Mr. Pratt did not cease working when his great Institute was fairly started. He built in Greenpoint, Long Island, a large apartment building called the "Astral," five stories high, of brick and stone, with 116 suites of rooms, each suite capable of accommodating from three to six persons. The building cost $300,000, and is rented to workingmen and their families, the income to be used in helping to maintain the Institute. A public library was opened in the Astral, with the thought at first of using it only for the people in the building; but it was soon opened to all the inhabitants of Greenpoint, and has been most heartily appreciated and used. Cut in stone over the fireplace in the reading-room of the Astral are the words, "Waste neither time nor money." When Mr. Pratt made his first address to the students of Pratt Institute on Founder's Day, Oct. 2, 1888, his birthday, taking the Bible from the desk, he said, before reading it and offering prayer, "Whatever I have done, whatever I hope to do, I have done trusting in the Power from above." Before he built the Institute many persons asked him to use his wealth in other ways; some urged a Theological School, others a Medical School, but his interest in the workingman and the home led him to found the Institute. He rejoiced in the work and its outlook for the future. He said, "I am so grateful, so grateful that the Almighty has inclined my heart to do this thing." On the second and third Founder's Days, Mr. Pratt spoke with hope and the deepest interest in the work of the Institute. He had been asked often what he had spent for the work, and had prepared a statement at considerable cost of time, but with characteristic modesty he could never bring himself to make it public. "I have asked myself over and over again what good could result from any statement we could make of the amount of money we have spent. The quality and amount of service rendered by the Institute is the only fair estimate of its real value." In closing his address Mr. Pratt said, "To my sons and co-trustees, who will have this work to carry on when I am gone, I wish to say, 'The world will overestimate your ability, and will underestimate the value of your work; will be exacting of every promise made or implied; will be critical of your failings; will often misjudge your motives, and hold you to strict account for all your doings. Many pupils will make demands, and be forgetful of your service to them. Ingratitude will often be your reward. When the day is dark, and full of discouragement and difficulty, you will need to look on the other side of the picture, which you will find full of hope and gladness.'"