care of the poor, who, through age,
disease, or other causes, are incapable of labor; 2. The
rearing and instruction of poor children, especially those
who live in Waldorf. Non-residents are received if there is
room, but they must make compensation for their board and
instruction. Children are received at the age of six, and
maintained until they are fifteen or sixteen. Besides school
instruction, there is ample provision for physical culture.
They are trained in active and industrious habits, and each
of them, according to his disposition, is to be taught a
trade, or instructed in agriculture, market-gardening, the
care of vineyards, or of cattle, with a view to rendering
them efficient farm-servants or stewards. It is also in
contemplation to assist the blind and the deaf and dumb,
and, finally, to establish a nursery for very young children
left destitute. Catholics and Protestants are admitted on
equal terms, religious differences not being recognized in
the applicants for admission. Some time having elapsed
before the preliminary arrangements were completed, the
accumulated interest of the fund went so far toward paying
for the buildings, that of the original fifty thousand
dollars not less than forty-three thousand have been
permanently invested for the support of the Institution."

Thus they manage bequests in Germany! The Astor House was opened with
much ceremony, January 9,1854, the very year in which the Astor
Library was opened to the public in the city of New York. The day of
the founder's death is annually celebrated in the chapel of the
Institution, which is adorned by his portrait.

These two institutions will carry the name of John Jacob Astor to the
latest generations. But they are not the only services which he
rendered to the public. It would be absurd to contend that in
accumulating his enormous estate, and in keeping it almost entirely in
the hands of his eldest son, he was actuated by a regard for the
public good. He probably never thought of the public good in
connection with the bulk of his property. Nevertheless, America is so
constituted that every man in it of force and industry is necessitated
to be a public servant. If this colossal fortune had been gained in
Europe it would probably have been consumed in what is there called
"founding a family." Mansions would have been built w