260 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1883. 



November 13. 

 The President, Dr. Leidy, in the chair. 

 Twenty-nine persons present. 



The following was ordered to be pnblished 



OBITUARY NOTICE OF CHARLES F. PARKER. 

 BY ISAAC C. MARTINDALE. 



When a man has given to the service of the public good the 

 best years of his life, and that life perhaps shortened in conse- 

 quence of his devotion and faithfulness to known duties, it 

 should rest with some survivor to so place upon the historic 

 page this record, that perchance some disconsolate and weary 

 follower, ready to faint by the way, " seeing may take heart 

 again." For such a life is a conspicuous mark on the highway 

 of honest endeavor, and a beacon light ever before the devoted 

 inquirer after truth. 



Hence I have assumed to place herein a notice of the life and 

 services of Charles F. Parker, late Curator-in-charge of this 

 Academy. 



His parents resided in Philadelphia, where he was born on the 

 9th daj' of November, 1820. His mother dying when he was but 

 an infant, he was deprived of a mother's love to stimulate and 

 encourage him in his undertakings. 



His father, being in humble circumstances, was able to give 

 him but a limited education. Charles, as soon as he was old 

 enough to be of any ser^ace, was apprenticed to bookbinding ; 

 his father having long been engaged in that business. 



He remained in Philadelphia until about the age of 22 years, 

 when he went to Boston and engaged in the same business. 

 After residing there about two years he married Martha Kellom, 

 and in 1851 left Boston and moved to Leominster, where he 

 opened a book-store, and carried on bookbinding on his own 

 account. This business enterprise, not being so successful as he 

 had hoped, was abandoned in 1853, and he removed to Camden, 

 New Jersey, where he resided during the remainder of his life. 



