m, in different spheres, suffering as he
had done from a similar want of knowledge,--merchants, traders,
ship-masters, artisans, farmers, laborers.

"The Chandler School is the ripened fruit of a well-considered purpose
to benefit mankind. He had confidence in the importance of his object,
the integrity of his aims, and the wisdom of his advisers. He bestowed
his charity with a hearty good-will, and left the event with God."

"_John Conant_ was born in Stowe, Mass., in 1790. His family descended
from the French Huguenots who were driven into England by Louis XIV.
His father was an industrious and successful farmer. In the district
school he was taught the merest rudiments of an English education. In
after years, by the aid and sympathy of an intelligent and
well-educated wife, he fitted himself to write for the public
journals, to lecture on temperance and agriculture, and to perform
with credit and honor the duties of important official stations, in
town and State. His leisure hours were devoted to study. He collected
a small private library of choice books in history, biography, and
science, and made them the companions of rainy days and winter
evenings.

"At the age of twenty-six, he purchased a farm in Jaffrey, under the
shadow of 'the great Monadnock,' on which he labored for thirty-five
years, and gathered 'a plentiful estate.' This was accumulated by
means of those home-bred virtues, industry, prudence, and economy; for
he never, in a single instance, increased his wealth by speculation.

"When the New Hampshire Insane Asylum was occupying the public
attention, he contributed liberally to its endowment, and was at one
time president of its Board of Trustees, being sole superintendent of
the first buildings that were reared.

"Turning his thoughts toward the rising academy at New London, Mr.
Conant proposed to add to its literary and scientific departments an
agricultural school. He ascertained, however, that his whole estate
would be inadequate to the work, and, after making generous donations
to the academy, he turned his attention to the Agricultural College at
Hanover.

"In his endowment of this institution, along with other things, he has
provided a model farm for the college, and founded a scholarship for
each town in Cheshire County, twenty-two in all, with an additional
one for Jaffrey.

"Mr. Conant was through life a liberal contributor to public
enterprises, and a supporter of the gospel, and fo