has now continued ; the county has thickened ; the town has grown; the interests of all have progressed; and in whatever has been for the general advancement there has always been ready editorial and personal cooperation.
In respect to cooperation of this order for the general good, the relation of Mr. Payne to the Nevada public library deserves first mention. Back in the time of his teaching days here the town had voted to establish a public library and Mr. Payne had been on the first committee to select books; also in the early '90s a local organization had been formed unofficially for the general purpose of boosting the library, and of this organization Mr. Payne was the first and only president; so, when in 1894 a law was enacted for the creation of a board of library trustees to have charge of the library, he was named by William Gates, then as now mayor of Nevada, as the first upon the new board. He was at once elected president of the board and this position he has held continuously since. To the uplifting work thus put in his charge he has given very much of time and strength (not to mention other contributions) and in the development of the library, in the housing of it in a splendid building (which was built wholly from local resources) and in the finishing and furnishing of that building he has always been a moving spirit. At the same time Mrs. Payne, as a worker in the women's organizations and president for several years of the city federation of women's clubs, was assisting, while the need continued, in raising money for the library and in making it what it is. In due time, through the especial appreciation of Mrs. Dillin, one of the library trustees, and by action of the trustees, their portraits were conspicuously hung in the library. From such antecedents it may be seen that when the time came for the golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Payne the event was celebrated in the ample parlors of the library and was an occasion memorable among occasions of that kind. It was the occasion, significant above any other, of the part they have borne in Nevada and of the local appreciation of that part.
MRS. ADALINE MARIA PAYNE.
Mrs. Adaline Maria Payne, wife of William P. Payne, was born Adaline M. Brown. She was the eldest daughter of Orville and Lovisa (Phelps) Brown and was born at South Champion, Jefferson county, New York, November 12, 1834. The place was just over the line from the town 0f Rutland, in which her husband was born, and to that town her parents removed while she was but a small child. Her father's homestead was established just outside of the village of Tylerville, which is officially known as South Rutland, and there she spent the years of her girlhood and youth. She attended the local school and in the summer when she was fourteen she taught her first term of district school. After that experience she