Page:Life of Isaiah V Williamson.djvu/103

Rh wished to reassure her of his confidence in the work. When she went away from his dingy office, she carried an additional check for $10,000.

The circle of his sympathy was wide. Any great calamity stirred his heart; but also the poverty and distress of the humblest peddler who strolled into his office with a basket of cheap notions on his arm, from whom he would always buy something—perhaps a spool or two of thread, a paper of pins, or a stove lifter—odds and ends which he subsequently gave away when occasion offered. He was invariably strongly moved to help the man who was trying to help himself, however humble the effort. But for mere beggars, low or high, he had little sympathy.

Among the many benevolences of the last decade or so of Williamson's life a few stand out with special boldness on account of the large sums given while he was living. Among these the University of Pennsylvania at one time received a gift of fourteen acres of city property valued at $200,000; the Episcopal Hospital ten acres valued at $75,000; and the Woman's Hospital and College authorities