In the year 1793, when Philadelphia lost a sixth of its population by yellow fever, and most of its citizens had fled, Girard personally took the inside management of a pest-house, ignoring all other business for two months. In one hundred days of that autumn the burials in the city exceeded four thousand.
At forty years of age Girard had only a competence, and wrote to a friend: “I do not value fortune. The love of labor is my highest ambition. I observe with pleasure that you have a numerous family and that you are in possession of an honest fortune. This is all a wise man has a right to wish for.”
Yet in the next forty years, largely through the fluctuations of values caused by war, he honestly and usefully accumulated seven million dollars, and devoted it to an everlasting mission of beneficence to his fellow men. He wrote that “Labor is the price of life, its happiness, its everything. To rest is to rust.”
Long-Headed In His Views.
He was long-headed in his views. More than a century ago his advice for a large city was: “Build high, as there is only one ground rent.” He would have none but solid construction.
A farm near the city was his place of recreation. On his journeys there his lunch was under the seat, and on his return the space was occupied with milk and butter for his domestic use. But he spent a great deal of money on the introduction of rare plants and fine cattle. He steadily declared that no man should be an idler on his money, and he kept his word.
It is well said of him that “The spirit of work made him active; the spirit of justice made him exact; the spirit of trade made him rich; the spirit of duty made him brave; the spirit of patriotism made him generous; and the spirit of love made him great.”
As a credit mark on the side of a vast fortune Girard is conspicuous, and he fully succeeded in not dying rich, for he gave all to his fellow citizens, making sure that it would be safeguarded for that purpose forever.
Girard was a strange character. Penurious about small things, disagreeable in his personality, he was generous, beneficent, and public-spirited in a large way.