be known as the Flint Memorial Fund, the interest of which is to be yearly expended in adding to the Flint Library."
The year 1S75 was signalized by the crowning act of Mrs. Flint's consistent generosity in the gift to her adopted town of the commodious and comely structure since known as the Flint Memorial Hall. The edifice is pleasantly situated in the centre of the town, and admirably adapted to the uses for which it is designed. The first story contains the Flint Library and the municipal offices; the second story has a spacious, well-lighted hall, with a gallery and ante-rooms; and the upper floor, a large banquet room and other conveniences. At its dedication the Hon. George B. Loring, of Salem, delivered the principal address, followed by the Hon. Charles L. Flint and the Rev. Granville S. Abbott.
The munificent and opportune gifts already mentioned were not by any means the measure of Mrs. Flint's generosity to this favored town. It was her helping hand that lightened the burden of the war debt upon the tax-payers, that assisted struggling churches over hard places, and contributed to keep the roadways of the town in a superior condition. The high school, which the town was not by law required to maintain, would have long since ceased to be, had not Mrs. Flint again and again come to its support. By her will she gave to the town three thousand dollars, the income of which should be applied in caring for and improving the Memorial Hall, and she also made liberal bequests to the different churches.
The generous thoughts and sympathies of Mrs. Flint were not confined within narrow limits, nor her benefactions restricted to the domain and residents of North Reading. In Wakefield, the town of her earlier and later life, she was constantly active in plans and deeds for others' benefit. Every humane, philanthropic, or educational enterprise in the community enlisted her interest and concern, and, if her judgment approved, secured from her a substantial donation. She gave to the town for the support of the Beebe Town Library the sum of one thousand dollars, which the trustees set apart as the Flint Memorial Fund, the income only being used for the purchase of books. She manifested her friendship for the public schools, the fire department, and disabled soldiers and their families in substantial ways, contributed to the improvement of highways and establishment of drinking fountains, and helped the local religious societies in times of need. She was open to every call of charity and voice of distress, but her deepest sympathies, in her later years, were called forth and centred in the organization and operation of that noble charity, the Wakefield Home for Aged Women, incorporated in 1895. Her heart and mind and purse were in this beneficent movement from its beginning. Each year she delighted to give it an added impulse, and, dying, she bestowed upon it in her will an earnest, practical benediction in the sum of five thousand dollars, she having previously assisted its funds in an equal amount. She was made honorary president of the corporation. Many other ladies and gentlemen have, by their labors, counsel, gifts, and sacrifices, aided to make the Wakefield Home a blessed and highly prized institution of the town.
The last will and testament of Mrs. Flint clearly indicated that the benevolence, religious devotion, and public spirit that had actuated all the years of her widowhood burned brightly to the end of her days, as she bequeathed over one hundred thousand dollars to various religious and benevolent organizations. It is worthy of especial mention, as illustrating her fervent patriotism, that in her will she gave to the town of Wakefield in trust, with provisions for its ultimate application toward the erection of a soldiers' monument, the sum of ten thousand dollars, "such monument to be grand in itself, symmetrical in architecture, beautiful in design and finish, attended with solid and thorough workmanship, worthy of the brave men to whom we dedicate it."
Mrs. Flint had expressed a desire and purpose to give to the Massachusetts State Board of Metropolitan Park Commissioners the homestead and farm on which she lived, including "Hart's Hill," for uses of a public park, but the sudden prostration of her last illness prevented the carrying out of her gracious intent.
The innumerable acts of personal and unostentatious benevolence that characterized her
