The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1865-03-24
Life Of Stephen Girard..


One need not court riches for the
happiness they bring, after reading
the very interesting sketch of John
Jacob Aston in Ha'per's Monthly for
February. The following paragraphs
about his great rival, Stephen Girard,
of Philadelphia, will not suggest any,
exalted views of the enjoyment of men
of wealth:
His sole pleasure was to visit once
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, hoeing corn,
pruning trees, tossing hay, and not dis
daining even to assist in butchering
the animals which he raised for mar
ket. 1t was no mere ornamental or
experimental farm. He made it pay.
All of it's produce was carefully. nay,
scrupulously husbanded, sold recorded
and accounted for. He loved his
grapes, his plums, his pigs, and espe-
cially his rare breed of canary-birds;
but the people of Philadelphia had the
full benefit Of their increase at tha
highest market rates Many feared,
many served, but none loved this sim
gular and lonely old man. IF there
vas among the very few who habitual-
ly conversed with him one who under
stood and esteemed him, there was
but one; and he was a nnen OF such
Astounding charity. that, like Uncle
Toby, if he had heard that the devil
was hopelessly damned. he would
have said, II am sorry for It." Never
was there 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 viii in
flexible, his heart untender, his imag-
nation dead. He was odious to very
many of his fellow-citizens, who con-
sidered him the hardest and meanest
of men. He had lived among them
for half century, but he was no more
q Philadelphia in 1880 than in 1776.
He still spoke with French accent.
and accompanied his words with
French shrug and French gesticu-
lation. Surrounded with Christian
churches he had helped to build, he
remained a sturdy unbeliever, and pos
sessed the complete work of only one
man, Voltaire. fa.
He made it a point of duty to labor
on Sunday, as good example to 9TH
ers he made no secret OF tho fact
that he considered the idleness of Sun
day an injury to the people--moral and
economical. He would have opened
his bank on Sundays if any one would
have came to it. For his part he re-
quired no rest and would have none.
he never travelled. He never attend
ed public assemblies or amusements.
He had no affections to crafty, no
friends to visit, no curiosity to ap.
pease, no tastes to indulge. What he
once said of himself appeared to be
true, that he rose in the morning with
but q single object, and that was to Ia
Dor SO hard all day as to be able TO
sleep all night. The world was abso-
lutely nothing to him but o working
place. He scorned and secuted the
idea that old men should cease to la
Dor. and should spend the evening OF
their days in tranquility. NO." no
would say. "labor 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 Stephen Girard, the richest man
who ever lived in Pennsylvania.