ls on every sea and earned money
for him in every great commercial port. In 1812 he founded the old
Girard Bank, and added the rich profits of banking to the immense gains
of his vast mercantile transactions. This new enterprise greatly
enlarged the sphere of his influence, especially as in matters
pertaining to the financial interests of the country and of the city of
Philadelphia he manifested a degree of public spirit which contrasted
marvelously with his narrowness, meanness, and even inhumanity, in
dealing with individual and private interests. He was certainly a
patriotic man. Nevertheless, as his biographer demonstrates, he always
contrived to make his patriotism tributary to the increase of his
immense wealth. His magnificent purchases of United States securities in
times of pecuniary disaster, though they contributed immensely to the
credit of the government, were not wholly patriotic. They were, to his
far-seeing mind, investments which were sure to pay. And he knew also
that the very magnitude of his purchases would, by strengthening public
confidence, insure the profitable returns he sought. Still, there is no
room for doubting the sincerity of his attachment to the country of his
adoption.

This fortunate accumulator of millions took very little from his hoards
for the promotion of his personal ease and physical enjoyments. He lived
in a plain mansion, simply furnished, and standing in the midst of
warehouses, where the din of business, the rolling of heavy wheels, and
the city's noisiest roar, constantly filled his ears. His table was
plentifully but not luxuriously supplied. As he grew old it was
extremely simple. He gave no parties, invited none to share his
hospitality, except now and then an individual from whom he had reason
for believing he could extract information which would be useful to him.
He worked incessantly at his business, rising at three or four o'clock
and toiling until after midnight. His keen eye inspected every
department of his complicated business, from the discounting of a note
to the building of a ship or the erection of a building. His only
recreation was his garden, his farm at Passyunk, or the training of his
birds. His life was coined into work. Its only real pleasure was derived
from the accumulation of the money which was to make his name immortal.

In 1830 the sight of his eye grew so dim that it was both difficult and
dangerous for him to grope his way along the familiar