While officiating at the funeral of a fireman who had lost his life by the falling walls of a burning building and who had left three small children uncared for, Dr. Conwell was impressed with the need of a home for the orphans of men who risked their lives for the city’s good.  Pondering the subject, he was called that same day to the bedside of a shut-in, who, while he was there, asked him if there was any way by which she could be of service to helpless children left without paternal care or support.  She said the subject had been on her mind and such a work was dear to her heart.  She was a gifted writer and wielded considerable influence and could, by her pen, do much good for such a work, not only by her writings but by personal letters asking for contributions to establish and support an orphanage.  The coincidence impressed the matter still more strongly on Dr. Conwell’s mind.  But that was not the end of it.  Still that same day, a lady came to him and asked his assistance in securing for her a position as matron of an orphanage; and a woman physician came to his study and offered her services free, to care for orphan children in an institution for them.

Such direct leading was not to be withstood.  Dr. Conwell called on a former chief of police and asked his opinion as to an orphanage for the children of fireman and policeman.  The policeman welcomed the project heartily, said he had long been thinking of that very problem, and that if it were started by a responsible person, several thousand dollars would be given by the policeman for its support.  Still wondering if he should take such leadings as indications of a definite need, Dr. Conwell went to his study, called in some of his church advisers and talked the matter over.  Nothing at that meeting was definitely settled, because some work interrupted it and those present dispersed for other duties.  But as they disbanded and Dr. Conwell opened his mail, a check fell out for $75 from Rev. Chas. M. Sheldon, which he said in the letter accompanying it, he desired to give toward a movement for helping needy children.

Dr. Conwell no longer hesitated, and the Philadelphia Orphans’ Home Society, of which he is president, was organized, and has done a good work in caring for helpless little ones, giving its whole effort to securing permanent homes for the children and their adoption into lonely families.

Although most of the money from his lectures goes to Temple College, he uses a portion of it to support poor students elsewhere.  He has paid for the education of 1,550 college students besides contributing partly to the education of hundreds of others.  In fact, all the money he makes, outside of what is required for immediate needs of his family, is given away.  He cares so little for money for himself, his wants are so few and simple, that he seldom pays any attention as to whether he has enough with him for personal use.  He found once when starting