then asked him what he wanted to do, when, much to the surprise of all, he answered, "I want to be a painter." He had made a drawing, which he showed Mr. L., who, in the rough sketch, detected evidence of talent, and sent him to one of the best painters then in the city. He staid there some time, and then left the city. A short time after, I went to New York, and the first little man I met, strutting down Broadway, was this Mr. ———. Mr. L. had sent him on to New York, kept him there till he was prepared, and finally sent him to Italy, where he remained for some time; and when he left there it was said he was equal, if not superior, to some of the teachers.
This is but one of the ten thousand good acts Mr. L. has done; hundreds of such acts have come under my own observation. Often have I known gentlemen in embarrassed circumstances go to him and get immediate assistance. Widows that were in trouble would ask him for help, and get it without question. Many and many a family that are now in comfortable circumstances, but for him would this day be without a roof to shelter them. Orphans, without the assistance rendered by him, would be wandering round the streets, homeless and fireless. I have seen as many as a hundred, in one day, waiting before his door to receive assistance, and none of them go away empty-handed. I have seen him pay out as much as sixty or a hundred dollars a day, when wood and coal were scarce, and hard to be got by the poor, to what we call regulars—that is, every-day visitors.
An Irish lady came to this country, who had been very well off in her own land. She brought means plenty with her here, but by some misfortune she
