Lives of Poor Boys Who Became FamousBolton, Sarah Knowles
History
Lives of Poor Boys Who Became Famous
Bolton, Sarah Knowles
Biography
One could linger here for days, but we must see the lovely country-seat
called "Wootton," some distance out from the city. The house is in Queen
Anne style, surrounded by velvety lawns, a wealth of evergreen and
exquisite plants, brought over from South America and Africa. The farm
adjoining is a delight to see. Here is the dairy built of white
flintstone, while the milkroom has stained glass windows, as though it
were a chapel. The beautiful grounds are open every Thursday to
visitors.
Here have been entertained the Duke and Duchess of Buckingham, the Duke
of Sutherland, Lord Rosse, Lord Dufferin, Sir Stafford Northcote,
Herbert Spencer, John Waller, M.P., of the "London Times," Dean Stanley,
Thomas Hughes, Dickens, Grant, Evarts; indeed, the famous of two
hemispheres.
With all this elegance, befitting royalty, Mr. Childs has been a
constant and generous giver. For his own city he was one of the foremost
to secure Fairmount Park, and helped originate the Zoological Gardens,
the Pennsylvania Museum, and the School of Industrial Arts. He gave ten
thousand dollars for a Centennial Exposition. He has been one of General
Grant's most generous helpers; yet while doing for the great, he does
not forget the unknown. He gives free excursions to poor children, a
dinner annually to the newsboys, and aids hundreds who are in need of an
education.
He has placed a stained glass window in Westminster Abbey, in
commemoration of George Herbert and William Cowper; given largely to a
memorial window for Thomas Moore at Bronham, England; for a stone to
mark Leigh Hunt's resting-place in Kensal Green; and toward a monument
for Poe.
Mr. Childs has come to eminence by energy, integrity, and true faith in
himself. He has had a noble ambition, and has worked towards it. He has
proved to all other American boys that worth and honest dealing will win
success, in a greater or less degree. That well-known scientist, Prof.
Joseph Henry, of the Smithsonian Institute, said, "Mr. Childs is a
wonderful man. His ability to apply the power of money in advancing the
well-being of his fellow-men is unrivalled. He is naturally kind and
sympathetic, and these generous feelings are exalted, not depressed, by
his success in accumulating a fortune.... Like man in the classification
of animals, he forms a genus in himself. He stands alone; there is not
another in the wide world like him."
* * * * *
Mr. Childs died at 3.01 A.M. February 3, 1894 from the effects of a
stroke of paralysis sustained at the Ledger office on January 18. He was
nearly sixty-five years of age. He was buried on February 6, in the
Drexel Mausoleum in Woodland Cemetery beside his life long friend.
[Illustration: DWIGHT L. MOODY]
DWIGHT L. MOODY.
"There's no chance to get in there. There's six thousand persons inside,
and two thousand outside."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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