BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  HENRY  TROTH. 
245 
then  accessible  ;  these  he  would  buy  at  auction,  and  when  their 
contents  were  mastered  would  have  them  sold  again,  sometimes 
at  a  profit. 
Before  his  apprenticeship  was  over  he  obtained'  a  release  from 
his  worthy  master,  to  enable  him  to  enter  business  on  his  own 
account  with  a  relative  willing  to  advance  the  necessary  capital 
for  a  small  beginning.  This  was  at  the  close  of  the  war  of  1812, 
when  those  who  embarked  in  business  with  large  outlays  mostly 
came  to  an  end  in  a  few  years ;  but  the  young  firm,  by  "  making 
two  dollars  and  spending  only  one,"  soon  established  the  busi- 
ness on  a  firm  basis  and  prospered. 
Previous  to  the  establishment  of  this  College  in  1821,  Henry 
Troth  was  strongly  impressed  with  the  availability  of  such  an 
organization,  and  to  his  untiring  energy  and  devotion  to  its  in- 
terests the  successful  establishment  and  maintenance  of  the  in- 
stitution was  for  some  years  mainly  due.  He  was  remarkable 
for  the  punctuality  and  steadiness  of  his  attendance  of  its  meet- 
ings and  that  of  its  Board  of  Trustees,  over  which  he  presided 
for  many  years. 
His  public  spirit  was  manifested  in  many  other  useful  institu- 
tions. In  the  Apprentices'  Library  he  was  one  of  the  most 
efficient  members,  from  its  establishment  to  the  time  of  his  death, 
every  page  of  its  history  exhibiting  his  efficiency  and  zeal  in 
promoting  the  improvement  and  happiness  of  apprentices,  of 
whose  needs  and  wants  he  had  a  lively  sense. 
The  same  generous  impulses  led  him  to  become  an  efficient 
Manager  of  the  House  of  Refuge  for  juvenile  delinquents.  He 
served  for  many  years  on  the  Committee  to  find  homes  for  such 
of  the  inmates  as  were  sufficiently  reformed  to  bind  out  as  ap- 
prentices, to  the  country. 
When  about  28  years  of  age,  Henry  Troth  became,  by  the 
choice  of  the  people,  a  member  of  the  Common  Council  of  Phila- 
delphia, over  which  body  he  was  afterwards  chosen  to  preside. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  to  advocate  the  introduction  of  gas  for 
lighting  the  city,  an  improvement  which  met  with  persevering 
opposition  from  those  who  apprehended  numerous  dangers  and 
disasters  as  inevitable.  He  was  among  the  first  to  introduce  the 
use  of  coal  as  a  fuel,  and  many  persons  took  his  grate  as  a  pat- 
