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A PECULIAR CHARITY.

N the 10th of August, 1878, a little old man died in a cottage in the outskirts of Boston. So quietly had he lived, and so disinclined had he been to seek associates or to make friends, that it was some time after his decease before that event was known to those who resided in the immediate neighborhood. To the people he had been known as a mechanic who, no longer able to work, was eking out his last days upon a pittance saved from his former wages. And yet this uninteresting man of bent form and sober countenance left an estate valued at nearly one hundred thousand dollars, which he disposed of by will in a way highly creditable to his intentions and instincts, but which disclosed a unique and unexampled method of conferring a public benefit.

His extraction was humble; he was born in the State of Maine, and came to Boston, a penniless and friendless boy, in the early days of the century. He obtained employment, and in the course of time became an average mechanic. He never earned more than ordinary wages; but as he was unmarried and had no one dependent upon him for support, he was enabled, through diligence and frugality, to lay aside each year a small sum of money. These savings were safely invested, and every few years, after they had attained to respectable proportions, were exchanged for productive real estate. Thus the savings of a lifetime, increased by the accumulations of interest and rents and the continual enhancement of the investments in real estate, amounted at his death to ninety-seven thousand dollars.

While the man's endowments were meagre, his education limited, and many of his views narrow, he was by no means a fool. He cultivated a taste for reading, and the entire absence of domestic engagements and responsibilities afforded considerable time for this kind of enjoyment. He took a lively interest in public affairs, and entertained strong preferences and dislikes. He was generally reticent, and rarely expressed his views except by the briefest approval or disapproval of the subject under discussion. His only adviser was a lawyer of ability and good standing, who, as will be seen, faithfully carried out the peculiar instructions of his client.

Intimations of age and infirmity suggested the necessity of making a will. The old mechanic had long entertained the idea of bestowing his wealth upon the public, but his personal knowledge of the mismanagement of several estates bequeathed for charitable purposes inspired him with the determination to provide for the disposal of his own property in the fairest and most economical manner. Upon consultation with the lawyer