“pr order of the Comitte

“SILVANUS BOURN.”

“In Council, February 24, 1757.

“Read and ordered that this Report be so far accepted as relates to the Petitioners Complaint of his Treatment at Lancaster being without Grounds, but inasmuch as the Petitioner offers to undertake for the support of himself and the other French removed from Lancaster except in the article of Firing and House Room, and is likewise willing that two of his sons be placed out in Families and inasmuch as the Petitioner is by employment a Fisherman, which cannot be exercised at Lancaster, therefore, Ordered that he have liberty to reside in the Town of Weymouth until this Court shall otherwise order, and the Selectmen of said Town are impowered to place two of his sons in English families for a reasonable term and to provide House Room for the Rest, & the liberty of cutting as much Firewood as is necessary in as convenient a Lot as can be procured.  The account of the Charge of House Rent and Firewood to be allowed out of the Province Treasury.

“Sent down for concurrence.

“THOS.  CLARKE, Dpty.  Secy.

“Feb. 25, 1757.”

“In the House of Representatives.  Read and unanimously non concurred, and ordered that Report of the Com’tee be accepted & ye the said French Neutrals so called be directed to return forthwith to ye Town of Lancaster accordingly.

“Sent up for Concurrence.

“T.  HUBBARD, Spk’r.”

“In Council, Feb. 25, 1757.

“Read & Concurred.  A. OLIVER, Secy.

“Consented to S. PHIPS.”

They were soon again in the quarters whence they fled.  In June, 1760, the Melanson family were divided between Lunenburg, Leominister, and Hardwick, while the Benways remained.  Among the petitioners for leave to go to “Old France,” a little later, appear “Benoni Melanson and Marie, with family of seven,” and from that date the waifs from Acadie appear no more in the annals of Lancaster.

* * * * *

GIFTS TO COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES.

BY CHARLES F. THWING.

The generosity of the American people, in the making of gifts to their institutions of learning, is munificent.  The generosity is keeping pace with the increase of wealth.  In 1847, Abbott Lawrence gave fifty thousand dollars to Harvard University, to found the school of science which now bears his name.  This gift is declared to be “the largest amount ever given at one time, during the lifetime of the donor, to any public institution in this country.”  But since the year 1847, it is probable that not less than fifty millions of dollars have been donated by individuals to educational institutions.  In several instances, gifts, each approaching, or even exceeding, a million of dollars, have been bestowed.  The Baltimore merchant, Johns Hopkins, gave not less than three millions of dollars to a great university, which, like Harvard, bears the name of its founder.