Radnor Township.

Mr. Childs had long cherished the ambition of owning and controlling a daily journal, and he turned aside to gratify it. On the 3d of December, 1864, he became the proprietor of the Public Ledger. This purchase was made against the advice of his friends, but time has fully vindicated the wisdom that directed it. The Ledger was at once given the exceptionally high tone which it has ever since retained, and through the skill of the new management, and the force of new blood infused into its every channel, soon recovered the patronage it had lost, and won a host of new friends. A journal devoted to printing and the affairs of newspapers has said, -

"Every improper feature in advertisement or in news was excluded from its columns; a spirit of almost judicial fairness was made to breathe throughout its reports and opinions of men and things; whatever weight is due to dignity, independence, impartiality, and a wise and considerate estimate of social and political topics, was imparted to its editorials; and no expenditure, however lavish, was withheld in enhancing its value as a trustworthy and salutary fireside visitor. The forecast of Mr. Childs was eminently justified. The Ledger ultimately reached a circulation of ninety thousand copies daily."

Another writer has said of the great newspaper, -

"The policy of the Ledger, since Mr. Childs has owned and controlled it, has been of a character to be described in a very few words. In the first place, it has been undeviatingly high-toned in its character, scorning the low moral standard which so widely obtains among the press of the United States, with a straightforward integrity of purpose that is characteristic of its proprietor. Again, it has striven to treat such subjects, and such only, as were within the line which divides the real interest of the public from that which is factitious. Finally, in its method of handling the questions of the day, it has followed the plan of treating each of these on its own merits, and without bias or regard for personal opinion or criticism."

Fortune followed the venture, and as it increased new channels were created for its outflow. Of Mr. Childs' benefactions, public and private, it is not our purpose to speak in detail, - and indeed that would be impossible. It is well known that his large generosity finds expression through all of the benevolent institutions of the city, and through many ingenious devices of his own, for charity, and that in a vast number of channels, small and great, from the tiny rivulet to the sweeping current of the river, good is ever going out from an apparently inexhaustible fountain-head. Such unique and stupendous forms of charity as his have not been equaled by individual effort in our country. His newsboys' banquets, his excursions for whole schools or for the inmates of great institutions, have been so common an occurrence as to excite but little comment. His splendid support of such colossal enterprises as the Centennial Exposition are not the least admirable of his exhibitions of public spirit. His gift of a cemetery to the printers of Philadelphia, and provision of a fund for its perpetual preservation; his erection of a memorial window in Westminster Abbey, to the honor of the poets Herbert and Cowper, and numerous other gifts, have marked him as one of the greatest-hearted and greatest-minded of living men.

It is only natural that the heart which has ever expressed sympathy with humanity should love fellowship with men; that he should go out to meet them and that he should gather them around him. Hence it came about that his beautiful residence in Philadelphia was made the meeting-place of some of the greatest minds and most eminent characters of our own and foreign countries. In it at the time of the opening of the Centennial Exposition occurred what was undoubtedly the most notable assemblage in a private house ever known in America.

It was the same spirit of sociability that led to the building of his country home, "Wootton," in this township. Here have gathered the great and the humble, and of the promotion of happy human intercourse which this house has subserved, it would be very difficult to form even an approximate estimate. It has been the sojourning place of many of America's leaders in literature and directors of National growth, of the titled nobility of Europe, and of the untitled men of genius of both the parent and the daughter realms, and not less has it been the scene of happy visits from the carrier boys and from great throngs of the humble people who have been as carefully and as sumptuously entertained as the visitors of more fortunate stations in life.

Here is that wonderful treasury of books and of priceless manuscripts, which Mr. Childs' taste for literature led him to amass, and which his acquaintanceship with authors and his wealth enabled him to make the most interesting one in America.

"Wootton" led to Wayne. The happiness which Mr. Childs experienced in his country home led his mind, always active in devising the welfare of others, to the conception of a plan by which many men of moderate means might enjoy the beauty and the wholesomeness of the country. His idea was the founding of a village with perfect sanitary regulations, with broad avenues and streets, and with comfortable, attractive houses which should be within the reach of men enjoying comparatively small incomes.

To create such a suburban villa, Mr. Childs and his friend, Anthony J. Drexel, of Philadelphia, devoted their thought, their energy, and their money, and began the work in the spring of 1881. It has progressed steadily and entirely to the satisfaction of the projectors, and the investment at Wayne now equals half a million dollars, and more money will be spent there from season to season, until the town is equal in all respects to the preconceived idea of what it should be. The enterprise was not undertaken with any idea of realizing a profit, but simply of furnishing country homes to city men, and surrounding them with all of the advantages to be secured in a well-ordered village in which should be combined all of the measures for the preservation of health that scientific experiment has during late years suggested. The plan could only be carried out by the employment of large capital and by organized effort. This will secure to a large number of men, dependent, upon their incomes from professional or business toil, with precisely those