Fairmount Park and the International Exhibition at Philadelphia (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1876 edition. Excerpt: ...and close with an effect in nature which leaves nothing to desire. THE HOMES AND PERSONAGES OF FORMER TIMES. SAMUEL BRECK. A golden link of the days of the Revolution and our own times. Mr. Breck was born in Boston, in 1771. He was educated near Toulouse, in Languedoc, in the Royal and Military School of Sorenze. His See page 33. instructors were Benedictine monks. He remained at this school from his eleventh until his sixteenth year. His companions were the Prince de Carignan, ancestor of the King of Sardinia, several Italian and Spanish noblemen, Dessaix, and others, whose lives passed away into obscurity or ended in the violence of revolutions. His own life was kept for gentler and better uses. After a sojourn in his native place, he again visited Europe in the dark dawn of the French Revolution. He saw the King, Queen, and the Dauphin, the prisoners of the populace, about to expiate their predecessors' crimes. He saw the old teachers and pupils he loved driven from their ancient seat of learning, some to perish in the September massacres, some themselves to urge on the tide of crime. These scenes made the quiet and calm progress of our Republic intensely dear to him. He lived at Sweet Brier thirty-eight years. In the leisure hours of his business he cultivated here the sciences, the arts of music and design, and was foremost in every good work.1 "Farmer Breck," as his good friend and neighbor, Judge Peters, always called bim, had here a model place; and while the Judge theorized, and saw the State rise through his theories to wealth, Farmer Breck, in their practical application, made his place a marvellous example of their value. He gave a due proportion of his life to public affairs. He served four years in the State...