The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1894-02-09
Sketch Of His Life.

TeOrHc WIllam CnlldS was Dorm III BaItt-
more, Nd. on May II, 1929. His parents!
were poor, so poor that when a tiny lad no
was forced to shift for himself. Before no
was fourteen he served n year in humblo'
capacity in tho United States Navy,
and then went to Philadelphia He.
was nearly penniless, and know but one fam,
lily in that city. Within few days after his!
arrival this family removed, and thus no was
lefs entirely alone and friendiess. He OBJ.
tanned employment at once, however, as
salary OF 80. 1t was not long before,
no was clerk and right hand man at,
tending tho evening auctions and rapidly
becoming familiar with books and their,
value. Nevertheless his salary remained very
small At the end of throe years service it
only amounted to about S6 week. From.
this small sum, however, eked out with for
tunate ventures In book buying OH his own.
account, the lad managed to save money and.
adopted rs his early motto, ''Industry, tenn
perance and frugality."
capital TO enter into business on his own ac-,
count, and set up modest book store In the,
Ledger Building, then at the corner OF Third
| and Chestnut streets. The venture was n,
very uncertain one, for his capital was very!
| small. Nevertheless, no began to make
money almost from the start.
In 1S49 he entered the publishing firm OF,
II. Z. Peterson & Co., the firm being shortly
afterward changed TO Childs Peterson
| Robert Evans Peterson, WHO later be-
came Dir. Childss father-in-law, wss,j
like Mr.. Childs, bookseller. In 1850
| Mr.. Peterson retired from the firm. and Mr.
Childs entered into partnership with j. ~
| Idppincott & Co., abusiness connection which,
| continued about year. Mr.. Childs then
| commenced business for himself. In 1868 he
| purchased the Publishers Circular, an ad- !
| vertising sheet then published in New York !
| He remodeled and edited this paper, and
| issued the first number under the title of the
| American Pu5iisherS Circular and Library
| Gazette on May 1, 1863. The Circular was
| great success from the start, and continued
| under the charge OF Mr.. Childs until 1869.
when the increasing cares of the publication
otthe Public Ledger forced him TO part with 1t.
Mr. Childs had now become a man of note.
| His name afterward became almost as welli
| known In England as In this country. Hel
| had taken u place In this country as Publlol
benefactor because of his large liberality I'M
gifts TO worthy institutions and persons.
| and every year gave away mncn OF the,
| large income derived from his news
| paper. In England his liberality took
| the form Of doing honor to the poets Georgel
| Herbert and William Cowper by memofiall
window in Westminster Abbey; OF paying
| homage to Milton by one in ST. Margaret 81
| Westminster, AMI by erecting fountain to
| Shakespeare in Stratford- -on-Avon. He also
| contributed to u monument to Leigh Hunt In,
| Kensal Green Cemetery, and memorial win
| dow to Moore in the church at Browham. In
this country he built u monument to Edgar
Allan Poe and had given orders to provide
one for Richard A. Proctor, the astronomer.
Among the latest of his pnblc gifts was the
erection Of the Prayer Book Gross" near
San Francisco, to mark the spot where Sir
| Francis Drake landed and whore the re-
ligious services in the English language were
first held on the western shores OF America.
But his lberality in this country took
chiefly the form Of benevolcnce, not merely
in the shape OF charity. He paid his printers
| moro than union rates. AMI his employees
generally shared in II sense in the proAts OF
his paper, which was estimateda at $3.50. 900 to
$500, 900 a year. All who worked for him re-
ceived liberal salaries he paid the doctors
bills Of the sick, pensoned the superanuated,
| and often buried the dead.
In 1863, NJ. Childs aud mir. A. J. Drexel
jointly gave $40, 900 tothe International Typo
graphical Union, which was the nucleus ofthe
fund out Of which the home for aged and in
valid printers at Colorado Springs was finally
erected in 1892. To Increase he fund print ers
east ofthe Mississippi each set n thousand
ems for its benefit on Mr. Childs's following
birthdays, and those west OF the great river
did the same thing OH Mr.. Drexel's, Sept en-
ber 13. The list Of Mr.. Childs's benevolent
deeds is long one. and the amount of hi:
benefactons was immense. In addition tc
| giving to public and private charities IN
Philadelphia and elsewhere. he educ ted q
least 500 young women. No Deserving
stranger ever appealed to him III win fo
| aid.