controversy over the will of Samuel J. Tilden, illustrating with peculiar force the old story of the uncertainty of bequests; or the experience of Peter Cooper, on the other hand, who for years had the pleasure of seeing Cooper Institute thronged with young men and women who were being fitted, through his bounty, for lives of useful industry. Men before Isaiah Williamson, and men who have come after him, have distributed a large part of their wealth while living; and who can say that his example may not have played some part in shaping the later policy of such men as Andrew Carnegie, with his free libraries scattered all over the land; of Anthony J. Drexel, with the Drexel Institute of West Philadelphia; of P. A. B. Widener, with the Home for Crippled Children, on Old York Road; of Jacob Tome, with the splendid school since located at Port Deposit, Maryland; and of others like them, far and near.
Mr. Helmbold, in consequence of his close relation to Isaiah Williamson as private secretary, knew something of the mental process that had gone on, and of the changed decision in favor of a life-time foundation. Realizing
