1875.] '^49 [Sellers. 



Eussian workmen or sucli as could be liired on the spot. It was at this 

 critical period of his life that he experienced ihe advantages of his early 

 training. The great work was to be carried on in a land where every 

 kind of corruptioa was the rule ; where all the subordinate officials of the 

 land fed and fattened on the commissions c )llected from those who had 

 contracts with the Government. The payments were to be made as the 

 amount of work completed; inspectors were to examine into the work done, 

 and report as to the correctness of the monthly statements. The inspectors, 

 for a pecuniary consideration, were ready to endorse any statement, no 

 matter how false, yet would threaten annoyance if they were not bribed. 

 This, added to the trouble of working inexperienced hands, made the 

 task of the contractors the more difficult. Mr. Harrison had been told by 

 Count Bobrinski that the officials would wear them out long before the 

 term of their contract was ended. The Count, meeting him in after years, 

 spoke of the conversation and said the success of the American contractors 

 had been a mystery to every one. They did not understand how that con- 

 tract and subsequent ones could have been carried out without resorting 

 to the usual practice of doing Government work in that country. In 

 their eff'orts to act fairly and honestly in their work they seem to have 

 been upheld by all the higher officers, and their course won the confidence 

 and approval of the Emperor himself, who was a careful observer of the 

 work as it progressed. In all of llr. Harrison's successes under these 

 many difficulties his character as a cautious, prudent and strictly upright 

 man was manifest, and was clearly the outgrowth of his early training. 

 The confidence inspired led to other contracts, as in 1850 to one to 

 maintain the moveable machinery of the road already equipped by them 

 for the term of twelve years. This contract bears date August 35, 1850, 

 and the parties to it were Messrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., Thomas Winans 

 and Wm. L. Winans, the latter having purchased Mr. Eastwick's interest 

 in the contract of 1843, previous to its completion. As an evidence of the 

 Imperial favor, valuable diamond rings had been given to the members of 

 the firm, and Mr. Harrison was made the recipient of the ribbon of the 

 Order of St. Ann, to which was attached a massive gold medal, upon 

 which was inscribed in the Russian language the words "For zeal." 

 This honor was conferred upon him at the time of the completion of the 

 bridge across the Neva, accomplished by the firm during the time of the 

 first contract, which had been extended one year for this purpose. Dur- 

 ing Mr. Harrison's I'esidence abroad he seems to have noticed with inter- 

 est the effect of the art galleries on the working people, and when he 

 returned home he at all times advocated the foundation of public art 

 museums open to the people at all times, and was active in the establish- 

 ment of one in our Park. He frequently expressed his opinion of the 

 need of art culture in improving the taste of artisans and rearing among 

 us competent designers. A.n appreciation of the beautiful prompted him 

 to collect about him many paintings and other works of art, which 

 served to beautify the home he soon built for himself in his native city. 



