Page:History of the University of Pennsylvania - Montgomery (1900).djvu/125

Rh  Building which the Trustees have purchased, and are now fitting up for the Purpose; and likewise, that a sum or sums be given yearly by this Board, for five years to come, towards the support and Maintenance of the Schools under the direction of the said Trustees, with the result as announced by Franklin in the next issue of his Gazette. Thomas Lawrence's Mayoralty terminated the following October, and he was succeeded by William Plumsted; and his year's salary he gave to the Academy, "which Proposal was approved by a great Majority at a Common Council" held 21 March, 1751; and Mr. Coleman enters the receipt "from Samuel Hassell, Esq., Treasurer to the Corporation, being presented by Thomas Lawrence, Esqr., late Mayor of this City (with the Approbation of the Common Council) in lieu of giving a Mayor's Feast the sum of £100;" and another Trustee makes, in the entry of the same date, the Academy the beneficiary of his civil fees, viz: "from William Allen, Esq, late Recorder, being his half year's Salary as Recorder he gives £12.10."

But with all the subscriptions and benefactions, the loan from the Philadelphia Lottery of Eight Hundred Pounds authorised by the Trustees at their third meeting was quite necessary, as the building required considerable alterations, besides the needed school outfit much of which would have to be imported. In twelve months there were expended in the New Building upwards of £598, to make it conform to their proposed requirements. This includes an item on 21 August, 1750, "paid for Provisions at second raising £4.4.11;" which was doubtless a wholesome and needful expenditure; but when the good Treasurer records in all gravity, 2 May, "given the Bricklayers to drink 2/3," and the same date "given ditto for drink 7/6," we are led from the object of the expenditure to consider what may be in grammatical correctness designed for a distinction in the two entries by the use of a different preposition. The Bricklayers were a favored crew, for they received at this "second Raising," "for drink, 15s." However, the Carpenters were later remembered, as on 31 October they were paid for drink 7/6, on 7 December, 10s, and on 3 January again 7/6. As Franklin had charge of the repairs and alterations in the