lity, as he was only nineteen when he was
appointed to the position just named. It is an interesting fact that he
accepted the librarianship in 1798 with a salary of two hundred and
fifty dollars a year in addition to the fines and two and a half per
cent. upon all moneys collected, besides the use or rental of the lower
front room of the library building. After many years of labor his salary
was raised to five hundred dollars. Upon his death in October, 1824, the
trustees, out of respect to his memory, voted to attend his funeral in a
body and ordered the library closed for the remaining four days of the
week. He married Miss Martha Skidmore, daughter of Lemuel Skidmore, a
prominent iron and steel merchant of New York, and I have no doubt that
Maria Forbes, their daughter and my early teacher, inherited her
scholarly tastes from her father, of whom Dr. John W. Francis in his
"Old New York" justly speaks as a "learned man."

Miss Forbes was a pronounced disciplinarian, and administered one form
of punishment which left a lasting impression upon my memory. For
certain trivial offenses a child was placed in a darkened room and
clothed in a tow apron. One day I was subjected to this punishment for
many hours, an incident which naturally I have never yet been able to
forget. On the occasion referred to Miss Forbes was obliged to leave the
schoolroom for a few minutes and, unfortunately for my happiness,
appointed my young brother James to act as monitor during her absence.
His first experience in the exercise of a little authority evidently
turned his head, for upon the return of our teacher I was reported for
misbehavior. The charge against me was that I had smiled. It is too long
ago to remember whether or not it was a smile of derision, but upon
mature reflection I think it must have been. I knew, however, in my
childish heart that I had committed no serious offense and, as can
readily be imagined, my indignation was boundless. It was the first act
of injustice I had ever experienced. Feeling that the punishment was
undeserved, and smarting under it, with abundance of leisure upon my
hands, I bit the tough tow apron into many pieces. When Miss Forbes
after a few hours, which seemed to me an eternity, came to relieve me
from my irksome position and noticed the condition of the apron, she
regaled me with a homily upon the evils of bad temper, and gave as
practical illustrations the lives of some of our most noted criminals,