822 GIRARD GIRARDIN amounted to about $9,000,000. Comparative- ly little of it was bequeathed to his relatives. To the Pennsylvania hospital he willed $30,- 000; to the Pennsylvania institution for the deaf and dumb, $20,000 ; to the orphan asy- lum of Philadelphia, $10,000 ; to the Phila- delphia public schools, $10,000 ; to the city of Philadelphia, for the distribution of fuel to the poor every winter, $10,000 ; to the society for the relief of distressed masters of ships, $10,000 ; to the masonic loan, $20,000 ; to the city of New Orleans, a large amount of real estate; to the city of Philadelphia, for improvement of its streets, buildings, &c., $500,000 ; for the improvement of canal navi- gation in Pennsylvania, $300,000. His princi- pal bequest was $2,000,000, besides the residue of a certain portion of his estate out of which some legacies were to be paid, together with a plot of ground in Philadelphia, for the erec- tion and support of a college for orphans. The most minute directions were given for the construction, size, and materials of the build- ing, which was begun in July, 1833, and open- ed Jan. 1, 1848. It is surrounded by a stone wall 10 ft. high, enclosing 41 acres laid out in play grounds, grass plats, gardens, &c. The main building is the finest specimen of Grecian architecture in America, and is even said to be the finest of modern times. The outer walls, staircases, floors, and roof are of white mar- ble; the inner walls of brick. It is in the form of a Corinthian temple, surrounded by a portico of 34 columns, each 55 ft. high and 6 ft. in diameter. Its length is 169 ft., its width 111 ft., and its height 97 ft. The entrances are on the N". and S. fronts, each door being 16 ft. wide and 32 ft. high; the E. and W. sides are pierced each by 24 windows. The structure rests on a basement of 11 steps ex- tending around the entire building. A marble statue in the lower vestibule covers the re- mains of Mr. Girard. There are five other buildings within the enclosure, one of which is used as a laboratory, bakery, wash house, &c. The others stand two on each side of the main building, and are of marble, each two stories high, 125 ft. long, and 52 ft. wide. The cost of the edifices was upward of $1,930,- 000. As many poor white male orphans as the endowment can support are admitted be- tween the ages of 6 and 10 years, fed, clothed, and educated, and between the ages of 14 and 18 are bound out to mechanical, agricultural, or . commercial occupations. In a recent re- port the directors say that, the apprenticeship system as it existed in Mr. Girard's time hav- ing become obsolete, the execution of that part of the will is now difficult. By a provi- sion of the will of the founder no ecclesiastic, missionary, or minister of any sect whatever, is to hold any connection with the college, or be admitted to the premises even as a visitor ; but the officers of the institution are required to instruct the pupils in the purest principles of morality, leaving them to adopt their own religious opinions. The officers consist of a president, secretary, two professors, five male and five female teachers, a physician, a matron, a steward, and a superintendent of manual la- bor ; and there are about 500 beneficiaries. GIRARBIN. I. Emile de, a French journalist, born in Paris, June 22, 1806. The natural son of Count Alexandre de Girardin and Mme. Dupuy, wife of a counsellor, and registered at his birth under the name of Emile de Lamothe, he struggled for years before he gained his right name, and it was not till 1837 that his filiation was definitely established by his pa- rents' public avowal. After being inspector of the fine arts under the Martignac ministry, he established two periodicals: Le Voleur, which pilfered from all the other journals, and La Mode, a journal of fashion, which enjoyed the patronage of the duchess of Berry. After the revolution of 1830 he established the month- ly Journal des Connaissances utiles, the price of which was only four francs (less than 80 cents) a year, which soon obtained 120,000 subscribers. Through the agency of this paper he organized a subscription for the establish- ment of a model farm, known as the institut agricole de Co'efbo, and greatly contributed to increase the number of savings banks through the country. He issued other cheap publica- tions in connection with his monthly, as the Journal des Instituteurs, at 36 cents a year ; a geographical atlas at one cent a map; and the Almanack de France, at 10 cents a copy. All these publications were issued as emana- ting from a societe nationale pour Vemanci- pation intellectuelle. He also published the Journal des Gardes Rationales, and the Gastro- nome, a culinary paper which was found in every eating house. He was one of the found- ers of the illustrated weekly Musee des Fa- milies. In 1835 he projected the Pantheon Litteraire, a series of 100 large vols. 8vo, which were to embrace a mass of letterpress equal to 1,000 ordinary volumes, and to present in a cheap form the standard works of every country. In 1836 he established the Presse, a political daily paper, at a yearly subscription of 40 francs, half the price before paid for such journals. This attempt brought upon him the wrath of nearly all the contemporary journalists of Paris. Both his public and pri- vate life were assailed ; he was charged with claiming a name which was denied him, with dishonesty in some of his numerous business transactions, and with unscrupulous ambition in his political course. He challenged Armand Carrel, and killed him in the duel, when the clamor against him increased on all sides. But he was undaunted, and secured the full posses- sion of his name and a seat in the chamber of deputies, which was long contested on the ground that he was not a Frenchman, but, as was falsely reported, a native of Switzerland, while he extended the circulation of the Presse so as to place it beyond rivalry. He supported the Moll ministry against the coalition in 1839,
