great lawyer, before and after he was a member of Lincoln's Cabinet. He believed the talents of Sickles were too signal not to be made use of during the war, and when the war was ended and Grant was President, he strongly urged that the accomplished New-Yorker should be called into the diplomatic service. When, therefore, General Sickles was appointed American Minister to Spain, in 1869, Mr. Stanton was much gratified. The ex-Secretary was at home at his residence, on K Street, Washington, D. C., when General Sickles and myself called on him. He was reclining on his bed as we entered his chamber, but he rose and greeted us heartily. It was evident that he was doomed. Worn out in one of the severest struggles that ever taxed human energy, and wasted in the weary conflict with Andrew Johnson, all that was left was the clear and magnetic brain. Walter Scott in his magnificent "Talisman" describes Richard of the Lion Heart sick in his tent among the Crusaders, and that splendid portraiture might have been applied to the invalid Secretary, with his feeble frame, and eager, nervous interest in passing events. Nothing escaped him. He was en rapport with the whole machinery of affairs, full of solicitude for Grant, and earnest for exact justice to all sections. "I wanted to see you both," he said; "you, General, as the new Minister to Spain, and you, Forney, as my steady newspaper friend. We must make no mistake about Spain. She is one of our oldest and ablest allies, and behaved splendidly to us during the rebellion, refusing to open her ports to the Confederate cruisers, and never plotting through her Minister here, like England, against our cause. The Spaniards are a proud, peculiar race, and we can not do any good for liberty in Cuba by hasty action. Their prejudices must be respected; their interests must not be invaded; their traditions must be remembered. Things are moving in the right way at Madrid. I know this, gentlemen. There is a new Spain, and you will both live to see a solid Spanish Republic there if we can only restrain

our politicians about Cuba. That pear is ripening, and will fall as soon as the days of the kings are ended in Spain." There was much more, equally emphatic and pointed. The wise, cautious, yet fearless conduct of General Sickles at the Spanish court greatly aided the Republican cause, and contributed much to the preservation of peaceful relations with the United States, and I have no doubt that this sagacious and prophetic counsel of Mr. Stanton was always present in the memory of the American Minister at Madrid.

[February 16, 1873.]

C.

ON January 15, 1871, the first of these anecdotes, of which this is the last, appeared in the Washington Sunday Morning Chronicle. Written to rescue some of my experiences of men and things, they grew upon my hands until I found myself pledged to extend them to a hundred. As I review the curious medley, they resemble a picture-gallery crowded with familiar faces, many of them, in fact most of them, dead; and, alas! not a few within the little more than two years during which these hasty sketches have appeared.

Following out the plan of delineating the best traits of my subjects, just as the painter conceals the blemishes even as he achieves a faithful portrait, I have also attempted to discover the objective point of every life, especially if this could be set out as an example to the young. What better theme could I desire, then, than George W. Childs, the proprietor of The Public Ledger, who will not be forty-four till May 12, 1873? He has accomplished as much in the last quarter of a century, and has done as much for his fellow-beings, as any character within my recollection. In his fifteenth year he came to Philadelphia, like

Benjamin Franklin, without a friend or a dollar. His only wealth was industry, perseverance, and a stout heart, and with these resistless weapons he fought his way through inconceivable obstacles, until he has become the living illustration of that noble characteristic, so rare among men of affluence—the accumulation of riches, not for himself alone, but to make others happy during and after his life. I take it that a man who utilizes such a theory can afford to be criticised, as Mr. Childs has been, by a few of those who never see a good action without seeking a selfish motive for it. But a fine example is its own best eulogy. It lives and it lasts. It bears fruit before our eyes and refutes censure by practical results. Instances like this are infrequent. Wealth too often breeds avarice and suspicion. Too many hoard money for a graceless posterity, and in blind selfishness make themselves miserable while they live, that they may leave fortunes to spendthrift children. The career of this young man, Childs, teaches so different a lesson, that a friendly reference may perhaps stimulate others to an earnest imitation of it. And when we read this career in the light of the story of The Public Ledger, and how he got possession of it, and how he has improved and enhanced it, it sounds very like

a romance.

The first number of The Ledger appeared March 25, 1836. The proprietors were three journeymen printers-W. M. Swain, Arunah S. Abell, and A. H. Simmons. It was published at six cents a week, and rapidly rose into a great circulation, not alone because its proprietors were energetic, but because they were bold and independent. Wisely employing the powerful pen of Russell Jarvis, they took the right side of every question, and especially the right of the people to assemble in public meeting and discuss all matters of principle or policy. The Ledger did not hesitate to criticise courts and juries, and to expose oppression, and was soon involved in a libel suit, which it met with a pluck that excited universal applause. Jarvis was a

writer of vast ability, a little too personal and trenchant, but possessing a style of rare force and fascination. He grappled with every question. He chastised the rowdyism of the students of the two great medical colleges, who had long terrorized the city; he denounced, with terrible invective, the burning of Pennsylvania Hall on the 17th of May, 1838, by a mob of madmen, resolved that no speeches against human slavery should be delivered in Philadelphia; and when that infamous cowardice was followed by attempts on the two succeeding days to destroy the asylum for colored children on Thirteenth Street, above Callowhill, and the African Church in Lombard Street, near Sixth, the mob made several demonstrations against The Ledger office; but as it was known that Mr. Swain was in hearty sympathy with his brave editor, and was prepared to defend his property at every hazard, the ruffians were cowed. Not less fierce were The Ledger's denunciations of the Native American riots in 1844. Such newspaper courage was uncommon in Philadelphia, and for a time The Ledger suffered severely, but it gradually recovered its prestige, and grew into enormous influence. It was after these events that George W. Childs, a lad of eighteen, who had worked as an errand boy in a bookstore three years before, hired a little room in The Ledger building. Here he waited his opportunity. Sixteen years after, December 3, 1864, he startled the town by the announcement that he had purchased the great paper.

The example set by the original proprietors was not forgotten. There is at least equal enterprise, the same independence, tempered by a less personal tone, and the same vigilance over the interests of Philadelphia and the State. But a new element pervades the establishment-an element characteristic of Mr. Childs in his first successful business venture-that of helping others out of his own fortune. A few instances will show how steadily he has worked to this end. Before he was twenty-one he was in the firm of Childs & Peterson, book publishers. A

work compiled by Mr. Peterson, entitled "Familiar Science," young Childs pushed into a circulation of two hundred thousand copies. Dr. Kane's "Arctic Expedition" he put forth in splendid style, and paid a profit to the author of $70,000. He engineered Senator Brownlow's book in the same way, and paid over to the eccentric Tennesseean a premium of $15,000. More than any other influence he deserves the credit of the great success of that massive work, "Allibone's Dictionary of Authors." The following tribute on one of the initial pages of that book— perhaps the most indispensable in every library-is more enduring than any title of nobility:

"To George W. Childs, the original publisher of this volume, who has greatly furthered my labors by his enterprise, and zealous and intelligent interest, I dedicate the fruits of many years of anxious research and conscientious toil. S. AUSTIN ALLIBONE."

George W. Childs never fails a friend. His brother publisher, George P. Putnam, of New York, prints a letter in which he gratefully acknowledges the prompt and cheerful manner in which Childs gave him his name as security for $100,000 in his hour of adversity. After referring to this act of substantial friendship, Mr. Putnam speaks of Mr. Childs as publisher of The Ledger: "Such an enterprise as would positively frighten most of us timid and slow-moving old fogies, you in your shrewd energy and wide-awake sagacity enter upon as a positive. You wave your magic wand, and, lo! palaces rise, and the genii of steam and lightning send forth from their subterranean cells and lofty attics thousands of daily messages over the continent; and fortune follows deservedly, because you regulate all these powers on liberal principles of justice and truth."

There are three hundred and nine employés in The Ledger establishment, exclusive of the newsboys. At a Fourth of July dinner given to them by Mr. Childs in 1867, the accomplished general manager, the leading editorial writer, W. V. McKean, made some interesting statements. These workingmen, he