Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1849-09-17

On4that one-eyed old man, who devoted
the immense hoard Of his wealth TO the edu-
cation and nourishment of the Outcast Or
phan Poor; that large class of wretches,
who are flung upon the horrible mercies of
the Great City, with no eye to watch over
them but God -,
Or, upon that Corporation that DELAYED
the building Of the College for sixteen years
after his death, thus leaving one generation
pen as they nigh, into. yir-;
tlae it sagGaancsd, bat more certa s,ly into:
robbers and tnurderers, candidates for the
Jail and the Gibbet? That Corporation,
which expended nearly Two millions of dol
lars in building marble tomb, which new
er can be applied to the purposes Of a school
house; two million dollars for carved pillars
and grave vaults, all finished in pure Gre
clan style, while Generation were left to
starye and steal and die? That Corpora alton
which having grown cd in outrages upon
the will of the dead man-squandered his
immense wealth in miserable investments
and direct fraud-is now hesitating ere it
takes the last plunge of infamy, and intro
duces sectarian priests and sectarian creeds
into the walls of the Orphans Colege!
Just look at the case, my friends, and ash,
with me, whether this City has not been ter
ribly paid Cor its outiases upon the dead
its cowardly fraud upon the Orphan poor
by some dozen bloody riots in which homes
and halls aud churches were laid in ashes,
and the cutters flooded with human blacd?
You must axe care of the outcasts of the
Great City, or they will take care Of you
lormust do something for them or they
will do something for your city, your homes
YOUR t1lroats. You music either build school
houses, declare the rights of the la aborer sa
cred from the lash Of the monopolist, or YOU
will have to swell your Jails, and cover
your streets with rich harvest Of black glib
| bets.
Here we have this Stephen Girard-a
plain man, with brown wrlnkled face
lighted by one eye, an unpretending man
ner, a French accent-going along The
streets Of the Great City, looking upon its
! luxury and its starvation, its fine apparel
and its rags, its horrible contrasts of enor-
NOUS wealth and starving wretchedness.
The Face shines into that unpublished d
Frenchman's heart. He is not learned in
creeds - does not care much about Genev a
or Rome or Westminster, but cares for
something bigher-Man. This rude man
| lighted by the Face, which murmurs forev-
er Good tidings for the sPoor. = resolves 4
Tdevote his enormous wealth., acquired by tlit
toll of half a century, to those Children O
Jesus, the outcast orphan poer, who, in the
large city, have but one path before them
ri IN et,I ,f bad
ton, hunger and cold, and crime, with &
black future in the distance "a Gibbc1
looming over Eelon's grave.
This resolve is not made matter of os-
tentation by Stephen Girard. 1t is in hi.
heart Itis the soul of his life. 1t brines
tears to his eyes, when, secluded with some
chosen friend-like the virtuous w iliam j.
Duane-he speaks of the Orphans, of his
plans for their redemption. He dies, leav-
ing his will, in which his plans are SO plain.
ly marked out, that no one but Scoundrel
or a Fool could mistake them; those plans
ending in .SchooEhouse, large and COM
fortable, for the orphan poor; and two mill
ion dollars, and more to build the school.
! house, and feed and cothe and educate the
Orphans of all time. -s. r. b. E.
| Would it be believed, that in Christ n
City, where Churches and Preachers are as
plentiful as creeds in a Theological conven-
ton, this mans will was trampled upon, its
plainest provisions violated; nearly two
millions squandefed in building Sepulchre
which bids fair to stand for thousand years,
at once Monument over the Orphans who
have died in the street and rotted in the Jail,
and an eternal Marble Image of the Large
City's shame.
Can this be? 0, Serenely Awful Face,
that wept such bitter tears for the Poor, in
Gethsemane, in the ages long a go, now gaze
upon the wrongs in this age, in this city,
and weep again! So thoroughly corrupt. o,
Blessed Redeemer, is the Christianity OF the
age, that the old mans wish to follow your
xampIe-sPreach good tidings to the Poor
has Been made crime.
Yes, renowned Senator, before a sol:
emn Court of Justice, declares with piteous
utterance, and tears that were recompensed
with fees as unctuous,f that the Idea OF
Stephen Girard-to feed, clothe, educate,
the Orphan Poor, without sectarian bigotry
was opposed to the very spirit of Christian
ity! And the Ministers of Jesus applaud
the Senator, who of course must have been
sober moral man, living in tempera nee.
faith and love; and beg him to print hrs
words in book, so that it may be known
that the Infide Stephen Girard was rebak'
ed by the Christian Daniel Webster!
Let us now leave the College and tol'
low the Face into other scenes of the Great
City.
One night, stood in crowded churcl
, and saw three missionaries consecrated fol
+ great work. They were about to eros:
the globe and preach the gospel to the poo
of Hindostan. To aid them in this work
r some thousands of dollars were shoWeree
upon the altar, nay, beautiful women tor
. the bracelets from their wrists, the jewel
: from their bosoms, and said, Take thes
and carry the Gospel to the Perishing Hea
o. them
Within a stones throw Of that church a
the same hour, occurred a scene ofa spme
: what different character. Behold it.
5 heaving the church, we will enter the nal
- row alley which branches from the mai
u street. In this gloomy avenue; the onl
= = light that shines is from the dingy. window
The case Of the relatives of Girard VS.. til
IS Corporation of Philadelphia, before the supren
Court of Washington,