The Village Improvement and Folk-Lore Society, as an active organization in the old town had come at last to be called, passed some singular resolutions in the spring of 1893. This society had begun as a village improvement effort; but it had found so many old traditions and legends in its historic work that it had added to it the Historic Society, under the name of the Folk-Lore Society. The workers in this organization had given a number of entertainments on the evenings of patriotic holidays, and had saved several hundred dollars for public use. Manton Marlowe had been the leading mind in these societies. He had arranged the entertainments for the holiday evenings, had conducted excursions into historic fields, had been a leader in the repair of old roads and the marking of historic places. He was a good story-teller, and he had collected the old traditions of the place, and related them in story-telling lectures to the last society. [Illustration: FINE ARTS BUILDING.] When the Village Improvement and Folk-Lore Society met in May, it greatly surprised good Mr. Marlowe. It resolved:— (1) “That the efforts of our worthy President merit practical appreciation; (2) “That the Society appropriate one hundred and fifty dollars from its treasury to give him an excursion to the World’s Columbian Exhibition; “That he be asked to accept this as an expression of esteem, and that he be respectfully requested to answer, on his return, the following questions: (1) “What was the most amusing thing that you saw at the Fair? (2) “What was the most useful exhibit that you saw at the Fair? (3) “What was the grandest sight that you saw at the Fair? (4) “And what was the most useful lesson of the Fair?” Mr. Marlowe listened to these resolutions with amazement. As President of the Society, he left the chair, and the Vice President put the resolutions to vote. “As many as are in favor of these Resolutions, whose purpose is to send our President to the World’s Columbian Exhibition, that he may see the Fair for us, and return to us with new plans for the improvement of our town and its social life, please say ‘Ay.’” Every voice in the Society shouted “Ay.” “It is a unanimous vote,” said the Vice President. “Mr. Marlowe, we cannot go to the Fair, so we have selected you to see the Fair for us, and to report what you may find there that may be of use to a country town. Will you serve the Society?” Mr. Marlowe stood silent for a time, and then said with a choking voice:—