Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1878-01-15
MIR. George Peabody.
A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THIS NUM-
FICENT BENEFACTOR.

A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THIS NUM- +!
FICENT BENEFACTOR.
The South owes debt Of gratitude to
Mr.. George Peabody for his princely
donation in aid of public education in
the Southern States. His munifcent
benefactions were not confined to one
section or to one country. he,following
brief outline of his eminently useful and
successful life. for which we are indebt-
ed to the National Journal of Educa-
tion," will be read with interest:
"He was born of poor parentage, at
South Danvers (now Peabody, Mass,
Feb. Is, 1875, and received in the schools
OF his native town scanty education.
His best inheritance was the patrimOny
of health, and good home-training in
the elements of industry. economy, and
self dependence. When in his teens he
was a mercantile clerk at Thetford, VT,
and NeWburyport, Mass, and at 10 years
became a partner in business at George
town, d. c., with Elisha Riggs; remov-
ed to Baltimore in 1875; soon afterward
opened branch houses in New York and
Philadelphia; made several voyages to
Europe and in 1929, at the age of "a
years, became the leading partner of
this wealthy firm. In 1888 Mr.. Peabody
removed to London, and in l843 estab-
lished the great banking house whose
credit is honored in every city of the
world. Here his princely fortune was
largely secured, and here, also, began
that series of magnificent public gifts
which have made his name so illustri-
L.al1 h &c
memory lastingly among men.
In 1852 he aided Mr.. Grinnell in fit
ting out the Arctic Expedition under DR..
Kane, in search of Sir John franklin
and the North Pole. In the same year
he founded Peabody Institute, in his
native town, the endowment Of which
he finally made s2O0,0OO. He returned
to America in 1859, and on a visit to
Baltimore, the city of his earlier success
es, he gave $1,000 to found an insti-
tute of science, literature, and the fine
arts. On his return to London, his
heart was touched with the condition of
the poor, and he made the magniicent
donation of 81, 500, 900 for lodging hous
es for the poor OF the city. In 1866, on
another visit to the United States, he
gave $150,000 to establish at Harvard
College museum and professorship OF
American Archaeology, and an equal
sum for the endowment ola department
of Physical Science at Yale. 1t was
during this visit. just at the close of tn e
rebellion, that he visited the South, and
saw the condition of the people, impov-
erished by long contest, and unable
to enter upon the work of education
without material aid. The condition
of the colored race especially awakened
his sympathies, and he saw that the
South could rise only as it bore upon its
uplifting arm the interests of the two
races. With the heart of a great phi
lanthropist, aud the foresight of pro-
found philosopher and statesman, he
laid the foundation of the
PEABODY EDUCATIONAL FUND,
by the magnificent donation of 81, l00,-
900 for the aid of public education in
the South. The Emancipation Procla
nation of Mr.. Lincoln had broken the
chains of slavery. This Southern Ed
ucational Fund" was the act of no less
noble philanthrophy and Christian
charity, to enancipate from the bonds
of ignorance a people who must struggle
with sublime fOrtitude to become free
men in the spirit as well as by the letter
of the law. The history of this fund is
well known to many of our readers, and
its benefits have been Of untold value to
the children and youth of the South,
while its mission of good has but just
begun. Under the wise management of
Barnas Sears, Ii. D., Of Staunton,
Virginia, formerly secretary of the
Board of Education of Massachusetts,
and later the distingu shed president of
Brown University, the proceeds of the
Fund have been made to serve a double
purpose. by helping the needy andl by
encouraging the needy to help them
selves. In recognition of his munifi
cence in England and America, Queen
Victoria offered him Baronetcy, which
he declined, and presented him with
her portrait, the most distinguished per-
sonal favor she could confer The Cor
pnration of London gave him the free
dom of the city, and statue by w.
W. Story was unveiled in the Royal
Exchange by the Prince of Wales in
1862 while Mr. Peabody was in Amer
Ca On this, his last visit to his native
land. he completed his splendid dona-
lions by raising the endowment of the
institute at Baltimore to S1,000,000; by
creating the Peabody Museum at Salem,
Mass. with a fund of 10000; and by
gifts of 900 to Washington College,
Va; $4,000 for Peabody Institute at
North Danvers $50, 900 to Phillips Exc
ter Academy, Andover S25 900 to Ken
yon College, o. $4,000 to the Maryl land
Histor cal Society; besides comforting
valuable presents upon other localities
where he had once resided. In addition
to these. he had endowed in 1868 an art
school at Rome i'll Italy.
Mr.. Peabody seems to have been his
own executor, for he died in London,
Nov. 4, 1869, only a month after his re-
turn from the United States. The Brit
ish government, in honor of his memo
ry, paid funeral tributes in Westminster
Abbey, and commissioned a British
man-of- war to bring his body to A.meri-
ca for burial. He was entombed with
fitting services in his native town, now
called Peabody, and 8 grateful people
recognized their henefactor by various
demonstrations of sorrow in all parts OF
cur land. Two nations wept at the
tomb of the greatest benefactor of two
continents. To such man, whose ex-
ample is a living inspiration to gener-
GUS and noble Christian endeavor, the
educators of America and of the world
should come to learn devotion and sac
rifice. More than sic millions of dollars
were put into the treasure-house of edu-
cational profit. to return after mauv
days, gaining thirty, sixty, and an hun.
!, bred fold. The East the North, aud
the West, send joyful greetings to the
South, that in George Peabody such
timely helper was raised in Gods great
providence for their deliverance. Mas
sachusetts, which gave himbirth, CRATE
fully recognizes the gifts of his genius
and labors as the wealth of the whole