X OBITUARY NOTICES OF MEMBERS DECEASED. 



research, to serve others in the future for the use to which he him- 

 self put it. 



In 1865 Mr. Lea anticipated withdrawing from active business 

 hfe, but the sudden death of his partner seemed to necessitate his 

 remaining in control, and he continued a publisher for fifteen years 

 more, until 1880, when he retired. This change was coincident 

 with or shortly followed by a second breakdown, which made him 

 almost an invalid for four years from 1880 to 1884. During this 

 time his restlessly active mind could not refrain entirely from pro- 

 duction, and he returned, for the moment at least, to the more purely 

 literary interests of his earlier life. He had always been fond of 

 making translations from various languages into English, and in his 

 historical as well as his literary articles he had frequently given 

 reproductions of old poems. He had also written verse from time to 

 time, and occasionally exchanged such productions with at least one 

 other well-known business man in Philadelphia. The war especially 

 had led him to write several poems. Some forty of these, mostly 

 translations from French, German, Italian, Spanish, Latin and 

 Greek, he gathered together and published privately in 1882 under 

 the title "Translations an<l other Rhymes." Whether from Mr. 

 Lea's temperament, mood or physical condition, these poems look 

 rather to the darker sides of life, its experiences and mysteries; as 

 in his own verses closing 



The riddle wlio can read? 



Who guess the reason why? 

 We know luit tliis indeed. 



We are liorn, we grieve, we die. 



With ]\Ir. Lea's return to his usual health in 1884 began a long"" 

 period, twenty-five years, of vigorous, laborious and yet serene life; 

 old age it could hardly be called, although it carried him from his 

 sixtieth year through his eighty-fou.rth. llie many-sided interests 

 of this period of life and activity, I can scarcely do more than name. 

 A large fortune, watched over assiduously, and with very definite 

 theories as to its investment and use; scarcely less well-marked 

 abstention from certain forms of investment ; an unwillingness to 

 serve on res]:)(Misil)lc boards without ])erforming the labor required 

 by responsibility; discriminating and carefully considered philan- 



