The Cecil Whig., 1878-03-16

those qualities which fit one for forming
the characters of youth ?"
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! BROADBRIM'S NEW YORK LETTER.
THE STEWART HOME FOR THE FRIENDLGss
| GIRLs-A MAGNIFICENT CHARITY-How
THE POOR ARE BENEFITED THE vIR-
TUES OF oLEoMARGARINE--T LUCK
OF DEFAULTING CAsuIER-GENERAL
NEWS, &C.
Though speak with the tongues Of
men and of angels, and have not charity,
then am become as the sounding brass
or as tinklng cymbal"
Al one O'Clock on the tenth day of April,
1876, an old man lay struggling with the
angel of death IN the most costly marble
palace in New York. The wealth of
from every nation on the face of the earth.
Precious fabrics from Indian and
Persian looms hung aronud the couch
Of the dying man, bought with the un-
If lands where blood and brain are but
minor factors in the terrible problem of
life. No child was there to soothe his
dying moments. nor scarcely a greving
friend. One old woman. who for years
had been denied his sympathy. silently
watched the struggle which in a few mo-
ments would leave her the richest widow
in the world. The struggle was a pro
tracted one; hut death, which comes sooner
or Letter to all, had stricken down this help
less. aged sufferer, and the owner of un-
counted millions, the clock struck one,
lay a lump of llteess clay. Some who
we're near him when he was dyirg, heard
him exclaim " Too late. too late. roo Late
What did he mean by too late - This
mans life was success He had accumu-
lated between fifty aud hundred millions
and the equator had been spanned by him.
in his lustful pursuit for gold. The world
was his market, and men and women in all
cimes were his slaves and paid him con-
: )
ern life. there is no such instance of after
and gigantic failure-no alallel of such
moral bankruptcy to be found in the his
tory of men.
He piled up gold mountain high. He
erected mighty buildings, and filled them
with the riches of every land. Thousands
toied for him from the rising OF the sun to
the going down Of the same. And yet.
dying. he lett no memory benind him by
which men should call him blessed. When
the life current grew weaker, and hope
yielded to despair, and the certainty
Of approaching death was pressing upon
him. he conceived the idea of erecting a
memorial which should pass his name
with beni<ons TO posteriiy, when his gold
had turned to dross aud his body had
crumbled into dust.
On the corner of Thirty second street,
lust " here the tunnel of the Fourlh-aveuue
road burrows under the stately mansion of
Murray Hill, there arose palace of iron,
massive and Strong, known as the Home
for FriendlesS G!fls. For time there was
wondeIous activity, aud people looked on
with painful anxiety, waiting for It's com
pleton. Then every hing stopped For
years, all was silent. Dust accumulated
IN the magnificent hal lis and corridors, and
the bat and the owl found quarters i'll the
splendid rooms that might have been the
abode OF princes. The great millionaire
was too busy gathering III his wonderous
dccumulatious, to pause for the pastime of
charity. And 81 he went on, till stricken
down on that April day; and then it was
too late. He died without accomplishing
one thing which should link his name with
the blessing of charity.
Too late to complete his life work himself,
he chose an almoner for his bounty who
should carry on that work to completion
which he had left uutin lshed, and who
would vet redeem the life that he had made
wreck. His friend, the Hon. Henry
Hilton, was selected, aud to him, although
already u wealthy man, he presented the
princely gift of a million. In all of this
great city, there is probably not such an
other man. man with nerves of steel,
with will of iron, and heart of stone. The
poor and the helpless never approach him,
aud if he ever was guilty of charity, he
has kept it SO secret that his left hand has
never become cognzant of the reprehen-
sible weakness Of the right. But even
Judge Hilton astonlshed his friends with
the intelligence that the home was to be
finished; the accumulated cobwebs of years
were swept away; and once more it looked
as if We were going to rejoice in the in
auguration of one of the grandest charities
IN America.
1t is rumored now that the home will
soon be opened, and that poor and friend
less girls of New York can secure quarters
under its magnificent roof from eight to
twenty dollars week.
Think of the thrill of gratitude that
must have stirred the hearts of the wretch
ed toilers in the Bowery, and Beekman
street and Vesey street, when they heard
the joyful intelligence headquarters could be
obtained for such as they, in the Stewart
Home at twenty dollars week, how they
must have blessed the memory of the dead
millionaire whose costlymausoleum is rising
to beautify Garden City, where cross and
crozier, censer aud bell shall celebrate his
virtues to generations yet unborn.
the slave whose manscles have been
broken in the South, the humble scholar
Of New England, and the toiling artisan