The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-08-03
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1894.
TIVE DEATH or John uRIaa.

JoHN GRIoe, ono Of our ablest and most
respected citizens, died yesterday at his resi-
dence In Walnut street His death was sud-
oen, and the fact win be only the more painful
10 his many immediate friends, because Il was
unexpected
1t Is too late now to write the biography Of
Mr. GRIea. His character and career have
been repeatedly sketched as afIordlng exam
pies well worth the study and imitation of all
young men starting life with no capital but
their own natural talents, and a purpose 70
succeed by industry, integrity, and selfre-
lance. There are probably very few of hi
contemporaries who are not familiar with all
the leading events of his remarkable progress
tom The obScurity and want Of a poor orphan
boy 10 the honorable distinction which he
won by diligence, Sobriety, honesty, and intel
Lgence, as one Of the most successful men Of
business which our country has known.
BY his own efforts alone he raised himsel
1Om poverty TO wealth, and yet, to his credit
be It said, bis wonderful prosperity aud great
riches never changed the native modesty and
simplicity of his nature. No one meeting him
In private OF In public, In business or social
Intercourse, would ever have supposed JOHN
GRIGe to be millionaire. His manners were
those Of plain, retiring, unpretending Ciu-
Deo; and we know that he never 80 much
valued the large fortune he had accumulated,
as the sterling principles Of industry and pro-
bity by which he had achieved his own sue
cess In life, and which he believed would
enable almost any young man. 10 via his way
20 honorable independence,
Neither did his ,taifuence contract in tho
slightest degreefhe natural generosity Cf his
heart. AsJhe enlarged his means, he did not
marrow, his sympathes and affections. The
woTid/Rill never know the great amount of
good he did In th, way Of private charity, be-
cause the ffee and lavish hand that was so
oftea extended to relieve individual distress,
and assist the meritorious bat unlortuna,e,
elways, with true Christian and gentlemanly
dellcacy, screened its largesse from public
view. We doubt If there ever live in this
city another man who bestowed as much in
the way Of secret beneyolence, with as little
general reputation for 1t, as JOHN GBIaG.
What be gave privately he gave to please
himself and benefit Its recipients, without the
slightest aspiration to be recognized as a
Charitable man. He found a certain luxury
In doing good, and he was 80 constituted that
he preferred to be bountitul by stealth, and
would have 'blushed to find it fame"
But he was more Shan charitable in private
way. The genial soul that sympathized with
personal suffering was animated by the largest
public spirit 1t embraced with equal llbe-
rality the largest as we'll as the smallest
eIo fka arl r..
refused 10 aid any public enterprise that
merited the appreciation of his sound business
eagacity; and most all of the important inter
nal improvements of this country, including
the Pennsylvania Central Railroad, are in
debted, In no small measure, to his wise and
munihcent patronage.
But he was as reserved and unobtrusive In
his public as In his private deeds of generosity.
Who ever found him parading his name as the
frieRd Of any railway or other enterprise, or
seeking special notoriety as pioneer in any
great movement for the advantage of the city
or the StateS He was ambitious of no such
distinction, but gave his money for the promo
uon.of every really deserving cause, without
stopping TO ask how much popularity or social
influence 1t might secure to JOHN GBIGG.
But we have no eulogy to write of a man
whose modest but honorable life is his best
monument and who would not, if he were
here, thank us for praising any virtue he pos
sessed or any good act he ever did. In his
death, this city has lost most worthy and
useful citizen-one of its oldest and most OK
enpary merchants; and now that he is gone,
us to be hoped not only that his memory
may be duly cherished among us, but that
the Just principles which guided him through
Out his long and illustrous career as a mer-
Giant and man may serve to raise up other
men 6t To fill the place his decease has
Vscated.