America has been so intimately connected with
England

in science and letters, that all that has been
done in that country, was soon known in this, and
has generally been imitated, when found to be good;
at first, by small beginnings, which were, from time
to time, increased and improved, as information and
wealth advanced. The privations and sufferings of
a new people, taught them to be kind to one another,
and gave them the habits as well as the spirit of
benevolence. It might, of course, have been expected
by the patriot and philosopher, that Howard would
have a school in America. This school has been
established.

One of the most distinguished disciples of this
university of charity, was Thomas Eddy

, a merchant
of the city of New York. He was born about the
period that Howard began to mark out his course of
action. Eddy not only made this great philanthro-
pist his pattern, but he carried his reasonings farther
than Howard had an opportunity to do. Seizing the
facts and reasonings which Howard had furnished,
he added others, truly his own, and set about to
influence his fellow citizens to make practical efforts
to test the correctness of his views, and the sound-
ness of his principles; and such was his success, that
he, by general consent, received the appellation of
the HOWARD OF AMERICA. Some notice of the life,
writings, and deeds of such a man, it is believed, will
not only be acceptable, but useful to the public, as
an incentive to like efforts, and as a satisfactory proof
of what can be done among men by one individual
of intelligence, virtue, and moral courage.

If, in later life, it is difficult for a man to speak of
himself and his deeds, particularly, if he has been
called to take a conspicuous part on the stage of
action; still, that autobiography of such a man which
recounts the deeds and trials of childhood and youth,
and so far into manhood as to come up to the time
when distinction commences, is always the best, when