in an onward course, determined, as the steward and servant of my
Master, to do them good whether they would have it or not. And I
have so strove, so labored, to the last. The result is in the hands
of Him who fixes and determines all results; he will do therewith
as seemeth good unto himself.'

Who was John McDonogh, the maker of the foregoing will, and contriver of
such a grand scheme of charity? The answer to this inquiry will be the
most interesting part of this narrative. John McDonogh was born in
Baltimore, Maryland, in 1779. The only incidents of his youth that are
known are, that he was a clerk in a mercantile store in an inland town
of Maryland; that he was noted then for eccentricities, and for an
excess of imagination, which led to the apprehension that he was not
entirely of sound mind. Still his energy and intelligence secured him
employment and the confidence of his employers. About the year 1800 he
was sent out to New-Orleans by a house in Baltimore, with a letter of
credit and considerable resources. He engaged largely in business, but
soon renounced his agency, and starting on his own account, became a
leading and prosperous merchant. In a few years he accumulated a large
fortune--say at least three hundred thousand dollars--then a vast amount
in the colony. He was one of the nabobs of the city. His style of living
and habits conformed to his position and resources. His mansion was one
of the most showy and luxurious in the city. He kept his carriages and
horses, his cellar of costly wines, and entertained on a scale of great
extravagance and sumptuousness. He was, in fact, the centre of fashion,
frivolity, sociability, and even of the fashionable dissipations of the
day. His person, which even in extreme old age was remarkable for
dignity, erectness, and courtliness, at the period we write of, was
conspicuous for all the graces of manhood. Indeed, he was styled the
handsomest man in the colony. That such a young man should attract the
favorable notice of ambitious Creole beauties who then composed the only
female society in New-Orleans, of managing mothers, desirous of
providing for their daughters, or of fathers, who, in addition to the
latter motive, might also desire to secure a connection which might
promote their own business prospects, was quite natural. The handsome
American merchant, with his still handsomer fortune, was, therefore,
much courted. Though always gay, gall