Page:F. R. (Fairman Rogers) 1833-1900, Furness, 1903.djvu/15



was born in Philadelphia on the fifteenth of November, 1833, and died in Vienna on the twenty-second of August, 1900. Within this span of sixty-seven years there is comprised a life of unusual fulness,—but how brief for the large circle of his friends!

He was the only son of Evans Rogers, a retired iron-merchant of wealth, and of Caroline Augusta, a daughter of Gideon Fairman, the inventor of what is known, I think, as 'engine-turning' in the engraving of bank-notes. To this invention is due the elaborate and artistic designs, at this day, on our national paper-currency, whereof we are justly proud. In addition to this aptitude for mechanics, Gideon Fairman possessed unusual intellectual and social charms. To the end of his life he was an intimate friend of Washington Irving. I have heard my father say that Washington Irving on one occasion declared that were he condemned to a life-long imprisonment with the privilege of choosing the society of but one friend, his choice as a companion would be Gideon Fairman.

It is worth while to recall these characteristics of