Quaint corners in Philadelphia, with one hundred and seventy-four illustrations . ^ XDER the roof of an oki nousein AVater Street, one Decem-ber (lay, over fifty \ears ago,a Avill was read, wliicli madethe City of Philadi-lphia one/ of the richest legatees on fortune, as it then stood,amounted to nearly eight millionsof dollars, but it included i)roi)-erty which has grown so valuablethat, great as are the expenses which have developedunder the will, they do not consume even the interest, aportion of which is yearly added to the capital. Thewill provided for a plain and comfortable h
Quaint corners in Philadelphia, with one hundred and seventy-four illustrations . ^ XDER the roof of an oki nousein AVater Street, one Decem-ber (lay, over fifty \ears ago,a Avill was read, wliicli madethe City of Philadi-lphia one/ of the richest legatees on fortune, as it then stood,amounted to nearly eight millionsof dollars, but it included i)roi)-erty which has grown so valuablethat, great as are the expenses which have developedunder the will, they do not consume even the interest, aportion of which is yearly added to the capital. Thewill provided for a plain and comfortable home whichshould hold iit least one hundred orphan boys, and givethem a support and education. The trustees insteadbuilt a marble palace, supported by pillars each of whichcost thirteen thousand dollars. Everything else was inproportion, and magnificence was the only object heUlin view. Instead of a hundred ])oys, Girard Collegelast year coiitaiMcd one thousand one hundred andfour. The expenditures for the college the same year472. STATUE OF STEPHEN GIRARD—AT THE COLLEGE DOORWAY. STEPHEN GIBARD. 475 amounted to nearly five hundred thousand five hundred thousand were expended on othertrusts, and yet there was a balance of over twenty thou-sand left unused. This is a handsome showing for one man, and he aforeigner, who had to borrow five dollars to bring himinto the city ! And when Stephen Girard left thisoreat fortune he did not leave it to perpetuate his name,or build a great monument to his memory. Each ofthe carefully-devised clauses showed that he meant it tobe of honest, enduring use. He wanted fatherless boyseducated as working men ; he wanted the river frontimproved, and the city made safer and more healthful;the hospitals were to have larger means of helping thesick and insane, and nurses were to be educated. Noneof these objects were subjects of speculation with Girard;he had a personal interest in each one. He was him-self an uneducated boy, and knew at w
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbarberedwinatlee18511, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890
