Famous Givers and Their Gifts

Who shall estimate the power and value of such a gift to the people as that of John Lowell, Jr.? The Hon. Edward Everett said truly, "It will be, from generation to generation, a perennial source of public good, – a dispensation of sound science, of useful knowledge, of truth in its most important associations with the destiny of man. These are blessings which cannot die. They will abide when the sands of the desert shall have covered what they have hitherto spared of the Egyptian temples; and they will render the name of Lowell in all-wise and moral estimation more truly illustrious than that of any Pharaoh engraven on their walls."

The gift of John Lowell, Jr., has resulted in other good work besides the public lectures. In 1850 a free drawing-school was established in Marlboro Chapel, and continued successfully for twenty-nine years, till the building was taken for business purposes. The pupils were required to draw from real objects only, through the whole course. In 1872 the Lowell School of Practical Design, for the purpose of promoting Industrial Art in the United States, was established, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology assumed the responsibility of conducting it. The Lowell Institute bears the expenses of the school, and tuition is free to all pupils.

There is a drawing-room and a weaving-room, though applicants must be able to draw from nature before they enter. In the weaving-room are two fancy chain-looms for dress-goods, three fancy chain-looms for woollen cassimeres, one gingham loom, and one Jacquard loom. Samples of brocaded silk, ribbons, alpacas, and fancy woollen goods are constantly provided for the school from Paris and elsewhere.

The course of study requires three years; and students are taught the art of designing, and making patterns from prints, ginghams, delaines, silks, laces, paper-hangings, carpets, oilcloths, etc. They can also weave their designs into actual fabrics of commercial sizes of every variety of material. The school has proved a most helpful and beneficent institution. It is an inspiration to visit it, and see the happy and earnest faces of the young workers, fitting themselves for useful positions in life.

The Lowell Institute has been fortunate in its management. Mr. John Amory Lowell was the able trustee for more than forty years; and the present trustee, Mr. Augustus Lowell, like his father, has the great work much at heart. Dr. Benjamin E. Cotting, the curator from the formation of the Institute, a period of more than half a century, has won universal esteem for his ability, as also for his extreme courtesy and kindness.

John Lowell, Jr., humanly speaking, died before his lifework was scarcely begun. The studious, modest boy, the thorough, conscientious man, planning a journey to Africa and India, not for pleasure merely, but for helpfulness to science and humanity, died just as he entered the long sought-for land. A man of warm affections, he went out from a broken home to die among strangers.

He was so careful of his moments that, says Mr. Everett, "he spared no time for the frivolous pleasures of youth; less, perhaps, than his health required for its innocent relaxations, and for exercise." Whether or not he realized that the time was short, he accomplished more in his brief thirty-seven years than many men in fourscore and ten. It would have been easy to spend two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in houses and lands, in fine equipage and social festivities; but Mr. Lowell had a higher purpose in life.

After five weeks of illness, thousands of miles from all who were dear to him, on the ruins of Thebes, in an Arab village built on the remains of an ancient palace, Mr. Lowell penned these words: "As the most certain and the most important part of true philosophy appears to me to be that which shows the connection between God's revelations and the knowledge of good and evil implanted by him in our nature, I wish a course of lectures to be given on natural religion, showing its conformity to that of our Saviour.

"For the more perfect demonstration of the truth of those moral and religious precepts, by which alone, as I believe, men can be secure of happiness in this world and that to come, I wish a course of lectures to be delivered on the historical and internal evidences in favor of Christianity. I wish all disputed points of faith and ceremony to be avoided, and the attention of the lecturers to be directed to the moral doctrines of the Gospel, stating their opinion, if they will, but not engaging in controversy, even on the subject of the penalty for disobedience. As the prosperity of my native land, New England, which is sterile and unproductive, must depend hereafter, as it has heretofore depended, first on the moral qualities, and second on the intelligence and information of its inhabitants, I am desirous of trying to contribute towards this second object also."

The friend of the people, Mr. Lowell desired that they should learn from the greatest minds of the age without expense to themselves. It should be an absolutely free gift.

The words from the Theban ruins have had their ever broadening influence through half a century. What shall be the result for good many centuries from now? Tens of thousands of fortunes have been and will be spent for self, and the names of the owners will be forgotten. John Lowell, Jr., did not live for himself, and his name will be remembered.

Others in this country have adopted somewhat Mr. Lowell's plan of giving. The Hon. Oakes Ames, the great shovel manufacturer, member of Congress for ten years, and builder of the Union Pacific Railroad, left at his death, May 8, 1873, a fund of fifty thousand dollars "for the benefit of the school children of North Easton, Mass." The income is thirty-five hundred dollars a year, part of which is used in furnishing magazines to children – each family having children in the schools is supplied with some magazine; part for an industrial school where they are taught the use of tools; and part for free lectures yearly to the school children, adults also having the benefit of them. Thirty or more lectures are given each winter upon interesting and profitable subjects by able lecturers.

Some of the subjects already discussed are as follows: The Great Yellowstone Park, A Journey among the Planets, The Chemistry of a Match, Paris, its Gardens and Palaces, A Basket of Charcoal, Tobacco and Liquors, Battle of Gettysburg, The Story of the Jeannette, Palestine, Electricity, Picturesque Mexico, The Sponge and Starfish, Sweden, Physiology, History of a Steam-Engine, Heroes and Historic Places of the Revolution, The Four Napoleons, The World's Fair, The Civil War, and others.

What better way to spend an evening than in listening to such lectures? What better way to use one's money than in laying the foundation of intelligent and good citizenship in childhood and youth?

The press of North Easton says, "The influence and educational power of such a series of lectures and course of instruction in a community cannot be measured or properly gauged. From these lectures a stream of knowledge has gone out which, we believe, will bear fruit in the future for the good of the community. Of the many good things which have come from the liberality of Mr. Ames, this, we believe, has been the most potent for good of any."

Judge White of Lawrence, Mass., left at his death a tract of land in the hands of three trustees, which they were to sell, and use the income to provide a course of not less than six lectures yearly, especially to the industrial classes. The subjects were to be along the line of good morals, industry, economy, the fruits of sin and of virtue. The White fund amounts to about one hundred thousand dollars.

Mrs. Mary Hemenway of Boston, who died March 6, 1894, will always be remembered for her good works, not the least of which are the yearly courses of free lectures for young people at the Old South Church. When the meeting-house where Benjamin Franklin was baptized, where the town meeting was held after the Boston Massacre in 1770, and just before the tea was thrown overboard in 1773, and which the British troops used for a riding-school in 1775, – when this historic place was in danger of being torn down because business interests seemed to demand the location, Mrs. Hemenway, with other Boston women, came forward in 1876 to save it. She once said to Mr. Larkin Dunton, head master of the Boston Normal School, "I have just given a hundred thousand dollars to save the Old South; yet I care nothing for the church on the corner lot. But, if I live, such teaching shall be done in that old building, and such an influence shall go out from it, as shall make the children of future generations love their country so tenderly that there can never be another civil war in this country."

Mrs. Hemenway was patriotic. When asked why she gave one hundred thousand dollars to Tileston Normal School in Wilmington, N.C., – her maiden name was Tileston, – and thus provide for schools in the South, she replied, "When my country called for her sons to defend the flag, I had none to give. Mine was but a lad of twelve. I gave my money as a thank-offering that I was not called to suffer as other mothers who gave their sons and lost them. I gave it that the children of this generation might be taught to love the flag their fathers tore down."

In December, 1878, Miss C. Alice Baker began at the Old South Church a series of talks to children on New England history, between eleven and twelve o'clock on Saturdays, which she called, "The Children's Hour." From the relics on the floor and in the gallery, telling of Colonial times, she riveted their attention, thus showing to the historical societies of this country how easily they might interest and profit the children of our public schools, if these were allowed to visit museums in small companies with suitable leaders.

From this year, 1878, the excellent work has been carried on. Every year George Washington's birthday is appropriately celebrated at the Old South Meeting-house, with speeches and singing of national patriotic airs by the children of the public schools. In 1879 Mr. John Fiske, the noted historical writer, gave a course of lectures on Saturday mornings upon The Discovery and Colonization of America. These were followed in succeeding years by his lectures on The American Revolution, and others that are now published in book form. These were more especially for the young, but adults seemed just as eager to hear them as young persons.

Regular courses of free lectures for young people were established in the summer of 1883, more especially for those who did not leave the city during the long summer vacations. The lectures are usually given on Wednesday afternoons in July and August. A central topic is chosen for the season, such as Early Massachusetts History, The War for the Union, The War for Independence, The Birth of the Nation, The American Indians, etc.; and different persons take part in the course.

With each lecture a leaflet of four or eight pages is given to those who attend, and these leaflets can be bound at the end of the season for a small sum. "These are made up, for the most part, from original papers treated in the lectures," says Mr. Edwin D. Mead who prepares them, "in the hope to make the men and the public life of the periods more clear and real." These leaflets are very valuable, the subjects being, "The Voyages to Vinland, from the Saga of Eric the Red," "Marco Polo's Account of Japan and Java," "The Death of De Soto from the Narrative of a Gentleman of Elvas," etc. They are furnished to the schools at the bare cost of paper and printing. Mr. Mead, the scholarly author, and editor of the New England Magazine, has been untiring in the Old South work, and has been the means of several other cities adopting like methods for the study of early history, especially by young people.

Every year since 1881 four prizes, two of forty dollars, and two of twenty-five dollars each, have been offered to high school pupils soon to graduate, and also to those recently graduated, for the best essays on assigned topics of American history. Those who compete and do not win a prize receive a present of valuable books in recognition of their effort. From the first, Mrs. Hemenway was the enthusiastic friend and promoter of the Old South work. She spent five thousand a year, for many years, in carrying it forward, and left provision for its continuation at her death. It is not too much to say that these free lectures have stimulated the study of our early history all over the country, and made us more earnest lovers of our flag and of our nation. The world has little respect for a "man without a country."

"Breathes there the man with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said,
'This is my own, my native land!'
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned
As home his footsteps he hath turned
From wandering on a foreign strand?"

Mrs. Hemenway did not cease her good work with her free lectures for young people. It is scarcely easier to stop in an upward career than in a downward. When the heart and hand are once opened to the world's needs, they can nevermore be closed.

Mrs. Hemenway, practical with all her wealth, believed that everybody should know how to work, and thus not only be placed above want, but dignify labor. She said, "In my youth, girls in the best families were accustomed to participate in many of the household affairs. Some occasionally assisted in other homes. As for myself, I read not many books. They were not so numerous as now. I was reared principally on household duties, the Bible, and Shakespeare."

Mrs. Hemenway began by establishing kitchen gardens in Boston, opened on Saturdays. I remember going to one of them at the North End, in 1881, through the invitation of Mrs. Hemenway's able assistant, Miss Amy Morris Homans. In a large, plain room of the "Mission" I found twenty-four bright little girls seated at two long tables. They were eager, interesting children, but most had on torn and soiled dresses and poor shoes.

In front of each stood a tiny box, used as a table, on which were four plates, each a little over an inch wide; four knives, each three inches long, and forks to correspond; goblets, and cups and saucers of the same diminutive sizes.

At a signal from the piano, the girls began to set the little tables properly. First the knives and forks were put in their places, then the very small napkins, and then the goblets. In front of the "lady of the house" were set the cups and saucers, spoon-holder, water-pitcher, and coffee-pot.

Then they listened to a useful and pleasant talk from the leader; and when the order was given to clear the tables, twenty-four pairs of little hands put the pewter dishes, made to imitate silver, into a pitcher, and the other things into dishpans, about four or five inches wide, singing a song to the music of the piano as they washed the dishes. These children also learned to sweep and dust, make beds, and perform other household duties. Each pupil was given a complete set of new clothes by Mrs. Hemenway.

Many persons had petitioned to have sewing taught in the public schools of Boston, as in London; but there was opposition, and but little was accomplished. Mrs. Hemenway started sewing-schools, obtained capable teachers, and in time sewing became a regular part of the public-school work, with a department of sewing in the Boston Normal School; so that hereafter the teacher will be as able in her department as another in mathematics. Drafting, cutting, and fitting have been added in many schools, so that thousands of women will be able to save expense in their homes through the skill of their own hands.

Mrs. Hemenway knew that in many homes food is poorly cooked, and health is thereby impaired. Mr. Henry C. Hardon of Boston tells of this conversation between two teachers: "Name some one thing that would enable your boys to achieve more, and build up the school." – "A plate of good soup and a thick slice of bread after recess," was the reply. "I could get twice the work before twelve. They want new blood."

Mrs. Hemenway started cooking-schools in Boston, which she called school kitchens; and when it was found to be difficult to secure suitable teachers, she established and supported a normal school of cooking. Boston, seeing the need of proper teachers in its future work in the schools, has provided a department of cooking in the city Normal School.

Mrs. Hemenway believed in strong bodies, aided to become such by physical training. She offered to the School Committee of Boston to provide for the instruction of a hundred teachers in the Swedish system, on condition that they be allowed to use the exercises in their classes in case they chose to do so. The result proved successful, and now over sixty thousand in the public schools take the Swedish exercises daily.

Mrs. Hemenway established the Boston Normal School of Gymnastics, from which teachers have gone to Radcliffe College, Cambridge; Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania; Denver, Colorado; Drexel Institute, Philadelphia; their average salary being slightly less than one thousand dollars, the highest salary reaching eighteen hundred dollars. Boston has now made the teaching of gymnastics a part of its normal-school work, so that every graduate goes out prepared to direct the work in the school. Mrs. Hemenway gave generously to aid the Boston Teachers' Mutual Benefit Association; for she said, "Nothing is too good for the Boston teachers." She was a busy woman, with no time for fashionable life, though she welcomed to her elegant home all who had any helpful work to do in the world. She used her wealth and her social position to help humanity. She died leaving her impress on a great city and State, and through that upon the nation.

New York State and City are now carrying out an admirable plan of free lectures for the people. The State appropriates twenty-five thousand dollars annually that free lectures may be given "in natural history, geography, and kindred subjects by means of pictorial representation and lectures, to the free common schools of each city and village of the State that has, or may have, a superintendent of free common schools." These illustrated lectures may also be given "to artisans, mechanics, and other citizens."

This has grown largely out of the excellent work done by Professor Albert S. Bickmore of the American Museum of Natural History, Eighth Avenue and Seventy-seventh Street, Central Park, New York. In 1869, when the Museum was founded, the teachers of the public schools were required to give object-lessons on animals, plants, human anatomy, and physiology, and came to the Museum to the curator of the department of ethnology, Professor Bickmore, for assistance. His lectures, given on Saturday forenoons, illustrated by the stereopticon, were upon the body, – the muscular system, nervous system, etc.; the mineral kingdom, – granite, marble, coal, petroleum, iron, etc.; the vegetable kingdom, – evergreens, oaks, elms, etc.; the animal kingdom, – the sea, corals, oysters, butterflies, bees, ants, etc.; physical geography, – the Mississippi Valley, Yellowstone National Park, Mexico, Egypt, Greece, Italy, West Indies, etc.; zoölogy, – fishes, reptiles, and birds, the whale, dogs, seals, lions, monkeys, etc.

These lectures became so popular and helpful that the trustees of the Museum hired Chickering Hall for some of the courses, which were attended by over thirteen hundred teachers each week. Professor Bickmore also gives free illustrated lectures to the people on the afternoons of legal holidays at the Museum, under the auspices of the State Department of Public Instruction.

New York State has done a thing which might well be copied in other States. Each normal school of the State, and each city and village superintendent of schools, may be provided with a stereopticon, all needed lantern slides, and the printed lectures of Professor Bickmore, for use before the schools. In this way children have object-lessons which they never forget.

The Museum, in co-operation with the Board of Education of the city of New York, is providing free lectures for the people at the Museum on Saturday evenings, by various lecturers. The Board, under the direction of Dr. Henry M. Leipziger, is doing good work in its free illustrated lectures for the people in many portions of the city. These are given in the evenings, and often at the grammar-school buildings, a good use to which to put them. Such subjects are chosen as The Navy in the Civil War, The Progress of the Telegraph, Life in the Arctic Regions, Emergencies and How to Meet Them (by some physician), Iron and Steel Ship-building, The Care of the Eyes and Teeth, Burns and Scotland, Andrew Jackson, etc. Rich and poor are alike welcome to the lectures, and all classes are present.

A city or State that does such work for the people will reap a hundred-fold in coming generations.

STEPHEN GIRARD

AND HIS COLLEGE FOR ORPHANS

Near the city of Bordeaux, France, on May 20, 1750, the eldest son of Pierre Girard and his wife, Anne Marie Lafargue, was born. The family were well-to-do; and Pierre was knighted by Louis XV. for bravery on board the squadron at Brest, in 1744, when France and England were at war. The king gave Pierre Girard his own sword, which Pierre at his death ordered to be placed in his coffin, and it was buried with him. Although the Girard family were devoted to the sea, Pierre wished to have his boys become professional men; and this might have been the case with the eldest son, Stephen, had not an accident changed his life.

When the boy was eight years old, his right eye was destroyed. Some wet oyster-shells were thrown upon a bonfire, and the heat breaking the shells, a ragged piece flew into the eye. To make the calamity worse, his playmates ridiculed his appearance with one eye closed; and he became sensitive, and disinclined to play with any one save his brother Jean.

He was a grave and dignified lad, inclined to be domineering, and of a quick temper. His mother tried to teach him self-control, and had she lived, would doubtless have softened his nature; but a second mother coming into the home, who had several children of her own, the effect upon Stephen was disastrous. She seems not to have understood his nature; and when he rebelled, the father sided with the new love, and bade his son submit, or find a home as best he could.

"I will leave your house," replied the passionate boy, hurt in feelings as well as angered. "Give me a venture on any ship that sails from Bordeaux, and I will go at once, where you shall never see me again."