The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1869-11-19
Il UMBER Al.
GEORGE PEABODY.

] the eminent ana beloved benetactor of
two hemispheres. He was born in 1895
at Danvers, Mass, whose institute and
! library he has so munificently endowed.
and from whose people in his declining
| years he has received more than one
tribute of honor and gratitude. He was
a grOcer's clerk at Danvers from IL to
10, when, after spending year with his
grandfather at Thetford. in Vermont. he
went TO Newburyport as clerk for his
elder brother, a dry goods merchant.
Next we learn of him in Georgetown,
ID. e., whittier he went with his uncle
after the burning of his brothers store,
and there, conducting the business OF
| his house, although a minor his mer-
camille genius developed itself But,
fearing that if he continued business in
his own name he would be held respon-
sible for the debts of relatives which he
had never contracted, he withdrew in
1914 to become the partner of Mr.. Eli
sha Riggs, in the wholesale dry-goods
trade, that gentleman supplying the
capital, the management of which he
contided to the young merchant. At
Baltimore next year the new house
fourished in a large and growing BUSH
ness, insomuch that in 1922 it could af-
ford to establish branches in New York
and Philadelphia. From such begin
nings Mr.. Peabody derived the oppor-
tunity to make personal acquaintance
with Europe in the purchase of goods.
and several times on his transatlantic
Journeys was intrusted with affairs of
moment by the State of MARYLAND. Bv
the retirement of Mr.. Riggs in 1929 he
became the head of his house, and in
1887 settled in London, four years after
ward withdrawing from the firm of
Peabody, Riggs & Co., and establishing
himself as banker. 1t was then that
through his efforts faith in American
credit, greatly damaged in the crisis of
1887, was resuscitated and maintained,
and that the State of Maryland was so
we'll favored in transactions for which
he refused any compensation whatever.
His house in London became the head
quarters of Americanism in news and
intelligence and acquaintance, and in
further proof of his undiminished love
of home and fatheFland he sent over
the water in 1852 toast for the bicen-
tennial anniversary Of his native town
of DanVers: Education debt from
the present to future generations :" and
to pay his share of the debt incIosed a
check for $4,000 to be disbursed in the
foundation Of an institute, lyceum and
i library, subsequently endowed to the
extent of hundreds of thousands of dol
lars, including a gift for branch libra
ry in North Danvers. His philanthropy
has been exercised in numerous ms
tances. To the first Grinnell expedition
to the North Pole he gave $4,000; and
in 1857 the magnificent sum of 100000
was given as the first installment Of
S5OO,OOO for the establishment of an in
stitute to promote literature, science.
and the arts. His later bounties. of
100000 to the cause of Southern edu-
cation, increased after the manner of
the Baltimore and Danvers endow-
ments, are recent and fresh in gratitude.
But the scheme of philanthropy,
which, from its novelty and extent, will
peculiarly distinguish Mr. Peabody's
princely benevolence, is his gift to the
London poor. a sum of E350.000, or
81, 100000, was invested by him in the
experiment of alleviating the manifold
distresses of class of people reared
amid all the discomforts, temptations,
and squalors of that world of a city, the
British metropolis. Mr.. Peabody's OBJ
lject, though stated by him as the anne
Iteration of the condition and augmen-
tation of the comforts of the poor gen.
orally, was practically the helping of
the industrious poor. The most rea-
sonable way of benefitting these would
be, he thought, to provide at very mod
crate rent decent homes for them, and
so secure for the worthy unfortunate in
London's deluge of humanity an ark of
safety decent enough to entertain home
affections. In that great city, as here,
but under less hopeful circumstances,
the children of the poor grow up amid
: surroundings of painful squalor, and in
habitations where all the virtues are in
danger of being excluded with fresh air
and cleanliness. Mr.. Peabody thought
it no blessing to overweight those whom
he benefited with sense of their de-
pendence, and argued to himself that
the good done would be all the greater
by making the poor free agents in it.
He would not maintain paupers, for
Ethat was the work of society by other
means ; he wished TO help the poor to
help themselves. Consequently, be
thought it wise to charge rent below
the average, but to give far better ac-
commodations than ever private land
lords could offer. lie might also have
reckoned upon creating a desire to build
better kind of dwellings than have
usually been erected for tenants
Four great buildings, known by the
name of Peabody, have been erected in
four of the poorest quarters of London.
They seemed not to have quite fulfilled
their builders's design. In the Shad-
well quarter it was said that two rooms
in private house could be had for as
, little as those in the Peabody building.
} The former were dirty, the latter clean !;
but the tenants of MIR. Peabody were
required to keep their premises Aean,
and did not like to do it,
They had to scrub rooms and passages
and places in common, and grew to
think that this benevolence of compuI-
sorry cleanliness was a tax upon them,
and ali unaccustomed kind of rent-pay-
ment. Those best satisfied were, of
course, most industrious, and it was
said, too, that many came in slatterns
who remained clean. In short, Mr..
, Peabody's houses, though in some re-
spects houses of reform, have had the
difficulties to contend against which all
enterprises encounter having for their
object not seeming beneyolence, but
an actual benefit of the poor His ten
ant scheme had undoubted advantages.
No landlord came to hustle off tenant
In arrears, though a lazy occupant had
to quit in due time. Perhaps a we'll
meaning man long out of work had to
leave, and a problem was thus turned
back upon the hands of the benefactor
In fact, Mr.. Peabody's great experiment
served to show that philanthropy is not
a sentiment TO be made fruitful by
squanderers, but q science for wise men.
1t is said that better buildings than those
now erected are wanted at cheaper
rates, and that though the fund was say
ingly directed, that the buildings have
not fulfilled their projectors design.
But by this time it is probable that the
agents of the great well-doer have i'm
proved upon their beginnings. a part
of the fund, it should be said, is devoted
to the relief of tenants in deserving ms
4 tances.
Mr.. Peabody made his last visit to
the land of his birth on June 9, and on
the Sd of july last made his additional
gift to the cause of education in the
South. His many benefactions won for