Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1894-02-03
one OF the most interesting institutions Of

one OF the most interesting institutions of
the city, is daily visited by many people
from abroad.
There is waiting room opening on one
hand into the general office and on the
other into the private Office. There was an
entire absence of formality in Mr.. Childs'
method of seeing and being seen-a delight
full freedom from red tape that put every one
at ease. The architecture and decorations
of the room itself are in the Queen Anne
style. On one side of the room is a screen
of 10 painted glass panels. One contains
the portraits of Guttenburg, Faust and
Schaeffer, inventors of the art of printing
from type. The other panels contain fig
ures emblematic of the art of printing. One
exhibits Mr.. Childs' motto, "Nihil Sine
Lahore and on four others in old English
is painted the commandment, Let there
be light, and there was light"
MT. ChiIds Life.
George William ChAds was born in Bal
timore in 1929 The practical part of his
makeup was born with him. When he was
~ years of age, he spent summer vaCa-
ton as errRnd boy in a book store at sal
airy of 81 Il week and enjoyed it. Almost
anything might he expected of boy of -
who enjoyed running errands, and Mr..
Childs has not disappointed the expecta-
ton. Soon after he removed to Philadel-
phia and entered a store, doubtless as Il
mixture of clerk and errand boy.
He would get up very early in the morn
ing, go down to the store and wash the
pavement and put things in order before
breakfast, and in the winter he would
make the fire and sweep out the store.
In the same spirit, when books were
bought at night at auction, he would early
the newt lOOrDjDO for them with q
wheelbarrow. In this way he worked till
he became of age, when he went into bust
ness with Mr.. Peterson under the firm
name of r. f. Peterson & Co. The only
interval in his business career was Is
months in the United States navy when he
was Is. He liked running errands, but he
couldn't abide the navy In 1864 Mr.. Childs
purchased The Public Ledger. Mr. Childs
had good business Judgment, but it re-
quired something more than judgment to
pay $50, 000 for a piece Of property losing
that amount annually; it required pluck.
The owner at the end of the first week
doubled the price and advanced the adver-
Using rate. There was considerable fall
ing off of advertisements, but the paper
had become medium of communication
between employers and employed, between
buyers and sellers, landlords and tenants,
the first loss of patronage was soon regain
ed, and from then till now The Ledger has
grown in prosperity. 1t paid Mr. Childs
at the time of his death more than 81 900 a
day clear profit.
His Charities.
Mr.. Childs made a great many sin me-
moriam' presents. A few years ago STRAIT
ford-upon-A was clothed in holiday at
tire while its people were inaugurating a
fountain which the Philadelphia million
aire had presented to the birthplace of
Shakespeare. a poem by Oliver Wendell
Holmes was read and the queen telegraph
ed through her private secretary, Her
majesty is much gratified by your kind and
loyal expressions and is pleased to hear of
the handsome gift of Mr. Childs to STRAIT
ford"
A year later ArchdeacOn Farrar preached
a sermon on the occasion of the unwilling
of a memorial window placed in St. Mar
garet's church, Westminster, London, by
Mr.. Childs in memory of John Milton.
Besides these gifts Mr.. Childs has con-