this building was located is still owned by members of his family.

It was in the unfinished second story of this building that the first Sunday school organized in Chicago held some of its earliest meetings, and in which also the Rev. Jeremiah Porter, the first minister to hold regular religious services in the town, established his study and found a lodging place. It was in this-for that time-superior structure, too, that Mr. Peck laid the foundation of a fortune, which has since been developed into a rich estate. Here he carried on the business of merchandising until such time as it became necessary for him to give his whole attention to his realty interests, and the care of his growing for

tune.

A resident of Chicago two years before it had a recognized corporate or municipal existence, Mr. Peck was a pioneer of the pioneers. He was one of the volunteers who went out from the straggling settlement around Fort Dearborn to aid in supressing the famous Indian chief, Black Hawk, in 1832, and he helped to organize. the settlement into a town in 1833. He was a member of the first fire company organized in Chicago, and a voter at the first city election. The first brick dwelling erected in the city-at the corner of Washington and La Salle streets-was built by Mr. Peck as a residence in 1836, and the site is also still owned in the family. He was in "at the birth" of

the town, witnessed the transition from town to village, from village to city, and from a provincial city to the great metropolis of the northwest, and two weeks before his death, which resulted from an accident, and occurred on the 23d of October, 1871, he saw the city that had sprung up under his observation, practically swept out of existence by the great fire of that year. Such are not the experiences of an ordinary lifetime.

The accumulator of a large fortune, Mr. Peck demonstrated that. adherence to approved and conservative business methods builds up more substantial estates than those which result from speculative enterprises. A sagacious and far-seeing man, who had always great confidence in the continued growth and prosperity of Chicago, he was never carried away by the speculative excitements which swept over the city from time to time, to be followed by corresponding periods of business. depression and financial distress. His own affairs were kept so well in hand that he passed safely through financial crises like those of 1837 and 1857, when many of his contemporaries met with reverses from which they never recovered.

These periods of general business depression did not weaken even temporarily his faith in the ultimate. growth and prosperity of Chicago, but rather had the effect of stimulating him to make investments at the more advantageous terms offered

under such circumstances. His conservatism was such that he met with no reverses of consequence during his business career, and his fortune grew steadily from the date of his coming to Chicago, to that of his death.

In 1835 he was married to Miss Mary K. Wythe, a Philadelphia lady, of English parentage, who is still a resident of Chicago. Their family consisted of eight children, all of whom were born in this city. Four of them died in infancy, and one of the sons, Harold S. Peck, died some years since. The other sons, Walter L., Clarence I., and Ferdinand W. Peck, are all leading citizens of Chicago, which they have greatly benefited by their enterprise and public spirit. The latter has become. The latter has become widely known through various public institutions with which he has been prominently connected, and the public-spirited enterprises which he has

projected. He was one of the founders of the Illinois Humane Society; and also of the Chicago Athenæum, of which he is the president. He is also one of the Trustees of the new Chicago University, and one of the Directors of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. He conceived the idea of the renowned Auditorium Building, containing a vast auditorium hall, a hotel and other features, organized the company for its erection, and, as its president, carried it through to completion and successful operation.

This great building is to day the pride of Chicago; an object almost, if not quite, as conspicuous among the splendid structures by which it is surrounded, as was the framed store building, built by the elder Peck, among the log shanties of Chicago, sixty years ago.

HOWARD LOUIS CONARD.

SEVENTH

THE Communication from the war department which accompanied this proclamation, and was sent to the Governors of States, explained that the call was for regiments of infantry or riflemen only. Each regiment to be composed of 780 men-the apportionment of regiments to the several States being as follows:

Maine, 1; New Hampshire, 1; Vermont, 1; Massachusetts, 2; Rhode Island, 1; Connecticut, 1; New York, 17; New Jersey, 4; Pennsylvania, 16, Delaware, 1; Tennessee, 2; Maryland, 4; Virginia, 3; North Carolina, 2; Kentucky, 4; Arkansas, 1; Missouri, 4; Ohio, 13; Indiana, 6; Illinois, 4; Michigan, 1; Iowa, 1; Minnesota, 1; Wisconsin, I.

The ninety-four regiments called for would form a total of 73,391 men, the balance being expected from the District of Columbia.

It may be interesting to the present generation of readers, who were not witnesses of the state of public opinion at the time this proclamation was issued, to know how it was re

ceived in the country, and especially in the non-slave-holding States. In all of the free States, a large majority of the public opinion regarded the proclamation as just what the exegences of the occasion demanded, and they promptly responded to the call, and more than the number called for were provided, subject to the orders of the government.

Mr. Greeley, in his "American Conflict," in commenting upon the changed condition of public opinion in the north upon the President's proclamation, said: "No State was more prompt and thorough in her response, and none sent her troops into the field more completely armed and serviceably equipped, than did Rhode. Island. Among the privates in her first regiment was one worth a million of dollars, who destroyed a passage ticket he had bought for a voyage to Europe, on a tour of observation and pleasure, to shoulder his musket. in defense of his country and her laws." Governor William Sprague, of Rhode Island, was active in rais