Drexel University - Spartan Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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love for music and for the beautiful in art, and later in the beauty of the Institute whieh bears his name. The Drexel Institute in l'hiladelphia. was eoneeived, founded and endowed by him as the erowning aut of a lite crowded with benetieenee to his ,t'ellow-men. He was lilled with deep sympathy for young men and women who were to be doers ill the world, and wished to make their lives rieher and fuller and more appreciative of those real beauties of lil'e, whieh have substantial and lasting value in the development olf men and women of lofty eharaeter. To this end he gave freely oi' his wealth and thought and time that his great sympathy might bear fruit. lla was given him to see his plan take visible iform and to see the work fairly started, hut' that was all. Would that he could have been spared to give the Institute the henelitn ol' his wise guidanee during' the years oi' its development! llis death at, Carlsbad on the thirtieth of June, 1893, was a. loss the magnitude ot' which none has estimated. Had he lived, he would have found his ehielf pleasure in the developmentn olf 'l'he Drexel Institute and we ean imagine how his enthusiasm would have kindled as he beheld the fruits ot his wise guidanee in the young' men and women passing' out oi' the school to lead lives rieher for his inlluenc-e. The ehildren of The Drexel Institute and all Philadelphians will not i'oi'g'etn what manner of man he was, especially when they hear all men agree that time has brought a rieh fullillment oif his own wish to live in sueh a manner that after he had passed it llllflllll' be said otf him, Well done, thou good and t'aithl'ul servant. 7

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lifted to the most exalted conception of great responsibilities and opportunities. Tl1ere is no test of character at once so searching and so linal as the possession, in whatever kind, of great power .... Here was a man who, holding a great power, wielded it for the greatest good, who held up the weak, who sustained the public credit, who befriended tottering fortunes and enterprises, who put life beneath the very ribs of death and set tl1e corpse upon its feet again-and all this in a fashion of such modest and unobtrusive naturalness, if I may say so, that we who saw him or knew of his doing these things never saw how great they were until he himself was taken away from us and we beheld them in their true light. And thus it was that Mr. Drexel became, not only in this community, but also in two hemispheres a strong and benetieent moral force. Every honest enterprise was stronger because it knew it could count upon his sympathy. Every equivocal illld dubious enterprise, every shrewd and unscrupulous man was weaker because he knew that he would have to reckon with Mr. Drexells unbending honesty and his uncompromising equity. ,Knaves dreaded his searching eye, and knavish undertakings were the weaker because he lived to detect a.nd designate them. This was his moral power, and 111en felt it everywhere and with unceasing force all the way lo the end. In Mr. Drexel's private life there shone honor, sincerity, justice, magnanilnity and modesty. Ilis habits of life were simple and many of tl1e1n were formed in his youth under the tutelage of his father. Thus was formed, we are told, his habit of lunching on hard crackers and cheese in his oflice. Punctuality in self and in those who dealt with him was a major requirement of Mr. Drexel. IVhat a privilege it must have been to have enjoyed the direct interest and guidance of such a man! For it was his especial delight to guide and watch the development of the young men with whom he was associated in business. Ile was a keen judge of char- acter yet was hc tolerant and patient. Many churches of varying denominations, hospitals, dispensaries, homes, benevolent organizations as well as 1na.ny individuals have reason to remember his benelicence. In conjunction with his friend Mr. George W. Childs he established the Childs-Drexel home for aged printers at Colorado Springs. Unassuming and modest, he avoided all display: to occupy a conspicuous position in public caused him exquisite pain. When he was tendered the post of secretary of the treasury of tl1e United States, he declined. The home life of Mr. Drexel was most beautiful and inspiring. Mrs. Drexel , daughter of John Rozet, a Philadelphia merchant of French birth, was a woman of beautiful character and many accomplishments. She died on the twenty-seventh of November, 1891, just before the opening of the Institute which occurred in February, 1892. The atmos- phere of the home had all the charm of an older civilization. It was the father's chief pleasure to spend his evenings at home in his music room, which was furnished witl1 two pianos, where, with his daughters, he played duets and quartettes from the old masters. He inherited the artistic temperament and tastes of his father, as was evidenced by his 6

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