mining his health, he surrendered it into other hands, and associated himself with the well-known publishing house of A. S. Barnes & Company, for the purpose of introducing their text books into the schools of Ohio. Meanwhile shrewd business friends had marked his development, and seeing that in addition to his cultured and well disciplined mind, he possessed that native business talent which so well fitted him for a broader field of action, they urged his next step, believing that success would be his. Proposals were made to him to lease for a term of years the Niagara Steam Forge of Buffalo, New York, for the manufacture of car axles and heavy forging. This was when our land lay under the dark shadow of the panic of 1857, when disaster was overtaking the most experienced of business men, and when some of the oldest houses were going down in the storm. But Mr. Childs felt that this was the opportunity of his life, and though utterly ignorant of the practical workings of such an establishment, he determined to make the venture, and with characteristic energy set to work to make himself master of the situation, with assured confidence of success. He took up this new work in 1857, removing his family to Buffalo in 1858. In taking this new departure, it was a source of exceeding regret to him that he must leave Cleveland, where he had passed a decade of happy years. He had identified himself in many ways with the interests of that young and growing city. During his residence there he was an active member of the Second Presbyterian church, serving for six years as one of its ruling elders. He formed many delightful and valuable friendships there which remained unbroken to the end of life. About eighteen months after his removal to Buffalo a dark cloud swept over his household, taking from him his only son, George William, seven years of age. He was drowned while attempting to cross the Buffalo river upon the ice near the Niagara Steam Forge. Mr. Childs' purpose to succeed was so well fulfilled that at the expiration of his three years' lease he concluded to continue in the manufacture of iron. While negotiating with George W. Tifft, Sons & Company in regard to adding to their extensive iron foundry at Buffalo, a branch for his special kind of work, he received proposals from the Lake Erie Iron Works of Otis & Company at Cleveland, which he accepted, becoming a member of that firm in 1860. But preferring Buffalo as a business point, he withdrew from the Cleveland establishment in 1861, and in connection with a party in Buffalo, built the Buffalo Steam Forge. Having secured a valuable acquaintance among iron. men and railroad officials throughout the country, and having won their confidence by his fidelity to his contracts, and his promptness in meeting his financial engagements, he was enabled to hold the same customers through a series of successful business years. He conducted his affairs with a keen eye to profit and permanence, always securing such prices for work as would permit him to do it honestly and well, or not at all. While a just pride in his chosen occupation marked his career, he was never ashamed to take in sail when the wind was high, and the waters rough, through fear of what might be said by his rivals. In 1877 Mr. Childs purchased a forge in Chicago, and organized the Chicago Forge Stock company, of which he was made president. For several years he carried on the two establishments, giving to each his personal supervision. While yet engaged in active business life, he did not neglect social duties. He touched both the business and social life of Buffalo at many points. He was a member of the Merchants' exchange, vicepresident of the Buffalo club, a member of the Oakfield club and of the Masonic Lodge of Ancient Landmarks. He took no active part in political life, but was still a deep thinker on all the prominent questions of the day, and had a strong and abiding love for his country. Having a genial and pleasant disposition, with much native wit, and a keen sense of the ludicrous, he was a general favorite in society. He was a lover of the young and had hosts of friends among them, many of whom remember his strong influence for good, and his helping hand when temptation assailed them. As prosperity smiled upon him, it was his special delight to have others share it with him. Many in his native village will testify to his ready sympathy and generous help in time of trouble. He remembered with a life-long benefi cence the church of which he first be-. came a member. He made handsome donations to the "Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association," or which he was a life chancellor and firm friend from the time of its organization. In his own immediate home circle he was the devoted husband and indulgent father. To this indulgent spirit, and desire to gratify the individual tastes of his own, may be traced indirectly the event which proved the crushing sorrow of his life. Again an only son was snatched from him by violent and sudden death. Henry Kimberly Childs attained his majority on the ninth of March, 1884, and had been received by his father into business relations at the forge. A month later, on the twelfth of April, as he was returning from a hunting excursion down the Niagara river, the careless handling of his gun caused its discharge, the entire contents entering his body. From this shock Mr. Childs never entirely rallied, and in less than a twelvemonth he, too, passed from earth. For several years he had been in failing health, but by his indomitable will had often resisted disease when a weaker nature would have succumbed to it. He was attacked by a slight paralysis of the brain, on the eighth of February, 1885, from which it was hoped he would recover, but he grew rapidly worse and died on the morning of the tenth. On the afternoon of the thirteenth his beloved remains were borne tenderly to the Lafayette Street church, where eloquent words of love and honor were spoken in his memory. He was buried at "Forest Lawn," beside the two loved expressions of the board of trustees of sons who had gone before. the Lafayette Street church, of which he was the honored president for sixteen years. They say: Mr. Childs leaves two daughters, who reside in Buffalo, Mrs. Floyd S. Crego and Mrs. Henry Stimson; also two grandchildren, one of whom, Henry Childs Stimson, bears his name. Mrs. Childs also survives her husband. In the death of Mr. Childs, Buffalo loses an active, public-spirited and highminded citizen- a man of strict integrity, and whose word or personal honor could not be questioned. His loss is deeply felt, not only in his own community, but by his many friends. who are scattered far and wide over our country. Numerous testimonials, both public and private, show that his worth was appreciated. The Merchant's Exchange of Buffalo expressed the general feeling of the business community when its members, by formal resolution at a special meeting, said: For nearly one third of a century Mr. Childs has been closely identified with the business, social and religious interests of this city. We, the members of the Buffalo Merchants' Exchange, desire to place upon our minutes an expression of our profound regret at the loss of so valuable a member of this body and the community. We would express our sense of loss of a true and valued friend, a long-honored member and president of the board of trustees of the Lafayette Street Presbyterian Church of this city, whose interests in its welfare grew stronger and deeper as the years went by, whose heart was more closely drawn to his brethren in the church by the fellowship of suffering and the departure of loved ones; a man of generous impulses, of genial and overflowing humor, in his family circle and among his business acquaintances, farsighted, wise in counsel, of quick discernment and sound business judgment; of decision, courage, firmness and perseverance in his successful business career; honored by his college associates and by his fellow-citizens, he passes away, leaving behind him the memory of a good man. Again, a friend who knew him well gives the following beautiful testimonial: He was a rare man because he was a real one. Nothing was more distasteful to him than sham and superficiality. He was a man of Catholic views, of genial and liberal opinions; a man of taste and culture, without a trace of pedantry or a touch of imperiousness. He was a natural critic, and his criticisms were valuable because they were intelligent, penetrating and just. He had a sound mind and a soft heart. His hand was hearty in its grasp and liberal in its charities. His sympathies were accessible, active and alert. While he was in every sense a practical man, there was in his nature an element which was genuinely poetic. It was the vein of gold in the quartz of his more rugged virtues. He was religious as the result of the clearest and most deliberate of convictions, but he had no disposition to explore the arctic region of theology. He chose to breathe its blander, balmier atmosphere. He reasoned that since "God is a sun," there ought to be sunshine in the lives of his covenant children. In a cloister he would have been stifled, but he could live happily out in the open busy world, because he could find in it much that was good, and had no fear of the bad. He was the broadest and most cheerful of optimists. His nature was mirthful. He had a The feelings of his personal and humorous way. He believed in both getting and church associates is seen in the formal giving good as he went along. He leaves behind him Mr. Childs was a man of broad ideas, large of body and mind. His business transactions and generous liberality inspired the admiration of all who knew him. He was justly regarded as one whose steadfastness of purpose, integrity in business, fidelity to promise, and sagacity in all enterprises, make his name a synonym for all that leads to success in business and good works. He was a true friend, a genial companion, a cultured Christian gentleman, and the members of this exchange will hold his name in cherished memory. a record without blot, an example which the dust of the whirling years cannot hide, an influence whose choice magnetism will still pervade the society in which he moved, and the memory of those virtues which made his character so admirable, and ren dered his life so symmetrical and wholesome and worthy. Who could ask for more or better than this: "An honored life, a peaceful death, E. C. STANDART. DETROIT-BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. D. BETHUNE DUFFIeld. D. Bethune Duffield was born at Carlisle, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, on the twenty-ninth day of August, 1821. His father was the Reverend George Duffield, D. D., and Isabella Graham (Bethune) Duffield was his mother. The latter was a granddaughter of that Isabella Graham, whose memory is held in reverent remembrance by the church in Scotland and America, and a sister of George W. Bethune, D. D., the late distinguished orator and lecturer of New York. Dr. Duffield was a grandson of the Reverend George Duffield, who was for many years pastor of the Pine Street Presbyterian church of Philadelphia and, in conjunction with Bishop White, was chaplain of the first congress of the United States. The name of this man is familiar to every student of American history as that of one devoted to the cause of liberty, earnest, outspoken, and fearlessly aggressive in the service of his Master and of his country. Those familiar with the history of the church recognize his learning, liberality of thought, and faithfulness in that field as no less worthy of honor. Dr. Duffield's father, also named George, was long a merchant in Philadelphia, and for nine years acted as comptroller-general of Pennsylvania, under the gubernatorial administration of that distinguished statesman Thomas Mackean. He was a man of culture, attainment and character, admirable alike in public and in private life. The third George Duffield, father of the subject of this sketch, early showed force of intellect and aptitude for study, and laid the foundation of his later broad and profound learning in his college course at the University of Pennsylvania, from which institution he was graduated with honor at the early age of sixteen years. In June, 1811, he took his baccalaureate degree, during the following autumn entered the theological seminary of the city of New York, where he remained for nearly four years, under the tutelage, among others, of the celebrated John M. Mason, D. D., and on the twentieth of April, 1815, was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Philadelphia. From that time until the day of his death, nearly fifty-three years later, he gave a constant, devoted and efficient service |