. He was among the very first to make and pay a
subscription in money. The enterprise still awaits the happy day of
completion, and the responsibility of the enterprise lies, by its own
vote, upon the Boston Congregational Club. The Forefathers' Day
celebration of the Club was of uncommon interest during the year of
Mr. Coffin's presidency. A leading feature was the display on a
screen of views of Pilgrim shrines in England which Mr. Coffin had
obtained on a visit two years before.

Except his membership in the various historical and learned societies
and in religious organizations, Mr. Coffin was not connected with
secret, benevolent, social, or mysterious brotherhoods. He did not
believe in secret fraternities, but rather considered that these had
much to do with weakening the Church of Christ, and with making men
satisfied with a lower standard of ethics and human sociability than
that taught by Jesus. He held that the brotherhood instituted of
Christ, in an open chapter of twelve, and without secrets of any kind,
was sufficient for him and for all men. More than once, when going
abroad, or travelling in the various parts of his own country, which
is nearly as large as all Europe, he was advised to join a lodge and
unite himself with one or more of the best secret fraternities, for
assistance and recognition while travelling. All these kind
invitations he steadily declined. He was not even a member of the
Grand Army of the Republic, though often invited to join a Post. He
never became a member, for he did not see the necessity of secrecy,
even for this organization, though he was very often an honored guest
at their public meetings. The Church of Christ was to Carleton an
all-sufficient society and power.

CHAPTER XXV.

CITIZEN, STATESMAN, AND REFORMER.

One can hardly imagine a better school for the training of a good
American citizen than that which Carleton enjoyed. By inheritance and
birth in a New Hampshire village, he knew "the springs of empire." By
actual experience of farming and surveying in a transition era between
the old ages of manual labor and the new aeon of inventions, he learned
toil, its necessity, and how to abridge and guide it by mind. In the
acquaintance, while upon a Boston newspaper, with public men, and all
kinds of people, in the unique experiences as war correspondent, in
wide travel and observation around the whole world, in detailed
studies of new lands and life in the North