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STATUE OF STEPHEN GIRARD, CITY HALL PLAZA, PHILADELPHIA, UNVEILED MAY 20, 1897.

Statue of Stephen Girard

RECORDS OF ITS ERECTION
AND UNVEILING

CITY HALL PLAZA, PHILADELPHIA, MAY 20, 1897

COMMEMORATIVE POEM BY H. HANBY HAY

HISTORICAL ESSAY BY GEORGE P. RUPP

#

PHILADELPHIA
PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
1897

This book is edited, at the request of
the committee on girard statue, by
GEORGE P. RUPP.
Library, Girard College, 9 U .f.
July 30, 1897.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE
Report of the Secretary of the Committee on Girard Statue .... ^
Report of the Chief Marshal  13
Order of Exercises at the Unveiling  19
Introductory Remarks by General Louis Wagner, Chairman ... 25
Prayer by Rev. Winfield S. Baer, '74  29
Oration by Hon. James M. Beck  33
Presentation of the Sculptor, J. Massey Rhind, by the Chairman . . 57
Address by Hon. Charles F. Warwick  61
Address by Hon. Daniel H. Hastings  71
Report of the Committee on Founder's Day, May 20, 1897, to the
Board of Directors of City Trusts  77
Commemorative Poem by H. Hanby Hay  83
Stephen Girard : His Time, His College, His Trusts, by George P.
Rupp  91
Will of Stephen Girard  I2i
Report of the Treasurer of the Committee on Girard Statue .... 157
List of Contributors  163

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE COM
MITTEE ON GIRARD STATUE.

REPORT
OF THE
SECRETARY OF THE COMMITTEE ON
GIRARD STATUE.

Through the beneficence of one man the world has
been the annual recipient for forty-five years past of a
body of young men well equipped, mentally and physi
cally, to take a leading part in her labors, so that at the
present time there are four thousand men in the various
walks of life who have been benefited and in turn are
benefiting her through the medium of the training ac
quired under the legacy of Stephen Girard. Scattered
as they are, an estimate of their value to mankind would
be mere conjecture, but a comparison of the array of
representatives of legislative bodies, of the bar, the pul
pit, the commercial house, the college faculty, and the
skilled workshop, with the mass of penniless children
from which they have been developed, gives • absolute
proof of the vast good resulting to humanity from the
upward struggle of these four thousand, and, incidentally,
from the endowment of their great benefactor. It was
for the purpose of paying tribute to his memory that the
Alumni of Girard College eagerly grasped the opportu
nity (the approach of the fiftieth anniversary of the ad
mission of boys into the institution) to present to his
adopted city his statue, and, at the suggestion of the
President of the Board of Directors of City Trusts, the
7

8 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.
custodians of the estate covered by the will, a committee
of nine was appointed by the President of the Alumni,
and a meeting for organization was held on December 17,
1895. To this committee was given full power to erect
a statue at a cost of ten thousand dollars, the fund to be
made up of popular subscriptions.
So encouraging were the responses to the committee's
call for contributions that within one month, on January
20, 1896, a circular was issued asking proposals for the
work. Twenty-five sculptors submitted sketch models
in competition, which were exhibited during the week of
May 20. After carefully considering the models the
committee rejected all of them, and requested five sculp
tors, selected from the competitors, to submit new
sketches. This was done, and on June 20 the contract
was awarded.
Regular meetings of the committee were held, the
work was closely inspected in its various stages, and
suggestions were courteously considered by the sculptor.
Though the time allowed for the work was brief, the
statue was completed punctually and set in position on
the west plaza of City Hall.
The pedestal is of light gray granite and is nine feet
one inch high. Surmounting this is the figure, made of
standard bronze, which, with the plinth, carries the total
height of the statue to eighteen feet four inches. On the
front of the pedestal, in addition to the name of Girard
and the dates of his birth and death, is cut in granite a
bass-relief of the ship " Water- Witch." On one side of
the pedestal is a bronze panel representing Girard's
career as " Mariner and Merchant," and on the opposite
side another bronze panel exemplifying the philanthropic
view of his life in a reproduction of the Main Building
of Girard College, while on the rear of the pedestal is cut
in granite the inscription, " Philadelphia's Greatest Phi-

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 9
lanthropist. Erected by the Alumni of Girard College
and the People of this City and Commonwealth, 1897."
Within the figure were placed two copper cylinders,
hermetically sealed, containing the following papers :
Copy of the Will of Stephen Girard.
Act of Assembly creating the Board of Directors of
City Trusts.
Abstracts from other wills under the jurisdiction of
the Board.
Reports of the Board of Directors of City Trusts for
1895 and 1896.
Cards of admission to the Girard College for various
celebrations from 1887 to 1896, and visitor's ticket for
1897. Acknowledgment of gifts to the library of Girard Col
lege. Course of study at Girard College.
Photographs of the main building of Girard College
and of the entrance to the grounds.
Report of the unveiling of the Stephen Girard Memo
rial Tablet in the chapel at Girard College, November
19, 1895.
Circulars of the Girard Statue Committee.
List to May 15, 1897, of the subscribers to the statue
fund. Order of exercises for the unveiling, May 20, 1 897.
Steel and ijarnet lor May, 1897.
The Sunday Press for May 16, 1897.
The Philadelphia Record, May 17, 1897.
The Public Ledger, May 17, 1897.
Order of exercises of the Stephen Girard Lodge at the
Masonic Home, Sunday afternoon, May 16, 1897.
Thursday, May 20, 1897, the one hundred and forty-
seventh anniversary of the birth of Stephen Girard, was
an ideal day. Nature vied with man in making the

ID REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.
celebration a fit one. The figure of Girard was embraced
in the soft folds of two flags, which seemed to glory in
covering him with the honor due by his native and his
adopted countries. To the right and left of the statue
arose platforms occupied by the speakers and the in
vited guests of the Alumni, embracing officials of the
nation, commonwealth, and municipality. Directly op
posite towered another stand, on which were seated
pupils and oflScers of Girard College. More than one
thousand Alumni, preceded by their band of music and
followed by five hundred ununiformed pupils of Girard
College, and the battahon of Girard College Cadets,
numbering five hundred, and accompanied by its band,
forming a stately column a mile in length, marched from
the Alumni House down Broad Street to Pine Street,
and countermarched to a position directly in front of
the statue, after being reviewed by the Governor of Penn
sylvania and the Mayor of Philadelphia. The published
programme of the ceremonies was carried out without
the slightest interruption.
The Committee on Girard Statue, in presenting the
accompanying volume, concludes its task. Its service
has been one of love, and it trusts that the work accom
plished will be instrumental in nurturing in the minds of
our people the principles which have made the name of
Girard to be honored in all parts of the globe nearly
three-quarters of a century after his death.
W. Wallace Alexander,
Secretary Girard Statue Committee.
Philadelphia, June lo, 1897.

REPORT OF THE CHIEF MARSHAL.

REPORT

CHIEF MARSHAL.

I have the honor, as Chief Marshal of the parade in
connection with the unveiling ceremonies of the Statue
of Stephen Girard on May 20, 1897, to report as follows :
I received the official notice of my appointment on
February 25, 1897. On May 13 I issued the following
order : Head-quarters, Girard College Alumni,
1502 Poplar Street, Philadelphia, May 13, 1897.
General Order.
The following information is hereby given out for the guidance of the
Girard College Alumni on May 20, 1897 :
I. The following are hereby appointed Aides on the Staff of the Mar
shal :
George S. Windle.
Thomas Flood.
Robert Erskine.
Herman A. Teufel.
Wm. E. Douglass.
George James.
2. Herman A. Teufel is hereby appointed Chief of Staff.
3. Walter R. Sellers is hereby appointed orderly to the Marshal.
4. The formation of the parade will commence at one o'clock, and all
are requested to be present as soon after that time as possible.
(a) The band will report to the Adjutant at 1.30 o'clock, and will take
up its position on Poplar Street below 1 5th Street.
(i) The Staff will assemble on Poplar Street west of isth Street. 13

14 REPORT OF THE CHIEF MARSHAL.
(c) The graduates from the earliest classes to 1880, inclusive, will report
to Aides Blascheck and Windle, and will form on Poplar Street between
15th and 1 6th Streets.
(d) The graduates from 1881 to 1892, inclusive, who do not belong to
any Class organization, will report to Aides Flood and Douglass, and will
form on l6th Street north of Poplar Street.
(e) The classes that are organized will report to Aide Teufel, and will
form ill order of seniority on Poplar Street west of i6th Street.
(/) All other graduates and former students will report to Aides Erskine
and James, and will form on l6th Street below Poplar.
(g) The Aides will report to the Adjutant when their respective divisions
are in readiness to move, which must be before 1.45, as the parade will
start promptly at that time.
5. All paraders will wear dark clothes, black derby hats, and white
gloves. Canes will be on sale at the Club House for a small sum. Badges
will be provided for the paraders, and the wearing of these badges will
admit the graduates to the College in the evening.
6. The parade will start at 1. 45 P.M. sharp and will proceed down Pop
lar Street to Broad ; down Broad to Pine Street, passing on the east side
of the Public Buildings ; countermarch at Pine Street ; march up Broad
Street and take position on the west side of the Public Buildings.
7. The parade will be reviewed at the Union League by the Governor
of Pennsylvania and others. When passing the reviewing stand the
mounted officers will salute by raising the hat, commanders of sections
and platoons will salute with the cane in the manner prescribed for com
missioned officers in the United States Drill Regulations. None others
will salute.
8. On the return of the column to the Public Buildings, when the head
of the column has turned to the west, the Alumni will halt. The College
Battalion will march through the Public Buildings, entering by the south
entrance and coming out the west, and will take up the position assigned
them. Then the Alumni column will march to its place and close in
mass. All paraders are cautioned against breaking ranks at this time, but will
march in an orderly manner to their position. Failure to do this will
occasion great disorder and confusion.
9. After the exercises at the monument the parade will be dismissed.
10. The Marshal expects that throughout both the parade and the exer
cises strict military discipline will be maintained by all, as in this way only
can a creditable showing be made and the parade a success.
By Order of
Daniel W. Bussinger, Chief Marshal.
Thos. W. Wood, Adjutant.

REPORT OF THE CHIEF MARSHAL. 1 5
The members of the Alumni and pupils of Girard Col
lege met promptly at the Girard College Alumni House,
Fifteenth and Poplar Streets, on the afternoon of May 20.
The right of the line consisted of seventeen hundred
and sixty-six of the Alumni and pupils. The parade
was headed by forty-six survivors of the first hundred
pupils admitted to the College. The other members
followed in the order of their graduation. Following
these came the ununiformed College boys to the num
ber of five hundred. The marching of these young
boys received much applause along the route. Then
came the battalion of Girard College Cadets, five hun
dred and thirty in number, headed by the College band.
As usual, the Cadets marched like veterans and ac
quitted themselves in a manner that could scarcely be
excelled. The line started promptly at 1.30 p.m. and marched
over the route selected by the Committee.
In closing, I wish to tender my hearty thanks to the
members of my staff and to my Aides for their generous
and efficient support; to Captain Frank A. Edwards,
United States Army, in the command of the battalion of
Cadets, and to the members of the Alumni and pupils of
Girard College, for their aid in making the parade such
a great success.
Thanking you for the honor you have conferred upon
me, I am, Most respectfully,
Daniel W. Bussinger,
Chief Marshal.

ORDER OF EXERCISES AT THE UNVEILING OF
THE STEPHEN GIRARD STATUE.

ORDER OF PARADE.
The Parade will form at Poplar and Fifteenth Streets, in the following order;
I. Chief Marshal and Staff.
Daniel W. Bussinger, '58, Chief Marshal.
Adjutant, Thomas W. Wood, '94. Orderly, Walter R. Sellers, '96.
Chief of Staff, Herman A. Teufel, '92.
Aides.
Robert Erskine, '85, William E. Douglass, '92,
George S. Windle, '71, Thomas Flood, '81,
George James, '92.
II. Municipal Band of Philadelphia  E. D. Beale, Leader.
III. Girard College Alumni — in order of Seniority.
IV. Pupils of Girard College — Ununiformed.
V. Girard College Band and Field Music.
1st Lieutenant Thomas M. GrifFenberg, Leader.
John W. Dady, Drum Major.
VI. Girard College Cadets.
Captain, Frank A. Edwards, 1st Cavalry, U.S.A., Commanding.
ist Lieutenant and Adjutant, Louis Stotz.
ist Lieutenant and Quartermaster, Howard S. Kenney.
Company A.
Captain, Murten J. Emery.
ist Lieutenant, Henry W. Snyder. 2d Lieutenant, James R. Osmun.
Company B.
Captain, Loughlin F. McNeill.
ist Lieutenant, William Kelley. 2d Lieutenant, William Koegel.
Company C.
Captain, John A. McCullough.
ist Lieutenant, William Hatton. 2d Lieutenant, Henry F. Morton.
Company D.
Captain, Frederick W. Firth.
1st Lieutenant, Richard L. Williams. 2d Lieutenant, Peter Britt.
Company E.
Captain, William S. Sechler.
ist Lieutenant, Jacob H. Rowbotham. 2d Lieutenant, Philip M. Ott.
Company F.
Captain, Bertram E. Dickinson.
ist Lieutenant, Joseph T. Hill. 2d Lieutenant, William J. Davis.
Sergeant Major, Samuel B. Wilson.
Quartermaster Sergeant, William Schmeller,
Color Sergeants, Walter W. Beaumont, William J. McCrosson.
vn. At 1.30 P.M., the column will move South on Broad Street to Locust
Street, and countermarch to the City Hall.
VIII. Governor Daniel H. Hastings and Staff will review the parade from the
balcony of the Union League House. 19

ORDER OF EXERCISES.

1. Music — " Morning, Noon, and Night"  . . Suppe.
Municipal Band, E. D. Beale, Leader.
2, Introductory Remarks by the Chairman, General Louis Wagner.
3. Prayer . . .... Rev. Winfield S. Baer, '74.
4. Chorus— " My Country, 'tis of Thee" . . Pupils of Girard College.
Under the direction of Professor Jerry March.
5. Oration . . . . . . Hon. James M. Beck.
6. Unveiling of the Statue by the youngest pupils of the College,
Lloyd W. McFetridge and Chester H. Richards.
7. Salute . ... Battalion of Girard College Cadets and the
Pupils of Girard College.
8. Music— I. " The Star-Spangled Banner."
2. "The Marseillaise."
Girard College Band, Thomas M. Griffenberg, Leader,
9. Presentation of the Sculptor, Mr. J. Massey Rhind, By the Chairman.
10. Acceptance of the Statue . . Hon. Charles F. Warwick,
Mayor of Philadelphia.
u. Chorus— " To Thee, O Country"  Pupils of Girard College.
Under the direction of Professor Jerry March.
12. Address  Hon. Daniel H. Hastings,
Governor of Pennsylvania.
13. Music — " Greeting." Municipal Band, E. D. Beale, Leader.

COMMITTEE ON GIRARD STATUE.
Chairman, George W. Jackson, '53.
Vice-chairman, Thomas P. Lonsdale, '71.
Secretary, W. Wallace Alexander, '88.
Treasurer, Louis Wagner.
A. H. Fetterolf, Thomas Perrins,
Robert J. Johnson, '70, Lawrence Farrell, '71,
John Nolen, '84.

RECEPTION COMMITTEE.
James H. Windrim, '56, Chairman.
Frank M. Highley, Secretary.
John S. Boyd, F. Carroll Brewster,
George W. Kendrick, Jr., George E. Kirkpatrick,
Heber S. Thompson, Emil C. Wagner,
Charles H. Dougherty, '54, William E. Littleton, '55,
William H. Kilpatrick, '54, Theodore L. DeBow, '57,
Harry Erocklehurst, '71, Frank F. Bell, '71,
John Norris, '72, Robert J. Nickell, '73,
Frederick A. DeBurlo, '78, Herman C. Horn, '8j,
Frank O. Zesinger, '82, Frederick Unrath, '88,
Francis J. Boas, '88.

COMMITTEE OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF
CITY TRUSTS.
John H. Michener, Chairman.
Edwin S. Stuart, Louis Wagner.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
BY GENERAL LOUIS WAGNER, CHAIRMAN.

statue of STEPHEN GIRARD AND NEW CITY HALL, PHILADELPHIA.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS OF GENERAL LOUIS
WAGNER, AS CHAIRMAN OF THE MEETING AT
THE UNVEILING OF THE STATUE OF STEPHEN
GIRARD, CITY HALL PLAZA, MAY 20, 1897.

Ladies and Gentlemen, — Mrs. Ellen E. Girard, a
grand-niece of Stephen Girard, desiring to honor, in an
enduring manner, the great services rendered our City
by her distinguished kinsman during the frightful epi
demic of yellow fever in 1793, caused to be placed in
the chapel of the Girard College a beautiful white marble
tablet, suitably inscribed, which was unveiled on Novem
ber 19, 1895.
The Hon. F. Carroll Brewster, in eloquent and fitting
words, presented the tablet to the Institution, and inci
dentally referred to the fact that nowhere in Philadelphia
outside the walls of the College, was there to be found
the slightest recognition of the great things that Mr.
Girard had done for our City.
All were impressed with this statement, and the Presi
dent of the Board of Directors of City Trusts, in his
reply to Judge Brewster's address, suggested that the
year 1897, the fiftieth year of the admission of the first
boys into the Girard College, which was formally and
officially opened on January i, 1848, was the proper
year, and the 20th of May, the birthday of Mr. Girard
the day when this long-delayed duty should be dis
charged. This suggestion commended itself to those present,
and shortly after the Girard College Alumni Association 2S

26 BY GENERAL LOUIS WAGNER.
appointed a Committee, composed of graduates of the
College and of other citizens of Philadelphia, with au
thority to proceed with the work of erecting a statue of
their benefactor.
Their work is finished, and we stand to-day before this
figure of Philadelphia's greatest philanthropist, cast of
enduring bronze and placed upon a pedestal of ever
lasting granite, still enfolded by the flags of his native
and of his adopted country.
The eloquent gentlemen who will address us will tell
of Girard and of his marvellously grand beneficences to
City and State ; and it is for me only to indicate the pur
pose for which we have assembled, but permit the
thought that when these glorious colors shall float aloft
and we shall see the grand figure of the man who
described himself as " Mariner and Merchant," we bow
reverently before the memory of the man whom we call
Patriot and Philanthropist: the father of thousands of
poor orphan boys who by his bounty become honest
and intelligent citizens.
The Rev, Winfield S. Baer, one of our boys, a gradu
ate of the Class of 1874, a minister of the Protestant
Episcopal Church, and the private Secretary of the
Bishop of this Diocese, will invoke the Divine blessing.

PRAYER BY REV. WINFIELD S. BAER, '74.

PRAYER.
BY REV. WINFIELD S. BAER.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, the giver of all
good gifts, we yield Thee hearty thanks for the manifold
blessings, both social and individual, with which Thou
hast gifted this our land. Above all, do we yield Thee
praise and glory that of Thy good providence Thou didst
put into the mind of him in whose memory we meet this
day the good desire to manifest love for his fellows in
devoting his substance to their good in many ways, but
more especially in the founding of the institution which
is called by his name. Direct the managers of this trust
in all their doings with Thy most gracious favor, and
further them with Thy continual help ; endue the officers
and teachers of this institution with such wisdom and
patience that those who are committed to their care and
guidance may develop into virtuous men and loyal citi
zens ; grant that we and all others who enjoy this bounty
may ever show forth our thanks for the same by lives of
truth and love. So rule the hearts of the Governor of
this State and the Mayor of the city which he loved so
well that they may ever seek Thy honor and glory ; and
so pour into the hearts of all citizens that most excellent
gift of charity that they may follow his noble example
of loving service by the consecration of their time and
wealth to the care of the sick, the relief of the distressed,
the training of the young, the visiting the fatherless and
the widow in their affliction.
All this we humbly ask in the name of Him who,
being rich, for our sakes became poor, that we might be
made rich through Him, our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. Amen. 29

ORATION BY HON. JAMES M. BECK.

^(EL ON PEDESTAL OF STATUE OF STEPHEN GIRARD.

iVrsm'^f

PANEL ON PEDESTAL OF STATUE OF STEPHEN GIRARD.

ORATION ON STEPHEN GIRARD.
BY HON. JAMES M. BECK.

We are met to-day, my fellow-citizens, to repay in some
slight measure a sacred debt to the dead. It is not cred
itable to Philadelphia that this obligation of gratitude is
so long overdue. Sixty-six years ago, when the hallowed
joys of Christmas-tide gladdened the hearts of our people
and the merry laughter of children resounded in their
homes, an old man, as full of grief as years, without
wife to smooth his dying pillow or children to receive
his parting blessing, wearily sank into the dreamless
sleep of the dead and rested forevermore from his labors.
Years before he had experienced that compensation
of long life, to which Prince Bismarck gave such feel
ing testimony not many days ago, when he said, " One
of the advantages of becoming old is that one be
comes indifferent to hatred, insult, and calumny, while
one's capacity for good-will and love is increased." It
did not require the winter of age to give Girard this
serenity of mind, for his heroic soul had ever felt that
conscious integrity of purpose which made him indifferent
to either the censure or praise of his fellow-men. For
many years he had cherished in the depths of his impen
etrable soul as lofty and noble a purpose as ever ani
mated the mind or heart of man. To suffer and be silent,
to labor and to reap, that he might live forever in an
eternity of benefaction. Unmindful of the malevolent
3 33

34 ORATION
criticism of his fellow-men, indifferent to their reckless
perversion of his motives, sparing himself no reasonable
exertion of mind or body by day or night, denying him
self the luxuries of affluence, working while the day
of life remained, until his blinded vision and palsied hand
could not find the door of his bank, " Old Girard," as
his fellow-citizens somewhat contemptuously called him,
kept bravely on in his appointed way, until with parting
blessing and dying hand he gave to the city that he
loved so well the accumulated product of his self-denying
labors. And yet until to-day the city which he made
the legatee of an imperial fortune had not raised so
much as one stone upon another to attest its gratitude
for services so distinguished and sublime.
Memorials there are of Stephen Girard, but they owe
their existence to his own bounty. Delaware Avenue,
which should have received his name, for whose con
struction and maintenance he provided a princely en
dowment, near to whose front he lived in modest sim
plicity for sixty years, and from whose docks his vessels
sailed to the farthest ports of the world, is a monument
to his far-seeing sagacity and public spirit. The Bank of
Stephen Girard still exists to attest a patriotism which
was willing to risk all for the honor of the country. The
many institutions of religion and charity, to which in life
he was a constant and generous contributor, still perform
their gracious ministrations of mercy in part through
his bounty, and should ever remind us of his noble
.catholicity of spirit, which knew no race, creed, or na
tionality in his benefactions. The orphaned children,
whose tears he has wiped away, and whose lives of use
fulness and honor owe so much to his self-sacrifice, are
living memorials of Girard, "not made with hands,"
and to stand "eternal in the heavens" in proof of his
nobility of purpose. The college which bears his

BY HON. JAMES M. BECK. 35
name, — in all the diadem of Philadelphia's charities its
richest jewel, — from which as from an unfailing foun
tain-head a stream of benefaction flows, is in an especial
sense his memorial. Its central temple, reflecting in its
white and enduring marble the flawless purity of his
purpose and the indestructible permanence of his work,
whose perfect art fitly symbolizes the moral beauty
which called it into being, and at whose portal he stands
in effigy welcoming forever his parentless wards, is his
tomb. No warrior or king has a nobler. A child of
no century, but a fit companion for the ages, a thousand
years will but enhance its charms, for its perfect beauty
time cannot wither nor custom stale. Of this temple —
not of superstition, but of love — the spirit of Girard
could say in the words of Horace :
" Exegi monumentum sere perennius
Regalique situ pyramidum altius."
All this Philadelphia has accepted from his hands, but
what has she ever given in return for a gift so imperial
in its munificence ?
That great ethical teacher of our century, Carlyle, has
well said that "the character of a people is shown by the
regard they have for their great men, their heroes, their
benefactors." Measured by this standard, what must
not be our humiliation, O men of Philadelphia ! In pro
portion to our just renown are we not wanting in civic
pride and gratitude? Philadelphia, the great historic
<:ity of the western hemisphere and the birthplace of the
noblest republic of all time, is too content to ignore its
past, and speak with hesitating and depreciating terms
of its future. The Philadelphian has no desire, like
Sebastian in " Twelfth Night," to
" satisfy our eyes
With the memorials and things of fame
That do renown this city."

36 ORATION
Unique among American cities in having a founder,
she can rejoice in her paternity, for Penn was one of the
choice spirits of all times; and yet the city can be
searched in vain for any adequate statue of him, whose
very name is inseparably linked with our great Common
wealth, unless we except the huge bronze finial to yonder
tower. Franklin, whose imperishable fame fills two hemi
spheres, and who was so honorably identified with the
city of his adoption, has no appropriate monument to
recall his public services. The man who "wrested the
lightnings from the heavens and the sceptre from tyrants"
rests in the neglected corner of an abandoned cemetery.
Robert Morris, whose patriotic services were rewarded
by his grateful countrymen by two years' confinement
in a debtors' jail, has not even a tablet to recall to our
sluggish memories his patriotic achievements. We have
honored Columbus and forgotten Fulton, Fitch, and
Evans, whose influence upon the human race is only
secondary to the Genoese pilot. Humboldt stands in
bronze before us, but we search in vain for effigies of
Rittenhouse, Bartram, Kane, Rush, Gross, and Leidy.
Schubert has his memorial. Sully, Peale, West, and
Walter, none. Joan of Arc is not ignored, but the
cavalier of our heroic age, " Mad Anthony Wayne,"
or the intrepid youth, Decatur, are unhonored and
almost forgotten. We have paid our tribute to Goethe
and Schiller, but none to Carey, Poe, Taylor, Forrest,
Read, or Whitman. It is true that Gross has his monu
ment and Rush is to be similarly honored, but the loca
tion of their statues is not the city of their labors, — but
Washington. But " worse remains behind." Our city has not only
forgotten Girard's public services, but has permitted his
memory to be blackened with almost no word of protest
in his behalf. The commonly accepted picture of Girard,

BY HON. JAMES M. BECK. 37
which represents him " as a man of few friends, crabbed
and unapproachable, in religion a sceptic, personal habits
a miser, as a master exacting and hard" (see Chambers's
Encyclopaedia), is a gross and dishonest caricature of a
great and noble man. If any line of it be true, it is that
which refers to his supposed irreligion. As to this, it
may be said that if he was heterodox in profession, he
was orthodox in practice. While he did not actively
attach himself to any denomination, he was a generous
contributor to all. His religious convictions no one will
ever know. They remained veiled in the unsearchable
recesses of his soul. But we do know that he made no
pretensions that he was not willing to make good in
deeds. Whatever else he was, he was no hypocrite.
" My deeds," he would say, " must be my life. When
I am dead, my actions must speak for me." Tested by
this arduous standard, he was pre-eminently a Chris
tian in spirit if not in creed, for he was content to follow
the spiritual leader of Christianity where few have fol
lowed Him, — to a martyr's death. That he did not
perish on his Calvary at Bush Hill matters not. The
" readiness is all." Let us ever remember, in the clash
ing of our creeds, that it was not the orthodox Levite,
who professed much and did little, but the heretical
Samaritan who succored the stricken, to whom was given
the eternal commendation of the Master. If ever man de
served the name of good Samaritan, it is he whose virtues
we to-day commemorate. To him life itself was not too
rich a sacrifice to make upon the altar of humanity.
His hand was ever open to the cry of the worthy poor,
and no appeal to him to help the destitute ever fell upon
deaf ears. Thrice in awful periods of distress, when a
fearful scourge slew its thousands in our midst, when the
wisest became fools and the bravest cowards, when
neither the lust of money nor the love of humanity could

38 ORATION
secure succor for the stricken, this so-called infidel offered
the supreme sacrifice of his life to stay the ravages of the
pestilence. None greater could be made, for his godlike
heroism in three fateful summers touched the high-water
mark of human courage and fulfilled the noblest ideal
of self-abnegation. If "he that doeth the will of my
Father which is in heaven," and not he who merely
mouths "Lord, Lord," is the true Christian, — and we
have the authoritj.- of the founder of Christianity for this
belief, — if it be the essence of " pure religion and unde-
filed before God and the Father to visit the fatherless
and widows in their affliction," — and high apostolic au
thority has so defined it, — then Girard's account, when
called for final audit before the Judge who knows all and
whose supreme prerogative of judgment none may usurp,
may not be as bankrupt as narrow souls would have us
believe. Let those only cast a stone at Girard's irreligion
who have done greater good in their lives, and his mem
ory will not suffer.
Much of the popular misconception of his character is
due to his first biographer. Shortly after his death, an
obscure clerk in his bank, whom he had saved from
beggary and had been obliged to discipline for gross
misconduct, published a biography which for mendacious
malevolence has almost no equal in literature. What
an infinite pity that, while we can devise regulations
to keep dogs out of the cemeteries, we cannot protect
the immortal part of man, his reputation, from like pro
fanation. Thus was perpetuated all the back-alley gossip
and social tittle-tattle of Girard's time, and the vitality of
a lie, when it affects the character of a great man, was in
his case aptly illustrated, for posterity has almost forgot
ten the nobility of his life, and only treasured the petty
scandal of his envious neighbors. Many reasons conspired
to make him a target for malicious criticism. He was a

BY HON. JAMES M. BECK. 39
Frenchman, and the prejudice of race — the baleful heri
tage of the centuries — would account for much. This
was intensified by his supposed irreligion. He lived in
an unhappy time, when religious differences divided
men and narrowed their souls. I need only instance the
illustrious Priestley, who, driven from England by re
ligious bigotry, was received with equal intolerance in
America, and only found in the wilds of nature an
asylum from social persecution. Girard, as an avowed
admirer of the iconoclastic sage of Ferney, Voltaire, in
curred the impartial dislike of all the warring religious
bodies. His political opinions also won him the enmity
of many. Never was party strife marked with greater
intensity of spirit. The malignity with which the Re
publicans pursued Washington and threatened to mob
Adams was only matched by the supercilious arrogance
of the Federalists, who regarded their opponents as
mere sans culottes and their noble leaders as Marats,
Dantons, and Robespierres. It was a bitter conflict
between a modified English Toryism and the radical
spirit of the French Revolution. The amenities of life
were forgotten, and Girard, who became an ardent and
active disciple of Jefferson, doubtless incurred his share
of the consequent odium. His personal peculiarities like
wise added to the prejudices of his fellow-citizens. His
blind eye, stern countenance, brusque manner, impene
trable reticence, broken English, old-fashioned dress and
blunt candor, all gained for him the ridicule of the
thoughtless and the criticism of the malicious. Above
all, he was guilty in the eyes of the world of the unpar
donable sin of being successful. In commerce and finance
he was as undisputed a master as Napoleon was in the
tented field and cabinet. No competitor ever measured
strength with him without feeling his superior industry,
sagacity, and courage. He had a wonderful clearness

40 ORATION
of vision, sound common sense, unwearying application,
and, above all, the courage of his convictions. With
his one eye he saw more than his competitors with two.
While they slept, he thought ; while they pleasured, he
worked. Had Philadelphia had less of the dry-rot of
family pride and more of his cosmopolitan spirit, she
would be to-day the London of the Western world, with
New York but its Liverpool. His business facilities
were poor, compared with the natural advantages of to
day. It is as easy now to effect an exchange with Hong-
Kong as it was in his day with Pittsburg. No telegraph
or cable gave him instantaneous communication with
the world, and no daily newspaper placed the news of
the preceding twenty-four hours on his breakfast table.
The ocean was swept by pirates and privateers, and rail
roads and steamships were 'unknown. And yet what
merchant of to-day in Philadelphia has in an equal de
gree his cosmopolitan spirit. From his counting-room
in Water Street he directed with marvellous sagacity
the movements of his vessels to every port and over
every sea. The poor mariner who was driven by Howe's
fleet into Delaware Bay, and thus by accident located
in Philadelphia, and who began his business career in
Water Street by selling anything that promised a profit,
became, despite every disadvantage of race, faith, tongue,
and poverty, the richest merchant of his time. The only
witchcraft of his " Water- Witch" were the three guiding
principles of his life, which he directed should be in
stilled in the minds of his scholars, " truth, sobriety, and
industry." These virtues could win for him success, but
not the good-will of his fellow-men.
Let us briefly recall the principal facts of his life. He
was born in Bordeaux, France, this day one hundred and
forty-seven years ago. A heritage of knightly achieve
ment was his. His grandfather was a " captain, master.

BY HON. JAMES M. BECK. 4 1
and patron" in the French navy, and his father was knighted
by Louis XV. for distinguished bravery in a naval con
flict. At an early age he lost an eye by an accident, and
the ridicule of his thoughtless comrades added to his
natural reserve and in some measure checked the geni
ality of his soul. He had lost his mother at an early
age, and the remarriage of his father made his home so
uncongenial that at the age of seventeen he obtained
his father's permission to go to sea. Commencing as a
cabin-boy, he was gradually advanced by merit until, in
his twenty-third year, he was made by special appoint
ment a " captain, master, and patron" of a merchant
vessel. For ten years the sea remained, as he afterwards
said, his " nurse," — a rough nurse, it is true ; and yet from
its winds and waves he gained a knowledge which, by
the alchemy of genius, he transmuted into his vast
treasures of gold. In May, 1776, his ship was driven by
fog and storm into Delaware Bay, from which Howe's
blockading fleet made exit dangerous. With his won
derful capacity for adapting himself to adverse circum
stances, he sold his vessel and, without friends in Phila
delphia or any knowledge of its language, purchased a
modest store on Water Street, and the mariner became a
merchant. On June 6, 1777, he married a young and beautiful
Philadelphia girl, named Mary Lum, the daughter of a
ship-builder. I may here instance one form of the
malignant criticism with which Girard's memory has
been assailed. It is generally believed that their married
life was most unhappy ; and it has even been suggested
that the terrible affliction of insanity, which overtook
Mrs. Girard eight years after their marriage, was the
result of his cruelty. The letters, however, which passed
between Stephen and his brother Jean, between whom
existed a constant and beautiful brotherly affection, show

42 ORATION
almost conclusively that the affections of Girard and his
wife were warm and tender, and that the latter was not
as destitute of social graces as has been commonly
supposed. Their felicity was only shadowed by her
failure to bear children, of which Girard was passion
ately fond, and was ended only by the terrible afflic
tion which prostrated Mrs. Girard and deprived her of
reason. His brother Jean, in a letter to Stephen, writ
ten at the time, in which he speaks of "knowing the
regard and love you bear your wife," added this sug
gestive conjecture : " I presume that the grief which
this lovely woman has always shown to me at having
no children is the cause of her misfortune, to which
it is necessary to be resigned as to the will of God."
Girard watched over her with affectionate solicitude.
Some temporary signs of improvement encouraged the
stricken husband to plan a visit to France for the
further improvement of her health. Unfortunately,
however, the faint glimmer of light in her mind soon
deepened into the lasting night of permanent insanity.
The physicians called in consultation unanimously ad
vised her removal to the Pennsylvania Hospital, where,
with her mind in total blindness, she remained until her
death. That which gave an added pang to this terrible
affliction was the birth of a daughter a few months after
her entry into the hospital. The child lived but a few
months. Thus Girard, practically orphaned by the remarriage
of his father, childless, and worse than wifeless, found
himself alone in the residence in which he had com
menced his married life so auspiciously, and whose walls
he had hoped would resound with that joyous prattle
of children, of which an Oriental proverb has well said,
" Sweet is the music of the lute to him who has not heard
the laughter of his children." Bravely he bore his cross.

BY HON. JAMES M. BECK. 43
and endeavored to find relief for his tortured mind in
incessant labor. He writes to a friend, " As to myself, I
live like a galley slave, often passing the whole night
without sleeping. I am wrapped up in a labyrinth of
anxieties and am worn out with care. I do not value
fortune. The love of labor is my highest ambition." In
another letter he wrote : " When I rise in the morning,
my only effort is to labor so hard that when night comes
I may be enabled to sleep soundly." As if to further
disprove the base assertion that Girard was cruel to his
wife and was insensible of feeling, the testimony of an
eye-witness, who was present at Mrs. Girard's burial,
may be recalled with profit. He says, " I shall never
forget the last and closing scene. We all stood about
the coffin, and Mr. Girard, filled with emotion, stepped
forward, kissed his wife's corpse, and his tears moist
ened her cheek. When the coffin was lowered into
the grave, a long silence ensued, after which Girard bent
over and bestowed a last look upon his dead wife ; then
turning from the new-made grave, he simply said to
Samuel Coates, ' It is very well,' and returned to his des
olate home."
Sorrow embitters some men, and with others it but
softens the heart and ennobles its impulses. The latter
was the case with Girard. From the time he was denied
the pleasure of either wife or children, he became sym
pathetic with every form of human distress. While he
had only detestation for the lazy beggar who could
work but would not, and never placed a premium
upon idleness or extravagance by indiscriminate acts of
charity, yet the needy and deserving poor found in him
a sympathetic friend and helper. If his manner were
brusque and at times repellent, his acts more than atoned
for such want of urbanity. In the rigor of winter, he
would share his fuel with the shivering poor and neglect

44 ORATION
his bank and counting-house to nurse an old colored
servant in his household.
In the fearful summer of 1793, his moral worth and
fearless spirit shone forth like a star in the darkest night.
It was the most terrible affliction that Philadelphia has
ever known or, please God, is like to know. Horrible
as was the reign of terror which was then raging in
Paris and staining its streets with blood, its terrors were
surpassed by those of the yellow fever in Philadelphia.
The guillotine was not more terrible than the black
vomit. The carts that daily carried their victims to the
knife did not exceed in horror those which conveyed the
shrieking victims of the plague to Bush Hill. The
scythe of death reaped as rich a harvest here as there.
Men can with equanimity face a known and visible terror,
but the bravest hearts are appalled by the " pestilence that
walketh in darkness and the destruction that wasteth at
noonday." Against the machinations of a Danton or a
Marat men could in a measure guard themselves, but
the invisible disease which struck down the victim with
out warning as with an unseen bolt of lightning, and
subjected him to a loathsome and horrible death, baffled
their precautions. What wonder, then, that when the
presence of the plague became known about the middle
of August, 1793, a panic seized the hearts of the people,
which was as terrible and maddening as that in a
crowded theatre when an alarm of fire is sounded.
Although Philadelphia was then the political and com
mercial metropolis of the nation, all ordinary concerns of
life were quickly forgotten in the mad rush to escape.
The streets were crowded with fleeing families, who in
the abandonment of their terror frequently left behind
them not only homes but the stricken of their house
hold. Soon one-half of all the houses were deserted,
and but twenty thousand inhabitants remained, chiefly

BY HON. JAMES M. BECK. 45
of the poorer classes. Of these a full fifth perished be
fore the work of death was done. Those who remained
were stricken with the most abject terror. They locked
themselves in their houses, and if, from necessity, they
ventured abroad, they held a handkerchief soaked in
vinegar tightly over their mouths. Social intercourse
was suspended. The once prosperous city, but recently
the scene of social gayety and thronged with the great
men of the nation, became a great charnel-house. The
Federal government moved to Germantown, while of its
officials, Washington, Jefferson, and Knox hastily re
turned to their homes, and Hamilton only remained, be
cause stricken with the fever. The hum of industry
ceased. Banks, libraries, business houses, inns, coffee
houses, and even churches closed their doors. The
grass grew waist high in the streets. The only sound
that broke their awful stillness was the lugubrious roar
of a cannon, which was fired at intervals in the hope
that the concussion would relieve the pestilential atmos
phere, or the wailing cry at intervals : " Bring out your
dead!" Coffins were piled near the State House for
ready use, and the dead were immediately strapped to
the shafts of a horse and dragged to the trenches in the
potter's field and promiscuously buried. Some of those
charged with this duty perished and others abandoned
their gruesome work, and thus bodies for want of burial
lay rotting in the highways. Whole families were swept
away. Within twenty-four hours eleven perished under
one roof
The universal terror so deadened every sensibility of
the human heart that husbands deserted their wives,
children their parents, parents their children. At the
lazaretto at Bush Hill, in a mansion once occupied by
the Hamiltons and later by John Adams, suitable
nurses could not be procured by any offer of reward.

46 ORATION
Those who were hired belonged to the most depraved
class and wasted the substance provided for the sick in
riotous debauchery. Where the stately minuet had been
danced by the culture and beauty of Philadelphia, the sick
lay promiscuously huddled in overcrowded rooms, and
under conditions of unspeakable squalor and filth. So
great was the consequent mortality that to enter this
charnel-house was justifiably regarded as to cross the
threshold of death. To escape this fate the stricken in
the city hid themselves in their houses, and preferred to
die as rats in secret rather than be transferred to this
loathsome abode of death. Brutal employes of the Over
seers of the Poor would search for these wretched vic
tims of the plague, as dog-catchers might a mongrel cur,
and convey them, despite their shrieking protests, in an
open cart to the lazaretto, where, more dead than alive,
they would be laid upon a pallet just vacated by a corpse.
Such was the awful condition of affairs, threatening
the destruction of the city, when the Mayor, on Septem
ber lo, 1793, appealed for volunteers to relieve the Over
seers of the Poor. Of all that remained only ten re
sponded, and among them was Girard. It was a time
that truly "tried men's souls" as with fire, and this
noble band merit eternal honor. Few of them enjoyed
social prominence, for it is sadly true that those who
shone in the dancing assemblies were conspicuous by
their absence at Bush Hill. Of this Committee of Safety
— between it and the Paris Committee of Safety, what a
contrast ! — Girard became the master spirit. He visited
the pest-house and reported its frightful condition. Who
would volunteer to take charge of it ? A silence fell
upon the committee. To volunteer seemed suicidal, and
none could be justly asked to make that sacrifice.
It was in that hour of supreme peril, the darkest that
ever befell our city, that Stephen Girard and Peter Helm,

BY HON. JAMES M. BECK. 47
a noble Moravian, "commiserating," in the language of
the minutes, "the calamitous state to which the sick
may be reduced for want of suitable persons to superin
tend the hospital, voluntarily offered their services for
that benevolent employment." Neither stopped to close
up his affairs, although, as Helm subsequently told
Charles Biddle, he never expected to return. That very
afternoon found them at the hospital. They divided
their work, and, if there be any distinction between
these godlike heroes, Girard can justly claim the prefer
ence, as in the division of labor Helm selected the ex
terior, while Girard took the post of especial danger
in the interior, where the air was laden with the pesti
lential breath of the dying and the exhalations of the
dead. There he remained for two months from six to
eight hours each day. No office of charity was too
laborious or offensive. As an eye-witness to his heroism
has recorded, he " had to encourage and comfort the
sick, to hand them necessaries and medicines, to wipe
the sweat off their brows, to perform many disgusting
offices of kindness for them, which nothing could render
tolerable but the exalted motives that impelled him to
this heroic conduct." Ever at the head of the commit
tee's daily minutes is found the glorious record, " Stephen
Girard and Peter Helm at the hospital." The first entry,
in September, 1793, records Girard's courage in first visit
ing the hospital ; its last, in March, 1794, his goodness
in turning over to the committee money for the stricken.
As though this were not enough, he employed his re
maining time in assisting in the dangerous and loath
some work of removing the dying and the dead from the
houses. An eye-witness has given us a graphic picture
of this noble man engaged in his sublime work. The
former, having occasion to visit the worst infected district,
found no one on the street, but suddenly its stillness

48 ORATION
was broken by the rattling of the wheels of a carriage,
which was being rapidly driven by a negro. It halted in
front of a frame building. The driver tied his handkerchief
over his mouth, opened the carriage-door, and resumed
his seat. A short, thick-set man alighted and entered
the house. It was Stephen Girard. Soon he emerged
from the house, carrying in his arms a man so large that
he was obliged to drag him over the pavement. Both
arms were about the patient, whose face rested upon
Girard's cheek, while from his mouth there came the
putrid effluvium that is characteristic of the disease.
Girard, inhaling the breath of the patient with every step,
lifted him, with great exertion, into the carriage, entered
it and drove off. The records of human heroism can be
searched in vain for any nobler or more courageous act.
What higher sacrifice can a man make for humanity
than his life ? The spiritual leader of our race could do
no more. Cicero finely said, in his defence of Ligarius,
that man can approach no nearer to God than in giving
safety to men. Without depreciating the courage of the
soldier, who for love of country, in defence of hearth
and home and in the mad excitement of battle, encoun
ters some great momentary danger or " seeks the bubble,
reputation, i' the cannon's mouth," yet even nobler was
the peaceful achievement of Girard in challenging death
by day and night to do its worst. As he moves among
the dying, consoling them in their last bitter agony by
kindly words or cooling their parched lips with water,
he illustrates that just man of the Roman poet's fancy,
whose firm resolution the thunderbolts of Jove could not
shake and who faced universal disaster with an intrepid
spirit. Or may we not better see in this record of sub
lime courage and supreme self-sacrifice the divine pro
tection which the inspired writer of the Ninety-first Psalm
promised the fearless man :

BY HON. JAMES M. BECK. 49
" He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most
High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
" Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the
fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
" Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night ; nor
for the arrow that flieth by day ;
" Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness ; nor
for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
" A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand
at thy right hand ; but it shall not come nigh thee.
"There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any
plague come nigh thy dwelling.
" He shall call upon me, and I will answer him : I
will be with him in trouble ; I will deliver him, and
honor him.
" With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my
salvation." The "long life" thus promised was vouchsafed him,
and he dedicated it to the public good. It may be fairly
questioned whether Philadelphia has ever had a more
useful citizen. To every call of public duty he freely
responded, and without regard to his private interests
served his city, his commonwealth, and his nation in
many positions of trust and honor. In 1812, anticipa
ting with rare forethought the political disturbances in
Europe, he drew, out all the extensive credits which he
had concentrated in the English banking house of Baring
Brothers, and, although the shadows of war were falling
upon our country, showed his faith in its future by pur
chasing all outstanding stock of the United States Bank,
on the faith that it would be rechartered. When Con
gress refused to renew its corporate life, and thus ex
posed the accumulations of Girard to total loss, he
showed his ability to overmaster adverse circumstance
by purchasing the real and personal assets of the defunct
4

50 ORATION
institution and reopening it under the title of "The
Bank of Stephen Girard." As a financier he showed as
great ability and the same patriotic spirit as he had as
merchant and mariner. He became the financial pillar
of the government at the time of its greatest weakness.
Indeed, it is possible that without Girard the republic
would have perished.
In the year 1814, when the British soldiers had entered
Washington and destroyed the capitol, when the army
and navy were deficient in supplies, when gloom and
despair pervaded all hearts, when the Hartford conven
tion had sounded its seditious note, when all others re
fused to advance the government the means to maintain
the honor of the country, he had both the courage and
the patriotism to stake his fortune on the future of the
republic. The government in despair had attempted to
float a loan of but five million dollars to continue the
war, and had offered the extraordinary inducement to
timid capital of interest at seven per cent, per annum, and
a bonus of thirty per cent, of the principal. So com
pletely had capitalists lost faith in the government, that
when the subscriptions were opened, but twenty thousand
dollars had been subscribed. With the failure of the
loan might have come the disbandment of the army, and
a dishonorable and humiliating conclusion to the war.
To subscribe to so large an amount, probably equivalent
to his whole available fortune, in the face of such general
timidity and despair, required unusual courage and pa
triotism. As in the yellow fever epidemic he had been fear
less when others proved cowards, in like spirit he stepped
forth and pledged his entire fortune to enable the republic
to vindicate its honor and maintain its existence. The
effect of this patriotic and courageous stand was most
beneficial. Capitalists, whose patriotism had not equalled
their timidity, were inspired by his example to renewed

BY HON. JAMES M. BECK. 5 1
faith in their country, its credit was thus saved from
total paralysis and the war happily brought to a success
ful termination. His words, written to a correspondent
in Bordeaux, in 1815, best measure the lasting impor
tance of this result. " The peace which has taken place
between this country and England will consolidate for
ever our independence and insure our tranquillity?"
The conclusion of the war found the financial and com
mercial interests of the country in a state of collapse.
Credit was paralyzed and panic reigned supreme. Girard
again infused courage into the despondent hearts of his
countrymen by expressing his willingness, as the largest
holder of the public loans, to accept treasury notes in
lieu of specie in payment of its interest charges. This
signal expression of confidence in the solvency of the
government gave new heart to timid capital and sent
fresh blood coursing through the veins of business.
Believing that the restoration of public credit would be
further promoted by the re-establishment of the United
States Bank, Girard publicly supported its recharter.
When subscriptions of stock were finally invited and
only an inconsiderable portion was taken, he again dis
played the broad public spirit and magnificent courage
of his public life by subscribing to the entire balance,
amounting to ^3,100,000.
These are but illustrations of the extent and variety of
his public services. To the very last he set a commend
able example of civic spirit, which succeeding genera
tions may profitably follow. In his eighty-second year
he presided at a meeting of Philadelphia merchants,
which was called for the purpose of constructing the
present Merchants' Exchange building, and contributed
ten thousand dollars. Notwithstanding his increasing
infirmities of sight and hearing, he never ceased to labor.
Walking to his bank in his eighty-first year, he was run

52 ORATION
down by a wagon and severely injured. He bore the
dressing of his wounds without flinching and with the
stoical remark, " Go on, doctor, I am an old sailor. I
can bear a great deal." Notwithstanding this accident,
he was found in his eighty-first year walking the streets,
crossing the threshold of his bank, and with blinded
vision groping for the door-knob. A month before his
death he stated the philosophy of his life in words
worthy of a Roman stoic :
" When Death comes for me, he will find me busy,
unless I am asleep. If I thought I was going to die to
morrow, I should plant a tree nevertheless to-day."
When were ever the words of the poet more happily
paraphrased : " Life that dares send
A challenge to his end,
And when it comes, say, ' Welcome, friend.' "
The end came on December 26, 1 831. He had been
ill for some weeks with a cold, which developed into
pneumonia. On the day after Christmas, when else
where in Philadelphia there was festal rejoicing and
happiness, this grand old man lay dying in his Water
Street mansion. He suddenly arose and, with the last
effort of his extraordinary bodily vigor, crossed the
room. Placing his weak, thin hand against his forehead,
he died with the simple exclamation of pain : " How
violent is this disorder ! How extraordinary it is !"
It has been said that the world has not known its
greatest men. Certainly, its truest men have lacked
adequate recognition. That our boasted civilization is,
even in this evening of the nineteenth century, but a
thin veneering of barbarism is shown by the fact that they
only are pre-eminently great in the world's estimation
who have trodden stormfully across its stage and ground
their fellow-men under heels of iron. The oppressors

BY HON. JAMES M. BECK. 53
of the race alone escape the common fate of oblivion.
They sit supreme, as Caesar in the arena, and before
them the unending generations file and say :
" Hail, Caesar ! we who are about to die salute thee."
Thus contrast the vulgar deification of that incarnate
iniquity, Napoleon, with the scant recognition of such an
heroic soul as Stephen Girard. The one, despite his
extraordinary genius, was the colossal charlatan of his
age, the other, its greatest philanthropist. The one
dedicated his life to his selfish and remorseless ambi
tion, the other to the happiness and permanent welfare
of humanity. The one caused countless tears to flow,
the other has wiped them away. The one made orphans,
the other has cared for them. Upon the soul of one is
the blood of three millions of his fellow-beings, but his
power of evil has gone. He can kill no more. The
benefactions of the other in their ceaseless operation will
in the centuries that are to come redeem as many lives
from poverty and ignorance as the other destroyed.
" For his bounty
There was no winter in't, an autumn 'twas
That grew the more by reaping."
Fitting were their ends. The one died at St. Helena,
the broken-hearted " somnambulist of a shattered dream"
of universal empire. The other will take high rank
among the great benefactors and spiritual heroes of our
race. It would be interesting to contrast them as they
drafted the last expression of their wishes in anticipa
tion of death. Each testamentary document is charac
teristic of its writer. That of Napoleon is his final act
of charlatanry, — the last play of a desperate gamester.
What hypocrisy, pride, cunning, malevolence, and sense
of guilt breathe through this will ! As the spirits of the

54 ORATION BY HON. JAMES M. BECK.
slain rose in the witches' cave before that kingly mur
derer, whom Shakespeare drew, there came to this mod
ern Macbeth, whose vaulting ambition had o'erleaped
itself, disquieting thoughts of that Due d'Enghien, whom,
like Banquo, he had foully assassinated to secure his
seat on an imperial throne. As if this stain of blood
were not enough, he shows the narrow malevolence of
his nature in that legacy to the man who had tried to
assassinate the Duke of Wellington.
Contrast with his impotent malice the noble serenity
of soul with which Girard dictated to his trusted coun
sellor the last expression of his wishes. As he disposed
of the vast accumulations of his busy life, which had
been earned by incessant and honorable toil and with
out causing the shedding of a single tear, he could have
recalled with justifiable pride the day he left the quay at
Bordeaux a penniless lad, with life before him as a battle
field. He had fought a good fight and won a signal
victory. Like the dying Pericles, he could proudly
claim that no one, through any act of his, had put on
mourning. Grateful as were the recollections of his
past, with its many triumphs over adverse circum
stances, yet his soul must have had its great reward for
its life-long travail in the reflection that he would not
wholly die, nor would his work cease with his latest
breath, but that for all the centuries that were to come
his soul would live in the ceaseless good of his bene-
factjons. With his rare prescience he may have seen,
as Moses saw Canaan from Pisgah's height, the Girard
College of to-day in all its magnificent reality. May we
not believe that, as his trembling hand attached his sig
nature to this noble document, a divine content possessed
his soul with the benediction :
" Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of
these, My brethren, ye have done it unto Me."

PRESENTATION OF THE SCULPTOR J. MASSEY
RHIND, BY THE CHAIRMAN.

PRESENTATION OF THE

SCULPTOR, J. MASSEY RHIND,

BY THE CHAIRMAN.

At the conclusion of Mr. Beck's oration, the flags of
the United States and France enveloping the statue
were withdrawn amidst the plaudits of the great assem
blage, and the Chairman of the meeting said :
" No doubt you all desire to see the man whose mind
conceived, and whose ready hands executed, this beau
tiful specimen of the sculptor's art, and I have the very
great pleasure to present to you Mr. J. Massey Rhind."
Mr. Rhind advanced to the front of the platform and
bowed his acknowledgment of the approval with which
he was met.

57

ADDRESS BY HON. CHARLES F. WARWICK.

UNVEILING OF STATUE OF STEPHEN GIRARD, MAY 20, 1897, PUPILS OF GIRARD COLLEGE SINGING ON STAND OPPOSITE.

ADDRESS BY
HON. CHARLES F. WARWICK,

MAYOR OF PHILADELPHIA.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Members of the Board of
City Trusts, Members of the Alumni, and Students
OF Girard College, — It is a pleasant, and at the same
time a most unusual, privilege that has fallen to my lot,
within a week past, to accept on behalf of the city two
monuments dedicated to the memory of two distinguished
men. In every respect Washington and Girard were totally
dissimilar. In no one point did their characters touch,
and yet they are both worthy our deepest gratitude, be
cause of the inestimable services rendered by them to us
and ours.
It is essentially proper that we should honor men for
their charity and benevolence, as well as for their heroism
and patriotism. Monuments are the tribute of respect
we pay to our heroes and benefactors. They teach a
lesson for present and for future generations, and stand
as an example, that the influence of the good deeds of
men may live long after they have passed away. They
incite the living to emulate the heroism and the charity
of the dead. They represent the sentiments of gratitude
that our tongues can but feebly express, but which our
hearts often so deeply feel. 6i

62 ADDRESS
Never, perhaps, in the history of this country has a
monument been unveiled and dedicated in the presence
of people who hold in such deep veneration as you do
the memory of the man whom the memorial honors, for
you are the recipients of his bounty, the children of his
solicitous care, the direct heirs of his charity.
Stephen Girard was a Frenchman by birth, but early
in life became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
I often wonder if we sufficiently appreciate the debt of
gratitude we owe to France. In the dark hours of the
Revolution she extended her hand to the struggling
colonies and materially aided in securing their inde
pendence. The names of La Fayette, D'Estaing, and Rochambeau
are inseparably interwoven into the history of our coun
try. France has put us under further obligations, for
she gave to Philadelphia one of our most successful
merchants and one of the most distinguished philanthro
pists of this or any other country.
Stephen Girard was born near Bordeaux in 1750. He
early took to the sea, and in time rose to be master of
and co-owner in an American coaster. In 1777 he
arrived in this city, at the time the British were in pos
session and while Lord Howe's vessels were riding at
anchor in the Delaware. Shortly afterwards he married,
and decided to settle permanently in Philadelphia and to
devote himself to mercantile pursuits. He occupied a
building on Water Street, which he used both as a store
and dwelling. He lived economically but comfortably,
without show or function. He was a familiar character
upon the public streets, and his plain one-horse chaise
gave no idea of the immense wealth of its occupant. He
was always simple and modest in his tastes and never
given to display. This is sometimes taken for meanness,
but really may be the absence of vulgarity. It is better

BY HON. CHARLES F. WARWICK. 63
to ride in a one-horse gig with your debts all paid than
to drive a four-in-hand with waiting creditors.
Prudence, economy, industry, and strict attention to
business were the cardinal rules of his life. His advance
ment was most rapid. He met with almost unparalleled
success in every enterprise he undertook. He had the
touch of Midas, for everything that came to his hand
seemed to turn to gold.
Philadelphia, owing greatly to his influence, became the
commercial centre of the United States. His name and
paper were known and honored in every bank of exchange
throughout the civilized world ; his vessels traded with
every port and whitened every sea. His business trans
actions were on the largest scale ; they reached from Phila
delphia to London, from London to Cathay. He was
wise, shrewd, and exceptionally enterprising, and must be
classed with the greatest merchants of the world. So suc
cessful a man was, of course, subjected to adverse criticism.
Envy and jealousy are great detractors of character.
We should gauge a man by the results of his life, by
the great and humane deeds that mark his career, not
by the slanders and innuendoes of his enemies. It is
said by some that he was possessed with the love of
gain, that he delighted alone in accumulation. Perhaps
this may be so ; but who knows but at that very time,
having conceived of this great institution, he was amass
ing wealth that he might provide a home and education
for those who otherwise would be without opportunity.
" Though he were unsatisfied in getting, yet in bestowing
he was most princely."
So busy a man as Girard, whose interests were so
great and whose commercial enterprises covered the
universe, had but little time to give to social duties and
pleasures, and consequently he had but few intimate and
confidential friends.

64 ADDRESS
" His mind was tossing on the ocean, there where his
argosies with portly sail" were battling with the winds.
Because wealthy men do not indulge in those pleasures,
which if we had the means we think we would enjoy, we
are apt to judge them by a standard which we have no
right to apply. A spendthrift is " a good fellow" while
his money lasts, a fool when it is gone.
Girard was an earnest, sincere man with a settled pur
pose in life, and the results of his labor will fall like
blessings on the ages yet to come. He had faults, as all
men have, and we are not here to extenuate them, but
surely, in view of what he did, we may extol his virtues.
He was kindly to the poor; he was generous to posterity.
It was the Divine Master who once said, "And the
greatest of these is charity."
If we study any man's life in its details we will dis
cover, no doubt, many blemishes ; the sun has its spots,
but they do not darken the light. If we take the results
flowing from the efforts of a man's life, we then may
apply a proper judgment in our estimate of his real
worth. With this measure, then, it can truthfully be
said that Stephen Girard's life was crowned with the
greatest success, for one of the noblest and one of the
most charitable institutions in the world stands to-day as
his monument. There his ashes lie in the care of those
who love him and in the midst of his benefactions. What a
magnificent mausoleum ! The kings and mighty of the
earth, whose ambition centred in their own glory, rest
under majestic piles of sculptured architecture, their
epitaphs written in pompous language recounting the
glory of their cruel and warlike deeds. How these
dwindle in comparison with the College founded by the
merchant Girard, and dedicated to charity, to love, and
to the care of the unfortunate !
There was one incident in the life of Girard that

BY HON. CHARLES F. WARWICK. 65
specially marks him as a man of great moral courage.
In 1793, during the yellow fever scourge, he displayed,
in the face of death, the greatest heroism. The epidemic
spread with fearful rapidity in every direction throughout
the city, — the bravest hearts quailed in the presence of
the danger. Out of a population of twenty-five thousand
that remained in the city, over four thousand were swept
away in three months. Every other house seemed to be
in mourning. The city sat in sackcloth and ashes ; the
death-carts rumbled incessantly by night and by day
through the deserted streets, and the dead were hurried
to the graveyards and quickly interred without the sacred
rites of burial. Those who were able to leave fled from
their homes, and there were not nurses enough left to
care for the sick and dying. Mr. Girard at this time was
in the very prime of his life, and on the flood-tide of his
successful career as a merchant. Bravely and resolutely
he faced the crisis, risking all in his devotion to duty.
For two months this man of wealth and influence served
as a nurse in the public hospital. He applied his organ
izing ability to the condition of affairs, and it was due
more to him than to any other citizen that the consuming
pestilence was at length stayed. Nothing can speak
more forcibly of his courage and philanthropy than his
self-sacrificing conduct during this period of danger.
After all, what greater encomium can be paid to a man
than to say that he is courageous and charitable.
His career as a banker is too well known for me at this
time to dwell upon, save to say that during the war of
1 8 1 2 he was ever ready to assist the government finan
cially in times of stringency and embarrassment. He was
a loyal citizen of his adopted country. His religious
views are not known. They were not confined within the
lines of any sect, and his faith did not repose within the
limits of any dogma. He was in no sense of the word a
S

66 ADDRESS
bigot. His tolerance and liberality were as broad as the
universe. Man to him, irrespective of creed, was his
brother. This sketch, of course, is but a mere outline
of him whom we honor, but in a measure it may give
you an idea of the strong points of his life and character,
and that is all it is intended for. I have not the time to
draw a complete picture or to round out the sketch with
details. That task has been left to the orator of the day,
and most excellently and eloquently has he met the
demand. It is a source of congratulation and greatly to the
credit of the city that the Girard Trust has been so care
fully, so wisely, and so economically administered in all
its purposes. May it ever be confided to the care of
those men who, rising above every selfish consideration,
will with devotion carry out its benevolent provisions
with an eye single to the great interests involved.
The fame of Girard College has added greatly to the
reputation of our city, and the name of the founder
should be held in the highest esteem by every one who
takes pride in the prosperity of Philadelphia. The thou
sands who have gathered here to-day to pay reverence
to the memory of Girard, and especially those who have
been personally blessed by his charity, testify to the
usefulness and beneficence of this great institution.
Before closing, allow me to add a few words in relation
to the statue itself The artist has done well in presenting
Girard to us just as he appeared in life. He has not so
idealized the man in bronze as to have removed all traces
of his real character. Girard stands before us as we
imagine him to have looked in his bank or counting-
house. While twirling his spectacles, we can almost hear
him negotiating with a brother merchant for the sale or
purchase of a cargo of merchandise. The face is thought
ful, the pose is natural and graceful ; there is no striving

BY HON. CHARLES F. WARWICK. 67
after effect, and the art concealing itself in its simplicity
has given us a living, thinking man.
To the memory, then, of this most generous philanthro
pist, we dedicate this monument, and I accept it in the
name of the people whom I have the honor to represent,
with the promise that it shall ever be guarded with care
and held as a sacred trust.

ADDRESS BY HON. DANIEL H. HASTINGS.

ADDRESS BY
HON. DANIEL H. HASTINGS,

GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA.

Ladies and Gentlemen, — This memorial to the
memory of Stephen Girard is unveiled to-day with
appropriate ceremony after fifty years' practical experi
ence of one of the greatest benefactions ever conceived
or inaugurated by a private citizen in any country or in
any time.
It is erected jointly by the Alumni of the College he
founded and the people of this City and of the Com
monwealth of Pennsylvania. It is intended to be an
enduring monument to a citizen of the State who called
himself a " mariner and merchant," but whom the people
with one voice proclaim to be Philadelphia's greatest
philanthropist. The Alumni of the College have gathered here from
many States and from almost every calling in life to
renew the associations of former years, and to pay their
full measure of love and gratitude to the memory of the
great founder. The people of Philadelphia are here to
welcome them and to unite in this grateful tribute, while
the people of the State, many of whom are contributors
to the statue, fully recognize his service to the Common
wealth and the country as well as to the city and her
deserving youth.
In 1829, when Governor Shultz, leaving an empty
71

72 ADDRESS
treasury and no money to carry on the daily affairs of
the State government, with the Legislature adjourned,
and the contingency of bankruptcy making it impossible
for the State to obtain credit for the actual daily outlay
of its departments, — when Governor Shultz rode into
Philadelphia, with nothing but his word of honor and
his confidence in the ultimate patriotism and integrity of
the people on which to raise the money, he was met by
Stephen Girard, who accepted the collateral and loaned
the State one hundred thousand dollars. This relief of
the State appropriately formed the last public act of his
hfe. He aided in the early development of the material
resources of the State ; he loaned the Schuylkill Navi
gation Company hundreds of thousands of dollars ; he
bequeathed to the Commonwealth three hundred thou
sand dollars for the prosecution of internal improve
ments ; he engaged in agriculture and became a practical
farmer ; he lived and labored to make Philadelphia the
chief city of the Union, and he realized his ideal ; he
made Philadelphia the most important sea-port on the
Atlantic coast, and, realizing that the construction of
larger vessels would require a deeper channel in our
great water-way, he bequeathed five hundred thousand
dollars to the city of Philadelphia for the improvement
of her water-front ; he firmly maintained that Philadel
phia, with a deeper channel, would continue to hold her
ascendency as the chief seaport. He invested his money
with absolute confidence in the future wealth and glory
of the State ; he became a national figure ; he was the
right hand of national credit in the war of 1812; he
responded frequently to the call of the Federal govern
ment for temporary loans, and he stayed impending panic
by timely and liberal management of the Girard Bank at
the crucial period.

BY HON. DANIEL H. HASTINGS, 73
Girard's example has made a deep and wide impression.
Critical investigation may have found food for the carp
ing tongue of criticism. We have no time for that. The
faultless man has not been discovered in this country.
The great qualities and achievements of Girard have ob
scured his critic and his critic's microscope. His life was
simple, severe, painstaking, methodical, exacting, and
honest. He surrounded himself with no artificial halo.
He was severest in the exactions placed upon himself.
His ambition was to be a perfect example of a patriotic,
law-abiding citizen. His every recorded act, public and
private, bears the stamp of that probity and integrity
which are unassailable. He was the most industrious and
hardest working man of his day. Franklin wrote homely
truths and wholesome idioms about frugality and industry,
Stephen Girard acted them out in his daily life, and he
died possessed of the greatest private fortune then known
in America.
There were other sides to his character. He had an
especial fondness for children, horses, dogs, and song
birds. The man who can captivate and make friends
with these has sunshine in his soul.
He exhibited in 1793 the qualities of which heroes are
made when he dared the ravages of yellow fever in his
ministrations to his stricken neighbors.
Girard's greatest conception, greatest achievement, is
the marble monument whose many-sided walls daily echo
to the music made by boyish voices. That monument
places Stephen Girard beyond the reach of oblivion. His
name will survive as long as that of Philadelphia. His
tory will tell of him as a man of vigorous industry and
rigid economy who, with generous spirit and wise fore
thought, bequeathed the accumulated earnings of a life
time for the advancement of his fellow-men. He has
earned the right to have his name in the fore-front of all

74 ADDRESS.
human distinction as a great benefactor in the cause of
education. He has searched the homes of sorrow and
disappointment, and he has poured into the recesses of
their existence the radiance of moral and intellectual
cultivation. There are thousands of men to-day who thank God
for Stephen Girard. They are found in public and
private life, among our best educated citizens, scholars,
mechanics, merchants, and men of business. They are
the men who, in whatever station, can never forget their
benefactor, nor will they cease to mingle with their
prayers or to commemorate with their labor the name of
Stephen Girard.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOUNDER'S
DAY TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
OF CITY TRUSTS.

REPORT
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FOUNDER'S DAY,
MAY 20, 1897,
TO THE
BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF CITY TRUSTS.

To the President and Directors of City Trusts :
Gentlemen, — Your committee, to whom was referred
the matter of a fitting celebration of the one hundred
and forty-seventh anniversary of the birth of Stephen
Girard at the college bearing his name, and, together
with the Girard College Alumni and other graduates of
the institution, show a just recognition of his beneficence
and generosity upon the occasion of the unveiling of the
statue then about to be erected to his memory, respect
fully report :
First. That on the evening of the twenty-seventh day
of April they met, by invitation, the various committees
of the Alumni Association at their hall, where all the
preliminaries for the unveiling of the statue and celebra
tion of the day were finally considered and agreed upon.
The concluding feature of a reunion of officers and grad
uates at Girard College in the evening (as suggested by
your committee) was most heartily approved.
Second. At the hour fixed on the twentieth day of May
last the battalion of College Cadets left the institution in
full uniform, in command of Captain Frank A. Edwards,
First Cavalry, United States Army, and reported at head-
77

78 REPORT OF CHAIRMAN OF
quarters of the Alumni to the chief marshal of the parade.
The other pupils of the College, in charge of the prefects,
also left in ample time to witness the unveiling, and occu
pied seats upon a stand or platform in the most available
position that had been carefully erected and prepared
for them. Such officers of the College as chose to avail
themselves of the opportunity were also provided for.
Third. The exercises at the unveiling were of a most
impressive character, but, as it is understood that an offi
cial report of the proceedings will be presented to the
Directors of City Trusts and the public in printed form
by the Alumni Association, your committee will not
further dwell upon them here. After the ceremonies of
the unveiling were concluded, the battalion, the pupils,
and officers returned to the College, and the Alumni
Association and other graduates to their Alma Mater,
where ample preparations had been made for refresh
ments and an evening's entertainment. The buildings
were handsomely decorated with bunting and flags of
all nations, the predominant feature being American and
French. A platform had been erected for the band from
which to discourse music in the evening; the statue of
Mr. Girard in the vestibule of the Main Building, and
the statue of a cadet erected on the grounds in memory
of graduates of the College who fell in the war of the
RebelHon, were handsomely decorated with evergreens
and flowers ; the dining-rooms were prepared by the
caterer for a standing and seating capacity of two thou
sand or more persons, and the tables were filled with a
bountiful supply of food and delicacies. At 6.30 p.m.
two thousand people formed in procession at the Main
College Building, and, headed by the College band and
the president and the vice-president of the institution,
marched in good order to the dining-room in Build
ing No. 8, where, all being in readiness, with numerous

COMMITTEE ON FOUNDER S DAY, 79
waiters in attendance, each individual was served and all
appetites were satisfied in the most quiet and satisfactory
manner. Pending the foregoing, a similar but more
interesting feature was in progress in the officers' dining-
room, where the ladies connected with the College and
the ladies of the Ladies' Auxiliary Committee of the
Alumni who had been invited by your committee were
gathered together, and were enjoying with each other the
good things provided for the occasion.
The crowning feature, however, of the celebration of
Founder's Day was yet to come. Arrangements, with
ample protection, had been made for admission during
the evening of ladies of the families of the graduates and
such others as could be properly vouched for; the
grounds were brilliantly illuminated with electric lights
and Chinese lanterns, as also was the music platform ;
the College band performed a selection of music during
the evening, programmes for which had been furnished
to the guests. The whole scene was one of great beauty.
The ladies, with their bright and dazzling colors in both
dress and headgear, promenading with their escorts or
listening to the music ; the Chapel, with its dainty walls
glistening in the moonlight of the arc lamps and sur
mounted with its illuminated spire and clock, the latter
with its chimes proclaiming the fractions of each passing
hour ; the Main Building, with its Corinthian columns,
standing beautifully in the background ; the lofty towers,
with their electric coronets spreading like moonlight
from above, — all combined to make one of the most
beautiful panoramas ever seen and one of the most enjoy
able occasions ever participated in within the buildings
or upon the College grounds. At the hour of 9.45 p.m.
the Chapel bell tolled the hour for closing the gates and
retiring. The pleasure and enjoyment of the day made
parting sad, and the great throng moved slowly out the

8o REPORT OF CHAIRMAN.
heavy open gate, and as the old clock indicated the hour
of ten the grounds were cleared, the gates were closed,
and quiet reigned supreme. All had departed and will
ever hold in grateful memory the feeling of a day well
spent, a duty well performed. The statue in memory of
a great man with noble instincts had been placed in
public view upon one of the most important highways
and thoroughfares of his adopted city,
Stephen Girard,
" Mariner and Merchant,"
and all through the efforts, application, and energy of
his wards, the graduates of Girard College.
JOHN H. MICHENER, Chairman.
EDWIN S. STUART,
LOUIS WAGNER,
Committee.
Philadelphia, June 9, 1897.

COMMEMORATIVE POEM BY H. HANBY HAY.

COMMEMORATIVE POEM TO STEPHEN
GIRARD.
Written for the unveiling of his Statue, Philadelphia,
May 20, 1897.
BY H. HANBY HAY.

The prickly aloe fills its God-meant place,
A silent dignity devoid of grace.
But when ten thousand suns and dews have passed.
It has its hour, the blossom comes at last.
So time conceals a great man in its heart.
And keeps him till the noxious fogs depart,
The mists of ignorance and narrow hate —
Then truth herself unlocks the friendly gate,
And leads him forth, that all the world may scan
The justified and comprehended man.
To-day o'er earth the sun of knowledge glows,
The monarch passes, royal splendors close ;
A. nobler theme inspires the sage's pen.
Not king, not soldier, but the citizen,
The mariner who trades 'neath every sky.
With him the issues of the future lie ;
The feudal dies, and freedom wakes to be ;
Like air itself it spreads from sea to sea,
Unchaining nations bids oppression cease.
For kingly pride, it writes down civic peace.
When shall this typic citizen appear ?
The hour has struck, behold ! the man is here, 83

84 COMMEMORATIVE POEM
To-day the sculptor sets before our sight
This man full grown to recognition's height.
Whose praise invites the orator and bard.
To-day his city honors her Girard,
To-day we raise him to the light of heaven,
But not alone to him is honor given ;
Honor breeds honor, — this is honor's way ;
Our country, too, is marching on to-day.
And marching on to greater heights is raised.
Whene'er the merchant-mariner is praised.
What can we give him ? Far beyond our ken.
He stands with those who love their fellow-men ;
Has he not made the orphan's heart to sing.
And raised misfortune on the scholar's wing ?
He needs no gift of ours, we cannot hide.
Nor magnify, what God has magnified.

How large the man 1 if deeds might measure size ;
His times too knew him, but with purblind eyes ;
They hardly marked the little portly form.
This captain who had weathered many a storm.
The short swift steps, the queer, old-fashioned style,
Straight on he went ungreeted by a smile,
Men gave him some respect, but small regard,
And whispered as he went, " 'Tis old Girard,
The foreign banker. What a brain to plan !
In our broad country he's the richest man."
Yet children smiled on him, and loved him well,
They saw the fruit beneath the prickly shell.
To their fair souls his hidden love was clear,
That love grows brighter with each passing year.
And were his times so pure they laid no weight.
On those rare gifts which all the world calls great ?

BY H, HANBY HAY. 85
Justice, integrity, and self-control.
And private actions fragrant with the soul,
All these were his, these gifts which God calls*best.
Tried at all points, he ever stood the test.
When his adopted country worn by strife,
Exhausted lay, he lent her vigorous life,
He gave her of his gold in lavish store.
Couldst thou, within our country born, do more ?
When fever smote his dear adopted land.
And death and robbery stalked hand in hand,
When doctors fled, and magistrate and guard.
Like a strong angel, then arose Girard,
He snatched the hospital from hag and knave.
Redeemed his city, wrestled with the grave.
In quiet home or in the busy mart.
One great resolve was burning in his heart :
This mighty thought all other thoughts above.
Was wrought in anguish and exceeding love.
When wife went mad, and infant child lay dead.
When woe on woe was heaped upon his head,
The stony anguish of that silent man,
I cannot picture it, no phrases can.
The vacant bed seemed like a yawning tomb
In that dark moment, from that pit of gloom
He made the fatherless his happy heirs.
Assuaged his grief by mitigating theirs.
Snatching a mighty victory from fate.
His arms embraced the orphan of a state. *
The deed was grand, and it was grandly done ;
He gave each orphan, by adoption son.
Food for the body, beauty for the soul.
No narrow cells, no grudging scanty dole.
But opportunity and fragrant air ;
He walled them round with wise and loving care.

86 COMMEMORATIVE POEM
His College rose a wonder of delight.
Oh ! what a vision to the stranger's sight,
Standing on Fairmount in the summer heat
The rivered park is rustling at his feet ;
Before him lies the town of honest homes,
How pleasant are its wooded squares and domes!
And now his eye perceives a new delight :
He marks a classic front of peerless white,
Around it trees and lesser buildings sleep.
So some tall shepherd guards his slumbering sheep.
How beautiful ! it seems a voiceless prayer,
This Grecian temple standing chastely fair.
This paragon of loveliness and joy,
This dumb instructor of each orphan boy.
Beauty in stone before them day by day.
No fit remembrance of Girard you say,
Of the plain merchant ? Cast that thought behind ;
It is the fit exponent of his mind.
The end has crowned the work, and wherefore made ?
Let the boys answer nurtured in its shade.
Speak, Quaker city ! thou hast felt the flame
Of their pure blood through all thy working frame,
A mighty army, true Americans,
Have justified the founder and his plans.
Men of this city, freemen of this State,
His actions are for us to imitate ;
The noble merchant, proud to buy and sell.
Who loved his city infinitely well.
The banker ever ready with his aid.
Who spent his fortune where his wealth was made,
Who, lest his city suffer an eclipse.
Covered old ocean with his laden ships.

BY H. HANBY HAY. 87
His wealth still smooths our passage to the sea ;
This brave old Captain mocks our apathy.
He loved our city with a love all true.
As he once loved it, let us love it, too.
Aye, love our city, great in heart and brain ;
Distress has never plead to her in vain ;
She guards her own as eagles guard their brood.
To-day this statue speaks her gratitude.
And godlike gratitude has sovereign power
To live beyond the happenings of an hour.
The blossoms die, the seed shall not depart.
But live, to spring in every loving heart.
So shall it be when freedom fills the earth.
We shall be praised who feebly saw his worth.
Who faintly recognized the power which should
Leaven a Commonwealth for living good.
Then shall our statue fire some greater bard
To sing the epic-citizen — Girard.

GIRARD COLLEGE GROUNDS, LOOKING WEST.

STEPHEN GIRARD: HIS TIME, HIS COLLEGE,
HIS TRUSTS, BY GEORGE P. RUPP.

STEPHEN GIRARD:
HIS TIME, HIS COLLEGE, HIS TRUSTS.
BY GEORGE P. RUPP.

It appears to me, therefore, more reasonable to pursue glory by means
of the intellect than of bodily strength, and, since the life we enjoy is
short, to make the remembrance of us as lasting as possible. . . .
Even in agriculture, in navigation, and in architecture, whatever man
performs owns the dominion of intellect, Sallust.
I show it most of all when I show justice,
For then I pity those I do not know. Shakespeare.
No true and permanent fame can be founded except in labors which
promote the happiness of mankind. Charles Sumner.
In the history of a nation only those should be re
membered who have given some thought helpful to the
world, or done some deed whereby all posterity is bene
fited. This year we celebrate the one hundred and
forty-seventh anniversary of the birth of a man who was
the most eminent philanthropist of his day and genera
tion, — a man who was childless, that he might be the
father of the orphan ; one who did much for his adopted
city and country, and to whom we can add to his titles
of " mariner and merchant," those prouder titles of
"philanthropist and patriot." His career is worthy of
the most appreciative insight.
Stephen Girard was born on the 20th of May, 1750,
in the Rue Ramouet aux Chartrons, near the city of
Bordeaux, France. He was the eldest son and the
91

92 STEPHEN GIRARD,
second child of Captain Pierre Girard, The men of the
Girard family followed the sea for a living, and, without
doubt, Stephen Girard inherited from them a marked
inclination for it. When eight years old he met with an
accident, through which the sight of his right eye was
destroyed. This personal defect and the ridicule it occa
sioned had its effect upon his character. The loss of his
mother while he was still young, and the bringing home
of a stepmother, who possibly did not understand his
nature, and the change in the household which this occa
sioned, made him rebel against the new regime.
Some forty years afterward he referred to this period
of his life in the following terms : " I was very young
when my father married again, and since then, I can say
with truth, I have made my way alone, with means gained
from my nurse, the sea." Again in 1813 he writes: " I
have the proud satisfaction to know that my conduct, my
labor, and my economy have enabled me to do one hun
dred times more for my relatives than they, altogether,
have ever done for me since the day of my birth. While
my brothers were taught at college, I was the only one
whose education was neglected. But the love of labor,
which has not left me yet, has placed me in the ranks of
citizens useful to society."
When not quite fourteen years old, he, with his father's
consent, sailed as a cabin-boy and part owner in a vessel
called the " Pelerin" for San Domingo. For nine years
he traded between Bordeaux and the West Indies, and
attained the rank of lieutenant of the vessel, as the posi
tion was called in the French mercantile marine, — a
position that ranked with our first ofificer. Girard had
now undoubtedly become a skilful navigator, and the
use he had made of his time by study and observation
made up for some of the defects of his early education.
He applied for authority to act as captain of a vessel.

BY GEORGE P. RUPP. 93
At that time it was the law of France that, in addition
to the applicant being twenty-five years old, he should
have made at least two cruises on a government vessel.
Girard was but twenty-three, and had sailed in none
but merchant vessels. But his family had influence
enough to procure a dispensation, and in October, 1773,
after passing the necessary examination, he was granted
a license, which reads as follows : " To Stephen Girard of
Bordeaux full authority to act as Captain, Master, or
Patron of a merchant vessel." In the ship " La Julie"
he left Bordeaux for St. Marc's, in the island of San
Domingo, reaching there in February, 1774. Having
disposed of the cargo, he sailed for New York, and
landed there, for the first time in the United States, in
1774- The ability he displayed in the business of disposing
of the cargo, he brought in the ship, attracted the notice
of Mr. Thomas Randall, a merchant of that city, and his
assistance enabled Girard to trade successfully between
New York, New Orleans, and Port au Prince. While
acting jointly with Mr. Randall, as part owner of the
vessel called " L'Aimable Louise," Girard was returning
from the West Indies, when he was forced, by the pres
ence of the British fleet, to enter the Delaware Bay, and
he arrived for the first time in Philadelphia in the month
of May, 1776. On account of the war with England,
the port of Philadelphia was blockaded by the British,
and, knowing the danger to American ships, he sold his
interest in the " L'Aimable Louise," and opened a small
store on Water Street. He was a mariner no more, but
he laid his plans to continue in the shipping business.
In the northern section of the city there was a ship
builder, named Lum, whom he consulted about building
a new vessel for him. It was there he met Mary, or
Polly Lum as she was familiarly called, a young girl

94 STEPHEN GIRARD.
about sixteen years old, distinguished for her personal
beauty and noble virtues. After a brief courtship they
were married by the Rev. Mr. Stringer, in St. Paul's
Protestant Episcopal Church, on the 6th of June, 1777.
On the approach of the British army to take posses
sion of Philadelphia, Girard, with his wife, left for Mount
Holly, having purchased a small farm there from Mr.
Hazlehurst, who had at one time been his partner.
In October, 1778, two years after his arrival in Phila
delphia, he took the oath of allegiance to the State of
Pennsylvania. On his return to Philadelphia from Mount
Holly, he resumed his attention to his business, espe
cially to the West India trade. His previous experience,
combined with his unflagging labor and economy,
greatly aided him in making his progress to fortune sure
and rapid. His father-in-law, Mr. Lum, built for him a
sloop, which he named the " Water- Witch," and, as it
was the planning of this boat which occasioned his
meeting with his wife, he naturally regarded it with affec
tion, and had a superstition that it could never cause
him loss. Girard pursued so successfully the New
Orleans and San Domingo trade, and his gains increased
to such an extent, that he was enabled to extend his en
terprises to a much broader scale. In 1780, he entered
into partnership with his brother Jean, but bickerings
soon sprang up between the two, and these contentions
became so bitter that it was deemed prudent to dissolve
the partnership. This was done in 1790, and the amount
that fell to Stephen Girard's share was some thirty thou
sand dollars. Another source of good fortune to him,
and indeed he confessed that this furnished the founda
tion of his fortune, was the lease he took on a number
of stores on Water Street, one of which he occupied
himself. The rents being low, it is manifest that the
gain must have been very large.

BY GEORGE P. RUPP. 95
Girard's domestic affairs now became of such a char
acter, that they attracted the attention of his most inti
mate friends. For some cause his wife fell into a state
of melancholy, which gradually became so pronounced
that her mind was seriously affected, and, after a consul
tation of prominent physicians, Girard reluctantly con
sented to her being admitted into the Pennsylvania Hos
pital. A short time after her admission she gave birth
to a female child, which was baptized Mary Girard, but,
in spite of the care lavished upon the infant, it died a
few months after its birth.
In the year 1791 Girard commenced building those
fine ships which were the pride of the city of Philadel
phia, and which were soon to be engaged in trade with
the most important seaports of the world, especially with
Calcutta and Canton. The names of these ships show
that he still had an affectionate regard for his native land,
they being called the " Rousseau," "Voltaire," "Montes
quieu," " Helvetius," etc. At this period the desire of
fame, the seeking of money, not however from avarice,
but for the power and good it could do, must have taken
possession of his mind, helping him to forget the sorrow
caused by the loss of his wife, in a manner worse than
death, and the consequent breaking up of his home life.
Who can fathom the secret musings of the mind of that
lonely man, who was even then laying up treasures for
the building of that College upon whose walls his own
name should be written in living letters.
In 1790, Alexander Hamilton, in his masterly report
on the finances, urged upon Congress the importance of
establishing a Bank of the United States. His sug
gestion was speedily acted upon, and an act for that
purpose was introduced, and passed the Senate January
20, 1 79 1. In the House of Representatives it met with
vigorous opposition, but it finally passed that body Feb-

g6 STEPHEN GIRARD.
ruary 8, 1791, Washington, who was President, asked
for the written opinion of his cabinet as to its constitu
tionality. They were equally divided. The President,
however, believed it to be legal, and signed the bill. The
bank received a charter, which limited its existence to
twenty years. Like the Bank of England, it was a bank
of deposit, discount, and circulation. It soon went into
operation, with a capital of ten millions of dollars, and
became very popular and successful. It was a powerful
agency in establishing the credit of the government,
facilitating its financial operations, and promoting the
interests of industry and commerce.
The bank was established in Philadelphia, with
branches at different points, and began business in Car
penters' Hall. It remained there until 1797, when it was
removed to the new building on Third Street below
Chestnut. This building was commenced in 179S, and
is said to be the first public building erected in Philadel
phia with a porch and pillars. Girard was a firm friend
of the bank, and he believed that a corporation, that had
been organized under the advice of the great financier
of his time, which had proved of so much service to the
financial world, and had conferred so many advantages
upon the community, should be perpetuated. He soon
saw, however, that the opposition against the bank was
so great, that it would prevent the charter from being
renewed. It is a sad commentary on the financial and
economic notions of the day, that such an institution
should have been closed, after so long and prosperous a
career. In 18 10, Girard had about a million dollars with the
house of Messrs. Baring Bros. & Co., London. Owing to
the critical condition of the Bank of England, and the
Messrs. Baring being on the verge of bankruptcy, Girard's
money rested upon an uncertain foundation. He sue-

BY GEORGE P. RUPP. 97
ceeded after a time in obtaining his funds, partly by pur
chase of British goods and partly by buying shares in
the Bank of the United States. The bill to recharter the
bank was defeated by the vote of Vice-President Clinton,
and the bank closed its affairs, paying to the stockholders
a premium over the par value of the stock of eight and
one-half per cent. The non- renewal of this charter led
to the establishment, by Stephen Girard, of a bank of his
own. He found that he could purchase the bank build
ing and the cashier's house for one-third of the original
cost, which he did, and on the I2th of May, 1812, com
menced the operation of the Bank of Stephen Girard.
It was a novel spectacle in this country, the establish
ment of a private bank, conducted on a large scale, and
conferring advantages upon the community nearly as
great as those derived from State or national protection.
Beside these benefits, of which the people were the re
cipients, it rendered important service to the govern
ment. The dissolution of the Bank of the United States
caused a large amount of confusion in the financial
world, and the suspension of specie payments added to
the general embarrassment. In spite of the low state of
the public credit, and the difficulties in which the gov
ernment was involved from its exhausted finances, and
the expenses of the war, Girard was able to make heavy
loans to the government, which enabled it to carry on
the war. In 18 14, when the resources of the country
were drained to the lowest ebb, the treasury bankrupt,
a foreign foe marching over the land, and when subscrip
tions for a loan of five million dollars were solicited, with
the inducement of a large bonus and interest at seven
per cent., and only twenty thousand dollars were sub
scribed, Girard came forward and subscribed for the
entire amount. This act of patriotism was the means of
7

98 STEPHEN GIRARD.
renewing public confidence in the country, and those
who had refused to subscribe were now willing to pay
an advance, but Girard did not take advantage of them,
but allowed them to purchase on the same terms.
The means for carrying on the war having been fur
nished, a series of brilliant victories followed, which re
sulted in peace being declared. Girard wrote in 1815 to
a friend in Bordeaux as follows : " The peace which has
taken place between this country and England will con
solidate forever our independence and insure our tran
quillity." When the government was unable to pay the
public debt in 18 14, and was indebted to Girard for a
large amount, in a letter to the Hon. A. J. Dallas, then
Secretary of War, he wrote as follows : " I am of the
opinion that those having any claim for interest on pub
lic stock, etc., should patiently wait for a more favorable
moment, or, at least, receive in payment Treasury notes.
Should you be under the necessity of resorting to either
of these plans, as one of the public creditors I shall not
murmur." When the second Bank of the United States was char
tered, in 1 8 16, Girard was active in its organization and
became a director. As the funds of the government
were deposited in it, the bank had great facilities for dis
counting, and by this means aided the commercial com
munity, and soon controlled the monetary affairs of the
nation. When Jackson became President, in 1829, he
expressed his decided hostility to the bank, and immedi
ately began a war upon it, which soon ended in its de
struction. At the time when a fieutral position gave the United
States superior advantages in commerce, Girard adopted
the principles of good faith in his commercial opera
tions, acting the part of a neutral, and he avoided in
curring the risks which, in those belligerent days, at-

BY GEORGE P. RUPP. 99
tached to vessels suspected of carrying enemies' property
under the American flag. He forbade his captains to
receive passengers on his vessels, or any cargo but his
own. He wrote in regard to passengers as follows :
" But if you meet with American seamen in distress, you
are to follow my invariable rule, take them on board and
bring them home free of expense." A rigid observance
of these rules won for him, with the officers of the British
navy, a reputation such as no other merchant held, and
in consequence very few of Girard's vessels were inter
rupted in their voyages.
The closing scene of his domestic life was full of sad
ness. His wife, who had been an inmate of the Penn
sylvania Hospital for twenty-five years, in all of which
time no ray of light had entered her darkened mind, died
on September 13, 1815. When Girard received word
that she was dying, no outward sign gave evidence of
the sad thoughts that filled his mind. He only bowed
his head, and asked to be told when it was all over.
One of his old apprentices writes, " I shall never forget
the last and closing scene. We all stood about the
coffin, when Mr. Girard, filled with emotion, stepped
forward and kissed his wife's corpse, and his tears
moistened her cheek." After bestowing a last look
upon her, he turned to his friend, Samuel Coates, and
said, " It is well." On the beautiful lawn of the hospital
she was buried, at Girard's request, with the simple
ceremonial of the Quakers, under whose management
the hospital was conducted. No head-stone designated
her grave, the custom of the Quakers forbidding it. The
site of the grave is now covered by the Clinic building
of the hospital.
One of Girard's characteristics was his public spirit.
This was manifested when he subscribed one hundred
and ten thousand dollars for the improvement of the

I GO STEPHEN GIRARD.
navigation of the Schuylkill, and by again his subscrip
tion and the temporary loans which he made to the
Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. When the State of
Pennsylvania, in 1829, through the extravagance of its
legislature, in what was thought to be an injudicious sys
tem of internal improvements, found its treasury empty,
it was Girard who loaned one hundred thousand dollars,
thus affording the State the relief it so badly needed.
This was probably the last public act of his life.
A long career of unceasing toil was now drawing to a
close. Refusing assistance from others, he still insisted
in giving the same careful attention to the details of his
great business. On February 12, 1830, while crossing
the street at Second and Market Streets, he was struck
and seriously injured by a rapidly driven wagon. It
lacerated his forehead, cheek, and right ear, and his eye
was badly injured. His health now rapidly declined, and
an attack of influenza, then prevalent in the city, pros
trated him. He remained in a sort of stupor, from which
he did not arouse until shortly before his death, when he
got out of bed and walked across the room, quickly re
turning to the bed, he placed his hand to his head and
exclaimed, " How violent is this disorder ! How very
extraordinary it is !" These were the last words he
spoke that could be understood. He expired on the
26th of December, 183 1, at four o'clock in the afternoon,
aged eighty-one years, seven months, and six days, after
a life of labor, perseverance, economy, and success which
had rarely been equalled.
As soon as his death became known there were many
expressions of sorrow for the loss of such a distinguished
citizen. The Select and Common Councils of Philadel
phia adopted resolutions of regret. His funeral took
place on December 30, 183 1, and all that remained of
the honored " mariner and merchant" was taken to the

BY GEORGE P. RUPP. lOI
Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church, and placed in a
vault belonging to the Baron Lallemand. The Baron
had married Girard's grand-niece. After reposing there
for nearly twenty years, his remains were removed and
placed in a marble sarcophagus in the vestibule of
Girard College.
I have hitherto dwelt upon the life of Stephen Girard,
" mariner and merchant." I now desire to enlarge upon
my text and speak of those godlike qualities which
have set this rich man apart from other rich men. I
mean his titles of " humanitarian and philanthropist."
********
If we want a picture of Stephen Girard the humani
tarian, we must turn time backward in its flight.
We must retrace our steps one hundred and four
years, and learn something of the city of Philadelphia
and the events which took place during ten months of
its history, beginning May i, 1793.
Let us place ourselves in the position of an eye-witness ;
let us see with the eyes of some young man visiting his
uncle, who is, perhaps, a substantial trader of this our
Philadelphia, a city which is not only the capital of the
nation, but also in every sense the moral, commercial,
and intellectual metropolis of the new world. This
Philadelphia of 1793 is the wealthiest and most popu
lous city of the infant Republic. Over a thousand ships
enter its port yearly. Its exports are not much less
than ten million dollars. Including the suburbs, it has
a population of fifty thousand souls, living in eight
thousand well built houses, some of these, indeed,
quite deserving the title of stately mansions. Nor is
this all : Philadelphia is growing rapidly, houses are
building, rents are high, and property is extremely
valuable. Our young man has arrived from the interior of the

I02 STEPHEN GIRARD.
State, and, as stage-coaching is dear, he has made the
journey on foot, grudging the toll money and the
quarter of a dollar charged for each meal by the way, as
why should he not, when one dollar is all that is asked
for a whole week's board in his part of the State.
Philadelphia in 1793.
At the upper bridge of the Schuylkill, uncle and
nephew greet each other. The young man from the
country is dressed after the manner of his class. He
wears a check shirt buttoned at the neck, an awkward
coat made of hemp, and check trousers. His feet are
bare. The prosperous uncle, on the other hand, who is
an Indian merchant, has assumed his finest garb, — a
nankeen coat striped with green, a white silk waist-coat,
cassimere pantaloons, silk stockings, and shoes of soft
leather, shining like satin. As the young man walks
beside his uncle, he is a little disappointed at first, for
the land facing the Schuylkill is simply divided into
lots, with a few small houses here and there. His uncle
explains, however, that the Delaware having greater
facilities for navigation, the city has grown along the
banks of that stream, and has extended itself north and
south beyond the limits. But Centre Square (Broad and
Market Streets) being reached, our country boy feels
that he is indeed in Philadelphia. The wide streets,
running at right angles, are majestic in their regularity ;
the foot-ways are carefully paved with brick and tile ; the
houses, too, are of red brick, and join each other in a
friendly manner. Trees are everywhere, and the names
of the streets. Sassafras and Mulberry, sound pure and
sweet to the young countryman. It is a fine city, as
even prejudiced Englishmen admit its cleanliness and
order. For the rest of the journey the uncle is busy pointing

BY GEORGE P. RUPP. IO3
out objects, and answering questions, for, even to a
dweller in Philadelphia, High Street is a pretty sight.
There is plenty of leisure and gayety, but no hurrying ;
elegant carriages roll along, and a stream of handsome,
well dressed people pass and repass. Mingled in the
crowd are strangers from all parts of the world, for Phila
delphia is not only a prosperous city ; it is also the seat
of the United States government, and therefore the
resort of diplomats and distinguished travellers. The
greater part of the crowd, however, are to the manner
born. Here is the modish gentleman, with powdered
toupee. His velvet coat has lace at the cuffs, and his
knee-breeches are made of satin. He is talking frivolities
with a fine lady, whose hoops, high tossing feathers and
lace frills make her look like a full-rigged ship.
Here, too, is the pretty Quakeress in her sad-colored
silk gown ; and now and then they perceive an Indian
with a load of skins. Nor is the African slave wanting,
though, thank God, there are not more than three hun
dred in the whole city. And once, at least, a monk from
Ephrata, with his white cowl, passes them.
" General George Washington !" cries the uncle ;
" there goes the President," and the young man looks
curiously at the fine coach drawn by four mettlesome
horses. He sees a tall, calm gentleman of noble coun
tenance. This grave personage is dressed in fine velvet,
wears a sword, and has his hair powdered and gathered
behind into a black silk bag. Occasionally he raises his
plain cocked hat, which is decked with the American
cockade. At High Street, just below Sixth, the two
promenaders pause to notice the President's residence,
which is a large double house, with a flourishing garden,
and equalled by few in the city. " There," says the
uncle, " once lived the traitor Arnold, and now the
greatest man of the nation dwells there."

i04 stephen girard.
Life in Philadelphia in 1793.
The uncle's house is soon reached, a substantial resi
dence at 42 North Front Street. The young man, accus
tomed to the quiet of the country, is confused by the
noise, the tarry odors and the gloom of the street. But
the inside of the house, with its gay hangings and hand
some furniture, excites his admiration. The side-board
and chairs are mahogany, the candlesticks are plated
with silver, and for the first time he sees painted china
and fine English glass, and for the first time, too, his feet
pressed elegant carpets. While the servant-girl is cover
ing the table our young rustic picks up a copy of the
Federal Gazette. He is somewhat puzzled about the con
tents. In one place lottery tickets are announced for
sale, and in another British goods, brought in by a
French privateer, are to be parted with at low prices.
The relatives then sat down to a substantial dinner,
washed down with some glasses of old Madeira. After
the meal the old man questions his nephew as to his
future course of life. If he writes a legible hand the
uncle will be willing to take him into his own counting-
house. He must not despair. " Great oaks from little
acorns grow." Philadelphia has not a few rich merchants
who have started from nothing. His own well-to-do
neighbor, Stephen Girard, began at the lowest step of the
ladder. He suffered also the additional disadvantage of
being a foreigner. We can well imagine the boy pricking
up his ears and asking questions, and we can imagine,
too, the information he would receive of Girard's rigid,
but sagacious, policy; of his two vessels to San Domingo ;
of the magnificent fleet he is building to trade with China
and India ; of his commodious stores ; his solid, substan
tial house, with its solid, substantial furniture; of his
quiet habits and taciturn manner. Another walk is then

BY GEORGE P. RUPP. IO5
proposed. Girard is on his counting-house steps as they
pass, giving directions for the loading of a wagon.
Indeed, he is steadying one of the barrels. The young
man takes a good look at the broad, sturdy merchant
with gray eyes and thin-lipped, close-set mouth.
Many and striking are the sights exhibited to the
young Telemachus. At Mr. Anderson's, at the sign of
the Sorrel Horse, 39 North Second Street, they see the
New York mail-stage prance away. It has four passen
gers, and it is warranted to reach New York in twenty-
one hours. Peak's Museum is then visited, and there
are seen stuffed panthers, grizzly bears, and the shoe
and stocking of an Irish giant. Then at Eighth and
High Streets twenty-five cents are paid to see wax
works. A little further on they notice the sign of a
circus. Then a stroll is taken beyond the limits of the
city, to a suburb called Bush Hill (Seventeenth and
Spring Garden Streets), where, bowered in trees and
beautiful with its gardens, is the country-house of the
late James Hamilton, Esq., governor of Pennsylvania.
Somewhat foot-sore, the old gentleman leads his nephew
back to the city, and, after refreshments at the Coffee-
House, they emerge upon High Street. Night has fallen,
and triple rows of lamps make a scene like fairy-land,
while towering above the lights are long silent rows of
poplar-trees. All is bustle and gayety. The fashionable
ladies are being carried past, in sedan-chairs, to card-
parties and the Dancing Assembly. At the corner of
Twelfth and High Streets, Citizen Genet, the French
Minister, is holding a levee. The house is brilliantly
lighted and crowded with guests, for the French are in
high favor. Through the open door can be seen the
splendors of the interior and the variety and richness of
the dresses. This is a fair picture of Philadelphia as it
was in the middle of May in the year of our Lord 1793.

I06 STEPHEN GIRARD.
The City Plague-stricken.
Let us shift the scene and look at Philadelphia as it
was three months later. Let us suppose that the young
nephew has been sent to his uncle's farm in Chester
County. His uncle has kept in touch with him by letter.
About the middle of August all letters have ceased.
Rumors reach the young man that a fever prevails in the
city, particularly in Water Street, close to his uncle's
house. The rumors grow and grow. He is told the city
is involved in confusion and panic. This information is
brought him by Philadelphians, who come to the farm
searching for lodging.
The young man, after communing with himself, resolves
to do his whole duty: he will go and search for his
benefactor. Without any more ado, he takes his journey
toward Philadelphia. As he approaches the city, signs
of a great disaster multiply. Death, like a conquering
army, has entered the capital, and the people are flee
ing. Every farm-house, and even the very barns, are
filled with tenants. At every farm-gate are fugitives,
seeking knowledge from home. The roads are crowded
with foot-passengers and wagons loaded with personal
effects. Here are weeping mothers and frightened chil
dren dragging along bundles of clothing. Terror is
behind them and uncertainty before, for the money
is wanting to purchase the very necessaries of life. The
air is full of vague rumors.
At sundown our traveller enters the plague-stricken
city. This must be High Street, for the triple lamps are
burning. Where are the carriages and sedan-chairs ?
Where are the gay throng, the bustle, the levity, the
brilliantly lighted mansions ? All is gloom, silence, and
stagnation. From the Schuylkill to President Washing
ton's residence he meets not more than a dozen people.

BY GEORGE P. RUPP. IO7
and they walk in the middle of the street, and avoid each
other. Even when two speak they do not shake hands,
but stand apart with vinegar-soaked handkerchiefs at
their mouths. Everywhere there is the smell of garlic,
camphor, and tar. In one court a great fire burns. Stay !
Here is a vehicle. Alas ! it is a hearse, and as he pauses
two negroes carry out a dead body.
Desolation and distress and crime possess the metropo
lis of the infant Republic. The young man reaches his
uncle's house. As he passes the great inn on Front
Street he sees that it, too, is barred, darkened, and de
serted. He is now on the steps of 42 North Front. A
cart driven by a negro jolts along, bearing a coffin, for
this is the very centre of the pestilence. The lower part
of the house is dark, but there is a faint light in the
upper window, and after a little knocking he finds en
trance by the yard-gate, and, passing beneath the fruit-
laden grape-vines, he enters the house.
As he ascends the stairs a horrid, deadly vapor as
sails him, an odor entirely different from the drug-in
fected atmosphere of the city. This corrosive poison
ous fluid snatches strength from his limbs, and bows
him with a sudden sickness. On he goes — horrible
grows the effluvia — until he reaches the upper floor, to
find he is the only living person in that gloomy house.
All the rest are the victims of the pestilence. I might
enlarge on this thing, but I have no desire to produce
disgust. Any medical work will give the curious symp
toms, progress, and final end of the noisome disease
called the yellow fever.
But I will ask you to accompany me a little further.
We will go to the Bush Hill hospital, where the young
man is soon borne. We have seen this place already,
when it was the elegant and commodious mansion of the
governor of the State.

I08 STEPHEN GIRARD.
Scorched and dazzled by the sun, lying on hard boards,
he is borne over rough pavements. When he arouses
from his stupor he finds himself lying on a dirty mat
tress, in a dirty room, crowded with other groaning
victims of the disease. The atmosphere is polluted, and
the dying and a few convalescents crowd together.
From the lower rooms come the sounds of laughter, for
there the nurses and attendants, who receive large
wages from the city, are consuming the wines and
cordials intended for the sick. Now and then a drunken
nurse enters the room with a coffin, into which a body is
hustled, in order to be dragged away for burial. No words
could express the dirt, neglect, and mismanagement of
the Bush Hill hospital prior to September 15, 1793.
******* *
It is doubtful if any large community, since the days
of the great plague of London in the time of Charles II.,
presented a more frightful picture of terror, suffering,
and desolation than Philadelphia during the yellow fever
epidemic of 1793, which converted the beautiful metrop
olis into a foul and disgusting charnel-house. The
scenes which Defoe has pictured of London, during the
pestilence of 1665, were enacted every day during those
unhappy days in Philadelphia. In the account which
Mathew Carey wrote, in the "Journal of Elizabeth
Drinker," and in Charles Brockden Brown's realistic
novel, " Arthur Mervyn," we find descriptions of scenes
that are too loathsome to repeat.
The city and its suburbs had a population of nearly
fifty thousand people. From the lowest hut to the
stateliest mansion terror reigned supreme. The people
became panic-stricken, and the roads leading to Lancaster,
Wilmington, Trenton, and other places were crowded
with fugitives. Very nearly all the federal and municipal
officials left the city ; many of the physicians and clergy-

BY GEORGE P. RUPP. IO9
men found their courage unequal to their duty. Whole
streets became tenantless, and the hearse was the vehicle
most frequently seen. Self-preservation made the inhabi
tants forget the commonest instincts of humanity. Over
one-third of the population had fled. All the news
papers, with the single exception of the Federal Gazette,
had suspended publication. The coffee-house, the library,
and most of the churches were closed.
On the morning of the lOth of September, 1793, an
advertisement appeared in the Federal Gazette, which
stated that the overseers of the poor required immediate
assistance, and hoped that among the benevolent citizens
there might be found some who would volunteer their
assistance. On the 12th of September, in response to
this call, a meeting was held at the City Hall, and
twenty-seven noble-hearted men formed a committee, to
take measures to relieve the distressed. They first
directed their attention to the hospital at Bush Hill,
which was reported as being " without order or arrange
ment, far from being clean, and stands in immediate
need of several qualified persons to begin and establish
the necessary arrangements." To enter this pest-house
was but a passage to the grave. Money could not pur
chase such services.
Stephen Girard — Humanitarian.
On the 15 th of September, at the meeting of the com
mittee, an incident occurred which it is best to give in
the words of the late Mathew Carey in his pamphlet :
" At the meeting on the 15th, a circumstance [occurred] to which the
most glowing pencil could hardly do justice. Stephen Girard, a wealthy
merchant, a native of France, and one of the members of the committee,
touched with the wretched situation of the sufferers at Bush Hill, volun
tarily and unexpectedly offered himself as a manager to superintend that
hospital.

no STEPHEN GIRARD.
The surprise and satisfaction, excited by this extraordinary effort of hu
manity, can be belter conceived than expressed. Peter Helm, a native
of Pennsylvania, also a member, offered his services in the same depart
ment. Their offers were accepted ; and the same afternoon they entered
on the execution of their dangerous and praiseworthy oflSce.
" To form a just estimate of the value of the offer of these men, it is
necessary to take in full consideration the general consternation which at
that period pervaded every quarter of the city, and which made attendance
on the sick be regarded as a little less than a certain sacrifice. Unin
fluenced by any reflections of this kind, without any possible inducement
but the purest motives of humanity, they came forward and offered them
selves as the forlorn hope of the committee. I trust that the gratitude of
their fellow-citizens will remain as long as the memory of their beneficent
conduct, which I hope will not die with the present generation."
Girard immediately took charge of the interior of the
hospital, and he soon made his wonderful influence felt.
Order reigned where all had been chaos, cleanliness
where filth had been supreme; and within twenty-four
hours he reported the hospital ready to afford every as
sistance. As one turns over the pages of the minutes of
the committee, day after day, for nearly two months, we
find the line, " Stephen Girard and Peter Helm at the
hospital." Nor did the services of that committee end
when the disease ceased to exist. They supplied the
poor with money, provisions, and fuel. They furnished
burial for the dead. They took under their care one hun
dred and ninety-two orphans of those who had died of
the fever, and they only ceased their labors when they
had taken precautions against a similar calamity in the
future. We can form some idea of the terrible results of
this epidemic, from the fact that from the ist of August
to the 9th of November, 1793, there were four thousand
and thirty deaths, nearly one-tenth of the population.
Girard placed a very modest estimate upon his ser
vices during this period. Yet few men have equalled
the courage and spirit of humanity he displayed.

BY GEORGE P. RUPP. I 1 1
A full knowledge of Stephen Girard's character con
veys, in the minds of those who have studied it, a vivid
impression of his remarkable qualities. The reverse of
tall, of very solid build, with a short, thick neck and
fearless temperament, all his sturdy fighting endowments
took the direction of indomitable energy in enterprise
and of intrepid assertion in everything right and good.
It may be granted that he was eccentric, but eccentricity
needs defining. He was a rare example of a life where
a man's word was as good as his bond. Money, how
ever, was not his God. He did not accumulate property
for the mere love of it. He believed that the true bless
ings of life came through justice and not mercy.
Two facts stand out prominently in the earthly passage
of this markedly gifted man, — his devotion to his fellow
men and his love for his country. He was fearless, be
cause he was a strong man, whose hope dimmed not,
whose faith faltered not, and whose courage forsook him
not. By residence he belonged to Philadelphia, by faith
to the Roman Catholic Church; but in a truer, wider
sense he belonged to no city, to no sect, but to the people
of the State, to the cause of the greatest good for all
men. Whatever he espoused, whatever he touched, he
enriched with the genius of a determined spirit strong
for success.
Poor, struggling, full of ambition, full of hope in his
youth ; active, determined, enterprising, and charitable in
the prime of life ; mourned and regretted in his death ;
such was the life of the most eminent philanthropist of
his time, who lies in the beautiful Greek temple he planned,
awaiting the day when all shall be judged.
It is difficult in a short article to write of Mr. Girard's
splendid life record, of his love for his adopted city and
country, of his humanity to his fellow men, and of his
great success in the business world. To write all this

112 STEPHEN GIRARD.
would mean to write the financial and commercial his
tory of the country during its early and critical periods.
His soul has gone to its reward, but his great philan
thropy will live on to bless and enrich the lives of thou
sands. His College.
If we look over the whole field of education we find,
notwithstanding the levelling spirit of democracy, the
great increase of comforts and modern fortunes, that
education is mainly still the luxury of the privileged
classes, be the privilege that of rank, as in Europe or
Great Britain, or wealth, as in our own land. Nor is this
only true of the colleges and universities of the world,
for schools that have been founded by charitable men
and women for the amelioration of the hardships of
orphans and children of the poor, have been diverted
from the original intentions of the founders, and filled
with children of parents with limited, but sufficient, in
comes. Christ Hospital and Dulwich College are noted exam
ples of this maladministration. Nor is this the whole
of the picture ; some schools which have not been turned
from their original purpose, have remained poorly en
dowed, and at the best located in unwholesome neigh
borhoods. Dickens's picture of the child who attended
the school of the " Charitable Grinders" has pained and
amused the readers of " Dombey and Son," and is a good
example of this.
In saying that education is mainly the luxury of the
rich and well-to-do, I speak of what is inevitable in the
very nature of things. The hewer of wood and drawer
of water must ever make up the majority of mankind,
and the poor boy has only a few years to spare from the
hard and necessary struggle of life. The university hall
mark is not for him ; yet he longs for the higher things

BY GEORGE P. RUPP. II3
of language, philosophy, and science. So keen is that
hunger, that many of our high schools try to whet his
appetite with an ostentatious banquet of broken bits, and
too often they turn out the smatterer with an impover
ished body and a narrow mind, knowing nothing of the
history of his country or the three R's.
But the great school of Stephen Girard has not fallen
into this mistake. The orphan is taken from his narrow
surroundings and placed in the midst of order and beauty.
He is surrounded with comfort, even luxury ; he is gently
corrected, kindly entreated. His teachers, caretakers,
food, and clothing are of the best. He only lacks one
thing, and that God has taken from him, — a father's care.
He is never over-worked nor over-trained, he is neither
enervated by indulgence nor broken by tyranny. He
hears good music and eloquent discourses. He is taught
to march and encouraged in the pathway of honor, and
above all he is thoroughly and constantly taught by pre
cept and example the great language of the world, —
English. He reads well, writes well, ciphers well, and
he is taught the use of tools. He can use the hammer,
the plane, and the saw ; and the result of all this is that
the sickly, ill-regulated child has become the healthy,
intelligent young man. Keen, obedient, and well-man
nered, the best kind of a beginning of that which con
stitutes the glory of any country, the sober, virtuous, and
intelligent citizen. " In my opinion," said a well known
official of Girard College, " while the brilliant boy is a
rara avis, our average of intelligence, propriety, and man
liness is not surpassed by any school in the world. And
in my observation, extending over a score of years, our
progress has been onward and upward. We turn out
good Americans and ninety times out of a hundred good
citizens." Any one who will read the portion of the will of Ste-

114 STEPHEN GIRARD.
phen Girard that relates to the endowment of a college
for orphans, will readily perceive he did not intend to
create an ordinary orphan asylum. He put himself in
the place of a father to the orphan, and determined that
his adopted children should have those advantages that
were within the reach of children favored by the circum
stances of their parents. He expressly states, " I would
have them taught facts and things rather than words
.,and signs." With this knowledge of the wishes of the
founder, the directors have been making the best use in
carrying them out.
The College is located on ground that Girard purchased
for the purpose and was known as Peel's Hall. It con
tains forty-one acres, and is enclosed with a stone wall
sixteen inches in thickness and ten feet in height. The
College was opened January i, 1848, with one hundred
pupils and five buildings. The number of pupils have
increased to nearly sixteen hundred and the buildings to
fourteen. The buildings are all, with two exceptions,
built of white marble, and are used as school and section
rooms, dormitories, administration offices, infirmary, laun
dry, boiler house, etc., and all supplied with the best
modern conveniences. The Main Building, which is con
structed after the most minute details set down in Girard's
will, is one of the finest specimens of Greek architecture
in the world. The Chapel is a beautiful Gothic building,
designed by a graduate of the College. Services of a
non-sectarian character are held there every morning
and afternoon.
The government of the College is under the direction
of a president and vice-president. The faculty is com
posed of sixty-seven professors and teachers. The course
of instruction commences with the first form, or primary
grade, and ends with the fourth form.
The household is supervised by a matron and assistant

BY GEORGE P. RUPP. II5
matron, twenty-four governesses, and sixteen prefects.
The department of music is a very important adjunct ;
and in addition to vocal music and sight-singing there is
a very fine band of thirty-three pieces. The battalion of
five hundred and eighty cadets is under the charge of an
officer of the United States army detailed for the pur
pose by the War Department. In addition to these
officers there is a steward, assistant steward, a visiting
and a resident physician, a corps of trained nurses, and
a dentist. The daily life of the College commences at 6 a.m., and
until 8.45 p.m. every minute is occupied with study,
school, play, meals, and chapel service.
By the terms of the will, pupils are admitted between
the ages of six and ten years, and are permitted, under
certain conditions, to remain until they are eighteen years
old. His Trusts.
At the time of his death, Stephen Girard was the
richest man in America, and there were few private for
tunes abroad that surpassed his. His estate was valued
at over seven millions of dollars.
He bequeathed to his relatives one hundred and forty
thousand dollars ; to public charities of Philadelphia, one
hundred and twenty thousand dollars; and after some
private bequests, the residuary fund to erect and maintain
a college for poor white male orphans.
The bequests to public charities of Philadelphia were
thirty thousand dollars to the Pennsylvania Hospital;
twenty thousand dollars to the Pennsylvania Institution
for the Deaf and Dumb; ten thousand dollars to the
Orphan Asylum of Philadelphia ; ten thousand dollars
to "The Comptrollers of Pubhc Schools," the income
of which is now used for the purchase of books for the
libraries of the public schools; ten thousand dollars

Il6 STEPHEN GIRARD.
were bequeathed to the Society for the Relief of Poor
and Distressed Masters of Ships and their Widows and
Children ; twenty thousand dollars to the Grand Lodge
of Pennsylvania for the relief of poor Masons; six
thousand dollars for the erection of a school-house in
Passyunk Township. Mr. Custis, in his "The Public
Schools of Philadelphia," gives the following account of
this school :
" An interesting old landmark is the Girard Consolidated School at
Passyunk Avenue and Eighteenth Street, facing Rope Ferry Road. It is
a substantial brick building, and in its time was an adornment to Passyunk
Township, as that part of the city was known in the early days. It is
now regarded with veneration by reason of its history, but for practical
school purposes is no longer a desirable building, and a new structure is
to be erected on an adjoining lot.
" The Girard School was erected in 1833. It was not organized as a
public school, but was provided for by Stephen Girard in his will. What
is known as the Girard homestead, which was Mr. Girard's country resi
dence, is located a short distance from the school. . . .
"The school was opened with about thirty pupils. ... It struggled
along for several years, but was finally closed. In 1867 the building was
turned over to the Board of Public Education, and was reopened as a
public school with about sixty pupils. Its attendance has increased in
recent years, there being at present over two hundred pupils enrolled."
Ten thousand dollars were bequeathed in trust, the
interest to be used in purchasing fuel for poor white
house-keepers and room-keepers. For the improvement
of Delaware Avenue, five hundred thousand dollars were
left in trust.
One of the brightest pages in the history of Philadel
phia is the administration by the Board of Directors of
City Trusts of the trusts bequeathed to the city. The
fidelity, honesty, and ability of these gentlemen are
unquestioned. Through their careful management the
Girard Trust has increased to over fifteen millions of
dollars. The members of the Board of Directors of

BY GEORGE P. RUPP. II 7
City Trusts are gentlemen of social, financial, and com
mercial standing in the city, and for their faithful and
arduous services they receive no remuneration. The
Board consists of twelve members, appointed by the
judges of the courts, and three ex-officio members, viz.:
the Mayor of Philadelphia and the Presidents of the
Select and Common Councils.

WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD.

THE WILL

OF THE LATE

STEPHEN GIRARD, ESQ.
Dated February 16, 1830. Codicil dated June 20, 1831.
Proved December3l, 1831. Recorded Philadelphia Will Book 10, p. 198.

I, Stephen Girard, of the City of Philadelphia, in the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, mariner and merchant,
being of sound mind, memory, and understanding, do
make and publish this my last will and testament, in
manner following, that is to say ....
I. I give and bequeath unto " The Contributors to the
Pennsylvania Hospital," of which corporation I am a
member, the sum of thirty thousand dollars, upon the
following conditions, namely, that the said sum shall be
added to their capital, and shall remain a part thereof
forever, to be placed at interest and the interest thereof
to be applied, in the first place to pay to my black
woman Hannah (to whom I hereby give her freedom) the
sum of two hundred dollars per year, in quarterly pay
ments of fifty dollars each in advance, during all the
term of her life ; and, in the second place, the said interest
to be applied to the use and accommodation of the sick
in the said hospital, and for providing and at all times
having competent matrons, and a sufficient number of
nurses and assistant nurses, in order not only to promote
the purposes of the said hospital, but to encrease this
last class of useful persons much wanted in our city :
II. I give and bequeath to " The Pennsylvania Insti
tution for the Deaf and Dumb," the sum of twenty
thousand dollars, for the use of that institution :

122 WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD.
III. I give and bequeath to " The Orphan Asylum of
Philadelphia," the sum of ten thousand dollars for the
use of that Institution :
IV. I give and bequeath to " the comptrollers of the
public schools for the city and county of Philadelphia"
the sum of ten thousand dollars for the use of the schools
upon the Lancaster system, in the first section of the
first school district of Pennsylvania.
V. I give and bequeath to " The Mayor, Aldermen
and Citizens of Philadelphia," the sum of ten thousand
dollars, in trust safely to invest the same in some pro
ductive fund, and with the interest and dividends arising
therefrom to purchase fuel between the months of March
and August in every year forever, and in the month
of January in every year forever distribute the same,
amongst poor white house-keepers and room-keepers, of
good character, residing in the city of Philadelphia.
VI. I give and bequeath to the society for the relief
of poor and distressed masters of ships, their widows
and children, (of which society I am a member) the
sum of ten thousand dollars, to be added to their capital
stock, for the uses and purposes of said society :
VII. I give and bequeath to the gentlemen, who shall
be trustees of the Masonic Loan at the time of my
decease, the sum of twenty thousand dollars, including
therein ten thousand and nine hundred dollars due to me,
part of the Masonic Loan, and any interest that may be
due thereon at the time of my decease, in trust for the
use and benefit of " the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania
and masonic jurisdiction thereto belonging," and to be
paid over by the said trustees to the said Grand Lodge
for the purposes of being invested in some safe stock or
funds, or other good security, and the dividends and in
terest arising therefrom to be again so invested and
added to the capital, without applying any part thereof

WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD. 1 23
to any other purpose until the whole capital shall
amount to thirty thousand dollars, when the same shall
forever after remain a permanent fund or capital, of the
said amount of thirty thousand dollars, the interest
whereof shall be applied from time to time to the relief
of poor and respectable brethren : and in order that the
real and benevolent purposes of masonic institutions
may be attained, I recommend to the several lodges not
to admit to membership, or to receive members from
other lodges, unless the applicants shall absolutely be
men of sound and good morals.
VIII. I give and bequeath unto Philip Peltz, John
Lentz, Francis Hesley, Jacob Baker and Adam Young,
of Passyunk township, in the county of Philadelphia,
the sum of six thousand dollars, in trust that they or the
survivors or survivor of them shall purchase a suitable
piece of ground, as near as may be in the centre of said
township, and thereon erect a substantial brick build
ing, sufficiently large for a school house and the resi
dence of a school-master, one part thereof for poor male
white children, and the other part for poor female white
children of said township : and as soon as the said school-
house shall have been built, that they the said trustees
or the survivors or survivor of them shall convey the
said piece of ground and house thereon erected, and
shall pay over such balance of said sum as may remain
unexpended, to any board of directors and their succes
sors in trust, which may at the time exist or be by law
constituted, consisting of at least twelve discreet inhabi
tants of the said township, and to be annually chosen by
the inhabitants thereof; the said piece of ground and
house to be carefully maintained by said directors and
their successors solely for the purposes of a school as
aforesaid forever, and the said balance to be securely in
vested as a permanent fund, the interest thereof to be

124 WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD.
applied from time to time towards the education in the
said school of any number of such poor white children
of said township ; and I do hereby recommend to the
citizens of the said township to make additions to the
fund whereof I have laid the foundation.
IX. I give and devise my house and lot of ground
thereto belonging, situate in rue Ramouet aux Char
trons, near the city of Bordeaux, in France, and the
rents issues and profits thereof to my brother Etienne
Girard and my niece Victoire Fenellon (daughter of my
late sister Sophia Girard Capayron) (both residing in
France) in equal moieties for the life of my said brother,
and, on his decease, one moiety of the said house and
lot to my said niece Victoire and her heirs forever, and
the other moiety to the six children of my said brother,
namely, John Fabricius, Marguerite, Anne Henriette,
Jean August, Marie, and Madelaine Henriette, share and
share alike (the issue of any deceased child, if more than
one to take amongst them the parent's share) and their
heirs forever.
X. I give and bequeath to my said brother Etienne
Girard the sum of five thousand dollars, and the like
sum o{ five thousand dollars to each of his six children
above named : if any of the said children shall die prior
to the receipt of his or her legacy of five thousand dol
lars, the said sum shall be paid, and I give and bequeath
the same, to any issue of such deceased child, if more
than one share and share alike.
XI. I give and bequeath to my said niece Victoire
Fenellon the sum oi five thousand dollars.
XII. I give and bequeath absolutely to my niece
Antoinetta, now married to M' Hemphill, the sum of
ten thousand dollars, and I also give and bequeath to
her the sum of fifty thousand dollars, to be paid over
to a trustee or trustees to be appointed by my execu-

WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD. 1 25
tors, which trustee or trustees shall place and continue
the said sum of fifty thousand dollars upon good security,
and pay the interest and dividends thereof as they shall
from time to time accrue, to my said niece for her sepa
rate use, during the term of her life, and from and imme
diately after her decease, to pay and distribute the capital
to and among such of her children and the issue of de
ceased children, and in such parts and shares as she the
said Antoinetta, by any instrument under her hand and
seal executed in the presence of at least two credible
witnesses shall direct and appoint, and for default of
such appointment then to and among the said children
and issue of deceased children in equal shares, such
issue of deceased children if more than one to take
only the share which their deceased parent would have
taken if living.
XIII. I give and bequeath unto my niece Carolina,
now married to M' Haslam, the sum of ten thousand
dollars, to be paid over to a trustee or trustees to be
appointed by my executors, which trustee or trustees
shall place and continue the said money upon good
security, and pay the interest and dividends thereof from
time to time, as they shall accrue, to my said niece, for
her separate use during the term of her life ; and, from
and immediately after her decease, to pay and distribute
the capital to and among such of her children and issue
of deceased children, and in such parts and shares, as
she the said Carolina, by any instrument under her hand
and seal executed, in the presence of at least two credible
witnesses, shall direct and appoint, and for default of such
appointment, then to and among the said children and
issue of deceased children, in equal shares, such issue of
deceased children if more than one, to take only the
share which the deceased parent would have taken if
living: but if my said niece Carolina shall leave no

126 WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD.
issue, then the said trustee or trustees on her decease
shall pay the said capital and any interest accrued thereon
to and among Caroline Lallemand (niece of the said
Carolina) and the children of the aforesaid Antoinetta
Hemphill, share and share alike.
XIV. I give and bequeath to my niece Henrietta, now
married to D' Clark, the sum of ten thousand dollars;
and I give and bequeath to her daughter Caroline (in the
last clause above named) the sum of twenty thousand
dollars — the interest of the said sum of twenty thousand
dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be
applied to the maintenance and education of the said
Caroline during her minority, and the principal with any
accumulated interest to be paid to the said Caroline, on
her arrival at the age of twenty-one years.
XV. Unto each of the captains, who shall be in my
employment at the time of my decease, either in port
or at sea, having charge of one of my ships or vessels,
and having performed at least two voyages in my ser
vice, I give and bequeath the sum oi fifteen hundred
dollars — provided he shall have brought safely into the
port of Philadelphia, or if at sea at the time of my de
cease shall bring safely into that port, my ship or vessel
last entrusted to him, and also that his conduct during
the last voyage shall have been in every respect con
formable to my instructions to him.
XVI. All persons, who, at the time of my decease,
shall be bound to me by indenture, as apprentices or
servants, and who shall then be under age, I direct my
executors to assign to suitable masters immediately after
my decease, for the remainder of their respective terms,
on conditions as favourable as they can in regard to
education, clothing, and freedom dues ; to each of the
said persons, in my service and under age at the time of
my decease I give and bequeath the sum ol five hun-

WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD. 1 27
dred dollars, which sums respectively I direct my exec
utors safely to invest in public stock, to apply the inter
est and dividends thereof towards the education of the
several apprentices or servants, for whom the capital is
given, respectively, and at the termination of the appren
ticeship or service of each to pay to him or her the said
sum of five hundred dollars and any interest accrued
thereon, if any such interest shall remain unexpended :
in assigning any indenture, preference shall be given to
the mother, father, or next relation, as assignee, should
such mother, father, or relative desire it, and be at the
same time respectable and competent.
XVII. I give and bequeath to Francis Hesley (son of
M"^ S. Hesley, who is mother of Marianne Hesley) the
sum of one thousand dollars, over and above such sum
as may be due to him at my decease.
XVIII. I charge my real estate in the state of Penn
sylvania with the payment of the several annuities or
sums following (the said annuities to be paid by the
treasurer or other proper officer of the city of Philadel
phia appointed by the corporation thereof for the pur
pose out of the rents and profits of said real estate,
hereinafter directed to be kept constantly rented)
namely :
I. I. give and bequeath to M'^ Elizabeth Ingersoll,
widow of Jared Ingersoll, esq. late of the city of Phila
delphia, counsellor at law, an annuity or yearly sum
of one thousand dollars, to be paid in half yearly pay
ments, in advance, of five hundred dollars each during
her life : —
2. I give and bequeath to M" Catherine Girard, now
widow of M' J. B. Hoskins, who died in the isle of
France, an annuity or yearly sum oi four hundred dollars,
to be paid in half yearly payments in advance of two
hundred dollars each, during her hfe.

128 WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD.
3. I give and bequeath to M'= Jane Taylor, my present
house keeper (the widow of the late captain Alexander
Taylor, who was master of my ship Helvetius and died
in my employment) an annuity or yearly sum of five
hundred dollars, to be paid in half yearly payments in
advance of two hundred and fifty dollars each, during
her life.
4. I give and bequeath to M'= S. Hesley, my house
keeper at my place in Passyunk Township, an annuity
or yearly sum of five hundred dollars, to be paid in half
yearly payments in advance of two hundred and fifty
dollars each during her life.
5. I give and bequeath to Marianne Hesley, daughter
of M" S. Hesley, an annuity or yearly sum of three
hundred dollars, to be paid to her mother for her use in
half yearly payments in advance of one hundred and fifty
dollars each, until the said Marianne shall have attained
the age of twenty-one years, when the said annuity shall
cease, and the said Marianne will receive the five hundred
dollars given to her and other indented persons, accord
ing to clause XVI. of this will :
6. I give and bequeath to my late house-keeper, Mary
Kenton, an annuity or yearly sum oi three hundred dollars,
to be paid in half yearly payments in advance of one
hundred and fifty dollars each during her life.
7. I give and bequeath to M'^ Deborah Scott, sister of
Mary Kenton, and wife of M' Edwin T. Scott, an annuity
or yearly sum of three hundred dollars, to be paid in half
yearly payments in advance of one hundred and fifty
dollars each, during her life.
8. I give and bequeath to M" Catharine McLaren,
sister of Mary Kenton, and wife of M' M. McLaren, an
annuity or yearly sum of three hundred dollars, to be
paid in half yearly payments in advance of one hundred
and fifty dollars each, during her life.

WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD. 1 29
9. I give and bequeath to M" Amelia G. Taylor, wife
of M' Rich"^ M. Taylor, an annuity or yearly sum of three
hundred dollars to be paid in half yearly payments in
advance of one hundred and fifty dollars each during her
life. XIX. All that part of my real and personal estate,
near Washita, in the state of Louisiana, the said real
estate consisting of upwards of two hundred and eight
thousand arpens or acres of land, and including therein
the settlement hereinafter mentioned, I give, devise, and
bequeath, as follows, namely : i. I give devise and be
queath to the corporation of the City of New Orleans,
their successors and assigns, all that part of my real
estate, constituting the settlement formed on my behalf
by my particular friend Judge Henry Bree, of Washita,
consisting of upwards of one thousand arpens or acres of
land with the appurtenances and improvements thereon,
and also all the personal estate thereto belonging and
thereon remaining, including upwards of thirty slaves
now on said settlement and their encrease, in trust, how
ever, and subject to the following reservations :
I desire, that no part of the said estate or property, or
the slaves thereon, or their encrease, shall be disposed of
or sold for the term of twenty years from and after my
decease, should the said judge Henry Bree survive me
and live so long, but that the said settlement shall be
kept up by the said judge Henry Bree, for and during
said term of twenty years, as if it was his own, that is,
it shall remain under his sole care and control, he shall
improve the same by raising such produce as he may
deem most advisable, and, after paying taxes, and all ex
penses in keeping up the settlement by clothing the
slaves and otherwise, he shall have and enjoy for his own
use all the nett profits of said settlement: — provided
however and I desire that the said judge Henry Bree
9

130 WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD.
shall render annually to the corporation of the City of
New Orleans, a report of the state of the settlement, the
income and expenditure thereof, the number and encrease
of the slaves, and the nett result of the whole. I desire
that, at the expiration of the said term of twenty years,
or on the decease of the said Judge Henry Bree, should
he not live so long, the land and improvements form
ing said settlement, the slaves thereon or thereto be
longing, and all other appurtenant personal property,
shall be sold, as soon as the said corporation shall
deem it advisable to do so, and the proceeds of the
said sale or sales shall be applied by the said corpora
tion to such uses and purposes as they shall consider
most likely to promote the health and general pros
perity of the inhabitants of the city of New Orleans :
But, until the said sale shall be made, the said corpora
tion shall pay all taxes, prevent waste or intrusion, and
so manage the said settlement and the slaves and their
encrease thereon, as to derive an income, and the said
income shall be apphed from time to time, to the same
uses and purposes for the health and general prosperity
of the said inhabitants.
2. I give devise and bequeath to the Mayor Alder
men and citizens of Philadelphia, their successors and
assigns, two undivided third parts of all the rest and
residue of my said real estate, being the lands unim
proved near Washita in the said state of Louisiana, in
trust, that, in common with the corporation of the city
of New Orleans, they shall pay the taxes on the said
lands, and preserve them from waste or intrusion, for the
term of ten years from and after my decease, and, at the
end of the said term, when they shall deem it advisable
to do so, shall sell and dispose of their interest in said
lands gradually from time to time, and apply the pro
ceeds of such sales to the same uses and purposes herein-

WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD. I31
after declared and directed of and concerning the residue
of my personal estate.
3. And I give devise and bequeath to the Corporation
of the city of New Orleans, their successors and assigns,
the remaining one undivided third part of the said lands,
in trust, in common with the Mayor Aldermen and
citizens of Philadelphia, to pay the taxes on the said
lands and preserve them from waste and intrusion for
the term of ten years from and after my decease, and, at
the end of the said term when they shall deem it advis
able to do so, to sell and dispose of their interest in said
lands gradually from time to time, and to apply the pro
ceeds of such sales to such uses and purposes as the said
corporation may consider most likely to promote the
health and general prosperity of the inhabitants of the
City of New Orleans.
XX. And whereas I have been for a long time im
pressed with the importance of educating the poor, and
of placing them by the early cultivation of their minds
and the development of their moral principles, above the
many temptations, to which, through poverty and igno
rance they are exposed ; and I am particularly desirous
to provide for such a number of poor male white orphan
children, as can be trained in one institution, a better
education as well as a more comfortable maintenance
than they usually receive from the application of the
public funds : And whereas, together with the object
just adverted to I have sincerely at heart the welfare of
the city of Philadelphia, and, as a part of it, am desirous
to improve the neighborhood of the river Delaware, so
that the health of the citizens may be promoted and pre
served, and that the eastern part of the city may be made
to correspond better with the interior : Now, I do give
devise and bequeath all the residue and remainder of my
real and personal estate of every sort and kind and wherso-

132 WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD.
ever situate (the real estate in Pennsylvania charged as
aforesaid) unto "The Mayor, aldermen and citizens of
Philadelphia, their successors and assigns in trust to and
for the several uses intents and purposes hereinafter
mentioned and declared of and concerning the same, that
is to say : So far as regards my real estate in Pennsyl
vania, in trust, that no part thereof shall ever be sold or
alienated by the said The Mayor Aldermen and citizens
of Philadelphia or their successors, but the same shall
forever thereafter be let from time to time to good ten
ants, at yearly or other rents and upon leases in posses
sion not exceeding five years from the commencement
thereof, and that the rents issues and profits arising
therefrom shall be applied towards keeping that part of
the said real estate situate in the city and Liberties of
Philadelphia constantly in good repair (parts elsewhere
situate to be kept in repair by the tenants thereof re
spectively) and towards improving the same whenever
necessary by erecting new buildings, and that the nett
residue (after paying the several annuities herein before
provided for) be applied to the same uses and purposes
as are herein declared of and concerning the residue of
my personal estate : And so far as regards my real estate
in Kentucky, now under the care of Messrs Triplett and
Burmley, in trust to sell and dispose of the same, when
ever it may be expedient to do so, and to apply the pro
ceeds of such sale to the same uses and purposes as are
herein declared of and concerning the residue of my
personal estate.
XXI. And so far as regards the residue of my per
sonal estate, in trust, as to two millions of dollars, part
thereof, to apply and expend so much of that sum as
may be necessary — in erecting as soon as practicably may
be, in the centre of my square of ground between High
and Chesnut streets, and Eleventh and Twelfth streets.

WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD. 1 33
in the city of Philadelphia (which square of ground I
hereby devote for the purposes hereinafter stated, and for
no other, for ever) a permanent College, with suitable out
buildings, sufficiently spacious for the residence and ac
commodation of at least three hundred scholars, and the
requisite teachers and other persons necessary in such an
institution as I direct to be established ; and in supplying
the said college and out-buildings with decent and suita
ble furniture, as well as books and all other things
needful to carry into effect my general design. The
said College shall be constructed with the most durable
materials and in the most permanent manner, avoiding
needless ornament, and attending chiefly to the strength,
convenience and neatness of the whole : It shall be at
least one hundred and ten feet east and west, and one
hundred and sixty feet north and south, and shall be
built on lines parallel with High and Chesnut streets
and Eleventh and Twelfth streets, provided those lines
shall constitute at their junction right angles : It shall
be three stories in height, each story at least fifteen
feet high in the clear from the floor to the cornice : it
shall be fire-proof inside and outside, the floors and the
roof to be formed of solid materials, on arches turned on
proper centres, so that no wood may be used, except for
doors, windows and shutters : Cellars shall be made
under the whole building, solely for the purposes of the
institution ; the doors to them from the outside shall be
on the east and west of the building, and access to them
from the inside shall be had by steps, descending to the
cellar floor from each of the entries or halls hereinafter
mentioned, and the inside cellar doors to open under the
stairs on the north-east and north-west corners of the
northern entry, and under the stairs on the south-east and
south-west corners of the southern entry ; there should
be a cellar window under and in a line with, each window

134 WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD.
in the first story — they should be built one half below,
the other half above, the surface of the ground, and the
ground outside each window should be supported by
stout walls ; the sashes should open inside, on hinges,
like doors, and there should be strong iron bars outside
each window ; the windows inside and outside should not
be less than four feet wide in the clear : There shall be in
each story four rooms, each room not less than fifty feet
square in the clear ; the four rooms on each floor to oc
cupy the whole space east and west on such floor or
story, and the middle of the building north and south ;
so that in the north of the building, and in the south
thereof, there may remain a space of equal dimensions,
for an entry or hall in each, for stairs and landings : In
the north-east and in the north-west corners of the north
ern entry or hall on the first floor, stairs shall be made
so as to form a double stair-case, which shall be carried
up through the several stories; and, in like manner, in
the south-east and south-west corners of the southern
entry or hall, stairs shall be made, on the first floor, so as
to form a double stair-case, to be carried up through the
several stories ; the steps of the stairs to be made of
smooth white marble with plain square edges, each step
not to exceed nine inches in the rise, nor to be less than
ten inches in the tread : the outside and inside foundation
walls shall be at least ten feet high in the clear from the
ground to the ceiling : the first floor shall be at least
three feet above the level of the ground around the
building, after that ground shall have been so regulated
as that there shall be a gradual descent from the centre to
the sides of the square formed by High and Chesnut
and Eleventh and Twelfth streets : all the outside founda
tion walls, forming the cellars, shall be three feet and six
inches thick up to the first floor, or as high as may be
necessary to fix the centres for the first floor ; and the

WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD, 1 35
inside foundation wall, running north and south, and
the three inside foundation walls, running east and west,
(intended to receive the interior walls for the four
rooms each not less than fifty feet square in the clear,
above mentioned) shall be three feet thick up to the
first floor, or as high as may be necessary to fix the
centres for the first floor : when carried so far up, the
outside walls shall be reduced to two feet in thickness,
leaving a recess outside of one foot and inside of six
inches — and when carried so far up, the inside founda
tion walls shall also be reduced, six inches on each side
to the thickness of two feet ; centres shall then be fixed
on the various recesses of six inches throughout, left for
the purpose, the proper arches shall be turned, and the
first floor laid: the outside and the inside walls shall
then be carried up of the thickness of two feet through
out, as high as may be necessary to begin the recess in
tended to fix the centres for the second floor, that is
the floor for the four rooms each not less than fifty feet
square in the clear, and for the landing in the north,
and the landing in the south, of the building, where the
stairs are to go up — at this stage of the work, a chain,
composed of bars of inch . square iron, each bar about
ten feet long, and linked together by hooks formed of
the ends of the bars, shall be laid straightly and horizon
tally along the several walls, and shall be as tightly as
possible worked into the centre of them throughout, and
shall be secured wherever necessary, especially at all
the angles, by iron clamps solidly fastened, so as to pre
vent cracking or swerving in any part ; centres shall then
be laid, the proper arches turned for the second floor and
landings, and the second floor and landings shall be laid :
the outside and the inside walls shall then be carried up
of the same thickness of two feet throughout as high as
may be necessary to begin the recess" intended to fix

136 WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD.
the centres for the third floor and landings ; and, when
so far carried up, another chain similar in all respects to
that used at the second story, shall be in like manner
worked into the walls throughout as tightly as possible,
and clamped in the same way with equal care ; centres
shall be formed, the proper arches turned, and the third
floor and landings shall be laid : the outside and the in
side walls shall then be carried up, of the same thickness
of two feet throughout, as high as may be necessary to
begin the recess intended to fix the centres for the roof;
and, when so (carried up, a third chain, in all respects
like those used at the second and third stories, shall in
the manner before described be worked as tightly as
possible into the walls throughout, and shall be clamped
with equal care ; centres shall now be fixed in the man
ner best adapted for the roof, which is to form the ceiling
for the third story, the proper arches shall be turned,
and the roof shall be laid as nearly horizontally as may
be, consistently with the easy passage of water to the
eaves : the outside walls, still of the thickness of two feet
throughout, shall then be carried up about two feet
above the level of the platform, and shall have marble
capping, with a strong and neat iron railing thereon :
The outside walls shall be faced with slabs or blocks of
marble or granite, not less than two feet thick, and fast
ened together with clamps securely sunk therein — they
shall be carried up flush from the recess of one foot
formed at the first floor where the foundation outside
wall is reduced to two feet : The floors and landings as
well as the roof shall be covered with marble slabs,
securely laid in mortar; the slabs on the roof to be
twice as thick as those on the floors. In constructing
the walls, as well as in turning the arches, and laying
the floors, landings, and roof, good and strong mortar,
and grout, shall be used, so that no cavity whatever may

WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD. 1 37
any where remain. A furnace or furnaces for the gener
ation of heated air shall be placed in the cellar, and the
heated air shall be introduced in adequate quantity
wherever wanted by means of pipes and flues inserted
and made for the purpose in the walls, and as those
walls shall be constructed. In case it shall be found
expedient, for the purposes of a library or otherwise, to
encrease the number of rooms by dividing any of those,
directed to be not less than fifty feet square in the clear,
into parts, the partition walls to be of solid materials.
A room most suitable for the purpose, shall be set apart
for the reception and preservation of my books and
papers, and I direct that they shall be placed there by
my executors and carefully preserved therein. There
shall be two principal doors of entrance into the college,
one into the entry or hall on the first floor in the north
of the building, and in the centre between the east and
west walls, the other into the entry or hall in the
south of the building, and in the centre between the east
and west walls ; the dimensions to be determined by a
due regard to the size of the entire building, to that of
the entry, and to the purposes of the doors. The neces
sity for, as well as the position and size of other doors,
internal or external, and also the position and size of the
windows, to be, in like manner, decided on by a con
sideration of the uses to which the building is to be
applied, the size of the building itself and of the several
rooms, and of the advantages of light and air: there
should in each instance be double doors those opening
into the rooms to be what are termed glass doors,
so as to encrease the quantity of light for each room,
and those opening outward to be of substantial wood
work well lined and secured : the windows of the second
and third stories I recommend to be made in the style of
those in the first and second stories of my present dwell-

138 WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD.
ing house North Water street, on the eastern front
thereof; and outside each window I recommend that a
substantial and neat iron balcony be placed sufficiently
wide to admit the opening of the shutters against the
walls; the windows of the lower story to be in the
same style, except that they are not to descend to the
floor, but so far as the surbase, up to which the wall
is to be carried, as is the case in lower story of my
house at my place in Passyunk township. In minute
particulars, not here noticed, utility and good taste
should determine. There should be at least four out
buildings, detached from the main edifice and from each
other, and in such positions as shall at once answer the
purposes of the institution, and be consistent with the
symmetry of the whole establishment : — each building
should be, as far as practicable, devoted to a distinct
purpose: in that one or more of those buildings, in
which they may be most useful, I direct my executors
to place my plate and furniture of every sort. The
entire square, formed by High and Chesnut streets,
and Eleventh and Twelfth streets, shall be enclosed
with a solid wall, at least fourteen inches thick and ten
feet high, capped with marble and guarded with irons
on the top so as to prevent persons from getting over :
there shall be two places of entrance into the square,
one in the centre of the wall facing High street, and
the other in the centre of the wall facing Chesnut
street: at each place of entrance there shall be two
gates, one opening inward and the other outward;
those opening inward to be of iron and in the style of
the gates north and south of my banking house, and
those opening outward to be of substantial wood work
well lined and secured on the faces thereof with sheet
iron. The messuages now erected on the south-east
corner of High and Twelfth streets, and on Twelfth

WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD. 1 39
street, to be taken down and removed, as soon as the
College and out-buildings shall have been erected, so that
the establishment may be rendered secure and private.
When the college and appurtenances shall have been
constructed, and supplied with plain and suitable furni
ture, and books, philosophical and experimental instru
ments and apparatus, and all other matters needful to carry
my general design into execution ; the income issues and
profits of so much of the said sum of two millions of dol
lars as shall remain unexpended shall be applied to main
tain the said College according to my directions :
I. The institution shall be organized as soon as prac
ticable and, to accomplish that purpose more effectually,
due public notice of the intended opening of the college
shall be given — so that there may be an opportunity
to make selections of competent instructors, and other
agents, and those who may have the charge of orphans
may be aware of the provisions intended for them :
2. A competent number of instructors, teachers, assist
ants and other necessary agents, shall be selected, and
when needful their places from time to time supplied:
they shall receive adequate compensation for their ser
vices : but no person shall be employed who shall not be
of tried skill in his or her proper department, of estab
lished moral character — and in all cases persons shall
be chosen on account of their merit, and not through
favour or intrigue.
3. As many poor white male orphans, between the
ages of six and ten years, as the said income shall be
adequate to maintain, shall be introduced into the col
lege as soon as possible ; and from time to time as there
may be vacancies, or as increased ability from income
may warrant, others shall be introduced.
4. On the application for admission, an accurate
statement should be taken, in a book prepared for the

I40 WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD.
purpose, of the name, birth-place, age, health, condition
as to relatives, and other particulars, useful to be known,
of each orphan.
5. No orphan should be admitted until the guardians
or directors of the poor, or a proper guardian, or other
competent authority, shall have given, by indenture,
relinquishment, or otherwise, adequate power to the
Mayor Aldermen and citizens of Philadelphia, or to
directors or others by them appointed, to enforce, in
relation to each orphan, every proper restraint, and to
prevent relatives or others from interfering with or
withdrawing such orphan from the institution.
6. Those orphans, for whose admission application
shall be first made, shall be first introduced, all other
things concurring — and at all future times priority of
application shall entitle the applicant to preference in
admission, all other things concurring : but, if there shall
be at any time, more applicants than vacancies, and the
applying orphans shall have been born in different
places, a preference shall be given, — first to orphans
born in the city of Philadelphia ; secondly, to those born
in any other part of Pennsylvania ; thirdly to those born
in the city of New York (that being the first port on the
continent of North America, at which I arrived) ; and
lastly, to those born in the city of New Orleans, being the
first port on the said continent at which I first traded,
in the first instance as first officer, and subsequently as
master and part owner of a vessel and cargo.
7. The orphans, admitted into the College, shall be
there fed with plain but wholesome food, clothed with
plain but decent apparel (no distinctive dress ever to be
worn) and lodged in a plain but safe manner: Due re
gard shall be paid to their health, and to this end their
persons and clothes shall be kept clean, and they shall
have suitable and rational exercise and recreation :

WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD. I41
They shall be instructed in the various branches of a
sound education, comprehending reading, writing, gram
mar, arithmetic, geography, navigation, surveying, prac
tical mathematics, astronomy, natural, chemical, and
experimental philosophy, the French and Spanish lan
guages [I do not forbid, but I do not recommend, the
Greek and Latin Languages] — and such other learning
and science, as the capacities of the several scholars
may merit or warrant : I would have them taught facts
and things, rather than words or signs : And, especially,
I desire, that by every proper means a pure attachment
to our republican institutions, and to the sacred rights
of conscience, as guaranteed by our happy constitutions,
shall be formed and fostered in the minds of the scholars.
8. Should it unfortunately happen, that any of the
orphans, admitted into the college, shall, from mal-
conduct, have become unfit companions for the rest,
and mild means of reformation prove abortive, they
should no longer remain therein.
9. Those scholars, who shall merit it, shall remain in
the college until they shall respectively arrive at between
fourteen and eighteen years of age ; they shall then be
bound out by the Mayor, Aldermen and citizens of
Philadelphia, or under their direction, to suitable occu
pations, as those of agriculture, navigation, arts, mechan
ical trades, and manufactures, according to the capacities
and acquirements of the scholars respectively; consulting,
as far as prudence shall justify it, the inclinations of the
several scholars, as to the occupation, art, or trade, to be
learned. In relation to the organization of the college and its
appendages, I leave, necessarily, many details to the
Mayor Aldermen and citizens of Philadelphia and their
successors ; and I do so, with the more confidence, as,
from the nature of my bequests and the benefit to result

142 WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD.
from them, I trust that my fellow citizens of Philadelphia,
will observe and evince especial care and anxiety in select
ing members for their City Councils, and other agents:
There are, however, some restrictions, which I consider
it my duty to prescribe, and to be, amongst others, con
ditions on which my bequest for said college is made
and to be enjoyed, namely : first, I enjoin and require,
that, if, at the close of any year, the income of the fund
devoted to the purposes of the said college shall be more
than sufficient for the maintenance of the institution
during that year, then the balance of the said income,
after defraying such maintenance, shall be forthwith in
vested in good securities, thereafter to be and remain a
part of the capital ; but, in no event, shall any part of
the said capital be .sold, disposed of, or pledged, to meet
the current expenses of the said institution, to which I
devote the interest, income, and dividends thereof ex
clusively : Secondly, I enjoin and require, that no eccle
siastic, missionary, or minister of any sect whatsoever, shall
ever hold or exercise any station or duty whatever in the
said college ; nor shall any such person ever be admitted
for any purpose, or as a visitor, within the premises appro
priated to the purposes of the said college: — . ... In
making this restriction, I do not mean to cast any reflec
tion upon any sect or person whatsoever ; but, as there is
such a multitude of sects, and such a diversity of opinion
amongst them, I desire to keep the tender minds of the
orphans, who are to derive advantage from this bequest,
free from the excitements, which clashing doctrines and
sectarian controversy are so apt to produce ; My desire
is, that all the instructors and teachers in the college
shall take pains to instil into the minds of the scholars
the purest principles of morality, so that, on their entrance
into active life, they may, from inclination and habit,
evince benevolence towards their fellow creatures, and a

WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD. 1 43
love of truth, sobriety and industry, adopting at the same
time such religious tenets as their matured reason may
enable them to prefer.
 If the income, arising from that part of the
said sum of two millions of dollars, remaining after the
construction and furnishing of the college and out
buildings, shall, owing to the encrease of the number
of orphans, applying for admission, or other cause, be
inadequate to the construction of new buildings, or the
maintenance and education of as many orphans as may
apply for admission, then such further sum as may be
necessary for the construction of new buildings and the
maintenance and education of such further number of
orphans, as can be maintained and instructed within such
buildings as the said square of ground shall be adequate
to, shall be taken from the final residuary fund herein
after expressly referred to for the purpose, comprehend
ing the income of my real estate in the city and county
of Philadelphia, and the dividends of my stock in the
Schuylkill navigation company — my design and desire
being, that the benefits of said institution shall be ex
tended to as great a number of orphans as the Hmits of
the said square and buildings therein can accommodate.
XXII. And as to the further sum of five hundred
thousand dollars, part of the residue of my personal
estate, in trust, to invest the same securely, and to keep
the same so invested, and to apply the income thereof
exclusively to the following purposes, that is to say :
I. To lay out, regulate, curb, light and pave a passage
or street, on the east part of the city of Philadelphia,
fronting the river Delaware, not less than twenty-one
feet wide, and to be called Delaware Avenue, extending
from South or Cedar street, all along the east part of
Water street squares, and the west side of the logs,
which form the heads of the docks, or thereabouts ; and

144 WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD.
to this intent to obtain such acts of Assembly, and to
make such purchases or agreements, as will enable the
Mayor Aldermen and citizens of Philadelphia to remove
or pull down all the buildings, fences and obstructions,
which may be in the way, and to prohibit all buildings,
fences, or erections of any kind to the eastward of said
avenue : — to fill up the heads of such of the docks as
may not afford sufficient room for the said street ; — to
compel the owners of wharves to keep them clean and
covered completely with gravel or other hard materials,
and to be so levelled that water will not remain thereon
after a shower of rain; — to completely clean and keep
clean all the docks within the limits of the city, fronting
on the Delaware ; — and to pull down all platforms carried
out, from the east part of the city over the river Dela
ware, on piles or pillars.
2. To pull down and remove all wooden buildings (as
well those made of wood and other combustible mate
rials, as those called brick-paned or frame buildings
filled in with bricks) that are erected within the limits
of the City of Philadelphia — and also to prohibit the
erection of any such buildings within the said city's
limits at any future time.
3. To regulate, widen, pave, and curb Water street,
and to distribute the Schuylkill water therein upon the
following plan that is to say,  that Water street
be widened east and west from Vine street all the way
to South street, in like manner as it is from the front
of my dwelling to the front of my stores on the west
side of Water street, and the regulation of the curb
stones continued at the same distance from one an
other, as they are at present opposite to the said dwell
ing and stores, so that the regulation of the said street
be not less than thirty-nine feet wide, and afford a
large and convenient foot-way, clear of obstructions

WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD. 1 45
and incumbrances of every nature, and the cellar doors
on which, if any shall be permitted, not to extend from
the buildings on to the foot-way more than four feet ;
the said width to be encreased gradually, as the fund
shall permit, and as the capacity to remove impedi
ments shall encrease, until there shall be a correct and
permanent regulation of Water street on the princi
ples above stated, so that it may run north and south
as strait as possible: That the ten feet middle alleys,
belonging to the public, and running from the centre of
the east squares to Front street, all the way down across
Water street to the river Delaware, be kept open and
cleansed as city property, all the way from Vine to
South street — that such part of each centre or middle
alley as runs from Front to Water street be arched
over with bricks or stone, in so strong a manner as to
facilitate the building of plain and permanent stone steps
and plat-forms, so that they may be washed and kept con
stantly clean : and that the continuance of the said alleys,
from the east side of Water street be curbed all the way
to the river Delaware and kept open forever — ....
(I understand that those middle or centre alleys were
left open in the first plan of the lots, on the east front of
the city, which were granted from the east side of Front
street to the river Delaware, and that each lot on said
east front has contributed to make those alleys by
giving a part of their ground in proportion to the size of
each lot ; those alleys were in the first instance, and still
are, considered public property, intended for the con
venience of the inhabitants residing in Front street to
go down to the river for water and other purposes; but,
owing to neglect or to some other cause, on the part of
those, who have had the care of the city property, several
encroachments have been made on them by individuals,
by wholly occupying, or building over, them, or other-

146 WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD,
wise, and in that way the inhabitants, more particularly
those who reside in the neighbourhood, are deprived of
the benefit of that wholesome air, which their opening
and cleansing throughout would afford) : That the iron
pipes, in Water street, which, by being of smaller size
than those in the other streets, and too near the surface
of the ground, cause constant leaks, particularly in the
winter season, which in many places render the street
impassable, be taken up and replaced by pipes of the
same size quality and dimensions in every respect, and
laid down as deeply from the surface of the ground, as
the iron pipes, which are laid in the main streets of the
city : . . , . and as it respects pumps for Schuylkill water
and fire-plugs in Water street, that one of each be fixed
at the south-west corner of Vine and Water streets, and
so running southward, one of each near the steps of the
centre alley going up to Front street ; one of each at
the south-west corner of Sassafras and Water streets,
one of each near the steps of the centre alley going up
to Front street, and so on at every south-west corner of
all the main streets and Water street, and of the centre
alleys of every square, as far as South or Cedar street ;
and when the same shall have been completed, that all
Water street shall be repaved by the best workmen in
the most complete manner, with the best paving water-
stones, after the height of the curbstones shall have
been regulated throughout, as well as the ascent and
descent of the street, in such manner as to conduct the
Water through the main streets and the centre alleys to
the river Delaware, as far as practicable ; and whenever
any part of the street shall want to be raised, to use
nothing but good paving gravel for that purpose, so as
to make the paving as permanent as possible : .... By
all which improvements, it is my intention to place and
maintain the section of the city above referred to in a

WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD. 1 47
condition which will correspond better with the general
cleanness and appearance of the whole city, and be
more consistent with the safety, health, and comfort of
the citizens. And my mind and will are, that all the
income, interest and dividends of the said capital sum
of five hundred thousand dollars shall be yearly and
every year expended upon the said objects, in the order
in which I have stated them as closely as possible, and
upon no other objects until those enumerated shall have
been attained : and, when those objects shall have been
accomplished, I authorise and direct the said The
Mayor Aldermen and Citizens to apply such part of
the income of the said capital sum of five hundred thou
sand dollars as they may think proper to the further
improvement, from time to time, of the eastern or Dela
ware front of the city.
XXIII. I give and bequeath to the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, the sum of three hundred thousand dollars,
for the purposes of internal improvement by canal navi
gation, to be paid into the state treasury by my ex
ecutors, as soon as such laws shall have been enacted
by the constituted authorities of the said commonwealth
as shall be necessary, and amply sufficient to carry into
effect, or to enable the constituted authorities of the city
of Philadelphia to carry into effect, the several improve
ments above specified; namely, i. laws, to cause Dela
ware avenue, as above described, to be made, paved,
curbed, and lighted ; to cause the buildings, fences, and
other obstructions now existing to be abated and re
moved; and to prohibit the creation of any such ob
structions to the eastward of said Delaware avenue :
2. laws, to cause all wooden buildings as above de
scribed to be removed, and to prohibit their future erec
tion within the limits of the city of Philadelphia: 3.
laws, providing for the gradual widening, regulating,

148 WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD.
paving, and curbing Water street, as hereinbefore de
scribed, and also for the repairing the middle alleys, and
introducing the Schuylkill water, and pumps, as before
specified — all which objects may, I persuade myself, be
accomplished on principles at once just into relation to
individuals, and highly beneficial to the public : the said
sum, however, not to be paid, unless said laws be passed
within one year after my decease.
XXIV. And as it regards the remainder of said residue
of my personal estate, in trust, to invest the same in good
securities, and in like manner to invest the interest and in
come thereof from time to time, so that the whole shall
form a permanent fund ; and to apply the income of the
said fund : —
I. To the further improvement and maintenance of
the aforesaid College, as directed in the last paragraph
of the XXIst clause of this will :
2. To enable the Corporation of the City of Phila
delphia to provide more effectually than they now do,
for the security of the persons and property of the in
habitants of the said city, by a competent police, in
cluding a sufficient number of watchmen really suited
to the purpose ; and to this end, I recommend a division
of the city, into watch districts or four parts, each under
a proper head, and that at least two watchmen shall in
each round or station patrol together.
3. To enable the said corporation to improve the
city property, and the general appearance of the city
itself; and, in effect to diminish the burden of taxation,
now most oppressive especially on those, who are the
least able to bear it :
To all which objects, the prosperity of the City, and
the health and comfort of its inhabitants, I devote the
said fund as aforesaid, and direct the income thereof
to be applied yearly and every year for ever — after pro-

WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD. 1 49
viding for the College as hereinbefore directed, as my
primary object. But, if the said city shall knowingly
and wilfully violate any of the conditions hereinbefore
and hereinafter mentioned, then I give and bequeath
the said remainder and accumulations to the Com
monwealth of Pennsylvania, for the purposes of inter
nal navigation, excepting however the rents issues and
profits of my real estate in the City and County of
Philadelphia, which shall forever be reserved and ap
plied to maintain the aforesaid College, in the manner
specified in the last paragraph of the XXIst clause of
this will: And, if the Commonwealth of Pennsylva
nia shall fail to apply this or the preceding bequest to
the purposes before mentioned, or shall apply any part
thereof to any other use, or shall for the term of one
year, from the time of my decease, fail or omit to pass
the laws hereinbefore specified for promoting the im
provement of the city of Philadelphia, then I give devise
and bequeath the said remainder and accumulations (the
rents aforesaid always excepted and reserved for the Col
lege as aforesaid) to the United States of America for the
purposes of internal navigation and no other.
Provided, nevertheless, and I do hereby declare, that
all the preceding bequests and devises of the residue
of my estate to The Mayor Aldermen and Citizens of
Philadelphia, are made upon the following express con
ditions, that is to say — First, That none of the monies,
principal, interest, dividends, or rents, arising from the
said residuary devise and bequest, shall at any time be
applied to any other purpose or purposes whatever
than those herein mentioned and appointed: — Second,
that separate accounts, distinct from the other accounts
of the corporation, shall be kept by the said Corporation,
concerning the said devise, bequest, college and funds,
and of the investment and application thereof; and that

150 WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD.
a separate account or accounts of the same shall be kept
in bank, not blended with any other account, so that it
may at all times appear on examination by a committee
of the legislature as hereinafter mentioned, that my in
tentions had been fully complied with : — Third, That the
said corporation render a detailed account annually in
duplicate to the legislature of the Commonwealth of Penn
sylvania, at the commencement of the session, one copy
for the senate, and the other for the house of representa
tives, concerning the said devised and bequeathed estate,
and the investment and application of the same, and
also a report in hke manner of the state of the said
College, and shall submit all theirbooks papers and ac
counts touching the same, to a committee or commit
tees of the legislature for examination, when the same
shall be required: — Fourth, The said corporation shall
also cause to be published in the month of January,
annually, in two or more newspapers printed in the city
of Philadelphia, a concise but plain account of the state
of the trusts, devises, and bequests herein declared and
made, comprehending the condition of the said college,
the number of scholars, and other particulars needful to
be publicly known, for the year next preceding the said
month of January, annually.
XXV. And whereas I have executed an assignment
in trust of my banking establishment, to take effect the
day before my decease, to the intent that all the con
cerns thereof may be closed by themselves, without
being blended with the concerns of my general estate,
and the balance remaining to be paid over to my ex
ecutors : Now, I do hereby direct my executors, herein
after mentioned, not to interfere with the said trust in
any way except to see that the same is faithfully exe
cuted, and to aid the execution thereof by all such acts
and deeds as may be necessary and expedient to effec-

WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD. 151
tuate the same, so that it may be speedily closed, and
the balance paid over to my executors, to go, as in my
will, into the residue of my estate: And I do hereby
authorise direct and empower the said trustees from time
to time, as the capital of the said bank shall be received,
and shall not be wanted for the discharge of the debts
due thereat, to invest the same in good securities in the
names of my executors, and to hand over the same to
them, to be disposed of according to this my will.
XXVI. Lastly — I do hereby nominate and appoint
Timothy Paxson, Thomas P. Cope, Joseph Roberts,
William J. Duane, and John A. Barclay 
executors of this my last will and testament : I recom
mend to them to close the concerns of my estate as
expeditiously as possible, and to see that my intentions
in respect to the residue of my estate are and shall be
strictly complied with : and I do hereby revoke all other
wills by me heretofore made.
In witness, I, the said Stephen Girard have to this my
last will and testament, contained in thirty-five pages, set
my hand at the bottom of each page, and my hand and
seal at the bottom of this page ; the said will executed,
from motives of prudence, in duplicate, this sixteenth
day of February, in the year one thousand eight hundred
and thirty. STEPHEN GIRARD. ISeal.]
Signed, sealed, published, and declared '
by the said Stephen Girard, as and for
his last will and testament, in the
presence of us, who have at his request
hereunto subscribed our names as wit
nesses thereto in the presence of the
said testator and of each other, Feb
ruary 16, 1830.
JOHN H. IRWIN,
SAML ARTHUR,
S. H. CARPENTER.

152 WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD.
WHEREAS I, Stephen Girard, the testator named in
the foregoing will and testament, dated the sixteenth
day of February eighteen hundred and thirty, have,
since the execution thereof, purchased several parcels
and pieces of real estate, and have built sundry mes
suages, all which, as well as any real estate that I may
hereafter purchase, it is my wish and intention to pass
by the said will, now I do hereby republish the fore
going last will and testament dated February 16, i830»
and do confirm the same in all particulars : In witness,
I the said Stephen Girard set my hand and seal here
unto the twenty-fifth day of December eighteen hun
dred and thirty. STEPHEN GIRARD. [Seal.']
Signed sealed published and declared "
by the said Stephen Girard as and for
a re-publication of his last will and tes
tament in the presence of us, who at his
request have hereunto subscribed our
names as witnesses thereto in the pres
ence of the said testator and of each
other, Dec' 25, 1830. JOHN H. IRWIN,
SAML ARTHUR,
JNO. THOMSON.
WHEREAS I, Stephen Girard, the testator named
in the foregoing will and testament, dated February 16,
1830, have, since the execution thereof, purchased sev
eral parcels and pieces of land and real estate, and have
built sundry messuages, all which, as well as any real
estate that I may hereafter purchase, it is my intention
to pass by said will ; and whereas, in particular, I have
recently purchased from M' William Parker the man
sion house, out-buildings, and forty-five acres and some
perches of land, called Peel-Hall, on the Ridge Road
in Penn Township, now I declare it to be my intention

WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD, 1 53
and I direct that the orphan establishment, provided
for in my said will, instead of being built as therein
directed upon my square of ground between High and
Chesnut and Eleventh and Twelfth streets in the city
of Philadelphia, shall be built upon the estate so pur
chased from M' W. Parker, and I hereby devote the
said estate to that purpose exclusively in the same
manner as I had devoted the said square, hereby direct
ing that all the improvements and arrangements for the
said Orphan Establishment prescribed by my said will
as to said square shall be made and executed upon the
said estate, just as if I had in my will devoted the said
estate to said purpose — consequently the said square of
ground is to constitute and I declare it to be a part
of the residue and remainder of my real and personal
estate and given and devised for the same uses and pur
poses as are declared in section XX. of my will, it
being my intention that the said square of ground shall
be built upon and improved in such a manner as to
secure a safe and permanent income for the purposes
stated in said XXth section : In witness whereof I, the
said Stephen Girard set my hand and seal hereunto the
twentieth day of June eighteen hundred and thirty-one.
STEPHEN GIRARD. [Seal.]
Signed sealed published and declared
by the said Stephen Girard as and for
a re-publication of his last will and
testament and a further direction in
relation to the real estate therein men
tioned, in the presence of us who at his
request have hereunto subscribed our
names as witnesses thereto in the pres
ence of the said testator and of each
other, June 20, 1831.
S. H. CARPENTER,
L. BARDIN,
SAML ARTHUR.

154 WILL OF STEPHEN GIRARD.
Philadelphia, December 31st, 1831. — Then personally appeared
Samuel Arthur and S. H. Carpenter, two of the witnesses to the
foregoing Will and the second Codicil or republication thereof,
and on their oaths did say that they were present, and did see and
hear Stephen Girard, the testator in the said Will and second repub
lication thereof, named, sign, seal, publish and declare the same as
and for his last Will and Testament, and republication thereof,
and that at the doing thereof, he was of sound mind, memory and
understanding, to the best of their knowledge and belief ; and at
the same time appeared Jno. Thomson, one of the witnesses to the
first republication of said Will, and on his solemn affirmation did
say that he was present, and did see and hear Stephen Girard, the
testator in the first republication of said Will, named, sign, seal,
publish, and declare the same as and for a republication of his last
Will and Testament. And the said Samuel Arthur, another of
the witnesses to said first republication of said Will, on his oath
did further say, that he was present, and did hear and see Stephen
Girard, the testator in the first republication of said Will, named,
sign, seal, publish and declare the same as and for a republication
of his last Will and Testament, and they both did say that at the
doing thereof, he was of sound mind, memory and understanding,
to the best of their knowledge and belief. Coram, J. HUMES, Register.
December 31, 1831. — Timothy Paxson and Thomas P. Cope,
two of the Executors, affirmed, and Joseph Roberts, William J.
Duane, and John A. Barclay, the other Executors, sworn, and
letters testamentary granted unto them.

REPORT OF TREASURER OF COMMITTEE ON
GIRARD STATUE.

REPORT

TREASURER OF THE COMMITTEE ON
GIRARD STATUE.

Philadelphia, July 30, 1897.
To THE Committee on Girard Statue:
Gentlemen, — As Treasurer of your Committee, I have
the honor to report that I have received 757 contribu
tions, amounting to ;^ 13, 159.68, classified as follows :
Number of
Contributors. Amounts. Totals.
I  SlOOO.OO ^1000.00
I  200.00 200.00
80  100.00 8000.00
16  50.00 800.00
I  41-25 41-25
21  25.00 525-00
10  20.00 200.00
I  18.75 18.75
J  i8.oo 18.00
I  IS-7S IS-7S
I  17-33 17-33
7  15.00 105.00
I  11.65 11.65
y6  10.00 760.00
I  7-70 7-70
I  7-30 7-30
I  6.66 6.66
I  6.14 6.14
J  6.00 6.00
175  S-oo 875.00
2  4-50 9-00
I  4.25 4-25
2  4.00 8.00
157

158 REPORT OF TREASURER,
Number of
Contributors. Amounts. Totals.
I  ^3-96 fe-96
I  3-77 3-77
2  3.50 7.00
I  3-34 3-34
25  3.00 75.00
I  . . 2.75 2.75
II  2.50 27.50
I  2.29 2.29
102  2.00 204.00
I  1.60 1.60
I  1.58 158
I  I-S3 I-S3
I  1.20 1.20
I  1. 17 I-I7
I  i-iS i-iS
I .  1. 12 1.12
2  1. 10 2.20
163  i.oo 163.00
I  -94 -94
I  .90 .90
I  .80 .80
30  -SO iS-oo
4  .25 I.oo
I  .10 .lO
757  gi3, 159.68
Lists of the contributors, in alphabetical order, are
appended, as follows :
Alumni of Girard College  503
Officers, teachers, employees, and pupils * of Girard College .... 142
Members and officials of the Board of Directors of City Trusts . . 18
Contributors generally  94
Total  757
It is deemed inadvisable to print the amounts of the
individual contributions.
The odd sums are the contributions of several Sections
of the pupils in the College.
* Each " Section" counting as one only.

REPORT OF TREASURER. 159
The expenditures may be classified as follows :
I. Preliminary and to secure contributions :
For postage, printing, telegrams, etc  ^136.52
" prizes for models  50000

b.52
2. Statue and incidental expenses :
For statue, as per contract  $10,000.00
" copper tubes for records, etc  ir.oo
" signs  j'oo
" expenses of committee to inspect work . ... 13.50
$^0,033-50

3. Unveiling :
For publication work  S57.10
" rigging, music, horses, flags, etc  412.00
" printing, postage, telegrams, etc  362.82

31.92

Publication and distribution of book :
For photographs  $35.00
" stenographer  15.00
" printing and binding  650.00
" mailing and expressing, etc  100.00
" miscellaneous  .... 107.74
«S907.74

Recapitulation :
Receipts   $13,159.68
Expenditures   12,409.68
Balance, cash in bank ....  $750.00

When the book giving an account of the erection of
the Statue is printed, it is suggested that a circular be
issued advising of its distribution, and informing the sub
scribers in amounts of twenty dollars and over that the
above balance will be distributed to them pro rata if, by
a day to be named, they request such distribution, and
that any balance remaining after that date be paid to

l6o REPORT OF TREASURER.
the Girard College Alumni association, to be used in
paying the mortgage against their property at 1502
Poplar Street, Philadelphia.
Kindly appoint a committee to audit my accounts.
Louis Wagner,
Treasurer.
Philadelphia, July 30, 1897.
This is to certify that we have audited the account of
Louis Wagner as Treasurer of the Girard Statue Com
mittee, that we have carefully examined the list of con
tributors and the bills and vouchers, and that we find
the same correct.
Lawrence Farrell,
John Nolen,
Frederick Unrath,
Auditing Committee.

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS.

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS.

ALUMNI OF GIRARD COLLEGE.

Abel, Clarence B.
Adams, Edward T.
Adshead, Charles H.
Ahlum, Charles F.
Alexander, George.
Alexander, W. Wallace.
Anderson, Benjamin F.
Anderson, David C.
Anderson, Harry E.
Anflerson, Townsend C.
Anderson, William D.
Andress, Samuel C.
Andrews, Augustus R.
Angerman, Joseph E.
Arendt, Frank E.
Armstrong, William M.
Arnett, Lewis.
Ash, John T.
Atkinson, James F.
Bader, Charles E.
Baer, Rev. Winfield S.
Baird, Joseph R.
Baker, Blair H.
Baker, Enoch T.
Barber, Joseph R.
Barnes, C. Alonzo.
Barnes, H. Albert.
Barr, Hugh.
Barr, James.
Bartels, Harry W.
Barton, Robert M.
Bartram, George H.
Batdorf, Harry L.
Batezell, William H.
Bauer, Charles F.

Bayes, James K.
Beans, William T. S.
Beck, Anthony A.
Beckmann, Philip O.
Beers, Clarence B.
Bell, Frank F.
Bell, Robert M.
Bender, Victor H.
Benson, William R.
Bergmann, Frederick J.
Blascheck, Joseph.
Boas, Francis J.
Bogan, John E.
Bowen, John.
Bowen, Robert R.
Bowers, John E.
Bradley, Warren K.
Brehm, John P.
Brines, Frank R.
Brocklehurst, Harry.
Brown, Alfred.
Brown, Ernest H.
Brown, Samuel W.
Brown, Thomas.
Bryan, Frank C.
Bryans, William I.
Bubb, Henry D.
Burnett, James
Burtneit, Clement L.
Buschner, C. Robert.
Bussinger, Daniel W.
Calely, James P.
Callan, Samuel.
Campbell, Andrew.
Campbell, Charles L.

163

164

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS.

Campbell, George J.
Campbell, James W.
Campbell, John T.
Campbell, Joseph A.
Campbell, William H.
Carpenter, Leon T.
Carton, William A. F.
Cash (Alumnus).
Clarke, Charles H.
Cleary, Daniel J.
Cocking, Charles H.
Collins, John W.
Connor, John.
Craig, David S.
Craig, Henry M.
Craig, Horatio.
Crispen, Anson L.
Cunningham, Charles.
Cunningham, Ernest.
Cunningham, William L.
Dale, George W.
Daub, William S.
Davis, Harry H.
Davis, Hector.
Davis, John.
Davis, Samuel H.
Dawes, Charles H.
Deakyne, Irvin S.
Deal, Harry W.
Deal, Walter P.
DeBow, Theodore L.
DeBurlo, Frederick A.
Deery, John J.
Devine, James.
Devlin, John.
Dickes, Walter L.
Dilg, W. Lane.
Dimmick, Lewis J.
Dobbins, Rev. Frank S.
Donahue, Benjamin.
Donahue, Edward.
Donahue, Thomas H.
Donahue, William J.
Dougherty, Charles H.

Dougherty, William J.
Douglass, William E.
Dowdell, Thomas.
Downing, Robert M.
Downs, Alexander.
Duffy, James A.
Duffy, Rev. Joseph P.
Dunegan, James D.
Dunlap, Joseph.
Duren, William E.
Dutton, John M.
Edwards, Edwin A.
Eimerman, Charles H.
Elder, Alexander T.
Elder, John.
EUenberger, George W.
EUenberger, William M.
EUwanger, Walter H.
Erskine, Joseph B.
Erskine, Robert.
Evans, Charles.
Evans, William C.
Falbey, Frank W.
Farley, James L.
Farrell, Lawrence.
Fayant, Francis V.
Ferguson, Thomas W.
Fey, Lawrence C.
Fey, William W.
Fick, John N.
Unk, Daniel.
Firth, Joseph, Jr.
Fisher, John A.
Fleischman, Frederick W.
Flood, Thomas.
Ford, Edwin M.
Foreman, William H.
Forrest, Benjamin.
Forrest, Edwin.
Friend of the Alumni.
Friend of the Alumni.
Friend of the Alumni.
Fromuth, Frederick G.
Frowert, Charles G., M.D.

ALUMNI OF GIRARD COLLEGE.

165

Furey, Edward R.
Gartmeier, John G.
Gates, William W.
Gauff, John J. P.
Gibson, Irvin M.
Gingland, Richard B.
Githens, Harry W.
Githens, Sherwood.
Gold, Clifford.
Gold, Howard W.
Gold, Walter C.
Goldey, William A.
Gore, Daniel T.
Graeber, John A.
Graeser, Ferdinand H.
Graham, Samuel.
Gransback, Howard G.
Gray, John.
Green, David C.
Greiner, Rudolph W.
Gresmer, Howard A.
Griesemer, Egbert C.
Griffith, David M.
Griffith, Jethro J.
Griffith, Nathan M.
Griffith, Robert.
Grigg, Joseph B.
Gullman, Emil.
Haas, William H.
Habenstein, Henry E.
Hackett, Peter.
Hagan, Joseph M.
Hall, William W.
Hallman, H. Lewis.
Hamilton, Robert.
Hanefeld, Ernest T.
Hanmore, Frank.
Harman, Charles E.
Harmer, Albert B.
Harrigan, Benjamin F.
Ham'gan, Frank A.
Harrigan, John.
Haslam, John.
Hassard, James.

Hastings, Robert.
Heiland, Charles.
Heiland, Louis.
Henderson, Samuel J.
Henry, Samuel R.
Henry, William.
Kenwood, Abraham.
Henwood, Charles E.
Herman, Frank.
Herstine, David C.
Hess, Jacob D.
Heys, Edward M.
Hill, Charles H.
Hill, Frank.
Hilton, William W.
Hogan, John J.
Holmes, Paul.
Holmes, Samuel P.
Horn, Herman C.
Howland, Henry C.
Huhn, Henry.
Hunderfund, Edmund D.
Hunter, William H.
Huston, James.
Hutchinson, Joseph H.
Ibinson, James.
Ihrig, Frederick L.
Ingraham, William A.
Jackson, George W.
Jacobs, John.
Jaeckel, Herman A.
James, George.
Jeffries, William H.
Jenkins, Henry Z.
Johnson, Robert J.
Jones, A. Lincoln.
Jones, Samuel.
Kalck, Albert C.
Kalck, Nicholas A.
Kavanagh, Joseph F
Keck, Alexander J.
Keck, Emil G.
Keim, Samuel D.
Kelly, John H.

1 66

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS.

Kennedy, William.
Keown, Robert.
Kerlin, George H.
Kerlin, Samuel R.
Kern, George.
Keser, Harry J.
Keys, George W. F.
Kilpatrick, William H.
Kincaid, James.
Kindell, David S.
King, Thomas.
Kinsing, Lewis C.
Kleckner, John R.
Knowles, George W.
Knox, James C.
Koehl, George J.
Kofke, Christian.
Koppenhoefer, Louis.
Krumm, John.
Kyle, William.
Ladies Auxiliary Committee of
Girard College Alumni.
Lafferty, Henry B.
Lamport, Edward H.
Landis, Josiah H.
Lang, Gabriel.
Lang, Philip G.
Larkin, Francis E.
LaSerre, James.
Lawlor, Richard W.
Lawlor, William H.
Lawn, Thomas H.
Leber, Harry C.
Lemon, Albert.
Lennon, James E.
Levering, William C.
Light, H. Edgar.
Lindsay, David A.
Lindsay, Hugh.
Littleton, William E.
Long, Harry D.
Lonsdale, Thomas P.
Luft, Henry.
Luft, William F.

Lyons, Samuel.
Lyster, Frank.
McCadden, Edmund A.
McCallion, James.
McClay, Thomas C.
McCormick, Andrew M.
McCormick, William.
McCouch, John.
McCray, Matthew.
McCreary, James.
McCuUen, George E.
McCuUen, H. G.
McCutcheon, Joseph.
McDowell, Stewart H.
McFalls, Thomas.
McGill, Robert G.
McGown, Percy S.
McKanna, George.
Mclntyre, Charles.
McLachlan, William.
Macdonald, Andrew.
Mackey, C. Stanley.
Mackin, Francis F.
MacNeill, Fletcher W.
Malpass, Charles H.
Mayne, Edward J.
Mayne, Henry W.
Mergenthaler, John H.
Merrick, George B.
Mesch, Charles.
Meyers, George J.
Miller, William.
Mitchell, Isaac.
Momberger, Philip.
Morton, D. Walter.
Mouat, David C.
Mullin, William.
Murphy, Robert S.
Murphy, Thomas V.
Mutch, Samuel H.
Nagele, Frederick.
Nattress, William Elmer.
Naves, James A.
Neel, Robert.

ALUMNI OF GIRARD COLLEGE.

167

Neely, Frederick B.
Neison, John R.
Nelson, Philip S.
Nesbitt, Thomas H.
Newnam, W. Charles.
Nichols, Arthur.
Nichols, C. Elmer.
Nichols, Frank A.
Nickell, Robert J., D.D.S.
Nolen, John.
Norris, John.
Northime, Frank E.
Ogden, D. Nelson.
O'Rourke, Michael.
Orr, George.
Orr, Thomas.
Parke, Harry S.
Parkinson, Martin H.
Patterson, George R.
Patterson, Walter G.
Pedlow, Harry.
Peiffer, George A.
Peters, Charles G.
Pierce, Thomas.
Pollard, Frank S.
Porter, John G.
Powell, Alfred S.
Powell, E. Forrest.
Powell, Frederick H.
Price, Isaac.
Price, Robert S.
Prince, Charles M.
Prosser, Thomas B.
Quereau, Harry E.
Quinn, George J.
Radcliffe, John W.
Radford, Robert.
Raff, William B.
Rafferty, Alfred W.
Rafferty, William A.
Rainey, Henry.
Ranson, John J.
Ranch, Augustus W.
Reardon, George T.

Reilly, Andrew J.
Reilly, Bernard M.
Reinard, Frank E.
Reinard, William H.
Reinhardt, Harry B.
Richards, Edwin F.
Ridgway, Walter S.
Riedel, Francis M.
Riegel, WilUam C.
Riess, William G.
Rise, George D., Jr.
Ritter, George W.
Rivell, Willard B.
Roberts, George W.
Roberts, Henry H.
Rodenbaugh, Elmer E.
Rodgers, John J. S.
Ross, WilUam H.
Rowe, Charles E.
Rowe, James M.
Rowe, William M.
Russell, David W.
Ruth, Frank H.
Sager, John C.
Samuels, James D.
Samuels, William F.
Sattler, William.
Saunders, Robert R., M.D.
Saylor, Charles O.
Schaefer, Herman.
Schaller, George W.
Schaller, Otto C.
Schaufler, Augustus C.
Schmidt, George.
Schubert, John E.
Scott, John J.
Seidel, Josiah D.
Sellers, Walter R.
Seybert, Charles H.
Shields, Charles F.
Simpler, Claude A.
Simpson, James A.
Sloan, Joseph A.
Smith, Harry.

i68

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS.

Smith, Joseph B.
Smith, Walter C.
Smith, William A. F.
Snelbaker, Philip A.
Souwers, George F., M.D.
Spaeth, Augustus C.
Stapf, Frederick C.
Steel, Henry M.
Steele, Samuel J.
Steiger, Charles.
Stockton, John A.
Stott, David B.
Stowe, William C, Jr.
Stoy, Harry A.
Strassheim, Harry C.
Stringfield, Rodney T.
Sulger, James E.
Sutton, Joseph.
Sykes, George W.
Taggart, Robert.
Taylor, Henry H.
Tegtmeyer, Gustavus.
Tempest, George E.
Terhune, Charles E.
Terhune, Clarke S.
Terhune, Robert S.
Teufel, Herman A.
Thompson, Alexander.
Thompson, Charles B.
Thompson, Robert J.
Thompson, Samuel.
Thompson, William G.
Tindall, Joseph R.
Tindall, William.
Tobin, Thomas.
Tod, Alva, M.D.
Toner, Henry A.
Trappe, William H.
Tuttle, William N.
Twining, David R.
Unrath, Frederick.

VanFleet, Verner.
Viehmann, George L.
Wade, William H.
Wagner, Albert D.
Wagner, Benjamin I.
Wagner, Paul M.
Wakefield, George W.
Walker, William S.
Walton, Frank S.
Weil, Samuel R.
Weinert, Charles.
Weintraub, Morris.
Weiss, Harry.
Weiss, Oscar.
Welsh, Benjamin F.
Wike, Edgar L.
Wike, Milton R.
Willett, Calvin A.
Williams, Howard L.
Wilson, James.
Wilson, John B.
Wilson, William V.
Wiltbank, George B.
Windrim, James H.
Wistar, George H.
Wistar, Samuel.
Wolfe, Jonathan A.
Wood, Clarence M.
Wood, Thomas W.
Woolman, Howard B.
Work, A. Ashton.
Wright, Andrew.
Wright, Richard P.
Yeager, Joseph.
Yearsley, Warren D. C.
Young, Mahlon D.
Zehnder, Frederick.
Zeller, William H.
Zesinger, Frank O.
Ziegler, Stephen.
Zwimer, Frederick.

OFFICERS, TEACHERS, EMPLOYEES, PUPILS. I 69

OFFICERS, TEACHERS, EMPLOYEES, AND PUPILS OF
GIRARD COLLEGE.

A'Becket, Thomas.
Anthony, Samuel.
Baker, Clyde G.
Bangert, Henry.
Bartlett, Eva.
Battalion of Girard College Cadets.
Becker, George J.
Boas, Mrs. Fanny T.
Braddock, Harriet.
Breen, John W.
Brophy, Katharine H.
Building No. 7, Employees of.
Bullock, Margaretta P.
Burnett, Bessie.
Case, Adele C.
Cecil, William J.
Chew, Sallie M.
Coggeshall, Thellwell R.
Cox, Alice W.
Cummings, Robert K.
Danenhour, Frank H.
Dare, Lizzie C.
Davis, Charles E.
Doughty, Gillingham F.
Dudbridge, A. Davis.
Earl, Mrs. Hannah E.
Edwards, Capt. Frank A., U. S. A.
Ekings, Elizabeth.
Engineer's Dep't, Employees of.
Evans, Herbert L.
Fels, John G. F.
Fetterolf, Adam H., LL.D.
Forst, John R., M.D.
Franklin, Mary.
Covers, Mary L.
Grove, Anna B.
Guiteras, Calixto, C.E.
Harley, John K., M.E.
Hay, Henry Hanby.
Helwig, George E.

Henshen, Charles C.
Heritage, Marian E.
Herring, John.
Holden, Warren, A.M.
Hummel, Charles F.
Huster, George.
Jackson, Jane K.
Janney, William S., M.D.
Krickbaum, Mrs. Elizabeth.
Laundry, Employees of.
Lewis, Louis.
Litch, Wilbur F., D.D.S.
McBride, Mary.
McDermott, James B.
McDuffee, Elizabeth.
Matron's Department, Employees of.
Miller, Hessy R.
Miller, Virginia.
Moran, Mrs. Mary.
Morgan, Kate L.
Myer, Rudolph.
Noble, Mrs. Emma.
Overn, Charlotte E.
Payne, Emily E.
Peeples, Nellie.
Peoples, Jane.
Peoples, Mary.
Perrins, Thomas.
Price, George W.
Prime, Frederick, Ph.D.
Pupils of Section A.
" Section B.
" Section D.
" Section E.
" Section F.
" Section I.
" Section K.
" Section L.
" Section M.
" Section N.

170

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS.

Pupils of Section 14.
" Section 15.
" Section 16.
" Section 17.
" Section 18.
" Section 19.
" Section 20.
" Section 21.
" Section 22.
" Section 23.
" Section 7-A.
" Section 7-B.
" Section 7-C.
" Section 7-D.
" Section 7-E.
" Section 7-F.
" Section 7-G.
" Section 7-H.
Ragotzky, Charlotte A.
Rainier, Mrs. Annie H.
Rausch, Ida M.
Redamar, Christian.
Reese, Mrs. C.
Robb, Mary E.
Roberts, Eva.
Ross, The Misses.
Rupp, George P.
Sheldon, Winthrop D., A.M.
Shenk, A. Tillie.
Shoe Department, Employees of.
Shreve, Anna M.

Sdliman, Phoebe.
Simon, Mme. S. Anna.
Sithens, Richard B.
Smith, Lilian T.
Smith, W. Atlee.
Spiese, Mrs. Margaret A.
Stone, Mrs. Edith W.
Stubblebine, Raymond F.
Taylor, Herbert.
Thomas, N. Wiley, Ph.D.
Thompson, Mrs. Elizabeth B.
Thornily, Elizabeth.
Town, Emily P.
Tucker, Virginia B.
Uprichard, John.
Walker, Isaac P.
Walker, James N., A.M.
Ware, Mary D.
Whitby, Sara H.
White, Mary.
Whitecar, Caroline M.
Williamson, Charles S.
Willis, C. Addison, M.E.
Wilson, Annie J.
Wilson, Helen A.
Wilson, James.
Winn, Thomas.
Wolf, Louise St. C.
Wood, Townsend R.
Wurzer, Gustavus.
Wylie, Margaret.

MEMBERS AND OFFICIALS OF THE BOARD OF
DIRECTORS OF CITY TRUSTS.

Biddle, Alexander.
Buckley, Edward S.
Campbell, John Marie.
Caven, Joseph L.
Comegys, Benjamin B.
Converse, John H.

Cuming, John K.
Elkins, William L.
Sanders, Dallas.
Stuart, Edwin S.
Wagner, Louis.
Boyd, John S.

CONTRIBUTORS GENERALLY.

171

Brewster, F. Carroll.
Highley, Frank M.
Kaercher, Samuel H.

Kirkpatrick, George E.
Thompson, Heber S.
Wagner, Emil C.

CONTRIBUTORS GENERALLY.

Achuff, William H. H.
Armstrong, James.
Babcock & Wilcox Co.
Bank of North America, John H.
Michener, President.
Beaver, James A.
Bechtel, Theodore H.
Berger, Stephen C.
Brooks, Lieut. Edwards C, U.S.A.
Brush Electric Light Co.
Burnham, Williams & Co.
Byrne, Mrs. James J.
Clyde, William P. & Co.
Dando, Mrs. Albert.
Disston, Hamilton.
Ditlman, H. F.
Dobbins, Murrell.
Doyle & Doak.
Drexel, George W. C.
Duffy, Mrs. Joseph P.
Ehret, Michael, Jr.
Elkins, George W.
Elkins, William L., Jr.
Elverson, James.
Filbert, Ludwig S., M.D.
Finance Co. of Penna.
Fischer, William G.
Gill, William B.
Girard, Mrs. Ellen E.
Girard, Fabricius.
Girard, Linda M.
Girard Life Insurance, Annuity &
Trust Co.
Girard National Bank.
Gray, William & Sons.

Haag, John.
Henry, Charles W.
Houston, Edwin J., Ph.D.
Howell, Charles H.
Humphreys, Edward J.
Hunsworth, Mrs. Caroline G.
Ingram, Henry A.
Ingram, William H.
Kendrick, George W., Jr.
King, William & Co.
Kisterbock, John.
Knickerbocker Ice Co.
Lawrence, Charles.
Lehigh Valley Coal Co.
Lippincott Co., J. B.
McBane, Wallace A.
McCambridge & Co., Ltd.
McClees, L. B. & Co.
McManus, Patricius.
Mack, John M.
Muckle, M. R., Jr. & Co.
Mundell, John & Co.
Neff, John A.
Parke, William E., M.D.
Payne, George F. & Co.
Philadelphia, City of.
Philadelphia Demokrat.
Porter, Charles A.
Poth, Frederick A.
Reed's, Jacob, Sons.
Rey, Marie V.
Rhodes, William.
Ridey, John.
Riebenack, Max.
Roesch, Chas. & Sons.

172

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS.

Rorke, Allen B.
Rosengarten, Joseph G.
Sailer & Stevenson.
Seeds, Jacob J.
Shoemaker, Thomas B.
Singerly, William M.
Snellenburg, N. & Co.
Snyder, William.
Stokley, William S.
Strawbridge, Justus C.
Swain, Charles M.
Third National Bank.
Thomas, George C.

Thomson, Frank.
Wagner & Taylor.
Walker, Pancoast.
Wanamaker, John.
Wanamaker & Brown.
Warburton, Barclay H.
Widener, George D.
Widener, P. A. B.
William Penn Coal Co.
Windrim, John T.
Wisler, I. H. & Son.
Wright, Tyndale & VanRoden.
Zesinger, Harry R.

YALE UNIVERSITY

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