THE NEW-YORK

Life Insurance Compar

346 and 348 Broadway.

Among the advantages offered by the New-York Life Insurance Company, as PURE MUTUALITY-the entire surplus earnings over the actual cost of i being returned to the Policy-holders.

AGE—an experience of over a quarter-century guarantees the members from all experiments in the method of conducting its busines.

ECONOMY OF MANAGEMENT-no Stockholders to absorb profits.
NON-FORFEITURE OF POLICIES-the system being originated by t

pany.

ANNUAL DIVIDENDS-available immediately as cash, in payment of secon subsequent annual premiums.

TONTINE POLICIES-the most remunerative of all policies as an investme

Parties desiring to act as Agents, or of uniting with the Company as members, w apply to the Home Office, by letter or otherwise.

MORRIS FRANKLIN, President.
WILLIAM H. BEERS, Vice-Pres. and

THEODORE M. BANTA, Cashier.

CORNELIUS R. BOGERT, M.D.,
GEORGE WILKES, M.D.,

}

Medical Examiners.

CHARLES WRIGHT, M.D., Assistant Medical Examiner.

THE

JUBILEE YEAR BOOK

OF THE

NEW-YORK OBSERVER.

1873.

WITH

Portraits of the Founders.

ċ
NEW-YORK:

SIDNEY E. MORSE & COMPANY,

No. 37 PARK ROW.

1873.

Samit. A. Green, 16. D.

Posten. 362.1851)

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

FIRST FIFTY YEARS OF THE NEW-YORK OBSERVER.

THE first half-century of the NEW-YORK OBSERVER forms a chapter in history that may be brief in recital, but is momentous in the annals of the religious world.

The Morses, father and sons, had identified themselves with the foundation of successful religions journalism by the invention and establishment of the Boston Recorder, in the year 1816. The success of that paper was so marked that in the first year of its existence twenty newspapers in the country adopted its plan, and became, in part, religious newspapers by devoting several columns every week to religious intelligence. Mr. Sidney E. Morse became enthusiastic in his desire to make a religious newspaper on a broader plan, and with a wider sphere than he could command in Boston. In December of that year he communicated his plan in a letter to Rev. Dr. Lyman Beecher, then at Litchfield, Ct., who responded in terms of warm_approval, giving the assurance that all the leading clergymen and laymen of his acquaintance would zealously cooperate in its execution.

A few years passed on while the Morses were in training for the work which was preparing for them.

The want of a religious newspaper was felt intensely in the city of New-York, which was fast becoming the centre of the great religious charitable societies of the United States. The pastors and laymen of all Christian denominations united in an invitation to the Morses to come to this city and establish a paper, on their own responsibility, giving them the assurance of their cordial support. Of the men who were at that time active in the ministry, Rev. Gardiner Spring, D.D., and Rev. Samuel H. Cox, D.D., are the only survivors.

Sidney E. and Richard C. Morse came to New-York in the spring of 1823, and completed the arrangements for the issue of the paper. Mr. R. C. Morse took the charge of the out-door work for the new enterprise, and with great energy traveled through the country securing subscribers, while his elder brother managed the editorial department. When the arrangements were perfected, the first number of the NEW-YORK OBSERVER was published May 17th, 1823. It is published in fac-simile in this JUBILEE YEAR-BOOK, and the PROSPECTUS shows the broad platform on which the paper was founded, and to that Prospectus the present Editors point with intense satisfaction as evidence that the paper has not swerved from its original intent and purpose and pledge, from the date of its birth to the present hour.

Its platform was substantially the same as that of the National Benevolent Institutions whose origin marks the first half of the present century. And the principles of Christian union and coöperation, exemplified in the American Bible and Tract Societies, have been constantly advocated and illustrated in the columns of the New-York Observer. No journal was ever started with less capital and more enterprise than this. The two proprietors and editors gave themselves to the work with self-denial, industry, economy, and faith. With their own hands they performed every service of which they were capable, sometimes wheeling the hand-cart to the post-office with the papers which they had folded and directed. At first they had the paper printed by contract, but in the year 1828 they purchased the type and hired an office; in that office was a boy who has never been in any other employment from that day to this, and is now, and has been for some years, the superintendent of the printing department of the NEW-YORK OBSERVER. In the year 1826, Gerard Hallock became associated with S. E. & R. C. Morse, as editor and proprietor of the paper, which then was published by the firm of Morse, Hallock & Co. Mr. Hallock brought to the paper sound judgment, untiring industry and devotion, with great ability. He continued in the firm until 1829, when he went into the Journal of Commerce.

During his collegiate and theological course of study, Mr. A. P. Cumings had been remarkably successful as an agent of the OBSERVER. In the year 1835 he became a member of the firm, and brought to the establishment extraordinary talents for business, with indomitable energy, which he expended with zeal and efficiency in advancing its interests.

The name of the firm was now Sidney E. Morse & Co. Its number of subscribers had become so large that it was able to employ the best talent to make its columns rich and useful. Correspondents were employed in all parts of the world. It is believed that the NEW-YORK OBSERVER was the first newspaper in America that employed a resident foreign correspondent upon an annual salary. Its subscribers have always been among all branches of the church, and all political parties, and its mission has been to promote peace and good-will among men.

The four gentlemen already named are now dead. The present editors and proprietors are five in number. The senior editor, Samuel Irenæus Prime, came into the editorial department in 1840, and purchased the interest of Sidney E. Morse in 1858. At the same time, Mr. Sidney E. Morse, Jr., purchased the interest of his father, Richard C. Morse, and the name of the firm became Sidney E. Morse, Jr. & Co. Mr. F. W. Tomkins came into the business office in the year 1844, and Mr. T. H. Cuthell in 1848. In the year 1864, they purchased the interest of Mr. A. P. Cumings, and entered the firm as partners. Edward D. G. Prime became associated with his brother in the editorial department in 1853, and in 1865 he purchased an interest and became one of the proprietors. These five persons now constitute the firm of Sidney E. Morse & Co., the "Jr." being dropped at the death of Sidney E. Morse, in 1871.

Of the usefulness of the NEW-YORK OBSERVER, it is not for us to speak. Its record is in the family, the church, and the state, in all of which it has sought to diffuse that intelligence and principle which will exalt, refine, and advance the highest welfare and happiness of man. In all these fifty years it has never contained a line that was not published with the design of making the reader wiser, better, and happier, and if it has succeeded in this purpose, its conductors-the dead and living-have their reward. These fifty years are the promise of the future. A paper that has held fast to its integrity and purpose for half a century will not falter in its career in the meridian of its days.

The NEW-YORK OBSERVER has more than satisfied all the reasonable expectations of its proprietors in its pecuniary success. It has expended a large share of its income in the increase of the number and value of its correspondents, and the growth of its business has been steady, and, excepting times of extraordinary national convulsion, it has been uniform from year to year. The last nine years have been the most prosperous it has ever enjoyed, and it is now entering upon its second half-century full of bright hopes of enlarged progress and usefulness.

THE wealth of a story unwritten;
A record of hopes and of fears;

A chapter of Life illustrated
With touches of smiles and of tears!

How many sweet faces of childhood

Have leaned o'er these pages gone by: How many dim eyes of the aged

FIFTY YEARS.

Have watched for their weekly supply!

What flashes of feeling electric

Have kindled from soul unto soul! What voices have called to each other, Across this, humanity's scroll!

What hands, that now rest from their labors,
Have penned down those columns with care,
And set there the impress immortal
Of spirits so kingly and fair!

How many home-doors have been opened
To welcome those pages of old!
At how many bright, waiting hearthstones,
Have the same" good tidings" been told!

God works through mysterious channels,
Unchecked by our weakness and fears;
And thus, we accord to Him, humbly,
The praise for these past fifty years.