library brought together with such pains and care, and at so great... Page 56 ... age, but also a fair representation of the general literature of the ancient and modern tongues. But it was, of course, upon his own language that he expended his strength ; for here he was able to drink at the fountains. Putting aside purely scientific, professional, and technical treatises, — in which, however, the library is not wholly deficient, — it may be said to contain, with a few exceptions, the works of nearly every standard English and American author, with a copious supply of... Page 33 -i ii fifty or five hundred thousand, the case would have been the same. It is to be remembered also, that he formed his library not in a mass, and on the principle of embracing at once all the books belonging to any particular department. He sent for the books which he wanted ; for the books which were offered in sale catalogues at acceptable prices ; for the books which fell in with his line of thought at the time ; reserving to future opportunities to supply deficiencies, and make departments... Page 36 Other editions
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