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Visit the building with us. There it stands, at the corner of two broad streets, and in the midst of the finest public and private buildings in the city. Unique in architecture, simple in design, warm in color, and beautiful in its proportions, it is a building of which Boston may well be proud, while every Christian man must rejoice in the thought that it is built for His glory whose blessed emblem crowns its top-most gable. By its broad stone staircase, under the motto of Associations, "Teneo et teneor," and through its vestibule, we enter the great reception- room. Immediately on the left, a white marble fountain supplies ice-cold water to all who wish it; beyond, richly carpeted and well furnished, the walls hung with good paintings, are the two parlors. Here the members have withdrawing-rooms equal to those even in this favored neighborhood. The few whom we find here certainly appreciate their comfort. The pleasant room adjoining is that of the general secretary, where he is usually to be found, and where each member is cordially welcomed for converse or advice. Beyond, again, is the office, where three men find it no sinecure to attend to the continuous stream of comers for welcome, membership, or information. The library is a large, handsome, sunnyroom, well furnished with shelves, but not these so well with books; and yet, from twenty to fifty men are here quietly reading. The next room is for general reading. Around the walls on every side are papers from almost everywhere, and on the tables all the periodicals of this country, and many from abroad. All about the room sit or stand the readers, many, for the time, at home again as they gather the local news of their own town or village. The room beyond is called the "game- room." At each little table sit the chess or draught-players, while many interested are looking on.
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Here is the lavatory, complete in all its appointments, except, perhaps, that the long towel on the roller has been already this evening used by too many hands. The smell of blacking, too, indicates the wearer's pleasure in his cleaned and polished boots. In that little hall, which seats about three hundred, a lecture is being given to young men, on the care of the body, by Dr.----. This is one of six which are given gratuitously by Boston physicians.
We mount the stairs to the next story. These two rooms are rented to a commercial college. This door opposite admits you to the hall, which has seats for nine hundred persons. It is extremely simple, but the tints of the walls and ceiling are delightful, and you have only to listen to those members of the ---- Club, who have leased it for their concerts, to realize that its acoustic properties are perfect.
Still higher, we find the room of the board, where, once at least in each month, the directors sup at their own expense, and manage the affairs of the Association. Here, too, its various committees meet. In the room adjoining, a French lesson is going on; in that, German; in this, penmanship. Still higher up we find the "Tech" Glee Club practising, and this large room adjoining is filled with those who are learning vocal music. The building seems a very hive--something going on everywhere.
Let us now descend to the basement. The gymnasium is here in full blast. Men in every kind of costume and in every possible and, to many persons, impossible position, while the superintendent is intently watching each to see that he is properly developing; every kind of bath and many of them are right at hand, and dressing-rooms with boxes for eight hundred persons.