The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1865-04-08
S|Mistellalteons.
Stephen Girard,

Within the memory ofmany persons still
alive, "old Girard," as the famous Banker
was usually styled, used to walk, in his
swift, awkward way, the streets of the low
er part of Philadelphia Though every
thing apout him indicated that he had very
little in common with his fellow citizens,
he was the marked man of the city for more
than a generation. His aspect was rather
insignificant and quite unprepossessing.-
His dress was old-fashioned and shabby !;
and he wore the pig-tail, the white neck
cloth, the wide-brimmed hat, and the large
skirted coat of the last century. He was
blind in one eye; the other, though his
burly eyebrow gave some character to his
countenance, was curiously devoid Of express
sion. He had also the absent look Of q
man who either had no thoughts or was
absorbed in thought; and he shuffled along
on his enormous feet, looking neither TO the
right nor to the left There was also cer-
tain look of the old mariner about him.
though he had been fifty years an inhabi-
tant Of the town. When he rode it was in
the painest, least comfortable gig in Phi
ladelphia, drawn by an ancient and ILL
formed horse, driven always by the mas
ter's own hand at good pace. He chose
still to live where he had lived for fifty
years, in Water street, close to the wharves,
in small and inconvenient house, darken-
ed by tall store-houses, amid the hustle,
the noise, and the odors of commerce.
His sole pleasure was to visit, once q
day, little farm which he possessed few
miles out of town, where he was wont to
take off his coat, roll up his shirt-sleeves,
and personally labor in the field and in the
barn, boeing corn, pruning trees, tossing,
hay, and not disdaining even to assist 10
butchering the animals which he raised for
market 1t was no mere ornamental or ex-
perimental farm. He made it pay. All Of
its produce was carefully, nay scrupulously
husbanded, sold, recorded, and accounted
for. lie loved his grapes, his plums, his
pigs, and especially his rare breed Of cana
ry birds; but the people OF Philadelphia
had the full benefit OF their increase-at
the highest market rates. Many feared,
many served, but none loved this singular
and lonely old man. If there was among
the very few who habitually conversed with
him, one who understood and esteemed
him, there was but one and he was man
of such abounding charity, that like Uncle
Toby, if he heard that the Devil was hope
lessly damned, would have said, IL am sorry
for it," Never was there q person more
destitute than Girard of the qualities which
win the affection of others. His temper
was violent, his presence forbidding, his
usual manner ungracious, his will infiexlble,
his heart untender, his Imagination dead.
He was odious to many Of his fellow-citi-
zens, who considered him the hardest and
meanest Of men. He had lived among
fha,,. f0r hoIf tn hrf LA vuo m
q hladelphian in 1880 than in 1916. He
still spoke with French accent, and ac-
companied his words with French shrug
and French gesticulations. Surrounded
with Christian churches which he had help.
ed to build, he remained a sturdy unbeliev-
er, and possessed the complete works OF on
ly one man, Voltaire.
q He made it point of duty to labor on
Sunday, as a good example to others. He
made no secret Of the fact that he consid-
cred the idleness of Sunday an injury to
the people, moral and economical. He
would have opened his bank on Sunday if
any one would have come to it. For his
part, he required no rest and would have
none. He never travelled. He never at
tended public assemblies or amusements.
He had no affections to crafty, no friends
tovisit, no curiosity to appease, no tastes
to indulge. What he once said Of himself
appeard to be true, that he rose in the
morning with but single object, and that
was to labor so hard all day as to be able
to sleep all night. The world was abso-
lutely nothing to him but working place.
He scorned and secuted the idea that old
men should cease to labor, and should spend
the evening Of their days in tranquility
"No" he would say, ''laber is the price of
life, its happiness, its everything to rest
is to rust every man should labor to the
last hour of his ability. Such was Ste-
phen Girard,