750 DR. CHARLES FOLLEN FOLSOM. 



instead of letting its smoke and brimstone out in the world,* whereas 

 in knowing people well you get more than you give." 



"Yes, I am going to Munich to study with Pettenkofer and Voit and 

 Wolfhligel. I have the work to do and I want to do it as well and as 

 much of it as I can. 



"But I do not care when I stop, whether next year or next week or 

 next century. So long as the machine runs, I want to keep some useful 

 spindles going. 



"I suppose I shall say Good-bye, next month, to many I may not 

 see again, but I can't think of the 'gradual forgetting'; that seems 

 hardly possible, and life is too short and too full of disagreeable things 

 to ever forget one pleasant friend." 



In another letter in which he discusses with deep feeling the sacrifice 

 he made in relinquishing the practical work of a physician for the 

 secretaryship of the Board of Health, he writes: "I have always been 

 strongly drawn to a life which will be one to bring me in close relations 

 with individuals needing help." And again, in the same letter, "If 

 people will only place their ideals high enough, they may easily or with 

 a fight make them real. . . . You know that I am conscientious from 

 sense of duty, if at all, and not, like you, by instinct, and that duty does 

 not come naturally to me, but only after toil and a fight." 



The sentiments indicated by these citations point to Dr. Folsom's 

 general characteristics and his plan of life ; and the remarkable depth 

 of feeling on the occasion of his death, shared in by the many persons 

 whom he had befriended with his wise counsel and his generous purse, 

 or who had worked side by side with him and knew his efficiency, his 

 intelligence, his fidelity, and his power of accomplishment, is a suffi- 

 cient warrant that the plan was carried out. 



The feeling expressed by the word "loyalty," which underlies the 

 best instincts of the moral life, was a fundamental feature of his 

 character. 



Charles Folsom was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, April 3, 1842, 

 the fifth of eight children. His father moved to Meadville, Pennsyl- 

 vania, when Charles was but seven years old, and it was there that his 

 boyhood was mainly spent. The life was simple and uneventful, but 

 his was a case where in the boy could be read in great measure the 

 character of the man. He gained new traits as he grew older, but lost 

 none that were of value. Sweetness and evenness of temper, affection- 

 ateness, a strong instinct of helpfulness, untiring industry, skill in 

 the use of brains and hands, — qualities such as these made him uni- 



* The order of the clauses in this sentence have been slightly changed, for 

 greater clearness. 



