The Julie Clinton Durant Fund

Created: 1925
Purpose: Library, Conant High School
 

"PURPOSE OF CREATION 1/3 of income to Jaffrey Public Library. 2/3 of income to the Support of the said High School.

COPY OF MOTION CARRIED AT SCHOOL MEETING MARCH 12, 1945:

MOVED THE CLERK BE INSTRUCTED TO REQUEST THE Trustees of trust funds to retain annually from the income of the Durant Fund the sum of $2,500.00 to be used by the School Board to provide additional educational and recreational facilities for the students of Conant High School, the uncalled for balance of said sum to be reinvested by said trustees and held as a special fund for additional High School facilities until its expenditure is authorized by vote of the School District, Also that items of expense should be printed in the Durant fund report of the Trustee of Trust Funds."

Biography of Jule Clinton Durant

So long as we love we serve; so long as we are loved by others
I would almost say that we are indispensable; and no one is useless
while he has a friend.

These words by Robert Louis Stevenson, on a faded card, bearing in the corners the marks of tacks by which it had been attached to his desk that it might be a constant reminder, were found after his death among the effects of Jule Durant. And the sentiment therein expressed well exemplifies the life and actions of a man who showed his love for his fellow men, particularly of his native town, by becoming perhaps its greatest benefactor, certainly its greatest when measured in dollars.

Jule Clinton Durant was born in East Jaffrey Village on March 23, 1856, the only child of Luther W. and Maria E. (Jewett) Durant. At the age of six years he was left fatherless, with his mother in straitened circumstances. She secured work in Cheshire Mill, and was frequently forced to have him accompany her, since there was no one else to care for him. He attended the District school for a few terms and Conant High School for three terms. But the desire to lighten his mother's load soon induced him to secure work himself as a bobbin boy in the mill, where the hours were eleven a day, six days in the week. Later he worked as clerk in his uncle's store at Fitzwilliam.

At the age of nineteen he decided to seek a wider field. At that period it was the custom of manufacturers of "patent medicines" to advertise the virtues of their products and to distribute them through the medium of salesmen who traveled the highways and byways in wonderfully decorated wagons drawn by beautiful and gaily caparisoned horses. One of the leaders in this business was J. C. Ayer and Company of Lowell, Massachusetts. To him the youthful Durant applied for such a job. The story goes that Mr. Ayer regarded the mere stripling and rejected his plea with a curt "You are too young." Durant replied, "Mr. Ayer, I shall outgrow that." Whatever his appeal, it was successful, and soon the young man, growing older, was advertising and selling the Ayer medicines in places far from home. For twenty years he continued this type of work, covering the United States from coast to coast in nearly every State.

His courtesy and natural ability, industry, and honesty so impressed the Ayer Company that when they sought a representative in foreign countries, Mr. Durant was chosen to take charge of an office and warehouse in Melbourne, Australia. His success here brought added responsibilities, and Tasmania, New Zealand, and the Straits Settlements were added to his territory. Later he was transferred to South Africa, with headquarters at Cape Town.

At one time during this period his regard for Jaffrey induced him to return for the purpose of entering a partnership with Marcellus M. Bascom in retail trade, but, whether the limited scope of opportunity appeared too confined or his former employers discovered enhanced value in his services, this arrangement proved but temporary, and he returned to his former post.

In 1901 he resigned from the Ayer Company and returned to Jaffrey to live, but his world travel had become so much a part of him that he could not accustom himself to the quiet ways of the village. He then joined the Foster-McClellan Company of Buffalo, New York, manufacturers of somewhat similar goods, as their foreign sales manager. In this capacity he introduced their product in France, England, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, his headquarters being at Paris. Branch offices also were established under his direction in Egypt, China, South Africa, and South America. While returning to Paris from a visit to his London office, he was stricken on board the train in the evening of March 18, 1924, and died the same night at Harwich Quay, England.

The possibility of such an end must have been ever before Mr. Durant's mind, and he had left instructions with his associates as to procedure in such a contingency. In accordance with his wishes his remains were cremated, this taking place on March 26, 1924, at Golders Green Crematorium in London in the presence of a few friends, The ashes in an urn were brought to Jaffrey, where, in the Universalist Church on June 28, 1924, funeral services were conducted by Charity Lodge of Masons, of which he was a member, and interment followed in Conant Cemetery.

From the foregoing it well may be understood that Jule Durant was essentially a man of the world, Yet throughout his life no spot on earth and no people occupied a place in his affections comparable to Jaffrey and his friends here. From whatever corner of the earth duty called him there came to his mother, who lived here until her death on June 23, 1912, at frequent intervals letters full of love and solicitude. With other friends he found time to maintain frequent correspondence. He was in Paris when Alfred Sawyer reached his ninetieth milestone, yet he remembered to felicitate this venerable gentleman, many years his senior, on attaining this ripe age.

Whenever the demands of business gave opportunity he hastened to Jaffrey, there personally to renew old acquaintances and make new friends. His mother's house stood hard by the Village Common, where, like the sidewalk cafes of Paris, it might be said that, if one waits long enough, the whole small town world passes by. Here, of a pleasant summer evening, in the little yard, or by the gate, Jule Durant would greet his fellow-citizens with a hearty grasp, a pleasant smile, and a genial word in such a way as to make it difficult for his village neighbors to recall the cosmopolitan character of his life work. For the time he entered into the town's activities; and once, while attending a local ball game and learning that the grounds were only rented, he suggested that they be purchased, and himself offered to contribute a substantial sum for the purpose, Thus he who, as a boy, had no time to learn to play, became the prime mover in securing the public playground known as "Humiston Field."

He often spoke of the bond of affection between Jaffrey and her wandering children, and ascribed it in large measure to Monadnock. This was his tribute: "Of all the thousands of mountains I have seen, the most beautiful is Monadnock. That is my standard of comparison. As I return to Jaffrey each year the people change; old faces are gone, new faces come, the children of yesterday are the men and women of today; but, thank God, one thing never changes—Monadnock, superb, majestic, sublime."

Although Jule Durant's more intimate associates knew of his high regard for his home town, and even casual friends were aware of his interest, the tremendous depth of his affection became evident only after his passing. When his will was made public it was found that he had made the town his sole heir, subject only to temporary diversion of one-half the income for life to two cousins. The estate, of approximately one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, is to be held in trust by the town. During the life of the beneficiaries one-fourth of the income is available for schools and one-fourth for the public library. When the full income is available the additional amount is to be added to school funds. In his great modesty the benefactor did not even ask that the fund he provided be called by his name. He imposed no hampering conditions; his thought was for others and not of himself. In the Jaffrey of his childhood there was no public library, but he came to know the inspiration and solace to be found in books. His school advantages were few, and from his contact with the world he realized the advantages of a broad education and chose this means of aiding the young people of his native town to this end.

A typewritten scrap of paper worn almost to illegibility, found among Jule Durant's personal effects, while anonymous, well may epitomize his creed as shown by his life and serve as a guide to others of Jaffrey's sons and daughters as they pass through the world:

Kindly words, sympathizing attentions, watchfulness against wound-
ing men's sensitiveness, these cost very little, but they are
priceless in their value.

Source: Town History, vol I, p 622