orseback up to the Washington Capitol and
tied his horse and walked over to the office of the Chief Justice and
took the oath of office as President of the United States his action was
essentially Socratic.

Girard got his ideals both of architecture and of education from
Jefferson.

Girard was too busy to do much original investigating, for he was a very
rich man--so he did the next best thing, and the thing that all wise,
busy men do: he picked a few authors and banked on them.

Girard loved Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine. And
one reason why he was drawn to them was because they all spoke French,
and he had a high regard for the French people. Franklin and Jefferson
were each sent on various important diplomatic missions to France. Paine
was a member of the French Assembly, and Girard never ceased to regret
that Paine was saved from the guillotine by that happy accident of the
death-messenger chalking the inside of his cell-door instead of the
outside. "If they had only cut off his head, he then would have been
recorded in American schoolbooks as the Honorable Thomas Paine,
assistant savior of his country, instead of being execrated as Tom
Paine, the infidel," said Girard.

In the time of Girard, the names of Franklin, Jefferson and Paine were
reviled, renounced and denounced by good society; and it was in
defending these men that Girard brought down upon himself the contumely
that endures--in attenuation, at least--even unto this day.

Let these facts stand: Franklin taught Girard the philosophy of business
and fixed in his mind the philanthropic bias.

Jefferson taught Girard the excellence of the "demos," and at the same
time gave him an unforgetable glimpse of Greek architecture.

Paine taught Girard the iniquity and folly of a dogmatic religion: the
religion that was so sure it was right, and so certain that all others
were wrong, that it would, if it could, force humanity at point of the
sword to accept its standards.

Franklin and Paine were citizens of Philadelphia, and Jefferson spent
many months there. The pavements that had echoed to their tread were
daily pressed by the feet of Girard. Their thoughts were his. And when
pestilence settled on the city like a shadow, and death had marked the
doorposts of more than half the homes in the city with the sign of
silence, Girard did not absolve himself by drawing a check and sending
it to a committee by mail. Not he! He asked himself,